The Day Has Arrived

Today was THGGM's last day at his job.
Can I just say that this all seems very surreal to me?
I'm just not sure how I feel about it.
THGGM is handling it all very well.
He is excited to find another job.
I like dull and boring.
Too much change at one time causes me to break out into an itchy rash.
Thankfully, he had a week of vacation coming, so next week he plans to park himself on an inflatable in Lake Michigan to float around to his heart's content.
I plan to read, draw, and take pictures.
But I would like the world to know that I DID buy a bathing suit!
I haven't worn one since 1978, so we shall see (well, you won't see) if I actually find even the remotest desire to put it on.
Here is a drawing I made of THGGM and me on an imaginary beach.
And yes, I DO have a farmer's tan just like that.
I bought us each a NEW beach towel, since we also haven't owned any of those in over a decade.
Anyway.., life feels different over here.
I'm truly not a pessimist, but 58 probably isn't the greatest time in life to find a new job.
Being a realist makes me very aware of that.
Prayers and good thoughts are appreciated!
And, HEY, we are ON VACATION!
YAY!

Random Thoughts for a Saturday

1. I still occasionally have a deep thought, but rarely are they worth sharing. If I ever have one that I think share-worthy, I will tell you. No one seems to be asking what I think about anything anymore so I've been on a bit of a mental vacation.
2. Most of my thoughts lately have revolved around what I can do to earn some money. I'm not coming up with much. I have no marketable skills. I used to, but they have gone the way of the dinosaur.

3. Sometimes I like to sit around, looking out my window, wondering where exactly I went wrong. But that isn't nearly as fun as thinking about where everyone else has gone wrong. Maybe I could have people pay ME to tell THEM where they went wrong. That would be a fun job.  Then, and I have no doubt about this, those people would tell me where I went wrong and quite possibly I could do something about it. But right now? I have no idea where I went wrong. Seems like I was on a good path, headed somewhere when suddenly the path changed, the scenery changed and all the guidelines disappeared. I do not enjoy this.
4. Soon I shall try my hand at selling on Ebay. This scares me, but then everything does. But, I have a lot of "stuff" and most of it I don't need anymore. Hopefully someone else will want it. I've been told that people will buy anything. One can always hope. Because I pretty much have all the anything there is to be had.
5. My computer has been acting up lately. For a few months now it won't let me down load pictures from my camera. So, I have to use THGGM's computer to do that. But recently his computer does wonky things, things like freezing up when I am altering pictures. Due to the constant flipping around of computers rarely do I feel like posting pictures. Except for today. Today I decided to stick it out until I got a few posts on here. Tens of people want me to do this. And besides, this has become my memory. If I do not post it, it didn't happen.
6. And how empty would every one's lives be if they didn't see what I made on Mondays? Or mine, if I didn't post and a Saturday went by where you did not know what I found at the thrift store? Well, let me tell you, last Saturday we drove to a couple of different towns and returned home with nothing. Of course I found something at my local thrift store, but not at the others. But since I did not post last Saturday, I no longer remember what things I bought. Now that is driving me crazy. Well, that and a bunch of other stuff.
7. All too frequently, I use the words "but", "well", and "so". Among others. I do try to stop, and I try to use "and" less and not start my sentences with "I". But, so far, that isn't working out so well.
8. I get tired and cranky in February. Mostly I thought it was because of the lack of sun and all the snow. Maybe that is part of it, sometimes. But today was sunny and warm with snow only in huge dirty parking lot mountains. Yet I still feel all February-ish.
9. This week I finished reading "The Romanov Sisters" a very good book if you like history and don't worry about history repeating itself. Because it does, and reading history is scary. Certainly there must be SOME happy history SOMEWHERE that I could read.
10. Wednesday of this week I removed every evidence of winter from my house. I brought up the empty bins from the basement, filling them to capacity and beyond. I dragged them out to the porch for THGGM to carry back to the basement for me. It felt good to put it away. I made myself a cup of coffee all while congratulating myself on all that hard work. Then, I got up, walked into my pretty pink bathroom, and noticed a highly decorated aluminum Christmas tree sporting a plethora of Shiny Brite ornaments, and I swear, it laughed at me. How did I NOT remember this? Well, it made me that weird sort of angry that only I get at myself. I made myself another cup of coffee while deciding that it could stay there til Spring for all I care. Instead, I took it all down and put it away on Friday, when it actually did feel like spring.

11. I ordered new glasses this week. I also was ordered to have my retinas and my corneas checked by a specialist in those areas. Just for fun, I think. And because the people in my family have had trouble in those areas, and my pressure always runs high. Since it always does, it would seem that I could save myself the trouble and the money by saying that the doctor will tell me that mine always runs high. See what I mean about being cranky in February?
12. But for the most part, like if I avoid ANY and ALL news and remain home humming happy tunes to myself and carving rubber stamps out of pink erasers, I am fine. Totally fine. Happy to be alive fine. Then, right around 9:00 every night THGGM listens to Bach on his favorite CD and  Bach adagios have the ability to make me want to stuff cotton in my ears and loudly hum to drown it out. Bach adagios are SAD. I recall reading somewhere that the Dutch were listening to Bach in the days before the German invasion and my fears of history repeating itself goes into high gear. So I go to bed to read about the Romanov's, because that ends so well.  Yeah. February is a tough month for me. My mom told me it would be. She didn't know why either.
13. Tomorrow it is supposed to again be sunshiny and warm. And I shall attempt to be the same.

My Exciting Life

My oven stopped working earlier this week.
THGGM was pretty sure he had fixed what was ailing it.
But, oh my!  That didn't fix it.
I had the three oldest grand kids over night Thursday.
We had plans to bake gingerbread boys.
Well, THAT did not happen!
What did happen were sounds like gun-shots and then a lot of snap, crackle, and pop!
It was horrifying.
But, I did manage to get it unplugged.
For some reason, this did NOT cause the breaker to trip.
Ugh.
I am thanking God that we did not all go up in flames.
Anyway...
THGGM ran around to a couple of stores and finally found a toaster-convection oven that should meet our needs.
I experimented tonight, and I think we shall do fine with it for Christmas day cooking/baking.
At least these practice rolls came out satisfactory.
I am now afraid of electricity.
Those were some SCARY moments.

Last Week Wednesday

Last week we learned that there was a water leak on our street.

So, the city sent out workers who dug a big hole.  But the leak was not where they dug.  It was under one of the maple trees.

Next came the crew to take down the tree.  It was interesting.  Sad, yet interesting.

After that they brought in a stump grinder.

Last but not least the first crew returned to fix the leak.  We've lost a lot of shade on the south side of our house.  It is also the least attractive side, where all the wires and meters are.  But we are a thankful bunch.  Thankful that the leak was something the city took care of.

Live and Learn

Two weekends ago we had a lovely meal together in Daughter and Son-in-law's backyard.  Everybody was able to make it.  We feasted on the bounty of the earth, plus a few things the earth didn't actually bring forth, but whatever.  ANYWAY.., the highlight for many of us was the corn on the cob.  After I finished mine, Hertsje picked it up to enjoy its remaining buttery goodness.  

Now let's fast forward one week.  Or, back one week, depending on how you look at it.  Bethy, Oldest Son and Daughter-in-law's beagle became extremely ill.  After an emergency visit to the vet it was determined that she had something stuck in her stomach.  The vet thought it looked like fabric.  Surgery was preformed and what was in Bethy's stomach was actually a two inch piece of corncob.    Yes.  Two inches off that corncob seen in the picture below.  Oldest Son said it didn't look too much different after a week of not being digested in Bethy's stomach..  Bethy is now recovering, wearing an Elizabethan Collar (which seems fitting, as her name IS  Bethy) and longing to get back to  her normal activities.  

I hadn't known about corncobs being a danger to dogs.  Did you?  Consider yourself warned.  

Did you see the video above?  Apparently, we should all have listened to Kado, who was trying to alert us about what Bethy was up to.  I guess that is what happens when you either take pictures or videos of everything that is happening at family events - you actually capture EVERYTHING that happens at family events.  

Good-bye Monday, We Made It Through...

Thank you for your helpful thoughts about my miserable tooth issues.  It helped.  A lot.

Yesterday THGGM drove me out to look at Lake Michigan and I am happy to report that it is still there.  It was so very sunny and the sky and water were so very blue.  Ice could be seen floating around the horizon.  With it being FREEZING we stayed IN the car.  Still it was lovely just to look at something different.  Something unchanging.

During the night last night I wondered how I was going to cope today.

But things went very well.

Hertsje was her usual happy self.

Kado and Feintsje are recovering nicely.

Zeke had a horrible horrible problem in the kitchen.  I won't go into detail, but it took me 30 minutes just to clean it up.  Thankfully, it was the 30 minutes that all three kids were napping.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow.

Not sure if they will be able to do anything then, but I certainly hope so.

She Even Bores Herself

Today THGGM hung this shelf for me.

As long as I stay on my pain medication, gargle with very hot salt water, and never Never NEVER swallow, I feel just plain awful.  But you know me, not one to complain!

So, as I would pass through the kitchen the empty shelf would call out to me (or maybe it's the medication, one can never truly know).

Not one to ignore calling shelves, I answered.

My plan was to fill it up with baby plates but those ended up to be just a teeny tiny bit too large.

Instead I down sized my corner cupboard (although you can't tell by looking at it) and pulled this together.

Who knows.  Maybe when I'm healthy again I won't like it.  But for now I shall call it good.

The shelf was a find at the thrift store just around the corner from here.  I really like it.

I haven't left the house since I voted on Tuesday.  Although there have been several times when I've let Zeke out that I've stood at the door and breathed in that amazing Indian Summer smell of autumn leaves.  THGGM washed the sheets and hung them out to dry so I get to enjoy that wonderful smell for longer.

On Wednesday...

Pake watched the kids play on the driveway and sidewalk.

Feintjse LOVED having Jonge push him on the scooter.

It made me nervous.  VERY nervous.  But Jonge was careful.

Everyone was happy and nobody fell.

That is, of course, until I called them over for a snack and Feintsje fell head first out of the stroller and onto the driveway.  It all happened so fast.  He didn't even cry much, or even act like it hurt.  But it sure does look awful.  And I feel awful, even if he does not.  Oh, and that is red juice on his chin and the neck of his shirt.  Not blood.  Poor boy.  Did I mention that I feel awful about this?  Because I do.

Blueberries

Lunch today consisted of Michigan blueberries, a splash of cream, and a sprinkling of Truvia. Yum.

Today I've been floofing up my living room/dining room. This involved moving pictures around, puttings away things that seemed a bit too 'springy' and a whole lot of dusting. I'm still not done, but I did get a lot of odds and ends put back to where they belong.

Sort of.

Tonight THGGM discovered a major back-up in our basement drain. He spent the evening feeding a snake into the drain. I must say that I have seen him happier.

It's not just the berries that are blue.