Happy Halloween

10/31/2015

Today, or more accurately tonight, is a wonderful time for children.  They get to dress up as their favorite character and take a bag or pillowcase around to houses for candy.  Who wouldn't like that?  This is also a wonderful time for dentists - just think of the cavities to come!

When the boys were young and we lived in California, I would put Scott and Andy in a wagon and pull them around through the neighborhood.  My sister would join me and we'd only be trick or treating for a few minutes, before their masks were off.  

By the time we moved to Maryland, the boys 6 and 8 were old enough that they didn't need to ride in a wagon any longer.  One of us walked with them, staying in the back, while the boys filled their bags.  Unlike my childhood, when we used to eat as much candy as possible before we got home, things are different now.  The boys weren't supposed to eat any candy until they got home.  A sad reality about how things have changed.  Parents now go through the candy and throw out any homemade goodies like popcorn balls, which I'm sure were made with love, but get tossed anyway.

Once the boys came home with their candy, we dumped all of it on the table and sorted through the candy.  Obviously, the boys would eat as much candy as they could, so we had to put the candy in a  big bowl and allow them to eat only a few pieces every day.  And, because I love candy, I had certain candy bars that I wanted to eat!

In 1986 when we moved into our house, the neighborhood was teeming with children.  Today, not so much.  Our house is at the top of a hill and most of the houses no longer have young children, because they are all in high school or college.

Since walking up the hill isn't something a lot of children want to do, I find that we don't see many children come to the house.  So, unlike years long gone, where we bought lots of candy, now we only buy one small bag.  This year's treat for ourselves is Reese's peanut butter cups.  Soooooo, if there is any candy left, at least Jeff and I will get to eat something that we like.

Jeff, has in years past, loved opening up the front door at warp speed and jumping out onto the porch.  This delights the older kids.  I like to keep a look out for young children, so that they don't get spooked by having Jeff jump out to scare them. 

P

Too Many Clothes or Too Few Closets!

10/30/2015

From the beginning of time (or nearly so), women have loved clothes, shoes and purses.  Also, from the beginning of time, women never have enough closets.  I don't care how many there are in your house, there are never enough.

In our house, there are four very wide closets.  Jeff has his clothes contained in a very small part of one of the closets.  I, on the other hand, have taken over all of the other closet space.  Now we know that most men aren't all that interested in clothes, and that's one reason why they are given so little closet space.

Women, on the other hand, love clothes.  You have your "skinny" clothes, your "average" sized clothes and unfortunately, for most of us, our "bigger" clothes!  You can't possibly get rid of the clothes you can no longer wear.  Why?  Because someday, you might magically lose a ton of weight and would need those skinny clothes.  I know statistically that's not going to happen, but hope springs eternal, so I keep clothes that don't fit.

It's bad enough that even though I purged and gave away most of my office clothes, I still have run out of room!  In the bottom of one closet are my shoes, most of which I don't wear.  In the bottom of another closet, I have two boxes.  One box holds short-sleeved or sleeveless tops and the other has pants, capris and shorts.  

At this time of year, I need to empty out the spring and summer tops and replace them with long sleeve shirts and/or sweatshirts.  But in order to do that, I have to have someplace for my out of season clothes to go and therein lies the problem.  

I like clothes and I don't make any excuses for doing so.  What I need, besides less clothes (nah, that's not possible), is to become organized - or better organized.  Since I'm retired, I really don't have an excuse, at least a good enough one, to not organize my closets.  But, there is always something more fun I could be doing.  Reading for instance and doing jigsaw puzzles on the computer takes time.

While my closets don't look this bad, if I don't get organized soon, they will.

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Leaf Pickup

10/29/2015

A double treat for you today - two blogs!  For the last several weeks, every day or so Jeff blows all of the oak leaves into a pile to be picked up and put in brown bags.  Our oak tree, now 29 years old, has a lot of leaves and they are never dropped all at once, which would be handy.  Nope, between the wind and the squirrels, only so many leaves fall to the ground each day.

If you leave the leaves and let them stack up, so to speak, the blowing them into a pile and the picking up can be a burdensome task.  It rained very hard here yesterday, and now there are leaves needing to be rounded up for removal.

At this time of year, you can hear the near constant drone of a leaf blower, lawn mower or some similar device being used to tidy up yards.  I watched this afternoon, when my neighbor's lawn people literally blew all of the leaves out of their yard and blew them into a big pile in the circle of our street.

Now what do you imagine is going to happen to that large pile of leaves?  Yup. You guessed right.  The wind is going to come along and blow those leaves all over the street and more than probably into our yard.  I'm sure these guys are getting paid to pick up the leaves, but it was much easier to blow them out into the circle.  

To add further insult, these same gardeners just mowed the neighbor's lawn and carried the grass they cut to put on the leaf pile.  Simply amazing.  I hope that my neighbor doesn't pay much for the service, but I guess "out of my yard" is akin to out of sight, out of mind!

Okay, climbing off my soap box now.  Time to think about getting dinner started.  In case you're wondering, no this isn't the pile of leaves in front of our house.  Just wanted to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. 

P

Christmas

10/29/2015

I know that the very title of this blog has most and probably many of you groan.  But, if you've been in a store recently, you can buy ornaments, fake trees, wreaths, etc.  As far as the retailers are concerned, Halloween is over and Thanksgiving just doesn't count for them in the big scheme of things.

The boys' company, 4A Computing, sends out Christmas cards with calendar magnets.  Since I'm not a wait until the last minute type of gal, it's time to get an order together.  Once the cards and magnets arrive, then I stuff them into envelopes and Jeff makes labels so that I don't have to hand address.  

When the boys were home, our house was decorated for Christmas.  Scott has a real love of lights and he would climb up on the roof and make sure that our house stood out - and it did.  Back then it was fun to have lights on the boxwoods and hanging from trees.  Now?  Not so much.

I'm not planning on having any kind of holiday meal at the house this year. Nothing ever stays the same and as we grow older we continue to evolve.  I am learning to go with the flow, and try and fit our schedule, which is pretty much always open, with what the boys are doing.


Today is National Internet Day, Hermit Day and Oatmeal Day.  I think I have two of those "holidays" covered!  But I had a bagel for breakfast, instead of oatmeal!

If you want to know in advance, tomorrow is National Doughnut Day, in case you want to stop and get some before you go to work.

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Public Bathrooms

10/28/2015

I know, I know.  You're probably wondering what I could possibly have to say about public bathrooms.  When I think about it, there's actually a lot to say.

Jeff and I were on our min-vacation last weekend.  It seemed like every time I needed to use the bathroom, I noticed that the stalls were small and the doors opened inward.  By having the doors opening into the stall, this means that you literally have to suck in your stomach and practically hug the toilet in order to close the door.  Why do builders do this?  Does it cost more money to have outward opening doors?  I can't imagine that it does.  

That's gripe number one.  Gripe number two is that sometimes there is no available hook to use for your purse.  Unfortunately, this means that you have to put your purse and/or any other belongings on the floor, which isn't always very clean.  Actually I should change that from isn't always very clean to practically never very clean.

Then there is the modern technology at the sink.  I've never been overly successful in getting water out of those faucets that are motion activated.  Maybe I'm old (and yes I am), but why can't we just have faucets, the kind that you can turn on and off?

Once you have the water running, then you have to operate the soap dispenser, which seems never to be the same kind.  Okay, once you've managed to get the soap, and gotten the water back on, now it's time to dry your hands.

Growing up, when you went into a bathroom in a gas station, sometimes there was a towel on a roller that you pulled down.  Certainly this method of a "community" towel, would not work for folks today.  

Today our options are paper towels which come from a dispenser that is motion activated and sometimes you have to "motion" it more than once.  Otherwise, you dry your hands with a machine that works really well.  The problem with the machine dryer is that the blower is so strong, your hands practically age right in front of you!  You can see wrinkles from the skin being pushed about by the blower.  Perhaps this is an indicator of what your hands will look like when you are old and wrinkly!

By the way, today is National Chocolate Day - yeah!

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Going for the Dogs

10/27/2015

Yesterday morning, I left for the kennel to pick up Mr. Sam before I was charged for an additional day.  I took the back roads, traffic was light and my oldies were playing on the radio.  A perfect day for a drive.  My only problem was keeping my speed under control.  There are many places along the road where the speed limit drops to 30 mph, before increasing back to 40 or 50 mph.

When I got to the kennel, I was given Sam's discharge papers, which included the vet's evaluation of him as a senior dog (he's 15).  After I paid for the examination, his rabies shot and the actual boarding, the bill was over $200.00.  Boarding is by weight and Sam weighs 22 pounds.  An ideal weight for the cheapest rate would be if he was 20 pounds or under.  Of course, expecting Sam to lose a few pounds, it's about as difficult as it is for me to lose a few!  Good luck with that.

Sam was good on the drive home.  He spent his time bouncing around in the backseat going from one side to the other and looking out the windows.  When we drove into the neighborhood, he knew we were close to home.  He began to get super excited and by the time I pulled into the garage, he was practically jumping.

Before heading into the house, Sam did have to mark his territory in a few places just to let everybody know that he was back.  Once inside the house, he walked everywhere, looking for Maggie.  Eventually, when he gave up on his search, he found a blanket and pillow to sleep on and took a very long nap.

Jeff came home in the evening and brought Maggie with him.  Maggie had spent the weekend at Scott's house and got to play with his Mastiffs (which make Maggie look pretty much like a toy poodle)!  Sam, and I believe Maggie was too, were very excited to see each other.  After the initial running around and sniffing, both of them settled down.

Whenever Jeff comes home and heads for the recliner, Sam jumps into his lap.  We call it doing penance because Jeff isn't home during the day!  

My house is now back to normal.  The dogs are here, Jeff has gone to work, and I'm knocking out a blog.  

Today is National Beer Day and National Navy Day.

P

Post Hilton Head

10/26/2015

Well friends, I'm back from our little mini-vacation.  As always the plane performed flawlessly as did the pilot!  The cabin service consisted of water, peanut butter pretzels and apples.  Not a nutritional diet, but it was food.

Our hotel room unfortunately, overlooked the parking lot.  I'd like to say that a room without a view is a first for us, but when we stayed in New Orleans a few years ago, we looked out on a parking lot as well as the back entry to restaurants for food delivery.  A room with a view comes with a premium price, and our two days in Hilton Head, wasn't going to allow us to much time to be in the room.

We had a nice dinner on Friday night.  The food was good, but the service was slow and the price was high.  Jeff and I have gotten used to not eating out very often, other than at Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel, where the cost for dinner is reasonable.

Saturday morning we ate the breakfast buffet at the hotel, which cost $17 each.  I know that buffets have to make eggs in large volumes, so that they end up being a bit watery.  I'll admit I'm spoiled.  Jeff still does and has been making me scrambled eggs for 41 years and they are simply the best.

We went out to the airport and the "boys" had some kind of pilot class.  We ladies boarded a tram and had a wonderful local lady who gave us a tour of the island.  Hilton Head has a lot of history and she was very good at showing us some of the island's most interesting places.  Bonus - she also stopped at a small shopping area, and we had 30 minutes to shop.  Heaven!

Back at the airport we had a barbecue lunch, beans, cole slaw, chicken, corn bread and cookies.  The meal was very tasty and though I'm not a barbecue fan, the chicken was really good.  

Jeff joined me on the afternoon tour through the neighborhoods of the Gullah people.  The Gullah are the descendants of enslaved Africans who live in the low country region in South Carolina and George.  They speak an English-based creole language containing many African words and influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure.

In Africa, the people had cultivated African Rice for possibly up to 3,000 years. Once British colonial planters in the American South discovered that rice would grow in that region, they often sought enslaved Africans from rice-growing regions because of their skills and knowledge needed to develop and build irrigation, dams and earthworks.

Interesting facts:

The folk song Michael Row the Boat Ashore (or Michael Row Your Boat Ashore) comes from the Gullah culture. It is also claimed that the origin of Kum Bah Yah, which phrase is in Gullah dialect, is in this culture. 

Gullah spirituals, shouts, and other musical forms employ the ""call and response"" method commonly used in African music.

Gullah "sweet grass baskets" are coil straw baskets made by the descendants of slaves in the South Carolina low country, and are almost identical to coil baskets made by the people in Senegal.

Gullah "strip quilts" mimic the design of cloth woven with the traditional strip loom used throughout West Africa, such as Kente cloth from Ghana and Akwete cloth from Nigeria are woven on the strip loom.

A non-English song of unknown meaning, preserved by a Gullah family, was found in the 1990s to be a Mende funeral song, probably the longest text in an African language to survive enslavement to the present day USA.

While we had our lunch, there was two Gulla gentlemen making the sweet grass baskets, and it was simply amazing to watch them weave them with what looked like so little effort into something so beautiful.

Saturday night, we had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the water.  Another excellent dinner, which ended with chocolate creme brule, which was fabulous.

We left the island on Sunday about 1:00 and made it back to Frederick in time to pick up a few necessities at Wal-Mart before heading home.

Many COPA people were responsible for the transportation, the tours and the wonderful food we had.  A big thanks goes out to each and everyone of them.

P
 
Here's a sweet grass basket, which you can see is just beautiful.

 


 

Up, Up and Away!

10/23/2015

Well today is finally here.  Around noon, we're loading up Mister Sam at the kennel and then getting ourselves to the airport.  When you are going to fly, either in a jumbo jet or a smaller one like ours, it's not just get in, start the engine and go.  Nope, there has to be an inspection of the outside of the plane, make sure you have enough fuel on board, and tell the air traffic controllers where you're heading.  All of this takes time.

We're flying to Hilton Head, SC for a "fly-in".  That's where people who own the same type of plane that we have, get together for some fun.  The pilots will have some kind of pilot meeting, talking about a host of things, probably safety if I was to guess.

We women are taking a tour of the island and in the afternoon we'll learn about the history and culture of the Gullah people.  I'm bring my bathing suit, just in case there is some free time during the weekend, where I can dip my toes in the sand.  If not, at least I will have been prepared.

I find taking a trip very anxiety producing.  I'm not a high maintenance kind of girl, but I want to make sure that my clothes match with one or more pants/tops.  I'm always afraid that I'm leaving something important behind.  Mind you, I never have, but it's still a worry of mine anyway.  

I once worked for a man who told me the best advice about taking at trip.  Whatever you have forgotten to bring, there's probably a store just around the corner.  It's good advice but I still fret about pretty much everything before a trip.  I tend to relax after the plane lifts off, because it's not with me, there's nothing I can do about it.

Here's a picture looking down on the pool and ocean.  And yes, I'm bringing sunscreen.  Have to avoid sun wrinkles if I can.   

P

 

The Day Before ...

10/22/2015

Today is the day before Jeff and I fly to Hilton Head for the weekend.  Men getting ready to take a trip have very little to do to make themselves ready.  Women not so much.  Jeff will probably think of what he's going to pack tonight before he goes to bed.

Me, I've given a lot of thought into what I want to bring.  Women like to have choices, even if it's just for two days.  And women have to do stuff, like getting their toes and nails done, so that they look and feel pretty.  

The forecast for the weekend shows temperatures in the high 70's, so I'll pack accordingly.  Plus, I always want to have something extra to wear in case a shirt or pants get dirty, and we are going to have a b-b-q lunch on Saturday.  Very messy.

There are two tours for us ladies on Saturday, which will take most of the day.  While the day will be pretty much filled, I'm still hoping for some time at the ocean, which I find very calming.

Tomorrow, on our way to the airport, we will drop Mr. Sam off at the kennel, which he isn't going to like, but it's the best solution.  Since I'm at home most of the time, he has become clingy and at least while he's at the kennel, his barking (yapping) won't bother anybody.

I've lots to do today, so I guess I'd better get started.

P

Tune-Up

10/21/2015

Today, I'm meeting with a representative of St. Jude's to get a "tune up" on my stimulator.  I had the surgery in July and the stimulator hasn't been "tweeked" since then.  We're going away this weekend, and I suspect there will be a fair amount of walking and standing, so this seems like the perfect time to adjust things.

I will say that I do believe the stimulator makes a difference.  On Friday, during the Pumpkin Festival with Stacey and Benjamin, I was able to stand and walk around for a number of hours.  But, by the early evening, I was done.  I was almost unable to put one foot in front of the other, and I want to avoid that, if I can, this weekend.

I am looking forward to the weekend, and am hoping for some downtime at the pool or by the ocean.  All I need is my hat (don't want any more wrinkles), Kindle and some kind of drink (it could even be water) that has an umbrella stuck inside the glass.

Nearly forgot.  Today is National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day (yum I could go for that).  Also National Reptile Awareness Day - why would I want to be aware of reptiles? Yuck.

P

Happy Tuesday

10/20/2015

It's brisk this morning, but so refreshing after the heat of the summer.  I like that at this time of year you can add layers of clothes to stay warm.  There's not much that you could or should take off in the summer, and remain "G" rated!

Picked up my new sunglasses yesterday.  I am faithful about wearing them when I'm outside.  Who knows maybe it's saving me from a wrinkle or two.  Not that I worry about wrinkles, who has time for that?

This Friday afternoon, Jeff and I are piling into the plane and heading for Hilton Head for a pilot weekend. There will be some kind of class for pilots and we non-flying ladies will have a tour of the island.  There is a buy your own dinner on Friday and another dinner on Saturday night.  I'll take the tour, but what I really want to do is take my kindle and my hat and sit by the pool or the ocean.  Oh, I'd also like to sip something that has an umbrella in it.  I don't think that's asking too much.

For me the real challenge is what clothes to take.  I, like all the women that I know, tend to pack too much (and yes Jeff I can "see" you shaking your head up and down).  You need sandals to wear to the pool and/or the beach.  I wear tennis shoes when in the plane, because you have to pull yourself up and put a foot on the strip of the wing designed for feet before getting inside.

If there's much walking around, then my tennies will be the go to shoe.  Dinner Saturday night? Sandals I think.  I don't need to look like a dork 24/7.  

I'm of course taking my stimulator to help with pain.  I learned last Friday after walking around for several hours, that eventually I can almost not pick up my feet, because I hurt so much.  I'll probably carry my device in my purse so that I can increase the stimulation during the day if I need to.

Mr. Sam is going to a kennel and Maggie will be staying with Scott.  Maggie will have a better time because she can play with dogs who are more her size.  There was talk of leaving Mr. Sam home, he has a doggy door.  But, he has become used to my being home most of the time, and if he was left on his own, he'd make sure all the neighbors knew he was unhappy.

Here's your holidays:

• Birth of the Bab
• Miss American Rose Day
• National Face Your Fears Day (this would be for me)
• The International Day of the Air Traffic Controller (this is for Jeff and all of the other pilots who are kept safe by what Air Traffic Controllers do every day)

There you have it, all the news that's fit to print.

P

It's Not Summer Anymore!

10/19/2015

If you were looking for a clear sign that summer is gone, just look at the temperature outside.  I did this morning and it was 40 degrees, so I declared hot days over for the year.  It seems unlikely that the a/c will run again until next summer, which will make Pepco sad, because our bills are always high.  On the other hand, since we have a gas furnace, the gas company will be happy, because our bills which are low in the summer, will now be on the rise.  See it's a win-win for everyone.

Last night we turned on our gas log in the fireplace.  We have a blower inside, and after a few hours, you either have to turn it down or turn it off.  It really heats up that room.  Mister Sam laid in front of the fireplace yesterday to warm up his old bones.

Jeff was kind enough to blow and pick up the leaves this weekend.  It doesn't matter how good a job he does, every day more leaves fall to the ground.  This will continue until the first frost, which can't happen soon enough for those of us who have big and at this time of year, messy oak or maple trees!

We're leaving on Friday for Hilton Head for the weekend.  It's a fly-in event, but the emphasis will be more on fun, rather than lectures.  There is one lecture (or whatever they call it) for the pilots.  We wives will be taking a tour of the island on Saturday.

I will make sure that my Kindle is charged, and a perfect day would be sitting on the beach or near the pool and having a drink with an umbrella stuck inside the glass.  You can see it doesn't take too much to make me happy.

Benjamin stayed with us Friday and Saturday night.  If a stranger walked into my house after a visit from Benjamin, they would definitely know he'd been here.  The house has a few toys, a stack of movies we watched that haven't been put away yet, and stuffed animals on the couch.  When Benjamin is here, all I want is for him to play and not worry about messing things up.  If there is music that he likes in a movie, he gets up and starts dancing and singing.  By the way, he's good at both of those things!

I'm going this morning to pick up my new lenses for my sunglasses, which will have improved distance vision.  This is good news for all Maryland drivers.

We have some fun "holidays to celebrate today:

• Dress like a dork day
• Evaluate your life day
• International adjust your chair day
• National clean your virtual desktop day and
• New Friends day

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Piggy Day!

10/18/2015

Yesterday, I had a piggy day.  While I was at Butler's Orchard on Friday, I bought two cake doughnuts (yum yum), a loaf of seven grain bread, a caramel apple (double yum) and several chocolate covered pretzels.

To be fair, I did share the pretzels with Benjamin, but the doughnuts and apple were all mine.  And, they were good.  The farmer's market was also selling candied apples with that red, rock hard candy shell, which I've never thought were very good.  But, the caramel apple, which I don't eat very often, was so good.

I remember, and perhaps you do too, when it was apple season, you would also see a bag of Kraft individually wrapped caramel candy near by.  For many years, I unwrapped all of the candy, cooked it slowly on the stove.  After the apples were dipped, placed them on buttered wax paper.  What I ate yesterday, was just as good as the ones I made from "scratch".  

While most people crave glazed doughnuts, I have always thought that cake doughnuts tasted so much better.  And, because I like to play brain games with myself, have convinced myself they are lower in calories.

I did some research and a glazed doughnut has 260 calories, but if you've already set your mind on eating one, then who gives a hoot for the calorie count.

Cake doughnuts, on the other hand, provided they're not iced are only 192 calories. So while you're enjoying one (or two), you can feel somewhat pious about all the calories you're saving.

P

An Afternoon at the Farm

10/17/2015

Yesterday, Benjamin, Stacey and I went to Butler's Orchard for Pumpkin Festival Day.  We were joined by a few of our closest 200 "friends".  I think every school was there yesterday, which meant long lines for some of the things that Benjamin wanted to do.

There was a $7.00 fee for each person, which entitled you to a pumpkin the size of your head and 2 apples.  I joked with Benjamin that my ego was so big, that we'd need a really big pumpkin!

There was no shortage of hay.  It was everywhere.  There was a barn that had large stacks of hay for children as well as adults (but not me) to climb on, roll in and throw.  Some children were just grabbing big handfuls of hay, coming out of the barn and throwing the hay around.  I was the recipient of several of those handfuls.

Benjamin and Stacey went down the tube slides and went inside the hay maze.  I went into the maze at the opening where you could stand up and hay was everywhere.  Benjamin loved the maze and didn't want to leave.  But, he also wanted to take a hayride out to get his pumpkin and it was close to closing time, so we waited in line for one of the last rides.

There were no bales of hay in the trailer, just hay and more hay.  I, with help from Stacey, managed to wade through the hay to get to the back of the trailer.  I managed to sit down but when it was time to get out for pumpkin picking, Stacey had to help me stand up.  There was nothing that I particularly enjoyed about the hayride, if I could have sat on a hay bale, I think I would have liked it more.

Once in the pumpkin field, where only the small pumpkins were, I noticed how trashy people have become.  There were trash cans for you guessed it - trash.  But as we wandered around looking for the perfect pumpkins, according to Benjamin, we walked over water bottles and food wrappers.  Seriously?  There was also a lot of smashed pumpkins and I don't know if perhaps some children smashed them because it was fun, or the smashing was done at night by teenagers.

The farmer's market closed sharply at 5:30, so the three of us just got inside the store in the nick of time.  I bought seven grain bread (that's healthy right?), two apple cider doughnuts (not healthy I know, but with coffee tastes really good).  I treated myself to a carmel apple and bought chocolate covered pretzel rods for the three of us to nosh on as we drove home.

We stopped at Party City, where it was a zoo filled with people - lots of people!  Benjamin wavered a bit about what he wanted to be, but in the end decided on becoming a cowboy.  Stacey bought him the bandanna, vest, cowboy hat and spurs.  Boots will come later.

One final stop before our day was complete.  Cold Stone Creamery where I had only one scoop of birthday cake.  We took the ice cream home and put it in the freezer, while Jeff fixed all of us scrambled eggs, which he does better than anyone I know.

I had bought Benjamin the movie "102 Dalmatians", starring Glenn Close.  The movie came out in 2001 and I had never heard of it, but saw somewhere that this movie existed.  Amazon to the rescue.  The movie I'm sure would not have earned any Oscar nods, but the three of us laughed out loud at all the antics that befell Glenn Close as Cruella!

After the movie was over, Stacey left to go home and Jeff, Benjamin and I headed for bed.  I was well and truly exhausted after being on my feet and walking around for so many hours.

This morning, I woke up with my "other" voice - the deep, slightly hoarse voice.  Some might call it sexy, I just find it annoying.

We have Benjamin with us today and tomorrow.  Today will likely be clean up the leaves in the front yard - again!  I still wish the oak tree could/would dump all of it's leaves at one time, it would make things much easier in the long run.  

Have a wonderful Saturday.

P

Lipstick and Perfume

10/16/2015

You all know that I am brand loyal with a capital "B".  I have worn the same shade of Revlon lipstick for more years than I can count, and now my shade has been discontinued.  I think if companies are going to stop making "x" or "y", there should be some kind of announcement, so we can begin hoarding either "x" or "y".

I have a particular shade of lipstick that I like and have several tubes of it tucked away in a drawer.  But when my stash is gone, that shade of lipstick will also be gone.  I went on Amazon yesterday and typed in the name of the lipstick that I like.  Since it's discontinued, you can still buy the lipstick, but it's going to set you back $30.00 a tube!  As Judge Judy would say "that's ridiculous".  

The next time I'm in a store, I'm going to have to go through the shades of lipstick that most clearly resemble my old favorite.  I suspect that I will have to buy several different colors, which are, of course, non-returnable, until I find a suitable substitute.  What a drag.

Yes, I'm old and yes I'm set in my ways.  I like certain things just the way they are or were and you have to take me kicking and screaming to the store to find something new, like lipstick.

I'm also loyal to Chloe vintage perfume.  Yes there are new Chloe scents, but I want the old Chloe, which, of course, is not made anymore.  Earlier this year, I made it my mission to go on Ebay and buy all the vintage Chloe perfume that was available.  Most of the bottles have been used, but I bought them anyway.  So some bottles are half-full and others not so much.  In my spare bathroom, I have my many bottles of Chloe sitting on the vanity waiting to be used in the future.

I know most women are not as rigid as I am.  They like trying new perfumes and lipstick, but I'm in a rut that is comfortable for me.  When I'm not able to get vintage Chloe any longer, than I will be forced to try something new.  Until that time, I'm good.

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New Glasses

10/15/2015

Yesterday, I went to the opticians to pick up my new glasses.  I don't have a simple prescription that could be filled anywhere.  Nope, I have prisms to avoid seeing double (a good thing), and bifocal.  Because my new lenses is always pretty pricey, most times when I get a new prescription, I use my old frames.

This time around, I decided that it had been several years since I had new frames, and now was the time to get a new pair.  I love the new frames.  They have a bit of "gold" on the ear pieces, which makes me look all snazzy!  I also have prescription sunglasses, but never change those until I have worn my regular glasses for a few days, to make sure that there are no problems.

I have now ordered new lenses for my sunglasses.  I like my sunglasses frames, so am opting just for new lenses and am having the lenses polarized to cut down on glare and haze.  People, I truly need all the help I can get for seeing in the distance!  I just wish I could get a seeing eye dog that could drive!

The good news is that I will have my new lenses before our trip to Hilton Head, SC on the 23rd. So while we're flying next Friday, I'll be able to really give my new lenses a workout as far as glare goes.  

Whenever it's time for me to pick up my new glasses, it always feels like a two-edged sword.  I fret that the prescription won't be just right, and this has happened before.  The worst case of this was years ago when I walked out of an optician's office and my eyes began to burn and tear up.  I thought it was just due to my getting used to the new prescription, but after several days went back.  I'm a slow learner!  Turns out, that those fools had put my bifocals on the top of the lens, and it was no wonder that my eyes were giving me so much trouble.

So if you live in my neighborhood, have no fears because I can really see you now!

P

Today is National Grouch Day as well as Conflict Resolution Day