Yeah What the Turkey Said

Just Talk

I woke up early this morning. The weather changed from 82 to 48 in just a few hours and the bone in my hip is throwing a wall-eyed-hissy-fit. However I am excited to say that a fresh pot of veggie 15 bean soup is on the stove and I can wear a sweater today! I am very happy to pull out the warm clothes. Lying in bed this morning petting a big purring furball, my mind went back in time to other fall seasons, little girls in dress up clothes, visiting the punkin patch, and taking trips out to Watsonville for apples.

sigh... I have lived a great blessed life. My joy is full and my heart is grateful. All those years that seemed so hard have distilled down into a sweet savory cup; I only remember the joy.

the struggles--gone

the quarrels--gone

the stuff we never could afford like a swing set--didn't matter

all the stuff of worries--never happened.

How do I know that?

I pulled out picture boxes  piled them high on the bed, with a good cup of hot Good Earth tea in hand, furball purring, and went through the visual reminders of my life,  it was good.

I pulled out a bunch of costume pics to share that will be fun. It's work though I have to scan them into the printer and then onto the lap top but they are so cute I just might. No promises!

I have such a long list of stuff to do. I finally got a wedding present finished and in the mail. I made it. I am taking the time and effort to go back to my roots of home made. It saves money and it means more. But I am not the whiz I was. I have had aprons to cut out on the kitchen table long enough to gather DUST.  Really?  The good positive perspective is there is still hope that I will get to it! I didn't pack it up and put  it away which means it will never get done. So there is hope.

I could lay out an excuse. I can't stand long because I have another CAST. This tendon has been messed up for 6 months. 6 weeks in the cast and then if it's still not healed another trip to the OR. Really I am a surgical junky, 10 surgeries in 25 years. A bit nuts! Everything with me seems to call for a knife.
But God. I am not complaining. 

No worries.

How do I know that?

Because of two words; but God.

I went for my yearly ya know, it's breast cancer awareness right now. I had done a BSE and felt something different, not a lump but not right either, something thick and dense. I thought maybe it was because I can't raise my arm above my head so I figured I'd go in and get my physical.

My doctor didn't like it much. I went to the hospital for a mammogram and an ultrasound and they are both normal which is great news. But there is a but; my mother died of breast cancer and she was diagnosed at 45. My daughter has already had cancer and had a total hysterectomy at 30. So we drew the blood test a BR AC to see if I carry a mutation gene; but medicare won't pay for it because I haven't had cancer myself .  The test costs over $3000. I don't have that kind of change. So much for government health care.  It can only get worse! Politicians do not have any business regulating health care they have got it so screwed up we can hardly work, just ask anyone in health care.

Because of my family history I have a referral to an oncology surgeon on November 12th. We'll decide then what do about my mass if anything. I'm kind of leaning toward taking it out. It may be benign now but whose to say it will stay that way? I don't know. It's weird. I'm willing to listen to the experts first. That's why they get paid the big bucks.

I smell soup. I always said that if I ever got cancer I would do a juice fast and a vegan diet for healing. I have started that without the answer. I'm praying that by November 12th the mass is gone. My God loves me and He is able to do that. I would love to tell you that my faith and prayers, made that mass go away. What I can tell you now is that I have peace. I didn't at first, I cried and felt really scared and emotional. The mass in my breast is in the same place as my mothers was. Freaky.
BUT GOD whose arm is not to short to save. He is my rock and I am standing firm. I believe and it is good to be a believer.  Times like this is when I really thank God that I am.

and just in case you haven't done it lately go get your mammogram or whatever screening you choose, because life is sweet it really is.

Springing Into Fall

 It's still warm here. The nights are cool and the humidity is gone so this is actually what I call our California spring. Perfect weather. It won't last long a few weeks, but each day is just spectacular.

 It's a bit messy but that's how I roll here.

 My 15 pound feline, totally spoiled rotten.

 I have some ambitious ideas of turning men's shirts into aprons like this one.

 This is a big stack of possibilities.

 These are going to get made first if and when I get them cut out. I am desiring to become more productive again.

 If I can quit losing stuff. I literally lose things that cannot be found anywhere in this house.

 Do you think he is maybe burying my stuff in the yard somewhere?

 I decided since it isn't so burning up hot that I could do a bit of something while I am sitting. Still waiting on that Achilles tendon to mend. This is my current project.

This is a finished baby blanket that I made for a friend, can't wait to give it to her. It would really be something if I could learn to follow a pattern. All I ever do is make blankets. I know there are books but I am a visual learner think a class is in order.

I have a new camera but I lost my manual before I could read it. So I am still shooting on auto. I'd like to learn how to take pictures instead of snapshots. I have a big pile of library books right now.
One on knitting and crocheting, two on digital photography that don't speak English, and a fun read called " What the Dog Saw," by Malcolm Gladwell. He is a journalist and this book is a compilation of his favorite articles over 20 years. He can take just about any subject and make it an interesting read. I definitely left my usual genre on this one and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yesterday I baked a sweet potato pie and discovered why the butter has to be melted and not just softened. As you can see having the butter stay all in one spot didn't deter us from eating it. I was reading about pie crust in my JOY of cooking cookbook and I do believe I am going to get back into making pastry from scratch. I have been buying the rolled ones but now that they cost the same as a 5 pound bag of flour I think I will get  back into making my own. My husband loves pie maybe I can make him a pie a week. That would be nice of me wouldn't it? I need to do something to earn my keep, as my mama used to say. Just wait until I turn the AC off, I'll really get hopping.

How about you? Has fall inspired you?  Fall is really my favorite season. There is just something about the colors, smells, harvests, and fun that just never gets old. It's always a joy to smell apples and see pumpkins. The food is so great too, waffles with applesauce and just about kind of pie and soup. Now if it will just cool off enough for me to wear a sweater my joy will be complete!!

(and if I can find my lost stuff....)

Couch Potato Get UP!!

 What do you do when you really want to get some creative juices going? How do you get energy and excitement to begin a project?  I have been struggling lately because of my feet. Inactivity and pain is a great recipe for watching your bohiney grow. I am feeling better now and my cast is off. I still can't walk a lot but I can get up and move around some. What I am really thankful for is a decrease in pain.
The main issue now is one of those physical laws about a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest.  Picking up the remote and turning on the TV has become my first resort instead of my last.

 A friend told me that Jan Karon's newest book, "Return to Holly Springs,' is a really great read. I decided to go to the library and check it out. It wasn't there so I ordered it and while I was there I began browsing. Do you ever think about how truly blessed we are in this country to have libraries? Free knowledge to all, at our fingertips. AMAZiNG!
I want to learn to knit. I can crochet. Knitted things are so beautiful.
I love goregous hand knitted multi color socks.
 I have piles of yarn just waiting to be used.
There are babies coming that new blankets could adorn. Blankets I can work on while sitting.

 Another book that caught my eye is this one about gluten free baking. Some of you have been going wheat free and losing your "wheat belly".  I want to lose my belly, bohiney, and about one half of myself, so this looks verra interesting!

 Of course you know a title like this has got to have something between the covers.

 Yesterday I groomed Sam and bathed both the boys. That was my big feat of the day. When I bathe the dogs that also means that all the bedding gets washed, theirs and mine. Whatever happened my legs especially my thighs feel like they have had a major workout! Whew, feeling the burn.

 The hair on Romans ears refuses to grow. I don't cut it off it just stays short. Sam's ears are already really long and pretty. He actually looks too pretty to be a boy, poor thing.

 How about sewing? With limited funds buying clothes is definitely a no no. I don't NEED anything. Do you get depressed when you can't ever get anything new? I'm a greedy little punk so I do. I have material though. I'd like to make some shirts for fall. I found a couple of patterns that look really versatile. I cannot believe the price of patterns!!! GAH, nuf said. 

 

 Look at all this just waiting for a creative person to get busy and so something with it.

 Everything is ready to go except me. Today I fixed some clean good food. Quinoa and veggies with carrot juice was breakfast and lunch.

 That's already been a good bit to do today.  To start getting off of the couch I'll sit in the chair, and read. It's a change anyway.

If you don't stop a car before you put it in gear you wreck your tranny.

Today I'll read some of these library books and think about getting from the couch, chair, bed,  to the sewing room. Hopefully some of these books will be inspirational.

How do you overcome inertia?

Back to School

Listening to people talk about going back to school brought back memories for me .
I was thinking about my childhood and lunch boxes. Did you have a metal lunch box? Do you remember what a status symbol your lunch box was?  I always hoped to have the coolest one but never did. One year I thought for sure I had one of the best and this girl showed up with a drawstring bag, she had the only one and she got best lunchbox. She was also biggest snob.

What did you love about going back to school? Did you make book covers from brown paper bags?
Did you love the smell of new crayons? Did anyone else like to smell the leather in their new saddle oxfords? The most uncomfortable shoes ever made, I swear they felt like 5 pound weights. I begged my Mom for them and hated walking home in the heat with those monsters on.  Me and Huckleberry we would have been buds.

I was kind of an academic kid. I loved the books. In elementary school I would read the "reader" the night I brought it home and then ask the teacher for a new book the next day. That didn't go over to well.  It also got me tied to the chair.

If I was a child today there would be no hope for me. I could hardly manage to sit still between recesses unless I was really interested in what we were doing. Now there is no recess.  We all looked forward to the lunch HOUR. That's where we made friends and played games or got into fights and all of that baloney. Kids today barely have time to eat and use the bathroom, they get 15 minutes at my grand kids school. I remember learning about the schools in Red China. The children wore uniforms and worked long hours without play. I felt so sorry for them. I don't see much difference between them and us anymore, in our schools.

Childhood is so short. There is enough time to cram data into our children's heads. In this day of information you really need to know how to find information. More importantly you need critical thinking and how to evaluate what you read.  Children need to know how the world is made, how things grow, how to treat each other and learn to work. Makes sense that farm kids turn out so well. They get a lot of fresh air, sunshine and real life experience. I don't know why we turn over our most precious commodity; our own children to failing institutions, or any institution for that matter. Have you ever really thought about that?

I'm so grateful that I learned about home schooling and that my granddaughters were the beneficiaries of that. Those years were such joy for us. We were able to CHOSE what we wanted to study and where we wanted to study it. There is nothing like studying the sea at the beach!
The world is really your oyster when you teach your own.

It;s great to be able to take a big tote bag or basket to the library and go hog wild checking out books, and then read them! After the book is read you take it back not belabor it until what you learn is to hate reading. How do you know if a kid reads a book? You read it too and talk about it. Or they write about it and you read it. We think we need a degree to teach but teachers with degrees are so busy trying to maintain some sense of order and keep records of who is where doing what; how much time do they have? Even those with the best of intentions have a very tough time of it.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. She is a 6th grade math teacher in a poor school. They have a beautiful building. They have new stuff. The problem is the teachers came from that same neighborhood, they tell the kids they are stupid. A lot of my friends students are at the 2nd grade level. She can hardly maintain her class because of the rowdy behavior of the kids. What are those kids supposed to do? They have no time to run, they don't understand what's expected of them and they are told they are stupid. No government program will ever solve this.
We talked and were trying to drum up ideas to help reach the kids. Then I asked her how many students she has. Because kids are sent to a different classroom for each period she has 163 students. How on earth is she expected to inpact any one of them much less learn their names?

I admit that I was leary of teaching the girls in high school. For one thing I am challenged when it comes to math, my spelling is atrocious, and I still don't have good punctuation and grammer.
When your thinking about college you want your kids well prepared. I knew I could handle the elementary years. Then I found out how much is out there! We have on line schools for almost any age or subject. There are computer classes for anything you can't teach yourself and groups of other home schoolers to join and share activities with. The sky was the limit again. I never was big on work books or regurgitation. I taught the girls to think, to analyse, and they loved to learn. They love to read. They know how to find information. They know how to work hard. More importantly the have an artistic flair for life that is their own, they have knowlege about life itself and the world and how systems work together and are integrated. They are intelligent people. That is what education is all about isn't it? Can you tell I feel pasionate about this?

I have other memories of school. Memories of crying at my desk trying to write "I will not talk" for the 1000th time. Memories of being socked in the back by a teacher, of having my mouth taped shut.
Or how about being chosen last for sports? Knowing they don't want to chose you at all. How about being made fun of by other kids? How about being kicked by a group of girls for being friends with a little Mexican boy? School is educational alright. Educational for what?

I realize that many people enjoy school. There are excellent schools out there and dedicated teachers. What I am saying is to question it. Not everyone feels good about letting there children go away for the whole day. Those people don't have too! That is the beauty of living in America. The standards and requirements for each grade are in public domains. With research about compliance and great materials, a pubic library and some group activities, parents can opt to teach their own children.

The memories I have of little girls discovering the world with wonder are a priceless joy that I would never give away to someone else. I wanted them with me. I enjoyed relearning and watching them.  Life through the eyes of a child make us look at the world again fresh. It's joy I tell you, pure joy!!

Our Silver Wedding Is Here

Time goes by so fast doesn't it? I am really having a reminder of the speed of time because we have just hit the 25 year milestone in marriage. WOwZas!

I think about the weddings and dresses that are in vogue today and I think it is just NUTS!

Our entire wedding cost $300. My dress and shoes were one hundred dollars a fortune in those days. I actually bought my dress before Jimmy asked me. I loved it and I loved him. I was absolutely crazy in love. I reasoned that since it was peach I could just wear it, but I just knew we would marry.
People that in love have to marry! We also did NOT have an intimate physical relationship before we married. You may think that is bizarre but because I had given my heart to Jesus Christ I couldn't do that. Jimmy believed the same way so there was some serious kissing going on. Steaming up car windows at our age imagine....well don't.

But you know what? God made me a REAL bride that day.

 What do you think of that leg huh? And look at all the hair Jimmy had! I just thought he was bald.

The Survey Says...

Isn't there some kind of game show that says, "and the survey says!" ? I'm sorry but that is the best I can phrase that question. It's a lack of hormones issue. My brain scan was normal. I can't claim dementia for an excuse and that makes me a perfect idiot!!! So my survey says estrogen loss and heat don't mix. Estrogen loss and intelligence don't mix either, that is kind of like water and oil.

The survey also says that these factors do not a good writer make. Structuring a cohesive thought requires that the thoughts are not rabbit trails. Wabbit wabbit.

For the past three months I have been struggling with my feet. A ruptured capsule in the Achilles tendon on the left leg and plantar fascitis on the right foot. I think both are the results of obeastity.
No typo there, my play on words. I have been working on weight loss. I stopped the Leanness Lifestyle University program. It is too regimented for my abilities. I don't like getting automatically generated letters that remind me to be successful I need to do x y and z. Not because I don't want to do x y and z. I cannot do x y and z. Not to much flex in the program.  I did however learn a lot. If you have no physical limitations and you like to eat a lot of meat, go for it. I should be able to let an automatically generated letter not bother me right? Too type A, I guess. The survey is out on that one.
I have had a lot of trouble trying to get a partial refund. The coach just won't answer my emails. Guess I may have to just write off that hundred bucks. I could use the 6 months but I didn't want to get those letters and eat more chicken..... I don't like chicken that much. The survey is out on that one too.

OK that's enough beef. If I had to pay $10 a pound then boy howdy alright!!

 I have been having a great time lately!
The survey is in on company and it's great!

 My grand baby came for 10 days.

 she had her birthday...

 the pups luvved her...

 the survey says she is prettier every year....

 and our hearts grow fonder. Pa has the same birthday. 23 years ago she was a little 4 1/2 pound present.

 Hummm look at the previous pic and then scroll down quickly, see anything different?
I swear that dog likes his picture taken.

 Feelin the LOVE!!!

 Sammy is smitten she called him Sambodian.

 Why is it that once I begin to lose weight I look so overwhelmingly FAT?!?!?!?!?!!!!!
We are out celebrating birthdays and also our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up.

 

 My brother and his sweet wife came for a weekend visit to celebrate birthdays too.
My hunny is 75. A very handsome and hunky 75, the survey says.
There is that dawg again....check the survey on poodles and cameras.

 We also had little people come to visit. These two kept us in stitches they were so funny all we did was laugh.

 Family love.

This beautiful lady is one of the biggest blessings in my brothers entire life. The poodle and the survey says, just sayin.