Happy, Little, Time Wasters

 

Harpo Marx

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week

1. When you don't want to cook, chicken stir fry over ramen is quick and easy

2. 2 Old ladies are going on the road again at the end of the month

3. A long talk with my cousin. She's been ill so it was good to catch up

4. The washer was fixed

5. This week I received birthday greetings galore and a cute video of the grandniece and nephew singing the birthday song sent by their mother.

How was your week?

Lewis Black - Old People Suck

 

In honor of the week

Pearl of Great Price

 

This is the piece from the Zentangle Shell Symphony Workshop  taught by Stefanie van Leeuwen, CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) from the Netherlands that I gifted to my friend, Teague.

From Zentangle.com, I purchased the Zendala papers and the frames. I made one for myself, too.

T Stands for Rolling Home

Before heading home from our trip to Ogunquit at the end of June, Teague and I stopped in Wells, Maine at a Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. I got a Chai Tea Latte and a Boston Cream donut shaped like a starfish. Too cute.

We stopped for lunch at a Friendly's in Marlborough, Massachusetts. There aren't many of these sandwich/ice cream shops left. The one thing about being a Weeble (old person) is getting discounts. Friendly's has a Weeble menu featuring a few smaller sized sandwiches, and the sandwich comes with a Happy Ending sundae. Just a small scoop of ice cream, topping of your choice (hot fudge, caramel, strawberry) and whipped cream. I had cookie dough ice cream and hot fudge and forgot to take a picture.

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

Monet and Me

are procraftinating. That's doing some sort of a craft instead of what you should be doing like cleaning the studio.

We decided to try to make the little birds from Saturday's happy, little, time waster. The project called for using paper that is decorated on both sides. I had some cardstock, but it was a little too difficult to work with.

I decided to use  some colorful, glossy pages from a garden catalog which would otherwise be relegated to the recycle bin. I trimmed the image so there was no white border and then cute it into strips. 1 inch, 1/2 inch. The length of the strip was about 5 or 6 inches. I didn't measure things. 

 I did try a shorter strip but it wasn't long enough for me to tie into a knot. The magazine paper was fragile so I had to be careful about pulling the knot taut. I got a little ham-fisted and tore the paper.

The birds turned out cute. On some I cut swallowtails and on a couple I just cute the tail into a fringe. I didn't think the Sharpie marker eye showed up well enough. I had some googly eyes, gems, and other embellishments that I thought would work for the eyes.

I have a friend who retired and moved into a new home in Arizona to be closer to her daughter. I thought I would use the birds to make a card for a new home.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

A delicate moth or butterfly in the lettuce. It almost looks like the lettuce is flying away.

"A" came over to help Himself with yardwork. He weeded this area in record time

The next area to be weeded

and the next.

Hydrangea doing nicely

A couple of more blueberries

Pokeberry

Corn

tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

eggplant

peppers

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

How To Make An Adorable Paper Bird

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The Niece and her husband stopped by for a visit and brought their little one. I brought out some baby toys, and she loved the shape sorter.

2. I had to chase them down, but Calli and Quill got their nails clipped thanks to Mobile Pet Services - at-home nail trims

3. I found a bright, shiny penny in a parking lot.  Since they are no longer to be made will finding one still bring good luck?

4. We had a nice dinner at Jimmy's Tavern and Grill. Good food, great music, and a cute and attentive server before heading to Qi Gong and Reiki.

5. After lunch, Teague and I spent the afternoon at the lake at Hopkinton State Park

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.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Children's Song

I had another Weeble run this time for a doctor's appointment for the two of them. I sailed down the Pike in good spirits as there wasn't much traffic. It would be an easy run today. The doctor would check heart and monitor blood pressure. Both appointments wouldn't take long. We'd be in and I'd be out to get back to my own work.

The front door is bolted as if it was the entrance to Fort Knox so I rang the bell. I heard the click and scrape of the locks as bolts were slid free. Dad opened the door. He was fully dressed which was a good sign.

"The doctor cancelled our appointment," he said. "I tried to call but the girl said you had already left."

I spoke in tongues. One has to give a doctor 24 hour notice of cancellation, otherwise, one is billed for the missed appointment. Well, nothing to be done but have a fast cup of tea and bolt, or so I thought.

"She has other plans for you today." Dad smiled elfishly.

More phrases. "Don't tell me. She wants to go to...."

"Mahket Basket."

I could hear Himself "Help me, Lord" but that's not what I said. "I thought your friend took you."

"She did. Yesterday. But Ma didn't finish her shopping."

As if on cue, Ma made her appearance. "I didn't get the fruits and vegetables. His friend wasn't feeling well, and she had us paged!"

Light dawned. It was colder than a witch's.....well, it was pretty darn cold that day. The poor woman must have succumbed to hyperthermia waiting the three hours in the car for the Weebles to totter around the store.

Dad was putting the kettle on to make tea.

"Don't bother, I said. If she wants to go to Market Basket, there's no time for tea now." So began the shuffle to get them out of the house. Just when you think you have both of them going in the same direction, one turns around and goes in the opposite direction. Herding cats is easier.

The parking lot to the store was packed, and all the handicap spots e filled. I offloaded the Weebles at the front door. Dad left me the handicap placard and I'm left to happily troll the parking lot for a handicap space. I settled into a space at the far end of the lot where I have a clear view of the front door and 6 handicap spots. I settled in with a book. I always carry a book to read for the times I have to wait, doctor's offices, Young Ones getting out of school or work. I don't mind waiting. Beats the hell out of administering sacraments to meat and veggies.

I looked up and saw a space available. Started the car and as I headed down the lane, another Weeble careened around the corner and slipped into the space. I went back to my spot and waited. I looked up and an enormous monster truck  pulled along side of me. I no longer had a clear view to the front door and the handicap spots. I couldn't even see the building, the truck was so large. I muttered some choice phrases and then moved to another location.

More reading and more looking up. A spot had been available and another Weeble slipped into it. Another phrase. I'd have to watch more and read less. Shortly after, I saw some Weebles coming out of the store, and they were heading to a handicap spot. I started the ignition and revved the engine. As they pulled out, I headed down the lane and neatly slid into the space. I was insufferably pleased with myself. It's a grown up version of musical chairs, and I won. All around the cobbler's bench the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought it was all in fun. Pop, goes the weasel!

Day 4 Doodles from the 2OLOTR Journal

 

We had lunch at Town Pizza in Wells, Maine. Again, we didn't order the specialty of the house. I had a crispy chicken sandwich. Teague ordered their Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich and the counter server snapped at her We don't have it!  My thought, if you don't have it then why is it on the menu? The server was very grumpy. Teague had a regular turkey sub.

It wasn't the warmest day, but it was nice enough to head to the beach to sit and watch the ocean. We dipped our toes in, but the water was cold. Some brave souls were surfing in the water and wearing wet suits.

In March, when we stayed at the Beachmere Inn, they had a sign: Beach. Best Escape Anyone Can Have.

Doodles done using the free version of Concepts app on the iPad with the iPencil

T Stands for Grumpy Clerk, the Beach, and a Smash Burger

After Saturday's washout, Sunday turned out to be a decent day. Not a great beach day. It was a little on the cool side, but at least it wasn't raining. 

Our first stop before the beach was lunch at a sandwich/pizza shop in Wells, the next town over from Ogunquit. On the menu board was a Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce a favorite sandwich of Teague. She ordered it and the Counter Clerk snapped at her, "We don't have that!" She ordered a regular turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo

I felt like I was in the Seinfeld episode where there was a particular way of ordering soup from the Soup Nazi.

I ordered a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and yellow mustard. I also ordered an iced tea and a bag of chips. He grunted at my order, but didn't yell at me.

After lunch, we headed to Ogunquit Beach. It was still a little early in the season so there weren't many people on the beach, and it was later in the afternoon, and the tide was coming in so half the beach would be underwater.

We found a spot by the wall to set up so we wouldn't have to move our stuff every half hour as the tide came in.

I watched the antics of a sparrow hunting and pecking for some goodies. I've never seen a sparrow on the beach before.

One of the things I forgot to take with me was my beach chair. I walked right by it and didn't give it a second thought until I was loading my stuff in Teague's car. No biggie. She loaded her husband's chair into the car. He was participating in his annual field day for Ham radio operators, and she said he wouldn't need his chair, but he did. Oops. She took a picture of us so he could see that we actually used his chair.

The water was too cold to go swimming, but we did stick our toes in the water.

Later that night, we went to dinner at the Brickyard Hollow Brewing Company. Last year (or maybe the year before) we had a fabulous Margherita pizza. This time around we ordered hamburgers. I had an Arnold Palmer and a Maple Bacon Smash Burger. 

Smash Burgers seem to be all the rage though I don't really get it. This burger consisted of two hamburger patties that were flattened on the grill. The result was two dry hamburger patties. By smashing them flat like paper, you lose all the juicy goodness.

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

Monet and Me

 are sharing a memory about the Young One's birthday

Monday, July 23, 2012

Creating Memories

For The Young One's eighth birthday, the cake request for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. No problem until the baking went horribly wrong. The cake layers baked uneven. So uneven, it would have taken a tub of frosting to even things out so the layers would stack on top of each other. What to do?

The gap between the layers looked like a mouth. I grabbed items I had hanging around. Desperation is the mother of invention. White chocolate chip bits, glaced fruit, and red licorice laces became the features on a monster cake and fortunately, The Young One loved it. Whew!

Twelve years later, The Young One's cake request was for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. And then a surprise. I wish I could have a monster cake?"

"Seriously? "

"I loved that cake."

Ok. This time I went out to buy candies to use for decorations. I had to buy white chocolate chip bits because someone had opened up the package to snack on and only left two bits. Hugs, gummy worms, peach rings, M&Ms and red licorice laces jumped into the cart. The hard part was to intentionally bake uneven cake layers. without burning one side or the other not baking through. It worked and The Young One loved the result.

We spend a lot time, effort, and sometimes cash to create memories. Nostalgic memories  from when we were kids, or expose them to opportunities we never had as kids. Sometimes odd what we think what should be a memory, and what actually becomes a memory. Some thirty or forty years from now, The Young One will be saying, "That crazy, old, broad was hell on wheels with a tub of frosting and a bag of gummy worms."

Back to the present. Over the weekend, I sent a message asking if she was still here at home for her birthday, what would her request for a cake be? She said she would like the chocolate cake with the chocolate frosting and orange flavoring.

On Sunday, I was going to bake the Starlight Double Delight Cake with orange flavoring, but it was too humid to bake. Humidity can effect baking. Since today is supposed to be dry, I will bake the cake later on. It won't be as elaborate as the cake Monet is posing with, but it will be delicious.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Short and sweet this week with some new arrivals.

Queen of Hearts petunias

Verbena

Petunias because they can withstand the heat.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Für Elise gets a style mashup. 

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. I finished Season 2, Part 1 of The Sandman

2. The Eldest invited me to go to Crane Beach. 

3. I had a lobster roll at the 99 Restaurant before going to Qi Gong and Reiki Meditation

4. The Eldest was working and Himself went to a karate seminar. I made a sandwich for supper and binge watched The Gilded Age.

5. Another hot and humid day, Teague and I had ice cream at the Dairy Queen.

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.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Some Days It Just Doesn't Pay....

There are days, and then there are days. Friday was one of those days. Friday began earlier in the week with a phone call from Dad. Ma's shoes were in. Dad called to tell me she had an appointment for a fitting on Friday at 10am. Good! Himself offered to keep me company. Even better!

Himself took the Youngest to school at 7:45am. At 8:40, we dropped the Oldest at her cube farm, and then hopped on the Pike. Traffic moved steadily and at a good clip inspite of some light snow. We made excellent time and arrived at the Weebles at 9:30am.

Their driveway had an inch or so of slush on it. Himself found a shovel and began pushing the slush off the driveway while I went in to announce the arrival of the elder bus.

Dad greeted me at the door, trousers, undershirt, no socks. This was not a good sign. Weebles not ready. The bathroom door banged open. Another bad sign. Ma came out in her robe with a towel turbaned on her head. "You didn't tell me you were coming!" she screamed. She stormed off to her bedroom muttering things in Italian that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap. I looked at Dad, and he shrugged.

"Didn't you tell her the appointment was today?"

"I told her! She says I didn't tell her."

Oh, boy. I made the mistake of going into her room to see if she needed help getting dressed. She pounced on me. "I fell," she said "My hip feels like the bone is out of place."

I knew she must have given herself a good bang, but if her hip was dislocated she'd be in excruciating pain and unable to move. "Why didn't you call the doctor?"

"Because NO ONE WOULD TAKE ME!"

"You know that's not true." I tried not to look to the heavens in exasperation.

"You didn't call to take me."

"I'm not a mind reader!"

"I wasn't told you were coming today until this morning!"

"Look that's not my fault! I'm just the #%^&*#! bus driver!" Some days it just doesn't pay to gnaw through the straps. I went outside to warn Himself and to watch him finish the driveway. We went inside. I thought I would hurry things along as it was just past the appointment. I got Ma's pockabook. Hunted around the living room for her check book. Another battle erupted over which walker Ma was going to take, the tall one or the short one. After the brouhaha settled down and the walker decision had been made, we were able to load Weebles into the car.

Himself has his own way to get to the hospital where the podiatrist's office is located. Ma turned toward him and started to open her mouth. Nothing came out. I bit my lip so I wouldn't laugh. She so wanted to yell that Himself was going the wrong way!

Himself pulled up to the front door, and Weebles were offloaded. Himself took Ma's handicap placard and went to find a space and peace as he would wait in the car. I didn't begrudge him, but wished I could figure out a reason why I couldn't stay with him.

Ma sputtered into the building. Yelled at Dad because he didn't push the button for the elevator. The "down" indicator on both elevators was lit so there was no need as both were headed to the lobby. We got in one elevator and rode up to the third floor. We were a good 20 mins. past the official appointment time.

Ma was still mumbling as we entered the office. Fortunately, there were no other Weebles in the waiting room. The little bit of snow had kept other weebles home. The receptionist escorted Ma to the shoe room. Ma was griping very loudly, Dad asked the receptionist for the key to the lavatory and bolted out of the office and down the hall. I started to sing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood..." The receptionist started to laugh.

The doctor arrived and the griping stopped as the shoe fitting took place. "Oh these are wonderful. Oh these look nice." The doctor escorted Ma back to the waiting room. "You are so wonderful," she said to the doctor. "I don't know what I would do without you!"

"Oh, so you're the golden child today", I said to the doctor.

"I guess so."

I so desperately wanted to say, "Good, you can take her home!"

Day 3 Doodle from the 2OLOTR Journal

 

Day 3 started out rainy so it wasn't going to be a beach day. We enjoyed a very slow morning before heading out for lunch at New England House of Seafood and Sports Bar in Wells, Maine.

Lunch at the restaurant and I didn't order seafood, but had a chicken gyros.

At 8 PM, we decided to go out for ice cream. Most of the restaurants and ice cream stands close at 9 PM. We went to Big Daddy's which was next door to the motel. It was packed and we could barely get into the driveway. So we toodled down the road to the Scoop Deck. Long lines and no parking. Who goes out for ice cream at 8 PM? Turns out the entire state of Maine.

We decided to go where there would be plenty of parking and lots of ice cream choices. We ended up getting sundae cups at Hanaford's Supermarket and way less than what it would cost us for ice cream at the ice cream stand.

Doodles done using the free version of Concepts app on the iPad with the iPencil

T Stands for I Scream, You Scream

 

One of the things I wanted on our trip to Ogunquit was ice cream. I'm not a big fan of ice cream. It's a seasonal dessert for me to be eat on warm or hot Summer days/nights. 

The weather wasn't cooperating when we went away, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get a Chocolate Almond Joy named after the coconut candy bar. Besides, Big Daddy's ice cream was just around the corner from where we were staying.

We had a late lunch/dinner so around 8 PM, seemed to be a good time to go get ice cream. It was raining so how many people would be out getting ice cream? Seemed like the entire town of Ogunquit went out for ice cream. We got the last parking spot, but the line for ice cream was out the building. The covered porch with old-fashioned ice cream parlor tables and chairs was filled, too.

We decided to try another ice cream stand a little further down the road. The Scoop Deck. Their parking lot was filled, too.

So we ended up with our backup plan. We headed to the local grocery store and bought sundae cups. While in line at the register, I saw the candy selection included and Almond Joy which I broke up to include in my sundae. I also had ice tea.

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

 

asked The Young One if she could remove the background from a picture of Monet so Monet could be added to photographs.

I had given it a go, but it was quick and ragged.

The Young One said sure since it was an easy thing to do. Voila! I now can add Monet to photographs. Here he is with The Young One when she was 6 years old and dressed up as our cat, Mitty, for Halloween.

Thanks, Doll Baby. It works like a charm and the check's in the mail 😉

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Walk, the Stinkbug, looking like a gigantic monster on the outside of the kitchen window.

Mr. Bluebird hanging out on the corner of the sunroom roof

A lone turkey hen enjoying some of the birdseed I toss on the ground

The hydrangea bush starting to bloom

A surprise Hollyhock. Before Ink, there was Mitty. The hollyhocks were Mitty's favorite place to hang out. The large leaves gave him a shady and safe hidey-hole. It was cool by the foundation of the house, too.

Giant pokeberry outside of the greenhouse.

Borage.

Nasturtiums

Calendua

Zucchini flowers

A bumblebee enjoys the milkweed flowers

Samwise busy mowing the lawn

We have blueberries! We might get 3 each!

How does your garden grow?