This quest to get rid of extra stuff out of my house has left me a bit frazzled lately. I can’t seem to keep up with that and regular work, activities, walking, church, blogging, etc. The latest thing Liz and I have done is to go through quite a few boxes of vhs tapes we found….who knew you could have so many of those things! The easiest to deal with were the ones that were just recorded tv shows because we tossed a big box of those in the trash. Apparently I have watched too much tv over the years, there were at least 50 of those! Another stack we kept were old home movies of the kids; birthday parties, piano recitals, ball games and such. After the first of the year I hope to find someone that can transfer those to dvd, they’ll be easier to store. The hardest for me to deal with are the myriads of tapes that have been bought over the years; one year when the kids were little hubby probably ordered between 50-100 tapes so they’d have “good” things to watch on tv. They didn’t like all of them obviously because I bet we found at least a dozen that are unopened. Liz just thinks we should get rid of all of them or give them away….I think vcr’s have just about become a thing of the past. Lots of them were ordered through christian companies and feature films for families so we might see if the church wants any for the library. We have stacks and stacks of tapes everywhere! But today hubby has company coming over, people he knew from college that have been misssionaries overseas for many years.
AND we’ll have family home for thanksgiving, which is coming up way too quick for me! So I think a new plan is in order!
1. Need to temporarily stop going through some of this clutter
2. Get some meals/dishes cooked and in the freezer for later
3. Do some of the regular housework! Oh that seems to never go away
4. Clean off my stinking camera card that I never take time to do!
5. Try to get my sewing picked up, put away so we can sleep people in that room for the holidays.
More? I think there might be more but this will be enough to work on for the next few days or week! Which might leave me feeling as overwhelmed as I already feel!
“just slip out the back, jack; make a new plan, stan….just get yourself free“
It’s Friday and time to share some of your favorite things from the week. You can find details and everything else you need to know here in Susanne’s post.
1. The sound of rain on my roof at night, I’m not really a fan of the rain but it’s a nice sound at night!
2. Zicam, my friend during cold season. It really works wonders for me.
3. Pumpkin bread….made a loaf this week but only got one slice. My son came home to vote and took all the rest back to school with him!
4. Fall leaves…..we don’t always get a lot of color here but I have 2 trees with leaves that are turning red. I love to see them when I drive up and the sun is shining on them.
5. A huge drop off in the number of political phone calls now that the election is over!
Hope you’ve had a good week! What’s been your favorite thing that happened?
We have a wide framed opening between our den and kitchen/breakfast room instead of a door that closes. A few years ago I started putting up colored sticky notes on the side of it to remind myself of things; like a phone call to make or errands to run. I guess I picked this particular spot because it was a place I’m in every day and I would see it on the way out the car. Don will use it occasionally too, taping up a note or mail that he wants me to see. He tends to hang his stuff during the night because for some reason he’ll wake up at the crack of midnight to pay bills or do paperwork.
I think maybe he’s moved on from notes/letters to other things because this was the site that greeted me the other morning………
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This weekend our kids/grandkids in Texas sent us some pictures from their Halloween fun! The little ones looked like they had a good time.
There was Jack Sparrow………..savvy?
A pretty Dorothy……there’s no place like home.
And a sweet baby owl!
I wonder if he’s saying…… “Stop blowing holes in my ship!”
I guess you better not mess with Captain Jack Sparrow!
We had some trick or treaters and gave out our candy in about an hour’s time. Then we watched a movie and hung around the rest of the weekend. How was your Halloween?
I’ve been fortunate to have Liz around here helping me clean out closets, attics, etc. We’ve tossed quite a bit of stuff, carted some off to give away and still have some rooms to go yet. It’s sort of random but the place I’ve finished first is my bathroom closet. The really crazy thing is, I’m in love with one of the containers we used to organize with. Simple little plastic storage drawers; why oh why did it take me this long to discover them!
I should have taken some pictures before I started……….
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It’s time for your favorites on Friday; get all the details for this fun meme in Susanne’s post. Maybe you’ll join in the fun too!
1. I saw The Secret Life of Bees yesterday and really enjoyed it! It’s a fun thing to do with a friend.
2. Shopping online. Placed two different orders this week for things for hubby; he thinks it’s brilliant but I think it’s because he hates to shop. I love to get boxes in the mail even if they aren’t for me!
3. A visit to the pumpkin patch, what fun! We took the little kiddies and I put pictures in this post.
4. Cooler temps…..it finally dropped from the upper 80’s here and feels a bit like fall; very pleasant!
5. Crockpot applesauce…I tried the recipe Stacy posted and I loved it! I’ll definitely make it again, maybe lots of times.
What have been some fun things for you this week?
This weekend my daughter visited here with her two little ones; we squeezed in a visit to the local pumpkin farm/patch on Saturday morning. The weather was glorious, perfect for being outside. I think the kids had fun too! Pumpkins, animals, hayride, snacks; all pretty standard activities for the pumpkin patch I do believe………
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I was tagged by Annie for this meme, share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself that you haven’t blogged about before. I’ve done this one several times so not sure this will be anything new and it certainly won’t be interesting but here’s mine!
1. I do NOT like the dark! No dark places, rooms, streets, movies or anything related.
2. I wake up if the lights go off rather than on…..there should be light somewhere, night light or something from another room and if there’s not it wakes me up because it’s too dark.
3. I didn’t have a pet when I was growing up…I didn’t think it was so odd but hubby thinks it warped me somehow…..he told me a goldfish didn’t count!
4. I’ve always eaten peanut butter and banana sandwiches with mayo….I know it makes no sense but that’s the way my mama made them! D just about gagged the first time I made it for him, HIS mama always made them with butter! I never thought it was weird til I figured out I must be the only person to eat them that way.
5. I do NOT like to speak in public or to a group. It scares me, embarrasses me and it would probably cause me to faint dead away.
6. Numbers in boxes make me twitchy. Or subtraction, I still can’t subtract worth a flip….math was so not my subject!
7. I’ve only had my ears pierced about 6 years……yep, I waited entirely too long!
I’m supposed to tag 7 people but I’m rebelling once again and not doing that. So play along if your heart desires and tell me so I can read your list!
Now that I’ve told you how odd I really am, I’m off to hide be busy in my house for a while. We had a fun weekend with some of the kids and I’ll post some pictures later!
I’ve been seeing this one passing around on blogs and it looked like fun so I’m playing today!
Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.
* They have to be real places, names, things. nothing made up!
* You can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* Tag at least 5 people to play along
1. What is your name? Gail
2. A 4 Letter Word: Gift
3. A Boy’s Name: Grayson….gotta use the grandson’s name!
4. A Girl’s Name: Gloria
5. An Occupation: Gardener
6. A Color: Green
7. Something you wear: Gown
8. A Beverage: Grape juice
9. A Food: Grits….because I’m southern! but I love guacamole too
10. Something found in the bathroom: Grout
11. A place: Georgia
12. A Reason for being late: Goofed off
13. Something you shout: Great!
Now tag five others: Nope, not gonna tag! But if you’d like to play along, jump right in. And let me know so I can come read your answers. It’s easier than you think it might be (google can be your best friend if you’re stuck on one!)
I’m back, I think, after a short break……although I still have loads of stuff I need to be doing around here instead of being on the computer. Stacy and Tim were kind enough to upgrade wordpress for me after doing Stacy’s and I think it’s going to take a bit more for me to learn some new things. I’m also trying out a couple of new fall designs to use temporarily, then maybe I’ll land on something more permanent!
We went to Sam’s birthday party over the weekend, how can he be ONE already! It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was driving to North Carolina for his birth; so many things have changed for them this past year including moving back to Mississippi. I like the almost 2 hour drive so much better than the 11 hour one! I’ll put some of the shots from the party on the extended page, click through for kid pictures if you like!
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Lots of things are moving and shaking around here!
1. I’m trying to make a real effort to get some things cleaned out of my house….I’ve put it off for way too many years. So I’m taking advantage of Liz being around because sometimes it’s easier if someone else tells me what to do! I seem to keep things for sentimental reasons and the kids don’t have that same problem. I’ve pulled so many things out of closets and the attic to go through that it probably looks worse now than it did before we started. But we’ve thrown away quite a few bags full of stuff and now are loading our trunks with things to drop at goodwill. I hope we’re making a little progress but the office is probably the worst room and no one wants to tackle it.
2. Yesterday E and I were stunned by a loud explosion in the neighborhood and then loud screaming. A man was checking on a house and went to move some stuff in his back seat and a gun accidentally discharged and shot him! After looking out several windows we discovered him staggering around his car and when I saw blood, we called 911. Many police cars and finally an ambulance showed up; they stayed around for more than an hour, talking to people and taking statements. My arms were trembling/shaking and I think we felt like our hearts raced for most of the morning! Liz asked me if I’d ever seen anyone that had been shot before…no, this was the first time and I don’t think I care to ever see it again. The hole in his side sort of undid me.
3. Little Sam turned one yesterday! How can that be? I haven’t seen him in a month and he’s started walking since then. His party is this weekend so I need to shake a leg and get my gift wrapped! I hope to get some pictures and maybe that will give me something to share later.
And I think I need to regroup after the weird, shaky week we’ve had. I’m going to take a few days to unwind a bit, visit with some of my kids and family and maybe feel better next week!
Don’t let tons of stuff happen for the next few days!
“someone’s in the kitchen, I know”
Earlier this week I asked my daughter Elizabeth if there was anything different she might want to eat for a night or two since hubby wouldn’t be here for dinner. I’m not very motivated at the moment to come up with new things! She thought about it and decided to pull out a newish cookbook she has for making tapas. She spent a summer in Spain and enjoyed tapas there; little bites of food I think maybe it is, sort of like appetizers. She picked several different things to make so it would be a meal for us. It all turned out great….garlicky shrimp with yellow rice and grilled portobellos; the portobello mushrooms were supposed to have a hazelnut gremolata drizzled over the top. The topping didn’t happen because we live in the middle of nowhere and they don’t sell hazelnuts in the middle of nowhere apparently!
I did some chopping for her while she made the shrimp and rice; the mushrooms were quick on the grill. Pretty colorful and it was all really yummy. I think the rice was supposed to be put in tortillas, then rolled up and cut but neither one of us wanted it like. I’m glad we did shrimp while hubby was gone; he’s not as fond of it as we are.
I hope Liz will try a few more of her recipes while she’s still at my house!
“and the moon sees me”
I liked the moon I saw when I went outside the other night right before dark. I sorta liked the way it peeked in between two trees way off in the distance. You could see it better if I had mad photography skillz and some kind of wicked awesome new camera! But alas, I have neither. Occasionally I remember to look at everyday things and really see them. Just a shot I sorta liked……
And I think it reminded me of that little song I used to sing to my kiddies when they were young!
What do you see at your house today?
“the moon sees somebody I’d like to see“
A few weeks ago I ordered a new slow cooker, got it in and the lid had a small dent in it. Several of you commented that I should definitely do something about it. I did finally email the company to see if I could get a new lid…a nice lady emailed back and said I’d have to send the whole thing back, then they would ship me a new one. I took them up on that, especially since they paid for all the shipping and it didn’t cost me anything else! So the second slow cooker came in yesterday and I briefly wondered if I would get one that had something worse than a dent in the lid. This one appears to be just fine but I haven’t used it yet… I better check it out to see if it works!
I planned my menus earlier this week but so far have cooked nothing that was planned! Monday I figured we better have fish while Liz wasn’t here because she SO doesn’t like it. Then I forgot that we were going out to eat for a friend’s birthday party on Tuesday and tonight is church supper! Hopefully tomorrow I’ll try this west bend out to make sure it truly works.
Over the last couple of months I’ve used my big crock pot while I was without this smaller one. But TWO times in the last couple of weeks I’ve been all organized, gotten my meal put in early and felt good about being on the ball only to get home from church or wherever and found that I never plugged the darn thing in! Argh! I hate it when I do things like that.
Apparently I need a new brain to go with the new slow cooker, because this one isn’t going to work if I don’t plug it in. 🙂
I’ve seen this one going around and it seemed like fun, sort of like a game we’ve played before! So I’m playing along today.
It’s time for some alphabet fun. The goal of the game – List 10 things you love that begin with the letter you are assigned. Annie gave me the letter “D”.
1. Don… gotta start with the hubby!
2. Daughters… 2 of them
3. Daughter in law… 1 so far
4. Disneyworld…the happiest place on earth
5. Dark chocolate… gotta get chocolate in there somewhere
6. Daisy & daffodils
7. Driving…I do most of it and actually kind of like it
8. Dancing with the Stars… tv show
9. Decaf coffee
10. Decking the halls, for Christmas!
If you’d like to play let me know and I’ll give you a letter! It might be kinda fun!
