The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1.  I cleaned the front porch.

2. It's nice to be able to open the screen door and get a breeze.

3. Himself was tired of the Oak Barrel so we had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant. The place was noisy but the food was delicious especially the bread.

4.  I was meeting a friend for lunch. Himself parked on the good side of the driveway and set the radio to my favorite station.

5. It's a head cold. At least it happened before Two Old Ladies On the Road

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Monday, October 15, 2007

The Will

While chatting on the phone with Ma, I played Scrabble Blast on the computer with the sound turned off. I made sure to un huh, and yeah in the right places. Ma was riding the gravy train again, how she was going to win $2 million this week. It's always this week. Un huh.

I used to try to reason with her, to tell her people didn't gift you with huge sums of money. Her little trolley wouldn't slip the track, and I ended up with that familiar, pulsing pain behind my left eye. The Brother, ever the brilliant tactician, gave me a way to cope and to save me a pain blinding run to the Excedrin bottle. He said when she starts in on something (no one does anything for me, no one helps, I'm winning $2 million) just say "Oh, wow." Simply elegant.

She was saying Nostradumbass (she consulted with a psychic) told her she was born under a lucky star. Oh, wow. Didn't PT Barnum of circus fame say there was a sucker born every minute? The conversation took a turn onto the no one does anything for me spur. I tuned Ma out concentrating instead on how to make a word with 4 eeees.

"You do things for your father, but you won't do them for me." She was still sore that I wouldn't take her pile of sweepstakes entries to the post office.

"You know that's not true. You didn't push your walker to the emergency room when you fell and broke your wrist. In fact, I was a God send that day because I almost decided not to visit, but I got a feeling something was wrong so I showed up." She likes the supernatural and it's a handy hole card so I played it.

There was some grumbling. "When I get my $2 million, I'm going to go to a lawyer. I'm gonna have a will made. All I'm leaving your father is $1, so you better make up your mind."

"About what?"

"Whether it's him or me. You jump when your father asks you to do something, but you never do anything for me. So you better make up your mind!"

"I'll take the dollar."

Disclaimer: This blog is not a legally binding written document. 😘

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

Since the weather is predicted to be hot by the end of the week, the suggestion for the doodle was to draw ice cream or frozen treats.

We are always free to interpret the instructions as we wish. I thought of Teague and I getting ice cream last week when the temps. were close to 90°.

T Stands for Scorcha

 

With temperatures expected to soar this week, don't forget to stay hydrated

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

and Miro are showing off the bottom panel for the baby gift. I still have to add my name and particulars. 

The baby block will be on display at the Worcester Art Museum All Staff, Faculty, and Docent Exhibit. Exhibition Dates: 6/6/2026 - 7/12/2026 There will be an  Exhibition Reception: 6/9/2026, 11:30am - 1:00pm

I'll have the baby gift back in time for the annual family gathering in July when we will get to meet the new baby.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

A Cardinal flaps his wings in the breeze

A delicate Iris

A Bluebird

and a Hummingbird flap their wings in a breeze

A Cardinal spinner

Deep, purple Iris buds in Ink's garden

A Bluejay spinner

Sweet Williams

Pansies

Bird or critter gifted a sunflower in the blue pot

Cornflowers look like they're running away.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

I had seen a couple of reels and videos with people putting together a small journaling kit. One of them was done using an Altoids mint tin. Tiny and twee, but too small.

Since the Two Old Ladies will be on the road at the end of the month, I thought I'd like to put together a kit to take along. The main criteria was to make the kit with things I already have and not to run out to buy stuff.

First up, was finding something to put everything in. Not too big and not too small. I have this set of Arteza watercolor pencils. The tin has three trays and measures 9 in. x 7.25 in. x 1 in. 

Some of the Arteza pencils over time have found their way into cups and bags, here and there. I wasn't too thrilled with the pencils. They're okay, but not as good as the Prismacolor and Derwent pencils.

I like watercolor pencils because you get two art supplies, but only have to carry one. They work as regular colored pencils, but can turn into watercolor by brushing over the color with water.

The Prismacolor pencils are getting pretty short, and I have a new set so the old pencils will work just fine in the bottom tray of the travel kit. 

The top tray (I only used two of the three trays) holds some of things I might need for journaling. A protractor to be used as a ruler, a bone folder, pipette, fountain pen, mechanical pencil, Micron Pigma Pen, a small pair of scissors, a kneadable eraser, a tape runner, water brush, and a wooden pen/brush rest.

Did I forget anything? Is there anything you would add?

I do have one other item to go in the kit, but I'll show that next week.