2020

 So here it is the last waning days of this infamous year, and I decide to reflect , choose a new one word, and renew my blogging attempts in order to start writing again. And yes I know that is a horrific run on sentence. Not sure even where to start, so this will suffice that I at least attempted to start writing again. Will set my schedule ( ie, decide what Hallmark movie I will not watch the second time and blog instead ) and start journaling on what I have learned the past three years of retirement and the last nine months of quarantine. 

Where has the time gone?

I really have to start blogging again. Life gets in the way- in a good way.

Where has the time gone?

Hard to believe that my last post was Sept. 1. The beginning of the school year. Which is a small indication of how crazy it has been- no time to think, catch up, or do what needs to be done. I was so trying to simplify this year. That is my one word ( see http://www.myoneword.com/ ). Simplify. Easy to say, not so easy to do. I would like to simplify my clutter, my job, my responses to people. It is a process is all I can say.



Wow, so much has happened in the last 6 months. Kit is looking for a job again. Kristy graduated from college. ( in 3.5 years- yeah!! So proud of her) Kelly has a boyfriend. I've been to Arizona (celebrated my birthday with my dad, mom, and sister), Florida (Christmas), and Dallas (coaching convention). I've shed 19 pounds (actually started that in June) and managed to keep it off. I've had surgery on tooth #19 3 times and am due for a fourth extraction/implantation. Ugh. That's a whole 'nother blog...



Recently had my cell phone stolen. It was an odd feeling not having it. It made me realize how dependent we have become on our technology. I use to be able to go to the store and not feel like I had to call home to check to see if we needed something. I use to travel 5 hours away by car as a young adult and have no way of letting my parents know if I arrived safely until I got there. I used to go to conventions with my husband and only be able to check on the kids when I went down to the pay phone in the lobby, or called collect from my hotel room. I used to only be able to talk to my kids when they came home from where ever they were. So now my girls call or even worse, text me from the same house, different floors. I'm not sure technology has really moved us ahead in the the communication business after all.



Must move on, I will try to post more often. I've missed writing!

Random thoughts

Why do people water their lawns, to make them grow, so they have to cut them more often? I figure God has a plan for how much rain he wants my lawn to have, so far be it from me to spend money and time watering grass that will only make more work for me if it grows faster. Besides, I am always secretly pleased when after the fall rains, my grass is just as green as those that have been tenderly cared for with sprinklers all throughout the long, hot , dry, summer. I hope my grass decides to perform again this fall. Watch, it would be my luck that this year it totally gives up and in the spring we will have nothing but dirt and weeds in our yard. My daughter did comment on the fact that we have cabbages growing in our front yard. Upon closer inspection, they are actually violets, but far be it from me to be giving horticulture lessons. I'm the one with the green weeds and straw for grass.

Butterflies- have you noticed the plethora of them this year? I feel bad every time one crashes into my windshield as I am driving. It's not like you can avoid them as they flutter up and over , then take a dive right into your grill. They also seem to be all over the yard and trees. What a beautiful sight.

Smoking deals... I was looking for new jeans at Kohls (my old ones, actually new last January, are TWO sizes too big, so I needed new ones- by product of having high blood pressure that my Dr. wanted to treat without medicines, thus the pound a week weight loss regimen since the first of June.) Anyway, I had a $20 bonus credit from my daughter, and a $5 credit for her signing up for email. Then I asked if there was a coupon for using a charge, and got another 15% off. So I was able to get 2 pairs of jeans ( in my new size!!) for $9.58, which I promptly paid off as we are on the Dave Ramsey no credit card program. They had originally been $36 and $49, so as my step mom says, I made out like a bandit. And I am happy to say, my blood pressure has been back to normal. Lower than normal actually. Much lower. Think she'll tell me to start gaining a pound a week? Oh I can only dream...

Where does all the poundage that one sheds go? I have visions of fat cells floating all over the universe, leaving one body and finding another one to latch onto. You know all the people that say they LOST weight? I talk to just as many that say they have GAINED weight. So there must just be this constant exchange of phantom fat cells that randomly move from body to body. That must be why runners don't have the fat cells attaching themselves to them- they are in a constant state of motion and fat cells must be slow. That really is random. I need to go have some chocolate. And some sleep.

The Avoidance Walk- another lesson from my dog

Our dog, Abbie, has acquired a new behavior lately. When she sees another dog approaching on our walk, she crouches down as low as she can go and just waits for the dog/owner to get close enough, and then... she pounces on them, pulling with the force of a Mack truck ( my shoulders can attest to the fact. I no longer need to lift weights on my left side...) Needless to say, this is extremely disconcerting to both the canine prey and also the owners that look at me like I have grown two heads. How can one dog be so out of control? ( I'm sure it is hilarious watching me flail as I am pulling back with two hands with all my strength , as Abbie is at a full force throttle towards her intended victim.) If I thought that she would just greet the dog friendly like , sniffing privates and exchanging tail wags, I would let her go. Unfortunately, she has become crotchety in her ripe ole age of 56 (how I can soon relate..) and I never know if her greeting will be one of niceness or of growls and attack mode. Ugh.

So I have entered into a new phase of my walking her, and it is called avoid any dog at any time. I have been known to cut through the woods, traipse across muddy fields, or take the looonnng way around the park if I see a dog approaching. Makes for some interesting walks....

Made me think of the times that I have gone out of my way in life to avoid something unpleasant- the detours I have taken to avoid a possible conflict. How often to we allow ourselves to veer off our direct path, to avoid some obstacle that may or may not harm us?
What if I just crouched down and waited for the imagined disaster to happen? I may be surprised that it never comes to friution. And if it does, I am in a position to look around and see my best course of action.

What are you avoiding? How far do you go out of your way to avoid conflict?

The State of Forgetfulness

I know now why as you get older, you get frustrated because you can't find anything anymore and your kids start to think you are crazy (-er than they already think). I think I have discovered the problem. As you begin to do the big D ( downsize), you start getting rid of things. And the next week you don't remember getting rid of what you got rid of , so you spend endless minutes, hours searching for the item that you gave to Goodwill a week ago. I have started keeping a detailed list ( color, brand, size) of items I donate, not only to cash in on the tax break, but as a reference sheet when I KNOW I saw that shirt somewhere in my closet and am unable to find it. That way, after I have searched unproductively for awhile, I can check my list to see if it is worth continuing to look for, or if it indeed made it to the brown bag in the hallway that collects items to give away. What are your coping tricks? Can you remember any to share? Wait, let me get my sticky note to write it down before I forget!

Attempt at posting pictures

Michael and Deanna's landscaping on their new house. Looks great , doesn't it? OK my attempts are over as every new pic goes on top of the old. I need my live in tech who moved out and is relocating in Oklahoma. Miss you, Arika!

Here is a pic of the journals the girls and I are making for our upcoming craft show in the fall. ( Like I don't have enough to do!) But it is very fun, relaxing, and gives us quality time together. ( I can hear them now saying, Oh, Mother!) These are actually our older ones that sold.

OK, can't figure out how to not have the pics next to each other...any help out there?

Great sunset fam pic on the dock at Ernie Cooper's Cabin which we rented for a week in Michigan. Ernie is the owner's dog.