Excuse Me, I'm Walking Here

To the old lady with the walker who knocked me out of the way at Walmart yesterday: No, I'm NOT trying to "hold up progress" as you stated, I simply over did it a little at yoga on Wednesday.

And, to anyone who happened to be at yoga Wednesday and gave me quizzical looks on the way out: No... there is no name for the position the teacher put me in with my legs up in the air against the wall. I know you probably never seen a person in that position before, hell, neither have I. She simply felt I had had my head down way too long in the downward dog position! How was I to know she didn't mean to stay there for that long?

Anyway, long story short, don't go full throttle in yoga class when you've been gone for over a month. You may have trouble walking for a few days...

I'll Never Be Shirley

When I was in elementary school, every Fall my mother would be overcome by the need to correct a problem that mother nature screwed up...that being (in her opinion) my lack of curly locks. I think she was way too taken with Shirley Temple and must've been utterly disappointed in my stringy, dishwater blond hair.

So, being confident she didn't need any beauty school training, she would take on the job of perming and cutting my hair, usually the NIGHT BEFORE the pictures were taken. Ugh! The result was my hair was usually fried and frizzy, and cut in a peculiar style that could only come from the need to cut off as much frizz as possible, no matter how odd the cut came out!

Note the short, short bangs and uneven bottom hair in the picture above. Every year it was the same. Imagine my surprise when my little sister told me how she would wear a coat to school on picture day (even though in Sonoma California it's "Indian Summer" during Fall and usually hot) so that she could pull it over her head and hide her "hairdo" our mom fashioned for her too.

Some styles never go out of fashion.

Magic In Your Cupboard

In your cupboard are good old fashion products that can be used for a variety of things, from beautifying your skin to scrubbing your pots and pans. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. If you're stuck on chemically-laden commercial products, you're going to laugh at these ideas, but try them and you just might save a few bucks and avoid unnecessary chemicals in the products you use.

My favorite skin care product is good old baking soda. Since I've been using it to scrub my face every other day for the last 3 months, my skin is improving. I threw out all the commercial face scrubs and now keep the plastic shaker bottle of baking soda in the shower. I mix baking soda with inexpensive CerVae liquid face cleanser (recommended by my dermatologist and easily found in CVS and other drugstores) and gently rub the mixture into my face. Gradually it is creating a layer of fresh healthy skin. I also use baking soda on a variety of other things, like scrubbing pots and pans, cleaning the glass cooking top of the stove, and even cleaning the kitchen sink.



Olive oil is good for your body, both inside and out. Moisturize with it at night and use it instead of butter on your bread. My mother-in-law and aunt went to Spain a few years back and olive oil was served with every huge meal. Although they ate meals twice as big as they normally would have at home, they both lost over 15 pounds in just 2 weeks.

Incidentally, if you have stainless steel appliances, put a little olive oil on a cloth (just a drop or two) and use it to clean the front of your refrigerator or other stainless steel appliance. This works better than any of the commercial products on the market. I know because I bought a ton of them until someone told me about this little trick.



I feel best when I use organic apple cider vinegar on my vegetables (spinach, brussel sprouts, salad) and put a little in a room-temperature glass of water. Acid reflux can be reduced by simply taking a small dose of this water-vinegar mix each day.

I use the cheaper version, white vinegar, to make my dishes shine by adding it to the dishwasher or putting it into a sink full of suds. Additionally, your clothes will come out softer if you add it to your washing machine, and it will clean out your washer while it's working on your clothes. Add white vinegar to your coffee maker or tea kettle and it will clean out the gunk left by hard water. I've also heard it leaves your hair squeaky clean, and cleans windows when used with a bucket of water and some old bed-sheets or newspaper to dry.



Well, I'm sure you'll think of some other uses for these little bottles of magic. Think how many products you could replace with just the four of them. And the side benefit is how many chemicals you won't have to slather on, breathe in, or smell.

Putting The Fall In Fall

This is the view from the ground near my Mother's porch after I fell off of it.

It was my second day in California and I was looking back at her laughing at something she said and forgot there was a step there. My ankle twisted, terrible pain, but I thought for a second I wasn't going down. For a moment I thought I could stabilize myself. For a moment I thought all was going to be OK.

Then I toppled like a tree being felled at the bottom. A little wobble and over I went.

My thought going down was 'thank goodness I've been doing yoga for a month.' ...Like that was going to save me.


Mom said, "Lay still for a while and relax and send good thoughts down your body." That wasn't hard to do since I was afraid to move to the point of paralysis. I willed every part of my body to relax and be well.



After a bit, I pulled my purse over and took out my camera. Like a good blogger, I didn't want to miss a chance to capture the moment. I got a picture of her concerned face, staring down at me. I think she was probably wondering how the hell she was going to get me up!

I got a picture of the ground and her feet.


I got a picture of the roof.


I handed the camera to her and said take a picture of me by the flowers. She did. At least she got the flowers.


I took one last picture of her pool, hoping I'd never have another opportunity to get it from this view again.



When I finally got up, my ankle hurt like hell. But I was able to hobble to the car and go to dinner. A few days of taking it easy and I was able to get around pretty well.

And, by the way, I really do think the yoga helped by making me limber enough to withstand the fall. A month ago I would've broken something for sure.

Utterly Pragmatic

I raised 3 daughters so I'm clueless when it comes to little boys. When the girls were little a cookie making session would usually end up being a competition to see who made the prettiest. Sometimes it was even hard for the maker to actually eat her cookie being that she was so proud of her accomplishment!

Imagine my complete surprise when I read oldest daughter Jenn's blog (she's the Whole Jenny on the bloglist on right) and saw Tucker's cookie. I learned today that pragmatism beats pretty every time. Tucker chose to plaster chocolate chips on his cookie instead of "pretty-ing" it up as a Jack-O-Lantern. In his 4-year-old male mind the choice was easy, where as not so easy for a girl. And who actually would be the ultimate winner here?

I'm thinking Tucker should play one of the wise men for Christmas. You get the picture.

Growing Into Our Parents

I often open my mouth these days and hear my mother's words come pouring out. How is it we use the same words as the last generation when we thought we were so different?

But my brother Russell has me beat...he not only sounds like my father, he has become him! The picture above of Russ could easily be mistaken for a picture of Dad at that age. Same tall stance, same cowboy boot strut, and same slight paunch taking over where , unlike me, he was always slim and trim. Funny how time slips away.

Blue Skies, Texas Weather

We left our car at the dealership to get it serviced today, so I took Gampy to work. On my way into town this afternoon to pick him up, I had to get a shot of the pretty sky.

Long ago and far away in the Northwest, when Gampy and I started dating and we were talking about visiting his parents in Texas, I said "let's go before it gets hot." Even though it was only May, he said "Too late!"

I thought he was kidding back then, but having lived in Texas for over 5 years now, I can tell you there really are four seasons in Texas: Hot, Hot, getting a little cooler, and gonna get hot soon. I love Texas weather from mid-October to mid-May. The rest of the year I wish I had a cabin by a creek in the hills in some other state...probably Alaska.

New Blog For Junk Crazy Me

If you're interesting in changing junk to "junky-home-decorating-stuff" (my dear husband's description), then I invite you over to my new sister blog: http://oneofmeiscrazy.blogspot.com

For ease, you can click on it in the blogroll on the bottom, right-hand section of this blog. Sorry, if I knew how to make a link for you here, I would be writing a different kind of blog!

If you stop by One Of Me Is Crazy, you will see my failures, as well as my successful makeovers in the coming days. You will find out how a paint blob on the floor can save you the chore of repainting a whole room.



If you're not interested in my home projects, please continue to join me here for future updates on my rantings on life. I've been taking it easy and thinking up all kinds of crap I hope you will find entertaining.

What Was I Thinking?

Have you ever put a new pair of sweatpants on and forgot to cut off the tag and then found yourself in the middle of Target where you discover that the tag is hanging out the back of your pants and you tuck it in (praying no one else saw it hanging out and thinks you stole them) and tell yourself thank God you didn't buy them at Target and then forget about the tag again until that night your husband says "Whut is that there ah hanging out ah yer drawers?"

Yeah...me neither.

World's Oldest Hippy

Last March when I flew to California, I took an airporter from San Francisco airport to Sonoma County where my mom picked me up. While waiting, I managed to capture some pictures of one of the cab drivers picking up a fare. I always wondered what happened to the hippies in San Francisco after 1967's "Summer of Love"...now I know where one of them went!





I love that the advertisement sign on the top of the cab says "RELAX". Me thinks he has that down!

The 60's and Finding Family

Just wondering... if you grew up in the 50's and 60's did you wear the curlers with curler cap like I'm styling in this mid-1960's picture?

I had never seen this picture of me until last night. It was sent to me by a sister I lost contact with years ago. Around Labor Day, she emailed me after finding me on Classmates.com. I joined Classmates simply hoping to find her, now after a year on Classmates, she found me. I am grateful. She's like a plug for a hole in my heart.

My dad married her mother when I was around 7 and Kathy around 10. For years we shared only camping trips and family vacations, then when I was 13, we shared a room together for the next 3 and a half years. For an only child, she never showed any distress at having to take in this younger, seldom seen, step-sister. For her friendship and acceptance at a time when I really needed it, I will always be grateful.

Due to our parents divorce, we lost contact during the time I was in the Air Force. She had moved out of state, but my father always wished to get in contact with her and he and I tried one time to find her...in the days before the internet...but she had remarried and moved to yet another state, so our search never panned out. Not knowing her last name proved to make our search impossible back then. God bless the internet!

Girls Just Wanna Have...Shopping Trips

We've been to Albuquerque to visit Lily and her family. While there, we shopped at Trader Joes where Lily walked the whole store pushing their "future shopper" cart. She was adorable of course.

How Does He Know?

On yahoo.com's website there is an article about Stephen Hawking that announces that Mister Hawking has now decided that God did not create the universe.

My response is... unless you are God, how would you know for sure?

Yesterday And Today

This was yesterday...



This is today...



Somehow 32 years passed in between.

Wilf And Digby

One of my favorite blogs...





http://wilfanddigby.blogspot.com

I find this blog so entertaining. The writer use to live in Italy with his partner and two dogs. He changed the blog title when they moved to France, and then sadly, one of the dogs died. If you love dogs and loved the crazy european characters in Under The Tuscan Sun, you will enjoy this blog. Take a look.

Is It Just Me Or Is This Creepy?

I was perusing Craigslist this morning and came across this listing. It is for a little girl's bed and end table. The creepy part is why in the world would you take a picture of the bed with what appears to be a man (naked?) lying on the little girl's bed.



Here's the night stand to go with it. Definitely a little girl's room. Creepy? What do you think?

Random Thoughts

Hey, have you ever been surfing blogs and fell asleep with your finger on the "down arrow" and woke up to find the blog pictures whizzing past your eyes?

Yeah...me neither.



Here is yet another fine presentation of how well I take pictures...this was my sister Becky and I when we were in California last Spring...



Man I'm good!

Among The Homeless

We are now homeless...Will we be out in the streets soon, trudging through the snow? Lost without a home? No, we're just happy to have the sell of the house over with today! YAY!!!

One thing I will miss though, and that's watching the squirrels out in the woods in the back sneak into Steve's yard next door and steal peaches. Sometimes we're treated to watching the squirrels roll the peaches out of Steve's yard, across the open area behind our back fences, and into the woods.

Steve planted 4 peach trees when we moved here 5 years ago. One year he bragged about how many peaches he harvested, but this year the squirrels seem to have managed to cart most of them off when he wasn't looking. I guess that's why they call it "squirreling it away" when they talk about people storing things up!

Anyway, it was hard to keep a straight face when Steve came fuming out of his yard with his shorts, cowboy boots, and big 10-gallon hat on, fussing about his lack of peaches...there's a saying in Texas "Big hat, no cattle"... but in this case, every time I saw him in his get-up, all I could think was "Big hat, NO Peaches!"



You can see his peach-less trees all lined up on the other side of our fence. "Hey Steve... what happened to all your peaches???"



It's for sure we will miss the peace and quiet, but it's also a sure thing that we WON'T miss the acre of mowing needed at least once a week.



We'll miss the big soaking tub in the master bath. I could use a good soak right now with all the moving we've been doing!



And...of course...I'll miss that front row seat on the couch watching the squirrels come from those trees way out there and sneak into Steve's yard and then back out with a nice juicy peach!



As my oldest daughter Jenny used to say when she was little: "Goodbye house" ..."Goodbye flowers" ... only I'd have to add: "Goodbye peach trees and squirrels" ..."Goodbye..." Well, you get the picture!

Staging Homes For Sale

With our home sell final on Friday, we're moving into Gampy's parents house. Their house has been up for sale since they moved to a retirement community several months ago due to health problems. Their retirement community provides assistance, weekly housecleaning, all meals served in a lovely dining room, transportation to appointments and shopping etc. This allows the elderly residents to live as independently as possible in their own apartments.

Mom and Pop are hoping that by Gampy and I putting our furniture and accessories into their house, it will help it sell faster. Here's what we've done with the place:










What do you think of our work so far?