Just Stuff

Hey, Y'all,
This is Tuesday evening and all is quiet (kind of - if you can count two tevee's going). Gramps is in bed for the night - after having taken a 4 hour nap this afternoon - and is watching tevee from his bed. Yesterday and today have been beautiful unseasonable weather days. Tomorrow is supposed to be cool and drizzly.

Yesterday and today I have spent several hours doing handstitching on Will's quilt. It is a really BIG quilt and quite unwieldy, but manageable. By the time I get through wagging it around, it will have to be laundered. That will be the last thing I do with it until it is packed up and mailed (probably to his mom so she can see it before sending it on to him). I will certainly post a picture of it before mailing it.

Yesterday we had our neighbors down to supper and we had a really great time and we played "Aggravation" while they were here. Scott, the dad, put a padlock on the basement door so that Gramps would not be able to go down there when I am not here. I just can't take the chance that he would decide to try to go down there and fall on the way down. He has recently decided that he was pushed out of his job teaching and made to retire. Not so. He can't remember how long he has been retired, but he says he is still getting paid. ha. And that is true.

This morning I went to my eye doctor and after a couple of tests, was pronounced no bad change in my eye condition. Thank you, Jesus!

I had called a septic tank drain company yesterday to come and drain our septic tank, and they came near noon today. They had to search around to find the septic tank and finally located it near the edge of the property near the fence row to the right of our house (looking out of the house's front). It took them about a couple of hours to do all of the digging and draining, and then they left. I sat out in the sunshine and watched their progress. I also cleaned the dead hummingbird vine off the hummingbird feeder pole.

I met with my neighbor, Laurie, this afternoon and we planned our Thanksgiving meal. She is going to prepare some of it and I will prepare some of it. Then they will bring their part down here and we will all pig out together. Ha. They are such wonderful people!

Well, that is about all for now. Here are some more pictures from last Sunday celebrating Mae's 90th birthday. (l)Mae prepares to blow out the candle on her birthday cake; (2) Mae's great grandchild with grandmother, Doris; (3) Mike (nephew and son of my brother, Ralph) standing by Lisa (Mae's granddaughter);
(4) My cousin, Cheryl, talking with Mae.

For supper tonight, I put a Stouffer's lasagna into the oven and then woke Gramps up to share it with me, and put the leftover into the fridge for sometime tomorrow.

Well, folks, that is about it for now. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to all of you. More later. Bye for now.

Movie Day, The Vols, and Fog

Hey, Y'all,

Yes, we went to Knoxville yesterday for Movie Day and had a really fun time. We went to eat at the Red Lobster (to celebrate Mae's birthday - she really loves to eat there - and also to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary). Hugh and Imazo would have been married 57 years on November 21st, had he lived to then. Hugh's and Mae's birthdays were the same date. He and Mae were 9 and 18 respectively when she and my brother Bill were married.

After we had a delicious lunch, we went back to Imazo's and watched a movie called "Lullaby of Broadway" with Doris Day and Gene Nelson. We all really enjoyed it, and Gramps actually smiled and laughed at parts of it, and really brightened up at the music in it. I realized then that I need to play more music around here so that he will enjoy it.

As you may or may not be aware, we are Tennessee Vol fans in this house. (Our son-in-law in Texas, Daryl, is also a dyed-in-the-wool Vols fan). We were dismayed to see Ole Miss tromp our boys yesterday, but then, they played better football than our team did. Some gotta win, some gotta lose - that's the breaks of the game. Next time, we'll get 'em. (See pic of wreath near our front door - that was supplied to Gramps while he stayed at Terrace Estates Assisted Living Place in Morristown, while I was in Alabama in June trying to recuperate from reconstructive repair surgery of gall bladder. It was supplied by his nieces for his door so he could recognize his room.)

Something else about Terrace Estates - while we were there together in September, I was asked to write a short piece of prose about our stay there, which I did, and they took mine and Gramps picture. The idea was to place an ad in the local papers to let people know that it was a good place to reside, both for long term and short term times. Well, our piece was in the Morristown Tribune a couple of weeks ago, and then in the Jefferson Standard Banner this week. I guess we are famous now, huh?

I went out early this morning down to the mailbox to get our Sunday paper and noticed the fog which had come in during the wee hours of the morning and settled in the low-lying places. It reminded me of the poem by Carl Sandburg that just about every child in America has heard of or memorized. He wrote the poem almost a hundred years ago. Here it is:

FOG

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

I love that poem, and never fail to think of it when I see fog. I took pictures of it, so that I could post them here. One area of the fog covered the land on which we once raised tobacco and corn. Another area is of the house that we lived in for quite a few years and the land it is on stirs up memories for me, and will do so for those loved ones who know it as well and who will see this.

We had planned on going to church today, but when I asked Gramps this morning if he was ready to get up and go, he said he didn't think so. So, here I sit, doing things that could wait until later and keeping busy. I put on some chicken to cook for the chicken pot pie I am making tomorrow for supper with our neighbors. I added a few carrots, some onions, some spices (ground cayenne pepper, sage, thyme, oregano) to it while it is cooking. When the chicken is done, I will let it cool and chop it up to the right size for the pot pie, and save the broth from it to make the white sauce with. Then tomorrow it will just take adding it all together with the cream style corn and the small green peas, and put it into the big bowl I cook it in with a pie crust lining the bowl and some velveeta on top of the mixture, then top it with another crust, and bake it. For dessert we will have fresh frozen fruit mixture (blueberries, raspberries, peaches and mango, with some honey dew melon mixed in with it) topped with Cool Whip. YUM!

I also worked on Will's quilt some this morning, and have the binding put on it. Next I will be doing hand stitching around each flower on the squares. I am beginning to see the end of it. I am excited about getting it to Will (B.J.). He is in the cold north of North Dakota in the U. S. Air Force. We are so very proud of him (as we are of all our grands and great-grands) and love all of them dearly.

Well, that is about it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to all of you. Bye for now. More later.

A Plethora of Bath Stools

Hey, Y'all,
We are now the proud owners of three bath stools that can be used in the bathtub. You see, it happened like this. When we were living in Florida, in 2004, I had triple by-pass surgery on my heart, and when I came home from the hospital (after Hurricane Ivan), my son-in-law, Tom, bought a bath stool for me (Pic. # 1). So, of course, when we moved back to TN in 2006, we brought that one back with us. I used it for a long time as a seat while working on my flowers on the front porch.

Then last year, when Gramps was sick and the home health care people said he should have a transfer bath seat, (while we were still in Ohio, stranded there while he was in a rehab facility). So I bought one, and when we got it home a week later, it was so big that there was not enough room in our little bathroom to use it. (Pic. # 2). So, it became a seat for me to use in my workroom as a sewing chair, also is useful for two of my neighbor's children to use at the dinner table.

This year, one of the home health care professionals (the occupational therapist) recommended that he have a transfer bench to use for his showers. I told her I did not want one unless it was made of the same material as the small seat we had in the tub at the time. (pic # 1). So she said, yes, it would be of the same material. So we received it on Wednesday, and the physical therapist was here when it arrived and put it together for us. (Pic. # 3). It is exactly like one that we had eleven years ago to use when Gramps had part of his left foot removed and needed it then. That one, we had gotten rid of when we moved to Florida in 2004. So we have come full circle now.

Tomorrow is going to be movie day for us this week. Today was Mae's true birthday, and so I called her and sang happy birthday to her and we chatted for awhile.

We had supper an hour ago and now we will have dessert (honey bran muffins with coffee). This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

A Lovely Sunday

Hey, Y'all,
Sunday dawned clear and mild. It was a day to celebrate my sister-in-law's (Mae's) 90th birthday. Her birthday is actually on this coming Friday, but her children wanted to honor her by giving her a reception at her church home, City View Baptist, in Knoxville.
It was a beautiful time of celebration and friends and family came to wish her well.

Mae was beautiful ( as always) in her purple outfit, and charming smile, and didn't look a day over 80. We all had a great time and were pleased to see her happy and honored.

Gramps and I left around 4 p.m. and went to Jefferson City and had supper at the Gondolier in Jefferson City.

We are celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary today and had planned to go out to eat, but the weather was so gloomy and rainy that I just fixed supper here and we will go out to eat on Friday, which is actually Mae's real birthday, and was also my brother, Hugh's, birthday and this year will be the first one that he will not be celebrating with us since he passed on last January. We used to all go out on the friday closest to the 13th and celebrate our anniversary and birthdays together.

Oh, yes, yesterday we had the next door neighbors down here for supper with us for the first time since I had been so ill. It was wonderful to be having them eating supper with us again, and of course we played dominoes after supper. We had a great salad of romaine hearts, that had a lot of different toppings,(dried cranberries, raisins, english walnuts, green onions, cucumbers, dried french onions, chopped boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, pecan crusted chicken tenders, mushrooms, carrots, ) and was delicious, followed by apple pie topped with ice cream.

A funny story about the apple pie: Yesterday morning, I peeled and sliced the apples (granny smith), and put them on to heat so that they would do well in the pie. Well, I got busy eating my breakfast of oatmeal, with walnuts and raisins, and forgot about the apples. When I finished my breakfast, I realized the apples had been on too long. OOPS~I found they had turned into applesauce, but guess what? After draining them, I simply added a little more cornstarch than the recipe called for, and it made two beautiful yummy pies.

This afternoon, I finished another step in Will's quilt, and am ready to put the binding around the quilt. That will take a few hours to do, I think. I may begin to work on the binding tomorrow. I do have a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned tomorrow. I am also supposed to be getting delivery on a transfer bath chair for Gramps. They were supposed to be bringing it today, but had the address wrong. I don't know how the whole wrong address matter got started with the home health care people in Jefferson County, but from the very beginning, they had it wrong and every health care person that has come out here since we got home from the assisted living facility has gotten lost because they had the incorrect address. They would call me and then I would give them directions and the correct address.

So after they called me around noon today to tell me that they would be delivering the bath chair, and it came to be 3:30 and they had not come, I started thinking that maybe they had the wrong address, so I called them and sure enough they had tried to deliver it to the wrong place. They assured me it would be delivered tomorrow.

More on that later. Ha. Well, now to identify the pictures I have posted:
1. Top: Mae and her children, Fred and Norma
2. Next:, Mae and sister, Lucille, and brother, Clifton, and nieces and nephews.
3, Mae and family of children, grand children and great grandchildren.
4. Imazo, Mae and me.
5. Mae and Gramps (doesn't he look dapper?)

I took more pictures than this but decided to choose these to post. More pictures of this summer past tomorrow.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. More later. Much love to all of you. Bye for now.

A Good Day Today

Hey, Y'all,
Well, today was a good day as far as Gramps is concerned. I was up and having my breakfast in the kitchen when Gramps sashays in ready for breakfast (around 8:45). I helped him get his breakfast ready to eat, and then fixed his shot and administered it to him, and made a pot of coffee.

After he had finished breakfast and headed back into the living room, I finished getting the trash ready to carry off, and then when I left the house, I had the trash bagged up and put it in the car, and told him I would be back after going to Walmart.

Yesterday we went to Knoxville for our "movie day" and had a really good time going out to the Cracker Barrel, and then came back to watch the movie I had taken with me, "50 First Dates". We all laughed and enjoyed the movie, and then Gramps and I headed back home, dropping my sister-in-law, Mae, back at her house.

Gramps and I had ordered the spicy grilled catfish at Cracker Barrel and had enough left over for his lunch today. I had a couple of kosher hot dogs and some honey dew melon for my lunch. That took care of our lunch today (which I prepared after getting back from Walmart around noon). Early this morning, after arising around 7 a.m., I put the final row onto Will's quilt on the sewing machine, and then pinned it down to do some hand stitching on the last row.

After lunch, I cleaned the kitchen and sat down to do some hand stitching on "the quilt", and then decided I needed a nap. So from 2 to 3:30, I took a short nap (didn't sleep all that time), and finally got up, and did some more work on it.

This afternoon, I started supper and fixed some chicken livers, gravy, biscuits and opened a can of spinach. Yum, it was all very good, you know. I have spent a lot of time in that kitchen today, and washed dishes twice today,which is a lot for me. Ha.

Tomorrow, we will be going in to Knoxville to help celebrate Mae's 90th birthday. Her children have planned a reception celebration for her at the church where the Campbells have belonged for many years and where I met and accepted Jesus and was baptized 62 years ago. We look forward to helping them celebrate.

Gramps is watching the University of TN football team play right now against Univ. of Memphis. I am watching nothing right now. Nothing new on tonight. I will probably play a game on my computer, or do some more stitching on the quilt.

Well, that is about it for right now. My daughter, Teresa, had some sinus surgery on Thursday, but is recovering quite well. (Thank you, Jesus!). This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Much love to all of you. Bye for now.

A Really Good Day

Hey, Y'all,
Today got off to a good start. I was up early and had a good breakfast (oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, and sugar, and a little margarine, along with a piece of toast). Then I cleaned the kitchen, and prepared the coffee maker so that Gramps would have coffee when he was ready to get up and have his cheerios.

Then I went into the living room to work on Will's quilt and worked on it awhile, followed by a shower and then checked my e-mail. Gramps finally got up around noon time and had his breakfast and coffee. At 1:30 I left for the doctor's office where I had an appointment for my checkup. I had a really good visit with her and she told me that it is normal for someone with dementia to sleep a lot and he would increase the amount of sleeping as time goes by, and that eventually he would have difficulty eating and then finally would stop eating all together. Not a pleasant thing to hear, but I am glad I have someone I can talk to about his illness and what I can expect in the time ahead. She also told me that when she saw me earlier this summer, she was not sure I would live. I told her I knew I either had to get better or die one. She said that she was glad I got better, and gave me a big hug before I left. She also said to call her if I needed to. I left with an appointment for 3 months down the road.

When I left her office, I went to the drug store for a little while and then headed up to have supper with my friend, Ginger, with whom I used to teach and have known her since we were in college together 46 years ago. We had a really good time talking as we ate and then talked some more. We met at the restaurant at 4 p.m. and didn't leave until 6 p.m. I stopped at KFC on the way home and bought a 3 piece chicken dinner for Gramps. It was still hot when I got home with it about 5 minutes later.

Tomorrow is a "free day" which means I have no appointments anywhere, and will probably put the final batting needed in Will's quilt and will soon be ready to do the hand stitching around the flowers on each square. I will probably put the binding around the edges first though. I am hoping to have it finished before the year is out ( 2 months).

Well, that is about it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you. Bye for now. More later.

Sunday at our Home

Hey, Y'all,
All is quiet here in our home. It was a long night. I woke up at 5:30 (new time - or should I say new old time?) and although the clock said 6:30, I knew it was not. I had not yet turned back the page of time. I now have changed the kitchen clocks. Gramps got up at what he thought was 8:15 a.m. and not knowing it was actually 7:15. He came into the kitchen and sat at the table while I made breakfast (sausage, eggs, biscuits and coffee). We only have that one day a week at home. After we finished eating, I looked over and saw he was sitting at the table sleeping. So I sent him back to bed. Wasn't that sweet of me? Ha. It was either that or send him into the living room to sleep in his chair.

I cleaned up the kitchen and then took my morning shower, and came in here to get dressed and turn on my computer. I can see evidence of Teresa having been online earlier this morning, and I know from what I read that she and Tom are probably working on the installation of wood flooring in their bedroom. I guess no chatting with her will take place until she gets too tired to work anymore.

Thursday afternoon, I had a visit from my friend, Phyllis, and she brought me some delicious cookies that she had made. Yum! They are about gone. I had just gotten back from Walmart, and exchanged a pair of overalls I had bought to wear. Someone asked me where I was going to wear them, and I said, "Anywhere I take a notion to." I love wearing them. It keeps my arms agile, reaching back for the strap to fasten over my shoulder. Ha. Of course I had to roll the overall legs up some because the inseam is too long for my short legs. Safety pins do come in handy, don't they? And they add to the ambiance of wearing overalls, don't they?

Friday, we headed into Knoxville for our "movie day" this past week. We watched the other movie that was on the dvd that we had watched the saturday before. This movie was "The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again". Well, I thought that both movies were on the same side of the dvd, and kept fast forwarding through the first movie and came back each time to the beginning of the first movie. So, I was finally smart enough (took long enough, ha) to take out the disc and look at it. I saw in the very small print that it had a side A and a side B. Duh! So we finally got to watch it. We had gone to Shoney's to have lunch before we watched the movie, and enjoyed that. It had been several months since we had been together to Shoney's.

Yesterday, I was up early and spent the day on several different things. I cleaned the front and sides of the fridge with clorox wipes and rearranged the decor on the front of it. (Pictures, magnets, telephone numbers, etc.)
Also cleaned the bathroom and worked on my quilt for Will (BJ) some, and did some rearranging of cloth I had stashed in different places and put it all in an under the worktable box, and put it (yep, you guessed it)- under my worktable. I also made some great vegetable beef soup of which we dined on for supper. My friend, Ina Ray, stopped by for a visit and it was wonderful to see her (as always). I gave her some of the soup and cornbread for her dinner today.

We had no Halloweenies to stop by last night. We do not celebrate Halloween, but we like the candy! Ha. Well, my kitchen is clean, and I am clean, and I may take a nap after while, who knows...

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Love to all of you. Bye for now.