my baby is a cowboy ....

the husband bought a truck.

just how different is it?

hey honey, do you still want to go up in a flying saucer?

where are those instruction?!

i remember several years back that i bought a walkman so i could listen to music while i walked.  when i took it out of its packaging, however, it seemed to be configured a little weird. i mean, i could get the whole thing put together, but when i put it on there was absolutely NO slack! it felt weird and i couldn't figure out what the deal was so i just said oh well and headed out for my walk. i began to feel really conspicuous though because the short lead meant i had to scrunch my shoulders and keep my head down. the walk definitely didn't last very long and i didn't use it again.

quite some time later the husband borrowed it. i didn't think he'd do well with it, but he got along fine. when i asked him about it and mentioned the problem i'd had, he couldn't help but laugh as he showed me the extra adjustment i had to make to lengthen the cord.  *sigh*

the white rabbit

my time is not my own anymore! i mean, that happens when you get married and start a family, but at my age? when i really ought to have stayed retired? (except that i like exercising my brain at work.)

but there you have it. there's just no time to play on the computer, or do a crossword puzzle with the husband, or sew the grandaughter a dress, or do my blog. but what can i change? dah-dum, dee-dum .... get rid of the husband? quit my job? stop reading my books? well, those ideas are simply anathema to me so i'll carry on. maybe if i throw away this clock....

accomplishment

when i got my new computer, we decided to give the husband's to this little gal at his work and to put my old one at his desk. we had to get an adapter so he'd be able to do the wireless thing.

it's been a bit of a confusing affair since we don't know anything about computers. i e-mailed our computer guru that we had the part and he e-mailed me a link to use. so i went online and pretty soon he had control of my computer.

we chatted online a tiny bit, then he printed out a page with some numbers on it for me. i asked what i should do next. there was a brief pause and then he said 'answer the phone'.

then the phone rang. it cracked me up. so an hour+ later (including some frantic searching for a cat5 cable cord -- which we did have believe it or not) everything was working and a-okay.

i love my computer guy.

today is ...

Mmmmmmm, i smell the smell of home-made bread, fresh from the bread maker. the loaf is filled with sesame seeds, flax, pearl millet, oats, pecans, cranberries, cherries, and cinnamon. delicious!!!

it's a lazy day today. raining, cool, quiet. the thermostat is set on 50* and it's about 65* right now. i'm comfortable with a couple of silk turtlenecks, a polartec vest, and polartec pants. this weather is just my style!!

the husband hired a young friend to install an awning over our west-facing window. the window is huge (58" by 52") and in the summer it lets in LOTS of light. and heat. so with the awning, we'll still have lots of sky-view, but the sun will have less entrance into the kitchen. it looks great and i think it will work nicely.

our next project will be to put a pergola on the deck. we found plans for a lovely-looking one and are anxious to get the project started. when that's finished we hope to plant some bushes strategically so as to maximize the privacy of our small yard. i think it's all going to turn out great.

life

there are times when i wish the hubby and i had the same body-clock. i mean, he's a morning person and i'm a night person.

he wakes up all jouncy-bouncy-boy and i'm block-of-mud-girl. he hums, whistles, sings as he practically skips around the house. i stay tucked into myself trying to keep the world away, including sunshine, noises, and any form of cheerfulness.

in the evening i'm ready to PAR-TAY, run marathons, lead the charge, etc. he has faded into a gentle willow-the-wisp, droop-eyed, the switch almost turned to off.

i can't help but wonder what our lives would be like if we were on the same schedule.

z-z-z-z-z ...

and since i've been so busy at work, i've been dreaming like crazy at night.

last night i had a bunch of dreams, one of which involved living in a different house. it was a nice older neighborhood with nice wooden houses and nice yards. i don't remember much except that we lived in the third house from the corner, then my dream went somewhere else, then the dream went back and i had switched to living in the house on the corner. i couldn't figure out what had happened, but i liked the one on the corner better. and i didn't like the guy who was in the middle. i think i dreamed about the house because i had been looking at houses for sale in anchorage and found this absolutely darling house with a big yard on a corner. the problem was that it sat in an area which had a lot of businesses around it. too bad.

the next dream i had was the husband and myself going back to work as air traffic controllers. i can't remember what facility we were at, but after working one airplane, i decided i didn't want to be a controller after all. i wanted to be an instructor. then i woke up.

blast from the past

the husband sent me some pix of old cars -- i forgot about them until just now. aren't they cool?! or at least ... interesting?!

'38 Buick...


'41 Chrysler...


'51 Buick...


'51 Chrysler...

'54 Dodge...

nice day

we went over to our friends' house last night for a 4th of july party. they have a lovely view and their neighbors and other friends all congregated on the large deck. it was very enjoyable. we left at about 8:15 (hubby was sleepy and needed to get up for work the next day) and it was still daylight. the husband went right to bed when we got home and i read for about 30 minutes, then took to the sheets myself. i heard the fireworks for awhile, but i must have been so tired, that when i crashed, i didn't hear anything else until my 2:30 a.m. potty break.

My Older Son, wife, and baby were going to the in-laws for celebrating, i think. and MYS was surely doing something with his soon-to-move-away sweetie.

it didn't rain on us and all-in-all it was a nice day! life is good!

all the news....

sooooo many things i intended to blog about this week, but time went right on by. and i, therefore, have forgotten all of them so i'm going to ramble and see if anything comes back.

my friend mary put her house on the market. they've moved a lot of their stuff out -- knickknacks, extra clothes, some pieces of furniture -- and with the rearranging and general sprucing, their place looks lovely and HUGE. if there are buyers on the market, it shouldn't take them long to sell. good luck, mary!!

this month was 'berry' month at our regular bring-food-to-work lunch. i always hate these things because i've never enjoyed cooking, and since i have so many other interests now and so little time, i begrudge doing the lunch thing. but, trooper that i am, i do try to bestir myself to do something. i bought blueberries and raspberries, washed and culled through them, then added them to a mixture of creamy cool whip, sour cream, and cherry yogurt. it was so delish!!! and how could it not be, eh?!!

and you know that dish which has mandarin oranges, coconut, nuts, other berries, in a creamy pink mixture? ambrosia or something? oh my god. one of the good guys (i really like him and he's such a sweetheart) brought this in and even though i was pretty sure i wouldn't like it, he was expecting everyone to love it, so i put a large dab on my plate. and ate most of it. and smiled. and somehow managed to not gag and throw up in front of everyone. i absolutely hate that stuff and even after i had downed most of it and secretly thrown the rest away, my mouth remembered that taste for at least three hours.

it's been hell here with the temps the last 8 or 9 days. our weather is usually so mild, even the cold isn't bad. but hot is hot everywhere. it was 78 or a few degrees more in the house, and 80s and low 90s outside. i wilt very quickly. and when my body gets hot, my lymphedema instantly gives me trouble. it's already bothering me because of allergies, so the heat just makes me double cranky. but finally the temp dropped into the 70s. the humidity is right on the verge of being a problem though.

and today is the 4th. we're supposed to go to a 'do' this evening, but the forecast is rain. the get-together will be nice, but we're going to be ready to go home hours before anyone else -- we're just not get-together-and-stay-up-late people. but we may surprise ourselves. we're open to surprises.

never did remember what i wanted to say. does this mean i'm a bullshitter?

blue man

i keep forgetting to show you one of hubby's projects. he has a lot of latitude at work since he's such a wonderful worker, and one day he decided to put his creativity to work and do something to hide an ugly water pipe. voila!







is he clever or what?!

the way-back machine

remember baby schlitzes? they were only 8 oz, but a lot of the time they were just the right size. the hubby and i actually lost weight on a baby schlitz and peanut butter diet.

really!

hmmm...

happy birthday to the husband today. he says it's just another day like all the others and for us to ignore it. uhhh, okay.

but what kind of cake should i make and what kind of present should i get?

libraries from home

i sent an e-mail to the head of the library system in our county last week. i told her how much my dad had encouraged me to use libraries and that my kids and i had used them, too. then i explained how much i really disliked the interface we're using here in this county. i closed by saying that i appreciated having a library to use.

she replied, thanking my for my letter at length, closing with that she'd like to have one of her computer people meet with me at the library to discuss my problems. i replied back, suggesting the person might prefer to meet me here at the house so we could discuss at leisure.

today the person came by. she was a nice gal, about 7-8 years younger than i, and very low-key. i enjoyed our discussion, which ended up taking 50-60 minutes or so. she listened to my irritations, asked for my opinion of competing systems (we checked out three others), and gave me some tips to help with the truly yucky system we have.

bonus tip: she gave me a great idea for the hubby's birthday present -- the big day is coming up in about two weeks. smiles all around!!