Taking the Challenge - A to Z

Hey, Y'all,
Yeah, I know, two posts in one day. Phenomenal, huh? Anyhoo, (Southern speak for anyhow), Arlee Bird of "tossing in out", (see blog list at right), has thrown down the gauntlet for fellow bloggers to use the alphabet (in order) to choose subjects each Mon-Saturday for the month of April. Of course, April first's subject will begin with the letter "A". It will be interesting to see how many different subjects are chosen by those participating in the challenge and what they do with them.

The first day of the challenge is day after tomorrow. I look forward to it. Those who know me well, know that I thrive on challenges. Well, I gotta get to the day here, so see you tomorrow. Bye for now. This is Blabbin' Grammy quittin' the blabbin' for today. More later.

A Beautiful Dream

Hey, Y'all,
Didja ever have a dream that seemed so real you could taste it? Well, I quite often do, and last night was no exception. My ancestors were true believers when it came to dreams and that they had special meanings and portents of things to come. Both the Scots and the Cherokee were believers in meanings of dreams. Do I believe they are foretellers of things to come or that they have special meanings? Maybe, sometimes.

Anyway, on to what I dreamed...I dreamed that both my daughters, Carol and Teresa, came into town to visit with me. They were dressed fit to kill, and were laughing and talking and having a great time, and I was having a wonderful time with them. It was just beautiful, so that when I woke up, I had a feeling of euphoria.

Later, when I went back to sleep, it was summer time, and I was in the house with Gramps, and we lived on a city street, and the neighbors were coming in and opened the windows and were bringing a list of things that we needed to provide for an old man's birthday. The bees were coming in at the windows, and the people were asking if I had any ice cream or soda, and I said "no, but I could get some". One person asked how long ago we had built the house, and I said we didn't build it. He said, "Oh, so do you rent it?". I replied, "Shhh! My husband thinks we own it" (This is true).

Anyway, there was a lot more to the dream, but I thought you might enjoy reading about it. Duh!

Yesterday was a busy day, and just about the time I got into the preparation of supper for our neighbors to share with us, Gramps had a problem and so got his second shower of the day, and preparation of supper got put on hold temporarily. Consequently, I didn't get the morning dishes done along with pots and pans I used for preparing supper. Anyway, did get supper ready on time, but the kitchen looked like the Wreck of the Hesperus* by the time I was through with the preps.

*The Wreck of the Hesperus is a poem written a long time ago by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The use of the term saying that something or someone looks like the wreck of the Hesperus is a colloquial term in the UK to mean an untidy room or someone with a disheveled appearance. A lady that my sister, Margaret, was a caregiver of quite often used the term saying that she, Mildred, must look like the wreck of the Hesperus.

We had a lovely supper last night. I had roasted chicken (which was delicious - I had mixed some dried herbs and rubbed the breast of the chicken underneath the skin with them), and a squash casserole, cooked turnips (which the neighbors had never had), green beans and fresh loaves of potato bread that I had made. Fresh strawberries and whipped cream was our dessert. The kids had brought their Boggle game with them and we played that and had a lot of fun playing it. I had never played the game before so it was new to me.

Today, I am working on finishing up the baby quilt for Isaac Aaron, Tanya and Brian's newest baby. I should have it finished by the end of the day. Gramps is still in bed, and I have already unloaded the dishwasher, carried off the trash, and had breakfast. I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. OH! That would make a couple of good lines in a poem, wouldn't it? Oops! I can't use it since Robert Frost has already used it. I seem to be waxing poetic today. Speaking of poetry...Did you memorize poetry in school? We certainly did, and feel much the better for it. I absolutely love poetry! You can say with poetry what is sometimes difficult to express with prose.

Well, the weather is finally turning beautiful and we are looking for 75 degrees on Thursday for "movie day". I love it! We are looking forward to it.

This is about it for today. Blabbin' Grammy is signing off and through telling it all for right now. Much love to each of you. Bye for now. More later.

Rain, Anyone?

Hey, Y'all,
I woke up this morning to rain pattering on the window. I had already decided last evening that I would go to Jefferson City Walmart to do some grocery shopping. I had made up my list to take with me. Last night, I was hit with a bout of sneezing that left me worn out and not able to sleep well. However, I was up by a little past 7:30 this morning, and pulled on my clothes and got my list, put on my jacket and told Gramps that I would be back later, that he could go ahead and sleep.

I left then about 8 a.m. and stopped at Hardee's which is just across the road from Walmart and had a gravy biscuit plate. Then on to Wally World where I did my shopping. When I came out the rain had ceased and the sun was shining. I thought, "how wonderful, we are going to have some sunshine today". Unfortunately, by the time I got home and got the car unloaded, it was ready to rain again.

When I got the perishables put away, I checked on Gramps and he was still sleeping, so I went in and turned on the computer, and began playing a game, waiting to chat with Teresa. I then turned off the game and saw that Teresa was online and sending me an IM. So we chatted a while and by the time we finished it was nearly noon here.
By the time that Gramps got up, it was 2 p.m. He had breakfast and I had lunch, and then I cleaned the kitchen, while he went in and watched some television. At four o'clock I told him I was going to take a nap and fix supper after I had my sleep. So I went to bed and had a nice rest. I got up and baked a fresh pizza that I had purchased earlier in the day at walmart. Believe it or not, Gramps soon went to bed about an hour after supper.

Last evening, my friend Ina Ray came by and we visited for about two hours and kind of caught up on happenings since she last visited. She works some weekends as an accountant in Jeff and so is able to stop by to visit when she doesn't have to hurry back home to Knoxville. She is such a wonderful friend to me, and we have been through a lot together over the past twenty years. We have laughed and cried together.

On Friday I was able to get the quilt almost finished for Tanya's new baby son, Isaac. I still have the label to get done for it. I am about ready to begin work on the quilt for new great granddaughter, Brooke. I will begin it on Tuesday or Wednesday, and will be taking it with us when we head out there next month. Speaking of which, I have a few more pictures of her at the top of this posting. Two of the pics have Andrew (papa) and big sister, Alyssa, and of course, my daughter, Carol with husband, Daryl, are paternal grandparents with little Brooke. I am anxious to see pics of mama Julia, and her parents with baby Brooke. I will publish those when I see them.

Tomorrow I am making roast chicken, a squash casserole, green beans, and fresh bread loaves for supper. Yum! Dessert will be fresh strawberries with whipped cream and animal cookies. I am sure I will be up by 7:30 or so in the morning to do such chores as cleaning the bathroom, sweeping and mopping the kitchen and beginning preparations for the supper. I always look forward to Mondays and having our neighbors to come in and share the meal with us.

The days are just kind of flying by, and the year is almost a fourth of the way over. Can you believe it? It is quite difficult to do so, isn't it?

Time now to cease this posting, and soon go to bed. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you. Perhaps tomorrow will be a sunny day. It won't be long until time for planting spring and summer flowers. More tomorrow. Bye for now.

Welcome to our New Great Grandchild!,

Hey, Y'all,
We have a new great grandchild born this morning a little past 10 a.m. Texas time. Father and mother are both doing well. The new grand is a little girl born to grandson,
Andrew and his lovely wife, Julia. She is welcomed by her big sister, Alyssa, and lots of cousins and aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, and of course her mom and dad.

Our new little girl's name is Brooke Renee, and she weighed in at 8 lbs..and 14 ounces and was 20 inches long. Pictures at the top were posted on her paternal grandfather's blog, and I filched them from there. Aren't the wonders of technology absolutely marvelous? She is being held by Grandma Carol, and Grandpa Daryl.

I just called Gramps to come in here and we looked at the pictures together. We are looking forward to being out there in May for Amy and Matt's wedding and getting to meet Alyssa and Brooke. It will have been two years since we were last out there. We can hardly wait! Isn't it wonderful to have things to look forward to even when you are in your "golden years"? I look forward to each new day.

We went to Captain D's for lunch today, since Gramps was up early, and got dressed right away, and we both felt like going. The weather hit 70 degrees today with lots of sunshine. Hooray!

I'll be sewing some more this evening as I watch television in my workroom. I spent some time today folding clothes and putting them away. I guess I will fix some soup or chili for supper this evening, whenever the man gets hungry. We don't need a lot since we had a good dinner today.

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off (again for today). More tomorrow after we get back from "movie day". Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

"Ugga Ugga Boo..."

Hey, Y'all,
What in the world does that mean? Have you ever heard that before? The other evening when our neighbors were here and we were talking, that phrase popped into my mind and I said it aloud, wondering from what recesses of my memory it came. The next day, (yesterday), I went to my trusty computer browser and entered the whole phrase: "Ugga Ugga Boo, Ugga Boo Boo Ugga". Lo and behold, it came from the Mel Blanc Radio Show on CBS in 1946. On his show, he was the proprietor of a fix-it shop with motto, "you bend it, we mend it". Also on the show he belonged to the fraternal lodge, The Loyal Order of Benevolent Zebras, and the access password was "Ugga Ugga Boo, Ugga Boo Boo Ugga". I read also on the entry that in 1947, Spike Jones and his City Slickers Band came out with a song with that same title.

I am sure my brothers and my sister and I had repeated the phrase many times in jest. We were loyal listeners of the radio shows. How many of the following radio shows have you ever heard? "Can You Top This?" ( a show full of jokes told by comedians trying to top one another with clean jokes, even), "The Arkansas Traveler", "Fibber McGhee and Molly" (with their closet that was jammed with stuff that fell out when the door was opened - and it was each week), "Lum and Abner" (who ran a jot 'em down store),
"Burns and Allen" (with George Burns and Gracie Allen), "Inner Sanctum Mysteries" (with a screaking door), "The Shadow" (who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men), "The Green Lantern" and "The Green Hornet", "Superman", "Terry and the Pirates", "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy". On Saturday mornings they aired "Let's Pretend" which presented fairy tales, and following that there was "Armstrong Theater" which did plays each week.

Then there were the daytime soapers, "Ma Perkins", "Young Widder Brown", "Our Gal Sunday", "Life Can be Beautiful", "One Man's Family", "Lorenzo Jones" (he was an inventor), "Young Dr. Malone", "Search for Tomorrow" (it actually began on radio), "Portia Faces Life".

Well, that is my walk down memory lane this morning. My family, along with others, I am sure, enjoyed our years of listening to drama, comedy and music on radio. There was not a lot of entertainment available during those years. Of course, we played together and shared the common bond of relationships. Our family was very close and remained close. We did not have those explosions that happen in so many families, breaking them apart, and we have our parents to thank for that.

Today is the middle of the week and the weather is going to be beautiful. We have plans to go into Knoxville tomorrow for our "movie day". I talked to both Mae and Imazo yesterday, and Mae told me she was walking around in her yard yesterday and fell. She did not break anything, thank God, but she told me this morning that she is black and blue all over. She is 90 and still gets around really well, all things considered. She is having some tests today, an EKG and scanning the carotid arteries in her neck and ankles. Maybe an echo cardiogram as well. These were already scheduled and had nothing to do with the fall. We are so thankful that she didn't break anything yesterday.

Gramps spent most of yesterday in bed, and only got up around four to eat. I made a good breakfast for him at that time, and it wasn't long before he headed back to bed. He is up early this morning and is eating breakfast. I need to go in there and have my breakfast in a few minutes. I got up early this morning so that I could call Mae as a back up to her alarm clock. She has to go in at 8 a.m. this morning for her tests. When I called her at 7 she told me she had not slept good because she was worried she wouldn't hear her alarm. She had already had her shower and brushed her teeth and was getting dressed when I called her.

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

Oh, Spring - Where Art Thou?

Hey, Y'all,
It seems winter is reluctant to let go of the season, and just keeps hanging on! We had some snow on Sunday, and it was down below 40 degrees last night, and the wind has been really busy blowing about the eaves of the house.

Yesterday I spent some time making a key lime pie (new recipe for me) but it turned out well, and was enjoyed by both us and our neighbors. I only told Laurie what I was making and so the rest of the family had fun guessing what kind of pie it was when I brought it out of the fridge. Of course, I had made meringue for the topping and they could tell it was a cream pie of some time, but could not figure out the kind it was. It was a lot of fun!

I had added a half of a Polska Kielbasa to the potato soup. I had cut it into small pieces, and it really added to the flavor of the soup. I also added a small amount of dried tarragon and it added to the flavor as well. We had salads that we built ourselves using mandarin orange slices, bacon bits, dried cherry-cranberry-pecan mixture, feta cheese crumbles with basil and dried tomato. We also had hot cornbread to eat with the soup. It was all really good.

After we were stuffed to the gills, so to speak, we cleared off the table and Laurie loaded the dishwasher for me. We then brought out the game of Aggravation, which is one of our favorites to play, and played for about an hour.

Today, I was up early this morning, cleaned off the kitchen counter, and unloaded the dishwasher. Then I sat down and had my breakfast, and proceeded then to do Gramps' laundry. There is more laundry to do today, and I plan on doing some sewing today and balancing my checkbook.

Gramps is still in bed, and will probably be there a while. I suggested to him yesterday that we choose a soap opera to watch each day and that would be something he could look forward to watching every day. We could join all the other millions of seniors who watch a soaper and discuss what they think will happen to the characters. Ha ha. I did get him into the shower yesterday. He is sometimes reluctant to do so.

I was up at 6:30 this morning, and to bed late last night. I will probably take a nap sometime later today. However, that is what retired people do sometimes, isn't it? It is not like we are punching a time clock per se. Of course, as we get on in life, we are literally punching a timer. However, we try not to think of that, don't we?

Well, not much happening today around here. It is still cool outside. I bought a new wind chime a couple of weeks ago, and Laurie helped me hang it the next day. I now have at least 6 wind chimes hanging on my front porch. They really ring out when the wind is blowing. Ooops! I think that is where I began today, so it is probably a good place to end for now. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

The Passing of Another Dear Soul

Hey, Y'all,
A few days ago marked the passing on of another person dear to my heart, and the hearts of all who knew her. My Aunt Lil, who was married to my dad's youngest brother, was 92 and had been ill for some time. In all the years I knew her, I never heard her raise her voice to anyone. In fact, she spoke so gently and quietly, that one had to lean in close to hear what she said. Her husband, my Uncle David, passed on several years ago, and was close to the age of my oldest brother, Bill, and I know they must have played together as they were growing up. We lived quite close to them, and I guess, with them sometimes before I was born. Dad was the oldest child in his family.

Uncle David and Aunt Lil at one time operated a dog kennel for several years and raised and bred poodles, some of which became show dogs. They have several children, and grandchildren, and also great grandchildren. I know that they will all miss Aunt Lil and that she was dearly beloved of them.

This is a quiet morning here, and I have been up for some time, enjoying the quiet. I think rain is on the way, because it has been predicted, and the gloomy outside testifies to that fact. I began working on a baby quilt, using my new sewing machine. The machine has a walking foot with an attached guide for making rows of stitching on the quilt. Hopefully, my expertise will improve as I use it. (I certainly hope so!) Ha!

Yesterday was certainly a lazy day...gown and housecoat day...today has rather begun the same way. I may go back to bed this afternoon, and sleep some more. I was up at 6 a.m. this morning, and am feeling somewhat drowsy at only 10:30. Oooops! Not enough sleep I guess. I have to go help Gramps with his breakfast. Have to make the coffee and get his cereal and banana fixed for him, too. I'm hoping to chat with Teresa online today. We did chat yesterday, so she may be doing something else this morning.

Tomorrow is Monday, and I will be working on supper for us and the neighbors. That gives me something to look forward to each week. They are great fun to be with and to spend time with. For tomorrow, I am planning on having potato soup with keilbasa in it, along with tossed salads and some kind of dessert. I will be baking cornbread to go with the soup, as well.

That is about it for today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Those of you reading my blog, check out "tossing it out" on my blog list. He is quite interesting. Also, check out, "dancin' on rainbows" in my list. In fact, just give all of them a check when you can. Lovc to all of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

After the Party

Hey, Y'all,
Well, last evening, we had friends (family, actually) in to share a meal and a time of fellowship, laughing, eating, talking, playing dominoes. I had begun the preparations by putting a couple of tenderloins in the crockpot around 8:30 a.m. and adding a bottle of barbeque sauce. That cooked all day. Then I made a banana pudding, which I don't think turned out real well, because I no longer have the cookbook that I always made it from. It was okay, but not up to my standards. I will probably toss it out.

Anyway, after carrying off the trash yesterday afternoon, I came back and made the yeast rolls and put them to one side to rise. Also for supper, about 50 minutes before supper, I cooked a couple of bags of Potatoes O'Brien. Yum, they are really tasty. Sweeping the kitchen floor took a few minutes, along with cleaning the bathroom for company's use. Oh yes, one more thing that took up some time was putting a mattress topper made of the memory foam into a cover that was created just for the topper. Have you ever attempted to do that without help? Let me tell you that it is no mean feat to accomplish, but I did it! It is like wrestling with a baby trying to put it into an outfit it is strongly objecting to wear. Ha.

I bought the mattress topper at Walmart the other day (Wednesday, I think) and when I got home, i put it into the bedroom to wait till I could open the box when I had the time. Later that evening, I opened it and read the instructions. The instructions said to open it carefully and spread it out on the floor so it could lie flat for 24 hours. The purpose was to let it air out so it wouldn't smell bad from the process of manufacturing and so it could fully inflate from the packing. Soooo, I laid it out in the living room floor, away from the traffic.

Friday around 1 p.m., I began my struggle to incarcerate it into the cover supplied for it. The cover unzips around one end and one side, leaving one to stuff it into the unzipped portion and then to zip it up. I was in my gown and housecoat, and got so warm (hot, actually) wrestling that piece of foam rubber, that I had to remove the housecoat. A good thing it was that no one was there with a video camera. I just leave it to your imagination, as to the tussle that ensued. However, I was victorious, and then called Teresa at her work to find out how exactly I should proceed in clothing the bed with the linens. Bless her heart, she was teaching a training class at work, but very sweetly took a small break to tell me that I should just go ahead and use the mattress cover on top of the topper and then the regular fitted sheet. This I did, and it worked just fine. Thank you, dear daughter! I slept on it last night for about eight hours of fairly good sleep.

Back to the dinner last night...Mark, Allie, Gene, Judy, Marion left around 11 p.m. Judy had brought her two granddaughters, Marti and Tori, with her. She was keeping them for Rick and Andrea for the day. We really enjoyed having them to visit with us, and they are just wonderful children. Marti played dominoes with us, and Tori was happy watching television with Gramps. Gramps does not enjoy sitting and playing dominoes very much. Anyhow, Rick and Andrea came and picked up the girls about 10 o'clock. I hope they will be able to come back and visit with us. They only live about a half-mile or so down the road from us.

Allie showed us some pajamas that she is making for her grandsons (really cute!) and also an apron that daughter Tanya had made for Allie's birthday. They are both really talented seamstresses.

By 11:45, I had cleared up the dishes and put them into the dishwasher (they had scraped the dishes and stacked them into the sink, so it was just a matter of doing a little rinsing of them and loading them into the dishwasher). Then I got myself ready for bed (which includes putting my dentures into the cup). By 11:45, I was into the bed and ready to snooze. By midnight, I was in sleepy land.

This morning, I was in the kitchen by 8 a.m. and ready to start the day. I unloaded the dishwasher, and made my oatmeal and sat down to eat. I opened my mouth to take a bite of oatmeal with the raisins and walnuts in it. I realized my dentures were still in the cup in the bathroom. Ha ha. The same thing happened the other day. I had gone to the eye doctor and realized upon speaking to his wife (one of his assistants) that I had left my dentures at home. Of course, being a blabber mouth, I mentioned it to her, and she said, "that's okay, I can still understand you". Ha ha. I guess most people would have been too embarrassed to say anything about it, but not me. I always enjoy a good joke, even if it is on me.

Well, that is about it for today. Not much going on right now. Gramps is up and has had his breakfast and is using his electric razor to shave with. Sometimes he uses it three or more times a day. But that is okay, it keeps him busy and happy. He will probably use it until it runs out of juice and then he will tell me it needs recharging.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments on my blog, you all. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you. Bye for now. More later.

Some Pics Lately Taken

Hey, Y'all,
I guess you are noticing the change in the face of my blog (duh). I decided it was time to do a few changes. I also wanted to post some pictures taken over the past couple or so weeks.

This morning, Gramps was up at 4 a.m. looking for a picture of me in his album that he keeps and looks at every once in awhile. Last night when we went to bed, he was telling me how lucky he was to get me as a wife (ain't that sweet?), and that he had been looking at a picture of me. Well, he decided after getting up to use the bathroom at 4 a.m. to look for that picture to show me. After about 10 minutes of the light being on, and me trying to get back to sleep, I decided to help him look through them with him. But folks, I really wanted to get back to sleep. I convinced him to wait until later this morning, and got him back into bed, covered him up, turned off the light and crawled back into bed myself. Could I go back to sleep? Well, no, so I finally got up at 6 and came in here.

Yesterday afternoon, our pictures that were made down at our church for our new church directory came in the mail. I decided to get the CD from them and load them onto my computer. Those are the new pics that will be on my blog page each time you open it. Then I decided to edit the layout background template. Ta Da!

I have been promising to publish pics of the quilt I just finished for my grandson, BJ that I spent a year working on. (Well, I actually took 5 or 6 months off while I was too ill to work on it). You will see when you look at the pics that on one side, I put the flowers on the green squares, and the other side has the flowers on the gold squares. I hand stitched around each flower using the contrasting thread color, so that the outline of the flower would show up on the other side. The quilt measures about 90 inches on each side. Let's see, that means that there are about 8100 square inches in the whole quilt. A lot of work, yes, but he is well worth it. I am so very proud of him and love him so very much. There is nothing I would not do for any of my family and those they love. I got a really nice thank you from BJ and Christine for the quilt.

Another picture is of Mae, Imazo and me taken a couple of weeks ago. We each had bought a wonderfully comfortable jacket at Cracker Barrel the week before. Of course, the jackets were all alike. We decided to all wear them the next week when we went to eat, so when we got to Applebee's we asked the host to take our picture in the vestibule. You will know it when you see it above.

Our daughter, Teresa, had bought Gramps a gold pocket watch, so in one of the pics he is showing it off.

Another picture is of a chicken pot pie that I make sometimes when we have folks in to share supper with us. As you can see, the bowl it is in is about 12 inches in diameter, so it is plenty for seven people and always has a little left over for another meal. It is one of my most successful meals.

Today we are going in to Knoxville for our "movie day" with Mae and Imazo. We always enjoy that time with them.

Well, I need to go have breakfast and later take a shower so I can be presentable for visiting people and going out into the public arena of life. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. More later. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

Sounds Like Rain to Me

Hey, Y'all,
Sounds from the outside resemble the patter of rain on the roof. The light coming in past the curtains looks rather dreary as well. My sneezer is active this morning, as well. Looks to be a quiet day here after I make my run to the grocery store.

Sunday here was very quiet, no one to talk to except myself or Gramps. Nope, I take that back, because I did get to chat with Teresa online for a few hours. It seems there are a lot of days that Gramps is about the only one I see.

Monday morning, I got up and had breakfast and went to pick up a prescription that had been messed up last week, not their fault, but mine for not having been more clear with them. I had just asked them to refill three prescriptions, and one of them which had been filled several months ago, the doctor had written for a large size, and at that time, I had them change it for a smaller size pill (via a change by the doctor). When I asked them to refill the medication, they went with the original size, and I didn't check it until a couple of days later at home. I took it back last week, and they said, sorry, but unless the doctor changes the prescription, we can't fill it and we can't take back a filled prescription once it leaves the store. If I had just given them the prescription number of the meds I wanted refilled, it would have been okay, but, duh! I didn't. Anyway, that was all straightened out, and after visiting the drug store for my refilled Rx, I went to the doctor's office to pick up a copy of my blood work report that I had had done last week.

I was pleased to see on the report that my liver enzymes had gone down 134 points from the blood work a month earlier, after the doctor had taken me off my cholesterol medication at that time. they are now only about twice what is normal, and that is good. It means my liver is healing from the surgery that I had 9 months ago. Isn't that wonderful? God is so good! Thank you, Jesus!

After I left the doctor's office, I stopped by and visited with my good friend, Marian McDonald, who is also Judy's mama. Marian is 91 and still going pretty strong. She is working on making small quilts to give away. In her lifetime, she has worked as a professional seamstress, and is quite talented at sewing (of course).

Later in the day, I prepared supper for us and the neighbors who eat with us each Monday evening. We had Stouffer's lasagna, green beans, garlic toast, and then had chocolate eclair dessert which I had made early on Monday morning soon after getting up. Then, after loading the dishwasher (which Scott and Laurie did for me), we sat down to play dominoes, and the time passed, oh, too quickly!

Yesterday was very quiet, too, and after I had breakfast, I went for my appointment with the eye doctor. He gave me the full eye exam, and was flummoxed because he couldn't improve my distant vision any. He said my corneal atrophy seems to be a little worse, but not much. I know that is what is affecting my distant vision. When I told him I plan to be driving to Texas in May, he said, "Now, you be careful driving." I replied that I always am and would he like me to call him when I get out there, since he is so concerned. He just laughed and said there was no need to do that. I know he was thinking that I was being a smart aleck. Ha ha. As the girls would say, I am quite adept at that. Gramps got up for breakfast around noon, just about the time I got back. I cooked some hamburgers so I could have one for lunch, and so I ate my lunch while he had his breakfast. Then he went back to bed, so I went to my computer for awhile. I did take the time to accurately plan the construction of the baby quilt I am making for Allie's new grandson out in California. Now, all I have to do today is to begin putting it together.

Today, after I have breakfast, I will make my little foray out into the weather and make my trip to the grocery or Walmart one, and get what I need for supper on Friday, when Judy and Gene, and Mark and Allie come for supper, along with other stuff that I need to replenish my larder (oooh, that is a nasty sounding word, isn't it?) and my fridge.

Tomorrow, we are going in to Knoxville for our eating out and movie day with Mae and Imazo. I plan to sew this afternoon. Oh, yeah, Gramps woke up this morning about 5 a.m. and got up, and as he was getting up, he said, "who are you in that bed over there?". I said, "who do you think it is?". He said, "It sounds like my wife."
I replied, "Yep, you got that right". When he came back, he started telling me about the dream he had just awakened from. He had been in the post office and said he had bought a newspaper and ran into a fellow (whom he named) and this fellow had been the postmaster a long time ago. Gramps said that he (himself) had put the paper over his head to keep the rain off of his head.

Then Gramps said that the doorway across our room is just like the one in our bedroom, and I said, this is our bedroom, and we are at home. He said, "Okay, we can go back to sleep then, can't we?" I said, "yes, why don't we do that?" So we did.

Well, enough of this rambling on, because I need to get on with the day, and get my breakfast out of the way. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

Pavlov Knew What He Was Doing

Hey, Y'all,
I reckon maybe Pavlov knew what he was doing, didn't he? Do you realize how much we are like those puppies that he trained? Just think about it...like I was doing this morning when the bell dinged on my toaster oven. As you probably know, as an experiment, Pavlov was a psychologist who trained dogs to respond to a bell dinging, by placing food in a dish and ringing a bell. The dogs learned that when the bell rang, there would be food in the dish. They would run to the food when they heard the bell ding. Pretty soon, all Pavlov had to do was ring the bell and the dogs would begin slavering when they heard it.

How many bells do we respond to in our lives? First, there is the church bell, then the school bell, then the telephone bell. Other bells we respond to are the microwave dinging, the buzzer on the oven telling us the oven is ready to use, the buzzer on the alarm clock (which used to be a ringing alarm when we used the old windup clocks, like my mom wound up every night before we went to bed). I am sure you can think of others, can't you?

Yesterday, Allie and I went shopping. My goodness, that lady knows how to shop! I met her at the old Food Lion parking lot near the interstate in Knoxville, and climbed into her van, and off we went. We went first to the West Town Mall, and hit the stores. First we went to Belks, where we found two beautiful dresses and I liked them so well that I bought both of them. They were both discounted forty percent. Then we began looking at hats and shoes. There were none that suited us in Belk, so we went out into the Mall and walked down to Dillards. There we found a light wrap to go around my shoulders with the dress, and then we found a perfect hat. Wonderful! We looked at more shoes. Nothing really hit me there to buy. We even looked at purses, and what we saw was too rich for my blood. Whew!

We then stopped at the Bath and Body Works, and found some hand soaps that were really nice and bought a few of them. About that time we had worked up a pretty good appetite and went back out to the car. It had begun to rain by that time, and we hot-footed it out to the car, and she drove around to an eating place called McAllister's. Yum! We had sandwiches and a side dish. Mine was a chicken, basil and provolone cheese (with olive oil, and I think it had a little sugar in it as well). It was sooooooo good! I chose a small dish of potato salad to go with my sandwich as the side dish.

When we finished our sandwiches, we left and she ran and got the car and picked me up at the door. Following that treat, we headed for Joanne's fabrics, and of course by the time we headed for that place the rain was literally coming down in buckets. You should have seen them falling and hitting all the cars. Ha. Water,water, everywhere!
Lightning was flashing across the sodden skies, and it was an adventure for sure!

Fortunately, there was a good parking place close to the store, and Allie let me out at the door, and then parked the car. She made a mad dash and got inside without too much damage to her clothing. We looked around and she found some cloth for some pajamas she is making for her grandsons, and I found some embroidery cloth to make labels for upcoming quilts that I plan to make.

I had a long time to look around because they had a long line of customers waiting to have cloth cut, and then they had to go through checkout to pay. After I was through looking around, I sat down and waited on a chair near the door. BTW, I did a bit of resting while we were at the mall, because of wearing out doing all the walking we did, but it was good for me to get the exercise. I realized that I am not doing as much walking as I need to.

By the time we left Joanne's it was still raining cats and dogs, and people were running through all the poodles and splashing water everywhere. ha ha. I got a plastic bag from one of the checkout workers and put it over my head to keep my powder dry. ha ha. (Of course, those who know me realize I don't wear any makeup, including face powder. Just occasionally some lipstick to make my lips beautiful. )

We left Joanne's and headed back to the interstate and then on to Sam's Club. I decided to renew my club card and make some purchases. Of course, the rain was still pouring. When we were ready to leave, Allie got the car, and backed it up so that it was near the pick up area where people push their buggies out to load into their cars. She was backed up near the edge of the roof, and we were able to load our purchases into the back of her van, then away we went. I had left the house at 9:30 a.m., and when I got back into my car again, it was 5 p.m. She backed her van up to the back of my car and unloaded my purchases into my hatchback opening of my car. I didn't have to do a thing. Wasn't that so neat of her?

By 5:30, I was home and ready to rest for a bit, but Gramps was hungry by then. You are wondering how he got along while I was gone, aren't you? Well, he was still in bed when I left, and he knows how to get his breakfast. So when I called him about 2:30, he had just gotten up and had his breakfast a few minutes earlier. I knew then that he was doing okay and would be fine until I got back home. I left him a note telling him where I was and my cell phone number, and also told him that the coffee maker was ready to turn on. If he has coffee to drink, he is fine. He knows where "grazing" food is, so I knew he would be okay for a while.

I fixed us a can of chili with crackers, and heated him some coffee, and that was our supper. He was back in bed by 7 and I watched television for awhile, but just couldn't stay awake. I finally gave in and went to bed by 8:15 (nothing good on television), and believe it or not, I was asleep by 8:30. Zonked out! I slept until about 2 a.m. and was wide awake so I got up and played some solitaire, then went back to bed and slept until 7:45 this morning. That's about it.

It looks like we are having more rain today, maybe tomorrow...who knows? It really doesn't matter to me. I love the rain. I am going to make us a sandwich in a few minutes. This is Blabbin' Grammy, signing off for today. Much love to each of you. More later. Bye for now.

Praise Be, I Have My Baby Back!

Hey, Y'all,
Yeah, I know, my computer is not a baby, but I have really missed chatting with all of you! A week ago, a program came up on my computer that stated my computer was infected with all kinds of viruses. NOT true. However, when I clicked on it to try to close it, my computer froze and I could not get online or even turn it on with out the same screen coming up. So, I called a computer service in Morristown and took my talking companion in for a cleanup. After shelling out nearly 70 bucks, I got her back, all clean and ready to go. The problem began when I tried to open a notification on my e-mail from a facebook message, it sent me to a error message, and from there up came the warning screen. The technician told me that if I ever see another such warning, to just turn loose of the mouse, and turn the monitor off, and then turn it back on.

Now, down to what has been happening since I last talked to you all. We went to Knoxville last Friday for our movie day, and had lunch at Applebee's. Gramps had the Bourbon Street Steak, and I must say, it tasted better than what I had ordered, so I ate part of it (not much).

On Saturday, I chatted via phone with Teresa instead of online, and enjoyed that, too. I also cut out pieces for a baby quilt for Mark and Allie's new grandson, who lives in California, and who had been visited by them for a long while not long ago.

Sunday was a quiet day. Gramps had decided to go to church (on Saturday evening) and then on Sunday morning, decided he didn't want to after all. Mark and Allie came by and visited with us for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. We were really glad to see them.

On Monday, we had the neighbors down to share dinner with us, but the two boys were coming down with colds and didn't want to share that with us, thank you very much. Laurie ate supper with us, along with Scott and Olivia, and then took supper back to the boys. Scott, Olivia and I played a few quick rounds of dominoes before they left to go back home. We really had a lot of fun doing that.

Tuesday morning, I went in for blood work to see how my liver enzymes are doing. I don't know yet, but I intend to run in tomorrow to see about that.

Wednesday, (yesterday) I had lunch with five of my retired teacher friends, and really enjoyed that tremendously. We were inside the restaurant in Morristown called Java Cafe, where the Princess Theatre once stood. Gramps and I spent a lot of Friday evenings at the movies in the Princess back in the good old days. We would go eat somewhere in Morristown, and then walk around downtown until the movie opened at 6:45. When it was cold, it was kind of tough walking around outside and we would often stop in some of the stores down town, while we were waiting. It was a pleasant way to spend some weekend hours after we both spent the week teaching children at our schools.

The teachers and I spent at least an hour and a half inside the restaurant eating and talking, then a couple of them had to leave and the other four of us went outside on the sidewalk and talked another 45 minutes. While we were standing there, a lady walked by us, then turned around and walked back and spoke to me. She said, "Aren't you Mrs. Young?" I said, "Yes". She said, "You used to live near my family and I was in your class at Alpha when I was eight." She told me her name then, and that she is thirty and has two children. We hugged each other, and I thanked her for stopping and speaking to me. How really wonderful it is to run into people from the past, isn't it?

Yesterday evening, Carol called me and we talked for quite a while. It was really great to hear from her. I thanked her again for letting all of you, my readers, know that I was not sick but just computerless. I will post some pictures soon that I have taken over the past few days. I just spent about ten minutes deleting a lot of e-mails. If you sent me an e-mail and I didn't recognize the sender, I just deleted without opening. Sorry if that happened. I don't want to get burned again.

Tomorrow, I am going shopping with Allie to get a dress to wear to grandson, Matt's, wedding to his fiance, Amy. I am really excited about getting to go and Gramps and I will be traveling by auto (with me driving of course). It should be a blast.

Well, I have to eat some supper now. We went into Knoxville today for our movie day, and had breakfast (for lunch) at one of our favorite places to eat, and then we watched our movie at Imazo's and came straight back so that I could pick up my computer. I brought it in, hooked it up, and got busy opening and deleting e-mail, then got on here to do my catchup blog posting. Supper for Gramps tonight was a Hungry Man dinner (frozen then microwaved), and mine is an apple, some pepper jack cheese on a school house yeast roll, and a glass of water. Doesn't that sound yummy?

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

Grammy is fine...

Hi! Grammy's computer is in the shop, so rest assured that she is fine. Mom asked me to post this so nobody would worry....she'll see you guys soon!
Love to all...
Carol

More Snow?

Hey, Y'all,
According to the weatherman, we may yet have some flurries in the next 24 hours, but thank you, Jesus, we are not having anything like they have had up north and in the midwest!

I went out today to send the quilt I have just finished to Teresa so that she can set eyes on it before she sends it on to her son. The wind was bitterly cold and after I stopped at the grocery store and drug store, I was glad to be back home in the warm. Believe me, I feel so blessed to have a warm house and food to eat, and clothes to wear. I know there are so many people who are without.

Monday we had our neighbors down to share supper with us. I had made homemade pizza and I had also made toll house cookies from scratch for dessert. We had a great time, as always. We played Aggravation for a while after we had cleaned the kitchen. In case you are wondering about the crust for the pizza, I just buy the dry mix in a package and make the crust that way. It is easier and I go for easy sometimes.

Yesterday, we didn't do enough to amount to anything. Nothing spectacular about the day, but, however, when I got ready to go to bed, I had begun to sneeze, and then couldn't stop even after going to bed. Finally, I got out of bed and played on my computer until about 1 a.m. I got about 4 hours of sleep and finally got up and sneezed some more. This morning, I was ready to make a good breakfast for Gramps and myself. I went into the bedroom, and Gramps was getting ready to take a shower. You see, I had mentioned to him last evening that I wanted him to shower today up during the day, so he was ready this morning.

We went ahead and got him showered, and dressed and then I made the big breakfsst for the two of us. We ate well, suffice to say, and then I got ready to go into Jefferson City to do my running around (as stated earlier in this posting). By that time, he had already gone back to bed, because after I took a couple of benedryl this morning to stop the sneezing, I had sat down on the couch and had gone to sleep. When I got up from the couch he was in bed, and I was ready to send off the package.

I have been sleepy all day, and hope I can sleep tonight. I am watching American Idol as I am posting right now. It is interesting to hear what the judges have to say.

I will be beginning two baby quilts tomorrow, for new additions being born. Allie's daughter in California just had a new baby son about a month ago, and our grandson, Andrew and wife, Julia, will be adding a baby girl to their family the last of this month.
Also, plans are in the works for quilts for our daughters. Planning takes a while, and I love doing that phase of a quilt.

Well, that is about it for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Wishing our "adopted" daughter, Allie, a happy birthday today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Good bye for now, More later.