Friday, September 28, 2007

Vacation

I am going on a vacation again to visit friends in Tampa Fla. I sat and wondered what I am vacationing from as now am retired-5 months already. Looked up the word vacation and realised it had many meanings! AND I guess I CAN take a vaca from my normal activities, to clear my mind and spirit only to come home and do more of the same!

I think of my life as mini vacations at the present! Retired from Nursing, however, a week in Maryland and a week in New Jersey. Which one is truly the vacation! A HA can you guess! I do different things in each place but weirdly the same- cook, clean take care of some. I know one thing for sure there are not enough hours in the day!

Am taking a course offered by the church on the book of Daniel (by Beth Moore) in Maryland. Taking a second study at my church on "Be a Woman of Character'. I hope I can keep them straight!
For those of you who find yourselves driving allot get some books on tape! What a great way to pass the time! Currently am on a series by Clive Custler- I would never read these books, but find them most interesting while driving! My hubby has and has read every book
by Custler and he thinks the tapes give the books a different flavor.

Travel, trouble, music, art, A kiss, a frock, a rhyme - I never said they feed my heart, But still they pass my time.
-Dorothy Parker, Faute de Mieux

Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them. T. S. Eliot

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

conversation

Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks more of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I found this quote today and read a couple of times and thought-WOW is that true or what!
How many times have you been in conversation and thought(or said) if you would just listen to me before you answer! or have you listened at all to what I said! or better yet- why do I even talk they aren't listening anyway!
How about when asked "how are you"- does anyone ever listen to the answer? I have sometimes tested this one and said- terrible or sick or some other stupid word- people are too much on their own agenda or planet-
Sometimes when talking with a VERY vocal person- I will not say anything even when they are finished. Just to see if they will listen to me. I give them much time to finish AND sometimes even then they aren't finished. I will even say to some "are you finished, or can I speak now"
As pax would say are we listening to one hand clapping in the world!

Monday, September 24, 2007

AN UPDATE

Just wanted all you folk who have been wondering about Zelda of Garden of Eden- she is so much better and I noticed she is back to writing on her blog. check her out and give her words of encouragement- momma

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Again Giant Eagle!

Hi all- my bi-weekly post on Giant Eagle and my true love for it! HAHA
Went today with my daughter and we tried something new they have. You got this thingamajig(scanner) with your cart WITH bags attached. You are able to scan all you want to purchase as you go, then place in your bag in the cart!
Therefore you have a running total of what you have spent! You can bag as you wish. My daughter has a specific way she likes bagged!
You don't have to put on the conveyor belt and then bag and then put back in the cart!
After finished you go to the cash register and pay and on your way home!
I really liked this feature- I have for years complained of the bagging process and have wanted to devise or invent something to do this. In fact they even trust you have scanned the items.
This week the daughter paid $1.55 per gallon for the gas.

It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides.
George Sand (1804 - 1876)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A day in the life.

Got up this am with tree of the four grandchildren in bed with me! One was lying across my feet, one was up against my back and luckily the other was on the other side of the bed- O JOY. Have to get up at 6:30 am to get them off to school. I did not exactly want to get up, but smelled the coffee and decided it was easier to get up than wait for the four of them to come get me.

I was gonna do my usual folding of clothes, but the day had other things in mind for me. Cooked breakfast. Many times we eat late so I decided to make dinner early so we could eat early. Decided to make homemade mac and cheese. There is always tons of cheese here.
Tried to do something on the computer, but my youngest decided he needed me to help with puzzles, play dough, etc. Then his mom came back and did school with him, and I could get online.

We went on a field trip. HA!, went across the street to pick apples. What a lovely day for it. Did we walk there? O NO we drove, however while at the "pick your own" farm we managed to walk quite a bit. He wanted to also look at ALL the pumpkins- man there were some really big ones there, great for pumpkin pie I think.
Then off to a thrift shop, that was closed. The young un didn't want to come home so we took him out to lunch. One of those places with a park so he could get more fresh air and play with some other kids. When we got home he now wanted to throw Frisbee-so all of you that think I don't get enough exercise think again!
It was then time to get the others from school! and then HOMEWORK, of course mom had to leave on a field visit so its me and the kids doing homework! We had to practise spelling!
Just got finished and came out here and to my utter surprise the two not doing spelling have "decorated" the floor with mini Lego's! there goes early dinner, will soon be the time
to go to bed and maybe I will have a little time to sew this evening- I will not fold clothes!

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
Robert Frost

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Just a Quote Today

I could never say this better! Thanks to the Xpatriated Texan
'Xpatriated Texan
A blog by Thurman Hart
Six Years and Still Upside DownSeptember 11th, 2007
Six years ago, the world was turned upside down. As surely as Washington’s defeat of Cornwallis, the falling of the World Trade Center showed that being a superpower is not sufficient protection to deter someone who trades in hatred and fear. Power can never again be measured in sheer numbers of troops, cruise missiles, or even nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, the sight of George W. Bush frozen in fear before a class of elementary students was but a precursor to the incompetence with which the American retaliation would be handled. Forces were withheld from the battle against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in order to pursue a pre-emptive war of choice against Iraq and Sadam Hussein. Even then, the President refused to send sufficient forces into Iraq to secure the post-Sadam peace.
Republicans like to say that “9/11 changed everything”. They are right. Before that, I didn’t believe an American President could display such staggering incompetence, matched only by his inability to admit a mistake. The combination has proven deadly to American soldiers deployed overseas and has bankrupted our treasury for generations. Six long years have passed since that day in 2001 and yet we are no closer today to either catching Osama bin Laden or to securing Iraq.
Democrats are trying desperately to change directions in Iraq, but theyhave been stymied at every turn by President Bush’s Congressional apologists. They preach patience while even more American soldiers fall on the field of battle. Even as report after report has shown that conditions in Iraq are not improving, these so-called “moderates” continue to run interference against the will of the American people.
A hundred and seventy-six years ago William Lloyd Garrison rallied Americans to the cause of immediate abolition of slavery by pointing out that some issues have no “moderate” stance. “Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm,” he said, “tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen.” To that, I would add, “Tell a soldier he may moderately come home from war.”
Enough is enough. It’s time to bring our troops home from Iraq.
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Monday, September 10, 2007

Quite a Scare

Today, while I was caring for the youngest grandchild, I thought I had lost him. We were both outside, me packing up the car to come home. He was playing in the car, pretending to drive, pushing buttons & knobs of every description.
Mother nature called so I said Danny I have to go to the toilet, he said OK grandma. So off into the house I went. He was probably 20 feet or so away from me. When I went back outside, he was no-where to be found. I called and called. looked in all the rooms, even looked under the bed. Went out front and called him too. My heart was starting to skip a few beats and I had quite a sick feeling! Where could he be? Had someone snatched him up in the few minutes I was in the bathroom.
They live on a busy street, but it's rural. Big hill 100 yards out the back. I even went down to see if he was out back playing with the dog. Who was not barking- he is hound- he always barks when cars, people come in the long driveway.
Where was Danny, had someone nabbed him. What would I tell the family, the police, HIS MOTHER!
Don't know what made me , but I went and looked back in the car- he didn't want me to leave without him so he was under a coat in the back of the car, amid the boxes I had packed to come home! I was really releaved when I found him, but of course scolded to never do that again, as he made my heart go into failure. Of course, he said what's that and why not. I told him that I had thought someone had stolen him. He said would they adopt me? Of course, he is 4 and thought it pretty funny he scared Grannyjax. So I simply said get into the house and we'll talk about it some more. I locked the doors and we went and laid on my bed and he was just as content to be there in my arms. I wanted to kill him, but hugged him so tight instead.

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors
surpassing Material place.
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Green

While sitting out on the porch this morning watching the cars go by and getting some fresh air, I decided that there were so many greens and most of us know what they are. So thought might be something to post about.

Green-the color of money to most! Green grass, Chartreuse, Sage green, Colorado Blue Spruce, Lime green, avocado green, mint green,Kentucky Blue Grass, neon green, blue-green, the green in the bottom of the pool at the moment-algae, peuce, kelly green, mold on bread, light , dark & medium greens, the green ya get when ya feel sick.

As I continued to sit there I thought of the green slowly going away this fall, however it turns into unbelievable shades of yellow,gold, orange,brown, & red.

How lucky we are to see!

' We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box'. ANON

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

where have all the bloggers gone

Well here it is the beginning of September, looking at the blogs and seems to me that writing is at a standstill for most of my fellow bloggers! Must be all blogged down in life!

school has started, some still on vacation,
one I know has a bum wing(and her dominant hand is the one that is laid up) OH by the way just in case you are wondering- Zelda told me to tell all she is doing well, she has started PT, goes a couple of times a week, also thanks for all the encouraging words!

Another is out running around in his new car, others are partying to the end of summer, others are BACK TO SCHOOL THEMSELVES-that's scary at my age!

Personally I am here in MD helping the kiddles get back in the routine of school-whew, breathing room for a least a few hours of the day! Got all the uniforms ready & made the school bags-you should see them! quite the eclectic collection of colors! They each picked out the material.
However, when they return-HOMEWORK! I think one of my least favorite tasks is spelling! The twins have the same teacher so, I have to go over the same words TWICE. This morning we had to go over spelling before they went to school. The little one is being home schooled, mom is doing it at present so more breathing room!

So all of you blogger friends-hope all is well, hurry back so I don't have to find others!

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

Monday, September 03, 2007

After 1990

If you were born after 1990, you probably won't know a thing about these things, unless of course you read alot, LOL
The automat
Black & White Movies
Blue Laws
Carbon Paper
The Draft- not the footbal or baseball kind!
Handkerchiefs
House Calls- not the tv program
Leisure suits
Mending
Paper Dolls
The smell of Burning Leaves
An Unanswered phone

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,A medley of extemporanea; And love is a thing that can never go wrong; And I am Marie of Romania.
Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967), Not So Deep as a Well (1937), "Comment"