THANK GOD THAT THIS YEAR IS OVER

THANK GOD THAT THIS  YEAR IS OVER… So we say good bye to 2021…. And  Hello…… to…… 

      2022

May your evening be joyous.. and May God bless us as we start this new year. So we wish you good health… to stay safe.

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF OUR YEAR

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF OUR YEAR…

The year started out with the downs of life... within 38 days of the year, The King lost his brother to the side effects of cancer.

As you probably read in the blog we spent many days helping out his widow, dealing with their STUFF.  And still have a ways to go with that…

The ups came at the end of June when we ventured out away from home after a year of hiding with the covid threats.

We went to see our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren…  as you read about our trip in late June and early July… getting to see the famous WOREL BROS. CHAMPION CAR RACE…

The rest of the year was ups and downs with small stuff of life…  But come December … the King and I have both had our share of downs.  As I wrote on my facebook page.

Well, that was embarrassing.. had an ah ha moment of...HELP, I FELL DOWN AND I CAN'T GET UP.. was walking ... well, wobbling out thru the snow which is 3 feet tall in the front yard.. to the bush to put up bird feeder blocks.. half way there, I lost my balance and down I went.. could not stand up, so got on my knees to push up.. one foot went down to almost the bottom (still could feel snow under it) but could not get the other foot under me.. threw a snowball at the window... Ken comes out on the porch and says...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? .. told him to throw the long handle brush over to me.. and used that as a stick to be able to stand.. finish my trouping out there to the bush.. put the block in the frame... and headed back.. with broom as a cane..

I love the snow.. l love the snow.. keep reminding me . and HELL NO, i DIDN'T DO A SNOW ANGEL...... felt more like the beached snow whale..

And then on Sunday, the King went out to see our daughter and to drop off some cough meds for our grandson. His driveway was impossible to travel, so the King left it with his mother.   In the process of walking down her walkway, he too, took and spill… and with calls out to our daughter, she got a chair for him to help himself stand back up.  Not the best of ways to end the year.

Trouble with falling and luckily (we count our blessings of no broken bones) while not hurt badly, … only damage is the pride or dignity of the fall.  While we kind of pride ourselves with still being spry…it is times like this ..we find ourselves vulnerable.   Guess it is our winter exercise that keeps us going and so far strong……. it is called the snow removal exercise… Shoveling, snow blowing, and plowing.. You poor people down there in the Southern states.. aren’t privy to such a great time… 

 

 

The tone of the voice….

The tone of the voice….

For one thing, we don’t get a tone of voice thru our written word.. Be it text, email, or even letters.  Not unless you use a lot of tiny pictures of your emotions to do with the words. And 99.9% of the people don’t use those.  Unless they are on Faeebook.

So with the written word, we lose about half of our communication meanings. And a lot of times feelings get hurt from the written word. Some of that is the fault of the reader. As the reader puts in their own emotion to the words.

I was even accused of being harsh because of what I had wrote.  When I told the reader, I didn’t think I was harsh.. they said well the tone of your note was.  I asked them how did they get that from those words on a piece of paper?  Well, it is the way you are?  I said excuse me? I talk harsh?  Well, you do when you are strong feeling about a issue.  I looked at the person and said.. Wow.. so you are judging by what you THINK I might be feeling.  I told the person I was not mad, or angry when I wrote the note. I told her, that I was just stating a fact.  I asked her if I sounded harsh now as I talked?  She said, well, no.  Do I sound angry?  No… I told her it sadden me, that she automatically felt I was angry without hearing my voice.. And I felt maybe when I wrote things.. I should maybe put smiling faces near the words so to show I was not angry.  She said that would be silly… 

And I also thought .. do I do that too, do I inject the writers emotions when I read what they wrote? I hope not.. Of course if you use capitals.. it gives you the notion, or !! with the words, it gives the urgent of the words.

Then there is the tone of voice when you do speak to someone.  Some people you talk to, it is a soft tone. Business is a little more sharper to get your point over, or softer if you are trying to get your point over with out coming on strong. Talking to a woman is different than talking to a man. With women we tend to be softer, and caring type of emotion words.  With men, because they talk either matter of factly, or strongly, depending on the situation. Men tend to be less emotional as they talk.

Some women tend to take exception to men in their lives, if their man talks softly to a woman. Thinking it is more personal, when that is the furthest from the way the man means his words. Maybe because men have been taught to be respectful of women and their feelings.  So it is a matter of up bring by one’s parents. 

I know I talk probably softer when I talk to my daughter and daughter in laws… where has I have a sharper tone when talking to my son’s. Never thought about it until recently, when talking about the tone of one’s voice and words written.

But it would be true.  Men are from Mars and women are from Venus… and of course there is always the exception.

We won’t even talk about the difference of men talking in the garage over working on a car as appose to talking in public. Some times the same can be said of women when they are solely among women.

 So I guess the moral of this is.. if you feel upset over what someone has wrote, try to think of it from their point of view. If in doubt… ask.. you might be surprised at the emotion that was meant.. and not perceived.

 

 

 

 

 

WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS of 2021

 MERRY CHRISTMAS....to you ALL...

Once again I am going to rely on the wise words of George A. Gladden Sr.

MY CHRISTMAS CARD LIST

I have a list of folks I know,all written in a book,

And every year when Christmas comes,

I go and take a look.

That is when I realize these names are all a part,

not of the book they're written in,

but of my very heart.

For each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime,

And in that meeting they've become the rhythm in each rhyme.

While it may sound fantastic for me to make this claim,

I really feel that I'm composed of each remembered name.

And while you may not be aware of any special link.

Just meeting you has changed my life much more than you think.

For once I've met somebody, the years cannot erase

The memory of a pleasant word or of a friendly face.

So, never think my Christmas cards are just a mere routine

of names upon a Christmas list, forgotten in between.

For when I send a Christmas card that is addressed to you,

It's because you're on the list of folks I'm endeared to.

For I am but a total of the many folks I've met,

And you happen to be one of those I prefer not to forget.

Whether I have known you for many years or few,

In some way you have had a part in shaping things I do.

And every year when Christmas comes I realize a new,

The best gift life can offer is meeting folks like you.

So may the spirit of Christmasthat forevermore endures,

Leave its richest blessing in the hearts of you and yours.

My Christmas Card List written by George A. Gladden,

We have been warned….

We have been warned….

“You will shoot your eye out”, was the warning on the movie.. Christmas story…

And our parents.. mostly our mothers, told us we will be deaf by the time we got to be her age..

Well, I made it pass that…. As she was in her 40’s… But as time is taking me by at full speed, I am learning she was right.. just it was longer than what she thought.

 Last month, I had a problem with one of my hearing aides, so had to take it back to Costco to have it fixed.  She said, it will take 2 weeks to get it back..  I spun the calendar around in my brain and it came out .. day before Thanksgiving. I told her, ok. That will be just in time for Thanksgiving, so I should be ok.

Well, it was a week and half AFTER Thanksgiving and it wasn’t ok.  

I found out that I have to have BOTH hearing aides in .. in order for a hearing aide to work completely.  I could hear with the one better than I could with NONE.. but barely. 

And it was great to get the other one back as I can hear better.  Not great..  haven’t hear great for years.. About 10 years.. So .. ha ha.. Mom, I made it 20 years more than you thought.

What I have found out by going with only one and not hearing well, AT ALL.. that I join less conversations..  depended on computer and writing instead of talking.. Phone calls were horrible for both sides.. the caller and me. I left the phone answering to the King mostly.

I found myself, isolating myself more.  Not wanting to go anywhere, if I was going to have to listen to anything. 

It didn’t help that the King would get upset with me as well..  until he saw how frustrated I was, and he would apologize for it.

I even bought a cheap pair at Walmart to try to get thru..It helped a little but it too was murder for dealing with phones.

 So I was truly happy with getting the hearing aide back.. Feel more part of life…Even if talking on the phone is still a challenge... I, now understand how the elderly (I know.. I know.. that means me too) in nursing homes get to feel more lonely and distance. 

So for you young people.. take good care of your ears.. you only get one pair.. and hearing aides help.. but they are not that great.

 

 

 

Heading down the end of the year…

Heading down the end of the year....

Here we are, heading down the end of the year and on the last 5 days before the big blow out of presents… Last minute thoughts of what to get. The race to find something, anything to make the other people smile..  And hope you got it right. 

Also the season of yo yo attitudes.. The feel good of the season..  so happy and yet fights over the shopping area, or toy you have to have for your child.  

I am a bah humbug Christmas person.  So I will let you sort it all out..  Enjoy the madness of shopping, and cooking before the big day..

 

12-20-2021 lots of 2’s and 1’s ..

I did tell you I am not crafty, right?

I  did tell you I am not crafty, right?

Once again, I have proven, I am NOT a craft person.  My youngest daughter keeps trying, but I just don’t have it.

My sweet husband wanted to do ginger bread houses with the boys..   I told him, he could, but count me out.  I just don’t do well.

But yesterday, he dragged me screaming into it. He had bought the boxes of the kits.  How hard can it be, he says.  Well, when you see the results, you will understand how silly that reply is.

I got dragged in, because he was going to help one of the boys and the poor little guy got stuck with me.   

I would tell you that I followed the instructions but they were sadly not a very good one.. I think they figured everyone knew how to do it.. here is the stuff to do it with.  NOT…

First off there were no clear pictures or words to what was what. So it was a guessing game for me.  

Off we go, we see that they painted the front and back with the red.  (look gawdy to me). Then they showed in the big picture how they were stuck to gether. YEA, RIGHT.  First of all the red nor the green pastey stuff did not glue anything together.  It keep falling apart. The clamps that the King has in his garage came to mind but figure it would be over kill. Then the lightbulb went off .. I had icing in the can in the pantry.  So go that and smeared that baby. It started to stay somewhat together.  Leaning it against the box.  As I am doing my best … I happen to catch out of the corner of my eye… the spatula we were using for smearing the coloring on the ends, was swinging by me, on to the side piece  of ginger bread square. By my sweet heart of a great grandson. He was swinging with such glee, (I lowered my head in craft pain.. of oh shit) and I thought.. oh, well, this now has become a tiny house, as I snapped the other side piece in half..  Ah a modern updated tiny house.. lol…  I finally got the sides to all stay together… I put frosting on the plate and stuck it on a plate, and poured out all of the bags of beads, snowflakes and etc.. and slide the plate over to my sweet 2 and half year old great grandson. I showed him to pick up the stuff with his fingers and let them dripple on the house. Which he did with great glee.

Now on to the older boys house, as the King had deserted the ship, when he could not get the sides to glue together and they all collapsed.  And his had one side missing, so he too had snapped the side in half.. wa la.. another modern day tiny house..

Now this one was a challenge. The sides did not exactly match.  So it was not only try to glue the sides together with the cake icing.. but also filling in the gaps.   Also this lovely house had twizlers for the roofing.  You know like hard licorice.  Once I got the thing to stick together, which was a chore. (the sides keep trying to slide in.)  After taking the roof off twice..and smeared frosting on the corners… and replace the roof.. I smeared frosting all over the roof and every nook and cranny   Slide the house over to the older one and said have at it.. and remember do what ever you want to do…it is your gingerbread house.. so put what you want.  He looked at me and said.. anything?  I said yes.. anything, how ever you want to .. it is yours to do .. there is no wrong way, because it is yours to do.. The only one who has to like it, is you.. ok.. OK, he said with great gusto.  And he did. He had the twizler

sticking up and some laying down, he borrowed his brothers beads and snow.. and sprinkled it all over.  He was thrilled with it.  Now these may not be the regular houses, but they are theirs.. and they loved it and laughed.  They had frosting all over themselves, the table, and the snow stuff was all over the floor and the beads were rolling off the table on to the floor. They had a blast.. they did it their way.  So as you look.. remember that. 

Oh, yea.. I think the beads are going to be like pine needles after Christmas...  as I had swept the floor really well, after we were done..  only to step barefooted on one early this morning..  

 

 

 

 

 

The Post Office even topped itself..

The Post Office even topped itself..

 

In the past years I have complain about the USPS…  I had sent a package of George magazine to a friend.. It arrived from Idaho to Seattle with a Oregon tourist guide booklet and a Catholic guide.  I am not Catholic and neither was my friend.. He contacted me to see if that was what I really sent.  Of course it wasn’t.  I complained to the USPS..  of course no reply. God only knows where the George magazines went.

I bought my daughter who lived in Kelso Washington, a music box … sent it in a well packed box.. If any of you have got a package from me.. you know what I mean.  Some how.. it left Idaho, on its way to Spokane Wa. And then where  it went, was an adventure.  As I tracked it 11 days later, after not arriving…  I found it went to San Franciso, then on to Pittsburg Pa… and was heading to Portland Oregon. It arrived two days later, to be delivered to her the next day.   

I sent a package to my daughter in law and it went from Idaho to Spokane to Las Vegas then to Washington state.

But this time .. the post office has outdone itself.

I bought a hoodie from my cousin’s company. IN SAN DIEGO, CA.   He mailed it out on the 23 of November.  Usually it would be here in 4 days.. Well, it did not show up until DECEMBER 11^th.  So now that I had the tracking number, I went on there to see where the heck it had gone.  It told me it had been delivered at my post office box on the 11^th of December… So far correct..  Then I saw it had a history of tracking..  when I open that.. to my surprise..  I found out, that when you leave San Diego, to go to Idaho.. YOU HAVE TO  GO THRU GUAM AND HAWAII.. because that is where my package went.. it spent 7 days in Guam. And 6 days in Hawaii, and then headed to Idaho in 3 days. HELL,  I should have gone with it.

And for those of you who are not really sure where Idaho is.. we are up by the Canadian border… not in the south Pacific. 

I know better than to complain the USPS.. because they won’t even acknowledge my complaint.  

They have by their own admission said they were going to be slower, and more expensive.. but I think this is over the top, when they send it over 6,000 miles round trip,  out of its way.

Good luck getting your Christmas package in time. 

OH, I forgot the best part… this package was sent PRIORY MAIL!!!

Day of sadness…..

Day of sadness…..

Those of us over the age of 50.. remember this day .. before even Kennedy got shot.  Very few are alive from those days of December 7, 1941. The bombing of Pearl Harbor.    A few vets left.. very few as they are in their 90’s now..  

While in school.. we learn about it in History class. It was the worse thing had had EVER happen to the United States of American. Even worse than World War One…  First time any of our land had been bombed by a foreign country.

As those of my own age see that it is pushed aside.. somewhat downsized… with a few mentions in any media…  it saddens us. 

Yes, there has been other incident that have happen..  The killing of Kennedys, Robert and John..  Martin Luther King.. and of course the two bombings of the World Trade Centers.

But this day also had great sadness for our family as well…  my sister in law.. the King’s sister committed suicide.  Suicide as anyone will tell you, is a horror for any family.  So many questions of, could you save them..  and the true answer most of the time is no..  With her.. in the note she did leave behind… her words there that stuck in my mind until this very day…. “Love is not enough”… for surely she knew she was loved by all who knew her.. So many friend who showed up at her celebration of life…  her family.. and more.   

There are so many groups for suicide.. to help prevent.. for those who are thinking of it.. to call on…  but I have yet to find an easy answer to any of it..

Some say it is a selfish act.. and it is easy to think that.. after all, we all would do anything. Yet those who try and succeed never look but at that one dark moment, when all is lost to THEM..  And as she said…  Love isn’t enough.

But we still have to keep trying to head it off.. for all those who will listen and stop.

For all of those who have lost a friend, a family member, and others… our hearts go out to you.  Considered yourself hugged.. 

And for those who are even thinking of it.. Please know.. there is love waiting for you.. please stop.

my favorite picture of her... vacation in Europe

Still miss you, kid....     
  

So begins the STAFFHOOD …

So begins the STAFFHOOD ….

 We got this little bundle of joy yesterday… He was dump in the neighborhood of our daughters place this summer. She fed him so he didn’t starve.  There were others, she learned later, as she went looking for his owner.  He is the only one who made it across the road to her place.. Her house cats were not amused and let her and him know that.

So he was an outside cat, who lived in one of the sheds. A lover for sure..  Everytime she came out, he would curl up around her leg.  Purring all the way.. 

He has been an outside cat… used to silence .. with the exception of birds and wildlife around.. and the two humans who lived in the house.

When we said we were ready to get another cat.. Ours died about 6 years ago… and one kitty deal fell thru…  my daughter told us to come get him.. he is a lover, she said.

So with cat litter in hand.. and a litter box from our sister in law… we went out to meet him.   Mr no name…   And true to her word, he was a lover.. Happy to meet us.. purring and going around our legs..  So we found a carrying cage and brought him home..  He was really leery of this vehicle that was taking him to God only knows where.

Once in the house.. he hid.. found him, pick him up and petting him, and him purring..  So not so much not liking us, but scared.  He hid in the litter box.. (well, at least he will know where to go, right?)  Then the bathroom, and then the hall.. Every time coming to me with no problem. Sat with him on the couch. And he relaxed enough to sleep, but as soon as I moved.. he was up and GONE..  Behind our chairs, in the bathroom.. and ended up back to hiding in the litter box.   Each time glad to let me pet him, but not liking the house except where it was dark.  

 So I figured, because he was skiddish as I walked by the tv.. it was that.. strange voices coming from somewhere. Lots of people, to him.   Also he caught his image in the mirror that kind of freaked him out. 

This morning, I found him under our bed..  When I called for him, after all the other places were empty.. and used a flashlight to look under the bed (only place left) .. he came out. He was happy to see me.. purred.. let me hold him and pet him.   Sat on the couch with me.. but again.. gone under the bed again, when I moved.  Came out later in the morning when I went in there.. So I picked him up and took him to the food.  Which he had not eaten at other times. He had been drinking water, so that I was glad.. but with me standing there.. he ate the food.. I was happy for that.  I showed him the litter box again.. but he backed up.. let me pet him.. talked to him.. and then GONE again.. to the bedroom..  

Now when I go in there, he comes out from under the bed. But doesn’t like to go to the living room.. so again I figured it was the crowd voices..   I think he will be fine, once he gets that the voices are of no harm to him.. 

I did order a covered bed for him..  being he likes to be in dark places.. hopefully it will make him feel more secure in the living room. 

So once again… we are THE STAFF… got to get a few toys.. and all should be good.

 

Here he is…   KIT KAT…  for now at least..