Are You Ready?

Penguins Snowman

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/penguins-snowman/

Well, are you ready for Christmas? We certainly had Christmas type weather here for a week. Really cold, Northeast winds and snow. Just the areas where the snow drifted are left. So that is much better. One area school was out for a whole week because the roads were so bad. Winter doesn't start until tomorrow so they may not get out of school until the 4th of July! 

We got to to watch three great grandkids  in their church program and one great grandson in his kindergarten school program. And our oldest great grandson at his Box Lacrosse game last week. So was a much busier week for us. Thankfully we rode with our son and daughter in law to the farther away ones. Otherwise we wouldn't have gone since the weather was so bad.

My hubby had his 81st birthday Saturday. I feel so thankful that we have got to be together for so many years. I must say if I stop to think about it, I really worry about not having him around. I honestly don't think I could handle life without him. He is my rock. I have always depended on him for everything. If something breaks I tell him, he fixes it. If I am upset, he lets me vent. If I am depressed he will cheer me up. He is always there for me. So I make myself stop thinking! Period.

My little portable radio got so you couldn't see what station it was on because it had been dropped so many times. So at coffee break today I gave it to him to fix, he took it apart, found the problem and it is working again! I had been trying to take it apart with a knife. He figured out to take the batteries out, and there was screws to take it apart! 

Well I guess we will have a new president next year. I am not handling that very well, either. I worry about what our country will become. I think if you have a lot of money, you may be fine, but if you are old and not wealthy you better start filling the pantry with cans of beans! It is too bad that the person that gets the most votes doesn't win an election but maybe we can get that changed. I believe in getting involved. I know it works. If we hadn't gotten involved in local politics years ago, we would be surrounded by a housing development! Built on good farm land! That I couldn't stand for so we got involved. Started out writing a letter to the local paper in 1991 and are still fighting it. BUT we still live in the country so it pays to stand up for what you believe. Every few years we have to get involved again though. That was the main thing my Dad taught me. "If you don't stand up for yourself, no one else will" . And that is definitely true. 

I think I am finished submitting Christmas themes for this year. I still have a lot made and ready to submit. But I am ready to start working on summer!

We are staying home Christmas eve. Letting the families spend time with their kids, etc. We will watch the Hawks that afternoon and hopefully they will give me a gift of a win! And Christmas day the kids will all be here. I let Papa Murphy fix Christmas dinner. We will snack and then I will bake the pizzas. As I have gotten older I am making my life easier. No big Christmas dinners. Everyone has been going to parties and having dinners, etc. And who doesn't like pizza? 

I would like to take this time to thank all of you that actually read my gobbledy gook, venting and griping! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and get to spend some time with your loved ones and families. I feel very fortunate that we get to.

Love to all!

Horses in Winter Birch

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/horses-in-winter-birch/

Keeping warm?

Winter Mountain Retreat

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/winter-mountain-retreat/

I hope everyone is keeping warm. We have had a really cold week in the Pacific Northwest. What with Global Warming we haven't had much cold weather in the past few years. Woke up to a skiff of snow this morning and has snowed off and on all day, but still not much. I must say winter is beautiful BUT I don't like it. 

Busy time of year, too. We don't buy gifts for anyone anymore so that really cuts back on time spent, but getting cards, etc. out, a few decorations up, church and school programs to go to, etc. Our oldest great grandson plays lacrosse and they have inside lacrosse which they call box lacrosse. I guess because it is in a "box". I really don't know if that is the case or not! Just a guess. But we haven't gotten to any of them so we are riding to Everett with our son and wife on my husband's 81st birthday. Really looking forward to watching him play. 

My Hawks are really doing well. So many injuries, though. We finally got most of them back and then one of the best defensive players got hurt last week and is out. Darn!

I have been quite depressed a lot of the time since the election results and am afraid it has gotten worse with most of these appointments that are being made. I am afraid we are going to be the laughing stock of the entire world. Plus I fear for our country itself. I should totally quit listening to the radio and television but that is the only way you know what is going on. 

I hope you all have a super weekend and stay warm.

Three Busy Snowmen

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/three-busy-snowmen/

Thanksgiving Weekend

 

 Snowman's Dog Day

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/snoman-s-dog-day-by-madonna/

 

 

I see the blog is back to normal. When the site goes down that carries the codes for the side columns of the blog, it appears plain white. So I was happy to see it is showing what I put in!

It is the rainiest day ever here. Just pouring. A real drencher. So glad we got our bit of shopping done this morning so we aren't out in it this afternoon.

I wonder how many of you are out shopping. I was NEVER a Black Friday shopper. Don't like crowds. When we used to buy gifts for everyone, I usually had my shopping done by Thanksgiving. I would start right after Christmas for the next year. Then it would take me from Thanksgiving till Christmas Eve day to get them all wrapped. We used to spend way too much on Christmas gifts. Now, we just give the great grandkids a check! And hopefully the parents put it in a savings account for them because none of them need anything.

The Persona developer fixed it so I can edit designs now but the final fix isn't in yet. I had to change my settings to not automatically update my extensions. Otherwise every time I opened Firefox the "broken" link for Persona would be installed and it wouldn't work!

Hubby is watching football games on the new TV with the fire going. Can't believe how much better we can see now that we have a new one! And hear, actually. We thought it was our ears because of old age was the reason we had a hard time hearing them talking. The music always was too loud we couldn't hear the voices! Well, it wasn't our ears! So that is nice. 

Well, my Hawks play tomorrow and I am looking forward to that. It seems like so many of them get hurt that half the team is out for some reason or other.

Gonna join my hubby in the nice warm living room.

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday week end. 

Frosty Days

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/frosty-days-by-madonna/

Blog Design Down

The blog design is down right now so my blog looks very plain. Tried to update it for Christmas, but can't until they get their site fixed.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. After the horrible day before Thanksgiving I had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. It was great having our family around the table at dinner. 

Don't spend too much $$ on Black Friday or week end!

Flusterd and Frustrated

Frosty Blue Leaves

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/frosty-blue-leaves-by-madonna/

I think I am getting too old for the big holiday meals. For some reason I am feeling flustered and frustrated. I know why I am frustrated but there isn't much I can do about that. Personas Plus seems to be broken so I can not test me designs, thus I can't really make any. I need to do that to chill out. Mozilla people are working on it and I have tried to help but at my age I am not up on a lot of the "workings" of how it works! So to depress I have worked on a few designs and put them in a folder to finish "when/if" they get the problem figured out and fixed. I even downloaded an older version of Firefox thinking it might work then, but it didn't so I put FF 50 back in.

Since I didn't have to put as many leaves in the table I couldn't find a tablecloth that fit right. My crocheted one wasn't big enough and the others were too big, so I have an old one on the dining room table and it is rather faded. 

I have the stuffing (which I don't stuff) and the cranberry salad made. Have to get the turkey ready to put in the oven in a bit but thought I would sit down and see if Persona was fixed. It wasn't!

Our daughter is driving south to be with her kids for the holiday so I am hoping the weather and traffic aren't too bad. Something else to worry about!

Boy, my holiday spirit is really missing this year. I think the election results and worry over that have bothered me more than I thought.

What a depressing post. I had to go off one of my Fibromyalgia medications and I am quite sure that has something to do with how I feel. I feel like I could sleep for a week. 

Sorry about all this but I gotta get back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Blue and Tired

Home in the Mountains

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/home-in-the-mountains-madonna/

I am still down from the election and worried about the future. Plus the old Fibromyalgia kicked in last night and I am so darn tired and every part of my body hurts today. Had cramps in my legs last night and then my leg hurt so bad afterwards I couldn't get back to sleep. So I am tired and have no energy. I hate that. I am normally a high energy person, not as much energy as I had 20 years ago, but not bad for my age. 

I can't help but be worried about the future of our country, our people and our children and their children and their children. If you are on Social Security...well, that may not be there when you need it. If you have a savings account, don't depend on that. Money in Wall Street, well, don't depend on that either. Our environment has been doing better, but you might want to buy stock in breathing masks. I am shutting up on all that.

My laptop screen started flickering when I would close the lid, etc. so Googled and found out the problem. Talked to my grandson about the problem and he agreed. So I ordered the part from Amazon, got the wrong part and had to call Dell. Got the part, he picked up my laptop and the part and just emailed me and said it was fixed! So I will get that back tonight. I just mixed up a crazy cake for him and got it in the oven. Smells good, too.

Got out my old recipes to get ready for Thanksgiving. Going to do the shopping tomorrow for that. Hope I have more energy tomorrow. At least I got the laundry all done yesterday.

I got the header made for my blog so I can update it after Thanksgiving. 

Have been submitting more designs because I just have so many made. 

Autumn Foggy Reflections
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autumn-foggy-reflections-donna/

Well, I didn't post this yesterday so will add to it a bit. Feeling more like a human being today.  We did our shopping early before too many people get to town. We live close enough to the Canadian border that we get a lot of cross border shoppers from the north. The traffic gets very busy. And neither one of us have a lot of patience when it comes to waiting in line, etc. I have gotten very spoiled because all I do is pack the list and the credit card around.  My hubby gets the carts, packs the bags and pushes the cart to the car and loads the car. I used to get up at 6:30 and go into the grocery store by myself and do the weekly shopping, but one Wed. morning it was cold and yucky and I decided I didn't want to get out of bed. So that ended that and now we go in on Saturdays. When I was young and we lived on the farm, Saturday was the day the farmers went to town. It was kind of neat because that was the only time you got out sometimes. Especially during harvest season.

I am going to do some extra cleaning so will sign off for the week. I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving and don't talk politics! You might lose some family members if you do that this year. I have heard of family members that won't go home for the holiday because of the election season we went through. I hope that isn't so because presidents come and go, but family is family!

Spirits of the Wild
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/spirits-of-the-wild-by-madonna/

I love my wolves and eagles. 

Tears!

The Eagle Cries

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/the-eagle-cries-by-madonna/

 

Well, I have taken a deep breath and shed a few tears after our election returns. Everyone was surprised, and I don't know where they got it wrong, except I think some of the people that were polled were ashamed or afraid to say who they were actually going to vote for. How else could they have gotten it so wrong? Actually the majority of people voted for the woman but she didn't win the electoral vote! Which I wish they would do away with. Any election should be decided by who gets the most votes! I was hoping I would be able to tell my great granddaughter that she could grow up to be President of the United States. But I wonder if we will ever be able to say that. I don't understand why people think that only a man can be the head of the country. When a woman is actually stronger. Who has the babies? Who takes care of the household? A woman usually takes her time to think things through before she makes a decision. I can only hope and pray that the president elect is not the same man as the man who ran for the office. If he is that, he will be an embarrassment to our wonderful country. I am ashamed of his actions to women. I am ashamed of his actions to small businesses by not paying them when they did the work. But I will keep an open mind and hope for the best.

Tomorrow we celebrate Veterans Day in the USA. I would like to add my thanks to all of the veterans that fought and died for our country. 

Have a great week end.

Country Winter Painting

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/country-winter-painting-donna/

VOTE!

 First Snow on the Farm

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/first-snow-on-the-farm-madonna/

I have a bit of time to write on the blog so I am going to encourage everyone in the US to get out and vote now, tomorrow or on Tuesday. It is perhaps the most important election in my time. I am not going to suggest how you vote, just vote. We are lucky in Washington state and we vote ONLY by mail, so you can take your time to do your duty. We sent our ballots in this week. 

Are you beginning to think about Thanksgiving? I am. We are invited to our son's home Saturday to start our Thanksgiving celebrations. And I will have our small Thanksgiving dinner with our kids on Thanksgiving day. This will be the 59th year in a row I have fixed dinner on Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving dinner I made was just 9 days before our daughter was born. I remember I kept having to sit down and rest between cleaning and cooking. I was 19 years old and had  a 1 year old to take care of, too. We couldn't afford turkey so we had chicken. My Mom raised chickens so if I remember right, I think she probably gave me the chickens! At times during the past 59 years we had as many as 30 people for dinner, but as happens, families grow and then they get smaller. I have loved every Thanksgiving day but will probably have to pass it on to someone else one of these days, but as long as I can do it, I hope to be able to do so.

I just noticed I have some new fans. Welcome and hope you check in every so often. 

I am working on winter designs and am going to have to start submitting more because I have so many made already. 

So get out and vote if you are eligible to do so. It is your right and if you don't vote, don't complain!

Thanks Giving

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/thanks-giving-by-madonna/ 

Trick or Treat!!!

Down in the Valley
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/down-in-the-valley-by-madonna/

Happy Halloween everyone. It is pouring rain here so it won't be a very nice Trick or Treat evening for the kiddies! I have bags of treats ready for the great grandkids, as I am sure they will show up.

I remember the "good old days" when our kids were young and would go out trick or treating. We had to drive them around because our closest neighbor (when we lived in the mountains was over a half mile away and down a long driveway). Back then no one gave out boughten candy, etc. The women would bake cupcakes, cookies and candy for all the neighbor kids. And the costumes the kids wore were all made by Mom with stuff put together from what you had available. To me that was the good old days but times have changed so much. And not to the good. I think one of the things that changed it all was when someone put razor blades in something. I can't remember what it was, but...how sad is that? But of course we knew exactly who our neighbors were back then and had been neighbors for years.

Last week was one of those week when you want to pull out your hair. I had been nursing my desktop monitor for a couple weeks and thought I had the problem figured out. I thought it was the graphic card driver, since my grandson had to replace mine before I could update to Windows 10. But after a few days it started acting up again. I had purchased a new one the last time I went to Costco and had just about decided I could take it back. I am so glad I didn't because I had to hook up the new one. Well the new one has HDMI cable and not the old serial port kind. I didn't even know if my computer had HDMI since my grandson built it quite a few years ago. Luckily it does. But I couldn't get my speakers to work after I got the monitor hooked up! Well, I had accidentally unplugged the electrical cord to the battery back up. I have so many ugly black wires, etc. stuck in behind everything! Tacky looking!

We went to a family celebration Saturday night and it was so special. It was a very special occasion and I won't go into the reason for it but there was lots of food and lots of tears flowing. Something we had been keeping our fingers crossed for for years.

This October has been the wettest October in history in Western WA. It has not rained only about 5 days out of the whole month! And they are saying our winter will be colder and wetter than usual. Not happy about that but maybe they will be wrong.

Hope your Halloween was treats instead of tricks!
Our little goblins have been here and got their treats. So darn cute! We had Spiderman, a Unicorn and a Swat guy!

Wind and Rain!

Sunset at the Beach

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sunset-at-the-beach-by-madonna/

Weather! The east coast got it last week and now it is in our corner of the US. Rain and wind and more wind to come. Supposed to get up to 70 MPH gusts. I don't like it. But I guess it is better than earthquakes, hurricanes and typhoons. I am expecting the lights to go out any minute. I have a battery back up for my computers, router, etc. so it gives me at least 5 minutes to shut everything down without it crashing. 

I think we got our new TV set up finally. Not the way I want it, but it is about as good as we are gonna get it. I haven't even tried to turn the DVD-Blue Ray player on yet. I am sure it will have to be all re-set but we don't watch it that much since we have Netflix on the TV now. We had to watch Netflix through the DVD player before. I tried the On Demand with the Comcast remote so the great grandkids could watch something different and they finally agreed on something, so I clicked OK! And then they asked if I wanted to buy it? No, I did not want to buy it, so we shut it off! Cheap Great Grandma!

Can you believe what is happening in our Presidential election? It is not very Presidential if you ask me, but what does this old Granny know about anything? I am afraid it doesn't make our country look very intelligent. I am at the point now I will just be glad when it is over. 

 

Grandfather's House

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/grandfather-s-house-by-madonna/ 

The above theme reminds me so much of my Grandparent's farmhouse. It was a homestead that my Mother's family had owned since right after the Civil War when my great grandparents loaded up and traveled from Illinois to Iowa in a covered wagon. He was a carpenters mate on the USS Cairo during the War so he built a small house. They lived in that for awhile until later when they built the big house as the family grew.  My Mother was born in the big house. I think the house is gone now but I don't know for sure. I know my cousin's sold it when there weren't any son's that wanted to farm. It really made me sad when I heard it was sold. I really felt like a part of me was gone. That happens all through a person's life. Little parts keep falling away. New parts are added but we still miss the ones that are gone.

I hope you all have a wonderful week end and I hope your weather is better than ours. Have a good one!

October!

Legends of the Fall

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/legends-of-the-fall-by-madonna/

As you can probably tell, I love all the little cabins, etc. Always dreamed about living in a big log house. Guess it is the western life that I was born with!

A professional psychotherapist in the UK asked for permission to use my Lilac Prediction wallpaper for her website and since I was very pleased she asked, I gave her permission. You can check it out at: http://www.carolinecounselling.co.uk/ I think it looks very nice and I wish her the best of luck in her new venture. The way things are in this world right now, she could be a very busy professional. 

We were watching Blue Bloods last night and all of a sudden the new TV started talking to us, telling us that 'Danny is running", etc. so I had to figure out how to get that taken off. I love being old with all this technology!! My dear hubby hates everything tech. He has a flip cell phone! But he can fix your car or your hot water heater so I am not complaining! But it does get frustrating. I really don't think a television has to have so much "stuff" on it. I got on Amazon last night and ordered my husband a Big Number remote so I am hoping I can get it synced to the TV so it will work for him. He just wants to be able to change channel and volume so I am keeping my fingers crossed it will work. 

 Getting things around for our 3 year old great grandson's over night visit. And then the Hawks play tomorrow early. Our daughter always comes for a visit on Sunday afternoon and we snack and visit so will be a busy one.

You all have a great week end and good luck to Caroline Marshall.

Losing September

Fall Forest Refuge

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fall-forest-refuge-by-madonna/

Two more days and September will be over. Wow, is all I can say! We had a fairly nice September but not as good as last year's as far as weather goes. 

Did you watch the first Presidential Debate? Sounds like at least 84 million people did. I have to admit I really enjoyed it. And am looking forward to the next one.

Our old TV started acting up again last week. It didn't want to come on and the red light for the lamp kept coming on. Sometimes it took me a half hour to get it up and running, so we finally decided we were going to have to finally break down and buy a new one so we went to Costco (only place we will purchase electronic items) and couldn't find a parking place so we came home and I ordered it on line. When I told my husband we weren't going to get it for 10 days, he said to go ahead and buy the replacement lamp. We had to replace it several years ago. It was $248 from Sony and Amazon had it for $34. So I ordered it again and it was only $22.00  this time! We got it in 2 days, had the lamp in in 10 minutes and we had TV! We couldn't believe how bright it was. We knew it was getting darker and darker but when it happens so gradually you don't realize how bad it really is! 

Then we had to go to the Comcast store and get a box! It is totally ridiculous that you can't just plug the cable into the TV and get a picture. Our old TV had a cable card and it was a one time charge of $15 and that was it. The man at Comcast said we wouldn't have to pay extra each month for the box, BUT we shall see. We told him we weren't going to have a new tv set for awhile as we hadn't even looked yet. No problem, he said, "When you hook it up, call this number and they will activate it." But when we turned the old set on that night, it said we weren't authorized! He had unauthorized the cable card, so I had to call and get it reactivated. So I am wondering about that monthly fee.

The new TV is out for delivery right now but I don't think it will get here so I will have enough time to get everything set up. So I have that to look forward to tomorrow.

Then our hot water heater started acting up. Actually it has been for awhile but my husband always fixes everything and for the last 6 months I have complained every once in awhile because the water wasn't hot enough when I washed my hair, etc. It is strange because sometimes it is nice and hot and then if I don't use a lot of water that day, it won't stay hot. So, he finally called the people who installed it and they are supposed to come out and look at it. If we have to replace it I think we will go back to electric because we can install that, plus they are much cheaper than the propane. 

They say everything happens in threes so I wonder what will break next!

Jack and Black Cats

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jack-cats-by-madonna/

I have been working on some Halloween themes and they are so much fun to make. It seems a long time before Halloween but a lot of people collect a file of their favorite holiday designs so I don't want to put them all on at one time. I try to gradually submit them. 

Our 3 year old great grandson is staying with us this Sat. night. He has never stayed overnight but I am sure he will be find. He is such a fun little guy and we enjoy him so much. Makes you feel happy to be around a 3 year old.

Well I better get back to work. Everyone have a great week end and Go Hawks!

I am just hoping that Wilson's knee and ankle hold up!

September

Autumn Buck and Doe

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autumn-buck-and-doe-by-madonna/

September is here so I guess we all have to hunker down and get ready for winter. I put the fall door decoration on the back door this morning. And got out a fall arrangement for the dining room table. I guess I might as well brighten things up even if I can't brighten up my mindset. My husband took a great grandson grouse hunting this morning. He was afraid he wouldn't get to go out with great grandpa this year because school was starting, but he doesn't have to start until the day after Labor Day. He spent the night so they could get an early start. I feel so thankful that we get to spend time with our great grandkids.

I spent yesterday pickling with our daughter and granddaughter. We spent as much time laughing as we did making pickles. Got 80 pounds of cucumbers processed. And one bottle of wine gone!  Last year was the first year my granddaughter did pickles so I gave her the old family recipe. My Grandma Joe's dill pickle recipe..the recipe my grandmother, my Mom and myself used for years. The recipe has to be over 100 years old but that was the dill pickle that all of her friends liked best. She made several different recipes, marked them and blind tested. So I guess my Grandma Joe knew what she was doing. She didn't have a lot of recipes. She just did it! Her buttermilk biscuits couldn't be beat and she made them every morning, without a recipe. She would add stuff till the texture was right and rolled them out on the kitchen table to cut out. They were so good...with fresh honey. She had another recipe in her head that we tried to get her to write down...it was something our family called Hot Stuff! It was shredded cabbage and some kinds of hot chili peppers, etc. that she canned every year. It was a family favorite but not one of us could manage to copy it so Hot Stuff died when Grandma did. We all tried!

I just read a series of books I enjoyed very much. They were The Laramie Series by Karen J Hasley. They were so good. You can read them book by book but it is better if you start with Lily's Sister and read them in order. I am hoping there will be a 7th. I get all of my books from Amazon so I can read them on my tablet. And I get a lot/most of them free. I subscribed to Book Bub and they send you a list of books in categories you choose that are free or lower priced. I think I managed to get every one of them free over time. I just save it on the Amazon Cloud until I get the entire series. The author manages to bring members from prior books in the series to be the main character in the new one, so it is mainly all about a family. The first one starts right after the Civil War and the last one was early 1900's. 

Well, I should get back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day. And thanks for taking the time to read my silly blog. 

One Leaf Fallen

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/one-leaf-fallen-by-madonna/

First Blue Jay!

Just saw the first blue jay of the season today. It is very warm outside, which I love, BUT it is beginning to feel like fall in the mornings. If you read my blog at all, you know I do not like winter so fall is the beginning of the bad! For me, anyway. I love the fall colors and have made many, many fall designs so that is about the only good part of it as far as I am concerned.

Footprints in the Sand

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/footpints-in-the-sand-madonna/

We had a big garage sale last week so got rid of years of "stuff" but ended up and had to take a pick up load to Value Village.The weather was in the 90's so we didn't have near as many customers as we usually would have. What a job, though! Going up into the attic and finding boxes of stuff I had put away, lots of sewing laces, fabric, etc. that I can't use anymore. So it was nostalgic but cleansing. Luckily our daughter-in-law was here the whole time and really helped out. I can always depend on her and have for many, many years. So I consider myself a lucky mother-in-law! Our son fell in love with her when he was in the 6th grade! No kidding! He came home from school and all he could talk about was the girl that broke her arm (I think it was!) at school.

I just realized that I like a dark Persona theme. I tried a lighter color design but with my old eyes it was too bright so went back to a dark one so am using Footprints in the Sun! 

It is hard to believe that school's are starting. I think they just closed, didn't they? Halloween stuff is out at the stores! Oh, my, much too soon.

Going to sign off for the week. Hope you all have a great week end and the forest fires can all get under control. I hate to see all that forest land burn up. It helps the environment to have those trees standing and not burnt to black dust. And the fire fighters need to be home with their families.

Sunflower Beauty
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sunflower-beauty-by-madonna/

Class Reunions!

 

My 3rd Grade Class

(I am the far lower left)

I was listening to the radio today and the commentator was talking about the class reunion he had just attended. It brought back memories of my 50th class reunion. I got the invitation in the mail and realized my husband had a hunting trip planned for the same time. So I just figured I wouldn't go. But the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to go since my class hadn't had a reunion for 25 years.  I grabbed the phone and called our oldest grandson, who was 27 at the time and asked if he would like to be my date for my class reunion! He is a people person so I knew he would be a great date! He drove us down to the reunion and everyone loved him. When we got there, I told everyone I had brought a younger man as my date! It was great fun for me and I think he had a good time, too.

If you have read any of my older blogs you may remember I talked about clamp on skates and how we wore skate keys around our neck. Well, in the photo I have one around my neck and a girlfriend also has one on. 

 

Have a great week end! And if you have a class reunion, enjoy it!

100 years ago an angel was born!

My Mother was born 100 years ago yesterday. So she has been on my mind more than usual. She passed away in 2002 from ovarian cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, it was too late to do anything except let her leave the hospital and pass on in the comfort of her own home. My brother and his wife, my sister, my husband and myself took care of her the last three months of her life. We each took turns staying with her. We would move in for 3 or 4 days. Hospice helped us so much. Someone would come every few days to check in on her and help us know how to take care of her.  Mom knew how much she was loved and died in peace. She said it was taking too long, though. I remember her saying that quite a bit toward the last and she wanted me to help her leave a little quicker and I told her I couldn't do that.

Mom was a keeper. Not a hoarder but she kept things that meant something to her. Letter, cards, etc. I spent many afternoons sitting by her bed reading old letters to her. She had all the letters my brother wrote to her when he was in the Army. I learned a lot about my brother's service years I didn't know. And how he met his beloved wife. There were some letters from my Dad and after I read them, she said, "I forgot how much he loved me." Even some old, old letters from her Mom. She cried after I had read a few and said she didn't realize how bad her Mom felt in her last years. My grandmother lived in IA on the farm her parents homesteaded. (I believe I wrote on this blog several years ago about how they homesteaded and started their farm)

Anyway yesterday was a day of memories for me. 

Have a good week and love!

Worry about loss

White Wolves Winter

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/white-wolves-winter-by-madonna/

Any of you that read my blog know that I have been married for a very long time. We will have our 60th wedding anniversary next year and have been together for 61 years! We still hug each other many times during the day and the last thing I say at night is "I love you!" If either one of us did not wake up in the morning, I want that to be the last thing I say or that he hears. I know that sounds silly, but that is what I have done for many, many years and will continue to do so. I honestly don't know how I could go through one day without him and I worry about that every once in awhile. I can't help it. It will just pop into my mind and I have to get it out of their so I get busy doing something! 

Enough!

Our summer, here in the North Sound has not been a very good summer. Anyway, I don't think so. Last year was a great summer. But this year we have had a lot of chilly days. May was super and I thought we were going to have another great summer but not so! I have noticed how much it is beginning to feel like fall in the mornings. I am not ready for fall!

Birds of Summer

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/birds-of-summer-by-madonna/

Are you watching the Olympics? We always do and last night we were like little kids we were so excited when the men's USA team won the swimming relay.I was yelling "Go, Go, Go" and clapping my hands. At lunch today my husband mentioned how much he was enjoying them.

Well, gonna sign off for now. Will get back later this week, hopefully!

Have a good week!

Two Fox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/two-fox-by-madonna/

 

Summer Drivel!

Lights of the North

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lights-of-the-north-by-madonna/

The conventions are over and now we begin getting telephone calls, fliers in the mail, television ads so we can make an educated vote for the next President of our wonderful country. I have already made up my mind so I don't need to hear anything more. I wish the FCC would make voter robo calls illegal. We have a land line and get 2 to 4 calls a day asking for our vote. I leave the answering machine on 24/7 so we don't answer them.

I have been trying to submit more themes a day because I have so many already made and keep working on more. If I live to be 100 I wouldn't have to make anymore. But I really do love working on them. And I love getting the wonderful comments you all leave on my themes. So, thank you to each and everyone of you.

We have had wonderful warm weather this week. I love it and my old body doesn't hurt when the weather is warm like this. So I feel bad when I tell our daughter how much I love it when she can't sleep at night in her too warm bedroom! And our boys have to work in it with their heavy work clothes.

Well, the phone just rang again! Another robo call! It is very disruptive.

Our County Council is making the final decision on our Comprehensive Plan next month. They have to do it every 5 or 6 years. Anyway, I am quite sure we won the battle again. We have been fighting a developer since 1991 and it gets a little tiring. They have been trying to develop the big farm across and down from us and put in several thousand houses and apartments. To do that, they would have to be annexed to the City and we do not want, nor can we afford to live in the City. So, I think we won again IF the final vote is what we think it will be. You never know until the vote is taken and in the books!

Two Fox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/two-fox-by-madonna/

I got stung twice by a yellow jacket the other evening when we were sitting out reading. It got me on the back and when I tried to swat it away, it went down my shirt and got me again. For some reason I  get a very bad reaction from them. So my back had two big red swollen spots for a couple days. It itched so badly and I couldn't reach the one. (Which was probably was a good thing)

My brother and his wife are at the big fire in California. They run the showers for the fire fighters. My brother is 75 and still going strong! My husband was a fire fighter for many years and he says were the best of times. He loved it. Our kids say they can still remember what his clothes smelled like when he got home after a week or so fighting forest fires. But it is sad to see the forests burning like they do. In California a lot of them aren't real forest fires, more dry shrub. 

Well, I am going to get back to work. Hope everyone is having a great summer. I couldn't believe it when we walked into a store a couple weeks ago and they had Back to School stuff. My gosh, they just got out it seemed like. Time goes way tooooo fast.

 

Hard week in the World

Patrtiotic USA

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/patriotic-usa-by-madonna/

The past week has been a very sad week for the entire world. Every time you turn on the television or radio you hold your breath and hope there isn't Breaking News with another shooting, an attack or a coup!

Now this week we have the Republican Convention that probably won't make matters any better. Enough said. 

Have you ever tried to put a protective screen saver on a tablet or phone? I have been trying to do that on several items lately and not having a lot of success. The Nexus 7 I won from Brand Thunder in 2012 was getting so slow it would take me 10 minutes to get a Kindle book up so I started doing some research and decided on the Samsung Tab A. I am very happy with it and the price I got it for from Costco. Got a really nice case and screen protectors from Amazon. But didn't have a lot of luck with the screen protectors. I have tried 4 and finally just left the last one on, not because it was a great job but because my back and neck were killing me from doing it! I have spent a lot of time watching videos from "experts". And still not a lot of success. Very frustrating. So now I thought I would put a new one on my cell phone! Went through one whole package of 5 and still didn't get a job I was happy with. I am a perfectionist so for it to meet my standards it had to have no bubbles and no dust particles. I ended up with 1 dust particle and it wasn't on the main part of the screen so I figured it wasn't going to get much better so left it.

Just got my bill from Comcast and was not a happy camper on that front, either. If you are paying a lot of $$ to get TV and internet, you should be able to plug the cable in and get service. Right? But you have to have a separate box to get your TV stations you are paying for. At first the little box was free, then it was $1.99 and then it was $2.99 and now it is $3.99! A dollar may not mean a lot to some people but if you are on a fixed income (and haven't had a raise in that income for several years) every dollar counts. 

Now on another front! There is another theme designer that thinks I have some super powers over what designs Mozilla features. I don't! He has tried his best to put me down on sites and rants on the forum. I really don't know what he thinks but he commented about me making puppy, kittens and butterflies! So I made one just for him with a cute little puppy and kitty and butterflies! Fact of the matter I have made several but only submitted on so far! I know, I am not a perfect person!

Kitten Puppy Butterflies

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kitten-puppy-butterflies-donna/ 

I think it turned out really cute!

Well I hope you all have a good week and we don't have anymore Breaking News reports.

 

Independence Day

Bright Fireworks in the Sky

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bright-fireworks-in-the-sky/

 

Today is the last day of June and it is hard to believe. 2016 is half over. We have had some really hard things we have had to digest this year and I am wondering how the last half will be. I just wish people could get along and not try to push their beliefs onto others. I was listening to a talk show this morning and they were talking about the Boston Tea Party and it made me proud to be an American. We do stand up for our rights, no matter how hard people try to change those rights and take them away from us. We have a right to vote, to be in charge of our bodies, our properties and our lives. 

We are going to be inundated for the next 4 months with radio,TV, and internet garbage from all sides. I can only hope people will actually take a look at what people say they will do and what they can do. Our Independence depends on this. 

We haven't made any plans for the 4th of July itself because the weather is "iffy"! I don't want to plan on a picnic type day if it is going to be cold and rainy. They have a hard time of forecasting our weather up here in the northwest corner of the US. This week was supposed to be nice and warm. It has been sunny but not warm. Our oldest son and his wife are camped at a beach resort and we are going up there on Saturday so I am hoping it will be warm and not a cold breeze off the bay. Our daughter is coming on the 4th so I guess I shouldn't say we don't have any plans, should I? It won't be the 4th of July if we can't roast hot dogs, though.

 

SUNRISE

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sunrise_by_madonna/ 

Patriotic USA

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/patriotic-usa/ 

I am going to sign off for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and if you are an American, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

 

♥~Fathers Day~♥

Seashore
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/seashore-by-madonna/

Yes, that is my Dad in the top of my blog this month. He was pretty darn good looking, wasn't he? Last month I wrote a little about him. He has been gone for 17 years but it doesn't seem that long ago, really. He didn't enjoy the latter part of his life at all. He couldn't do anything he really wanted to because of health issues. He started smoking when he was like 15 or so. He did quit in the latter part of his life but I know he was sneaking a few cigars at the end. And I don't blame him for that. Live a little and enjoy. He had bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning for his breakfast, too. So he had heart problems that led to his not being able to walk very much, etc. Then he had lung cancer from all that smoking. He ended his life on his own, in his own way. And I have never blamed him for that. I would have done the same thing. If you can't enjoy life, why take up space? 

My Dad was stubborn & hard headed. I take after my Dad which I wish I didn't in this case. My dear husband is always telling me, "You're just like your Dad."

My Dad didn't like a lot of social life and I take after him in that way, too. Mom loved being around a lot of people and was very social. I wish I were. And that makes it hard for me at times. I am not good at going up to a stranger and starting a conversation. I just can't do it.

Dad taught me to stick up for myself. He always said "If you don't stick up for yourself, no one else will." And how true that is.

I was a tomboy. I hayed with my Dad because I was a strong farm girl. I remember him bragging about how good I did on the hay wagon piling the hay bales. After I got married I went deer hunting several times with my husband and Dad. I thought that was pretty cool. I rode dirt bikes with my Dad and family. I rode street bikes with my Dad. I know how hard it was for him when he had to quit riding. Boy, do I know! It was so hard for me to hang up my helmet. I rode the through the summer I was 71 and it took me 3 years before I could sell my bike!

I hope that you can be with your Father this next Sunday, but if you can't, call him or write to him, let him know you love him. If your Father is gone, like mine is...think about him. Life is so short and goes by so quickly.

 

Woman Rising!

Well, we pretty much know who will be the presidential candidates this fall. 

When I was a little girl no one could ever imagine that a woman could actually run for president, no less be the President of the United States! That could actually happen in our country now. It is a good time to be an American woman.To think that my great grand daughter could become the President is very exciting. We are a little slow at this happening, when you think that India's Indira Ghandi was Prime minister in 1984. Argentina, Iceland, Ireland, Mongolia, Germany and Bolivia are way ahead of us in having had women run their countries. Women are probably better at running a household than men, so why can't they be head of a country? I have heard some say, "They are too emotional." What is wrong with having emotions?

When I was a girl, I knew I would never go to college because we couldn't afford it and to be truthful I had no desire to go. All I really wanted to do was find someone to love and marry, have babies and be a housewife and mother. I think that was what ever girl I knew dreamed about. A few kind of wanted to be a teachers. There really wasn't a lot of things a girl graduating from high school had a choice to do. Before I met my husband, I kind of thought about going to beauty school because I loved to cut and style hair. (I started cutting my own hair when I was 14 and have done so ever since) When I was a freshman I considered joining the Waves, mainly because my uncle was in the Navy and I thought he was really cool. I sent off for information about joining even. But that was about it. And then I met the love of my life! So my dream came true.  I am very proud that the US now has a woman presidential candidate. Here is to woman power!

Honoring our Veterans

We have started hearing about Memorial Day sales in the papers, on the radio and television. Yesterday's paper was so heavy I could hardly lift it. Memorial Day sales seem to be the main reason for this holiday? I don't think so! 

This is a time when we honor our fallen hero's..the ones that died protecting our freedom. Not what pair of shoes you can get 15% off! Have you seen the cemetery's decorated with hundreds of United State flags on Memorial Day? What a beautiful site.

I have to admit that Memorial Day has been a time in my past that the real reason was the farthest thing from my mind. It was a 3 or 4 day week end dirt biking the Coal Piles in Cle Elum, WA. But the older I have gotten the more I appreciate and realize what could have been. 

My Father and Father-in-Law both served in the US Army during war time. My husband's Dad was in WW I and was wounded. My Dad served during WW II. He was lucky and didn't get called in until late in the war. He was a father of 2 at that time, had a small farm and worked at a shipyard. They needed him at the shipyard. Then when farmers couldn't buy tractors because they were not building tractors,  http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/machines_01.html,              he started building tractors on our little farm back in the woods. My Dad could build or fix anything! And did! So he didn't get called early on. But one day he got his card saying he had to go in for his physical on May 19th So on May 19th he went to Everett, WA to take his physical. When he didn't come home that day we really started to worry. (I don't remember how Mom found out what happened to him because I don't think we had a phone.) But Dad didn't come home. After he passed his physical they loaded him onto a bus and took him to Ft. Lewis and that was his  "enlistment" day. Mom had to have a neighbor take her to Everett to pick up the only vehicle we had! So Mom had to take care of everything at our little farm. My brother told me he still remembers seeing her laying across their bed crying. 

Now that I think of it I don't think we had a phone because we had no idea my Dad was coming home either! He actually got home the very day WW II ended, Sept. 2, 1945. Everyone was going out to celebrate so one of the neighbors asked Mom if she would watch their kids while they went out. Of course my Mom never told anyone no, so she took us and went over to babysit. Someone called Mom at the neighbors and told her they had seen a soldier walking down the road. Well, it was Daddy! 

So when you see all the stuff on sale for Memorial Day think about the men that were wounded and died so you could go out and buy some of that "stuff". But I think I will remember my Dad.

 Nature in Bright Colors

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nature-in-bright-colors-donna/