The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Last month, I applied for the  old people's parking pass to Massachusetts state parks. The pass is for people 60 and over, costs a one time fee of $10, and is good for life! I think they figure us Weebles aren't going to last long.

2. I made giambotta, an Italian vegetable stew, with veggies from the garden.

3. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with Chinese food take-out and hanging out in the sunroom.

4. I Skyped  Microsoft Teamed with the Young One

5.  I received some Happy Mail 

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, February 25, 2007

Dance Band on the Titanic

The scam man phoned again only didn't leave a message on the voice mail. I had done a reverse look up on the first number he left, but that only told me it was a land line in NY. This time, I had a company name and number. I looked up the company in BB and found this company does business under 49 other names and all sweepstakes. Red flags went up. If one of his companies is sending junk to Ma, so are the others. The BB didn't have much useful information. The company did not have an unusual amount of complaints lodged against it.

A week or so ago, Ma had received a letter from a US Postal inspector about one of the checks she received as a prize. Because I don't get a complete story, I wasn't sure if the inspector's letter concerned the check Ma tried to cash on Tuesday.

I called Dad to try to find out the particulars. Only to find, she cashed the $250 check plus a few others she had. Seems she went crying to the neighbor next door to take her to the bank. Help me, Lord! The bank opened a second checking account for her, and all the checks were deposited into this new account. She was told she couldn't have access to the funds for at least a week.

I feel like I'm in the dance band on the Titanic.

I have a sick feeling about what will happen, but can't do anything but play the tune. The worse thing is if, on the long shot, one or all of the checks she deposited are legitimate, there will be no end to Ma's "I told you so." I can just hear her chortle and gloat. Depending on the time of day, God, Nostradamus, and her father have told her she will be a rich woman. She is, but she's looking in the wrong places.

So she took a gamble and maybe, just maybe, she beat the odds. I wish her Buona fortuna! The worst thing is the addiction will become even stronger. But Fortune's wheel swings round. Most gamblers know the House always wins. Always. In the mean time, I stand on the deck with The Dance Band on the Titanic by H. Chapin

Paper Bag Book

A day or two before the Bookbinding 101 Zoom session was to begin, I poked around the Vintage Page Designs website and found some free instructions for making hand-made books.

The book I decided to make was called a Paper Bag Book because it used a brown paper bag

as the pages of the book. I like these kinds of projects because no special materials are needed. Just stuff you have around the house and in the recycle bin.

The paper bag was cut to a standard size sheet of paper 8.5 in. x 11 in. Cuts were made so the bag could be accordion folded.

I've made this type of book many times, but I learned it as a Meander Book. The only difference being that the loose pages/flaps were glued together in this book and left to change the direction of the fold in the Meander Book (hence the name)

I raided the recycle bin to make the cover from a cookie box. I had every intention of covering the cardboard with paper, but looking at the Windmill cookie box reminded me of my Auntie.

Auntie was Ma's younger sister and a second mother to us. Since Ma worked, we spent a lot of school vacations at Auntie's until we were old enough to stay at home by ourselves.

Auntie had a white cookie jar embossed with cookies. The cookie jar had a lid with a red knob. The cookie jar was always filled. Auntie would sometimes by the spiced cookies shaped like a windmill, and a Dutch boy and girl. 

I decided to leave the cardboard as is. Glued to the front and back of the paper bag pages. I made a button and string closure to hold the book shut.

T Stands for Eldest's Birthday

 

We've always celebrated birthdays by going out to dinner. The birthday person gets to pick the restaurant. The Eldest decided she wanted to go to The UxLocale for her dinner. Good choice as the restaurant is our go-to place for special occasions.

On the way in, I got to say hello to Elaine, the owner and chef. Elaine used to work at the Worcester Art Museum where I teach. We had a nice time catching up and then a fabulous dinner.

I ordered a change of pace dish for me. Usually, macaroni (pasta) has to be in gravy (tomato sauce). I ordered a fettuccini and zucchini dish in a butter sauce. Delicious and look at the pretty dish my dinner was served on. I also had a glass of Prosecco. So festive.

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

 

took a week-long, online class Bookbinding 101 sponsored by Ali Manning of Vintage Page Designs and the Handmade Book Club.

Topics for the course included paper, adhesives, covers, and stitching. We made one small book that didn't require sewing, and 3 small books using 3 different stitches to bind the book.

I've made small books before so some of the techniques I knew, but I didn't know about some tools. One of the tools talked about was a book binding cover tool guide which is what Monet is holding. The tool is a 5 in one. You can square your book covers and pages, you can round corners, you can easily create neatly mitered corners, you can use the guide to make small measurements, and the narrow metal bit allows you to evenly space book covers and spine. Like this:

The tool that was featured in class was from We R Memory Keepers, but I found the same tool for a lower price at Amazon. 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ink's garden looks so pretty with the morning glories and sunflowers. I was hoping the morning glories would be the Heavenly Blue variety, but they didn't take. The morning glories that came up are from the seeds Reggie Ezell gave us after completing his year long, master class, 26 Seeds in 2017.  These morning glories keep reseeding themselves. Himself calls them weeds. Weeds or not, I think they are very pretty

A beautiful sunset

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Stolen from Jean at Pushing the Envelope

Envelope with a Twist

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I heard from my high school friend who is moving from California to Arizona. The renovations to the house haven't been finished yet so they won't be moving until the end of the month. I'm glad I didn't send the new home card yet.

2. The Eldest Door Dashed donuts for breakfast.

3. The first ripe tomato and cucumber when to making a cucumber and tomato sandwich on brioche for lunch. Okay, it was Wonder Bread and still delicious

4. During bookbinding class learned about a jig to make perfect mitered corners. Found a different tool that does that plus has  4 other features for less money!

5. A lady at the hairdresser let me go ahead of her so I could have the hairdresser I like to cut my hair

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.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Thursday's Child

The sun was shining and though cold, it promised to be a beautiful day. Dad's eye doctor appointment had been changed from 10am to an hour earlier, and I was unable to give him a ride. I pushed down the momentary guilt and reveled in the thought I had crossed an imaginary international date line and gained a day. Since I didn't have a Weeble run, I had an extra day to work on the roll call book. Yes, it promised to be a perfect day.

I told the Young One I would do some work on the book, and we could spend the afternoon at the mall having lunch and shopping. In the middle of lettering, the phone rang and on the fourth ring the call was sent to voice mail. Most times, these calls are from telemarketers and charities. On the off chance it was the Eldest calling for a ride home from work because another water main broke, I dialed into the voice mail and saw red. Steam poured from my ears.

Seems Ma wasn't happy with the bank telling her the $250 check didn't seem kosher, she called the scam man who issued the check, and gave him my phone number so he could talk to me! I felt the blood pounding in my ears. How dare she! How dare she put me in the middle of her OPD stupidity! I paced, cursed, and spoke in tongues. I said the eff word several hundred times.

Long ago, and through the hard way, I learned to continue with my work if I was unhappy or in a bad mood, was disastrous. The work came through my hands in ugly puddles and rivers and would only need to be redone. Since I was writing in a book, I couldn't take the chance pages could easily be removed in order to redo. No sense trying to work with flames shooting from my eyes.

Just as I collected keys and kid, the phone rings. No psychic or caller ID to tell me the call was from Ma. She danced around the reason for the call. I didn't mention her scammer had called earlier. Finally, she told me about that damn check. I old her she's never to give my phone number out to anyone.

"I don't care if the Pope himself wants my number. You're not to give it out! Do you understand?"

She whined the man told her the check was good, and she should cash it. She was like a dog worrying a bone and no amount of reasoning or cajoling was going to work.

"If you want to cash the check, cash the damn check!"

I felt the familiar throbbing behind my left eye. I was determined she was not going to spoil the rest of the day. I wasn't  able to work, but I could enjoy the afternoon with my kid. It was near lunch time and I told the Young One we were going to be very naughty. We were going to have ice cream for lunch and the world could go to hell in a hand basket. The Young One was thrilled.

The weather was sunny and pleasant for a winter day. There was a feeling of Spring in the air. We went to the ice cream parlor, and I was disappointed to find there were no tables to enjoy the decadent treat inside. I wasn't adventurous enough to eat my ice cream outside. No worries. I promised the Young One we would be naughty. We headed to the bookstore. I ordered cups of chai and a double chocolate cheesecake slice for her, and a heated cinnamon bun for me. I tried to concentrate on the delight of the Young One and not Ma and that damn check. I wished I could make the draft spontaneously combust or to find a way to reason with Ma. Thursdays' child has far to go. (I was born on a Thursday.)

Doodling for Stress Release

 

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

The assignment started with tracing our hand. We could fill the space with curved line contours as I did in the wrist. We also had the option of dividing the hand into sections and doodling in those spaces.

T Stands for Breakfast for Lunch

After a rainy Spring, we finally got a nice day to visit the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery where my parents are buried. We missed a visit Mother's Day, but we made it on July 8, four days after the Fourth of July which would have been my parents' 82nd wedding anniversary.

The grounds are absolutely pristine. The cemetery doesn't allow planting, windchimes, statues or personalizing the grave in any way. I'm pretty sure that after I leave flowers and when we have driven out of site, the groundskeepers swoop in and toss the flowers away.

One of the groundskeepers was in the section I was visiting. He asked if I would put my flowers on the side of the headstone instead of in front as this area was going to be mowed and it would make their job easier. No problem.

When I visit, I always visit Ma's side of the stone (the back) first. She was funny that way. Her nose would get bent out of joint if we didn't greet her first. So I still carry on the tradition. I put the flowers to the side of the stone just as the groundskeeper asked.

The flowers are always for Ma and Dad would have been pleased with that. He wouldn't have minded. He would have just been happy to see us.

Since I can't leave stones or a token to let the folks know we visited, I leave bird seed. If a seed gets blown off the stone and germinates whatever grows is just going to get mowed down. The birds or critters might get a treat, too. The Weebles would have liked that as they enjoyed watching birds at their birdfeeder. In any case, nothing permanent left. No harm, no foul.

After the cemetery, we stop at The Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way home. It was a hot day and we arrived at lunch time. I was hoping for an ice tea and a sandwich, but their lunch menu was pretty much dinner entrees and none of them interested me. One thing you can always get all day at Cracker Barrel is breakfast. We started with beignets, I had a cup of tea and

the blueberry pancake breakfast which came with egg (I had them scrambled) and bacon or sausage. The blueberry pancakes also came with blueberry syrup. Perfect!

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

 

From the suggested scarecrow names from last week, Monet and I decided we liked the name Bolger. This name was contributed by Mackerull and the FSG from Trout Town.

Thank you all for the wonderful names

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Before A's hard work

After. 

He will come back to dig out the hostas and daylilies

Before

After

I didn't take a before picture, but this is the area, A weeded and mulched two weeks ago.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Johanna channeling Aretha Franklin

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. I received a belated birthday floral arrangement from the Eldest

2. An uber productive day rewarded by watching The Great Waldo Pepper and having Five Guys for dinner in the sunroom.

3. I remembered to attend the Doodling class.

4. Door Dash is great

5. We had lunch in Teague's sunroom. I had a beef gyros.

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.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

I had Tuesday all neatly planned. Ma and Dad had a doctor's appointment mid-afternoon. Since it was school vacation week, I thought I'd drag take my Young One (born on a Tuesday) with me for a visit with Grandma before the appointment. I planned an hour and a half visit. We'd sit, have tea, whine and I'd score points as the Golden Child for bringing the grandchild for a visit. Perfect.

My plans didn't work out the way the way I had choreographed things in my head. They rarely do, but I'm ever hopeful. The minute we walked through the door, Ma wanted to go to the bank. I don't think she even noticed the Young One with me. She urgently needed to go to the bank to cash a check.

Every family has a skeleton, dirty secret, or crazy relative hidden in the attic. The dirty secret in my family is Ma is addicted to bogus lotteries, psychics, contests all promising prize money and riches. The amounts she sends out are small but over time it has added up to a hefty chunk of change. She dreams, wishes and talks about money. As if there's a celestial slot machine that will rain quarters on her. I'm reminded of the line from The Quiet Man "Money! Is that all you Danahers think of? I'm sick of the talk of it."

So that was the reason we had to dash to the bank. "Someone" had sent her a check for $250. No amount of telling her these things are scams penetrate gold fever. If I try to point out these letters with their checks (and we're not talking about one or two, but stacks and stacks) are scams or equity loans, she yells I have no faith in her. She's right, I don't. But "someone" has sent her the check, and she has to get to the bank. There is no reasoning with her. She's like a spoiled child hounding and whining for a treat. Some children need to learn lessons the hard way. I take her to bank so she can cash the damn check. Let some scam artist drain the account. It's bound to happen sooner or later, let it be sooner. I can have the satisfaction of saying "I told you so."

The Young One and I wait in the car, me with my book and the Young One with an electronic game. We are startled when the car door is wrenched open. It's only Grandpa speaking in tongues. Grandma must have started singing the "You're Stupid" song at the bank. Grandpa takes a few deep breaths and then goes back into the bank as Ma will need help coming out. The Young One and I watch from the car window. Soon Ma and Dad come out. The Young One remarks that Grandma looks sad.

"The teller wouldn't cash the check!" She is upset and very unhappy.

"And why is that?" I know the answer. I hope having a stranger tell her what we've been telling her all along will have finally sunk in.

"She said it looked funny and she wouldn't cash it. She said we need to go to the bank at the mall and have them cash it."

"No! The check is illegal. We don't have time to go to the mall and make it to the doctor's appointment."

"Why would she tell me to go to bank at the mall?"

Because if she told you to go to hell, she'd lose her job. "Because she didn't want to deal with a pain in the ( ! ) customer who wouldn't listen to her her when she said there was something wrong with the damn check.

Ma was not happy, but her mood improved when she came out of the doctor's office. She was beaming. The doctor told her for her 88 years old she is in top shape. He cut back her heart medication. She also has the blood pressure of a 25 yr. old woman. Dad also had a good report, much to his chagrin. Good news, the two of them are going to live forever.

Back at the house, she wants to find the envelope the check came in. I feel the familiar throbbing of the vessel behind my left eye. She has the blood pressure of a 25 yr. old woman. I can feel mine start to skyrocket.

Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I missed two weeks of class because, I skipped class because I was invited to go to the beach with the Eldest. The second time, I was busy doing stuff and lost track of time, but this week I paid attention to the clock.

The assignment was to draw concentric circles and doodle in the spaces.

T Stands for Birthday Lunch

 

At the beginning of July we were invited out to lunch to celebrate our friend, Daniel Boone's birthday. His family calls him Daniel Boone because even with GPS he can get lost.

Lunch was at Ziti's in Natick. Not to be confused with Ziti's in Westboro, though we learned that the Westboro facility asked Ziti's in Natick if they could use the same name. One of Daniel Boone's sons is in the restaurant business so that's how we learned that little bit of trivia.

Besides us and Daniel Boone there was another couple. ??? along with Himself is another of Daniel Boone's Back and Abs workout buddies. I know Daniel from Qi Gong and Reiki.

I ordered my favorite dish Linguine a la Vongola (linguine with clams). Beautifully plated, but no chopped clams mixed in with the macaroni. Not very abbondanza, but the food was good.

The highlight of the lunch was meeting Daniel Boone's wife. We've known Daniel for many years. He constantly talks about his wife, but we never met her. I thought she was his imaginary wife. 

Daniel Boone is noted for his story telling usually involving his (imaginary) wife. Turns out she's just as good a raconteur as her husband. We were at the restaurant for several hours eating and mostly laughing. 

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 trying to think of a name for the scarecrow. Any ideas?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

It's been so hot and humid, mushrooms are growing all over the place

Tomatoes, anyone?

The petunias love the heat and humidity

Ink's garden got weeded and mulched

Buds on the morning glory vine. I hope this variety is Heavenly Blue

and that it survives whatever is munching on the leaves.

Samwise in his charging station. Every once in a while, he'll call out, "Ready to work!" A disembodied voice is disconcerting if one is busy in the bathroom.

Watermelon. I hear the men with pushcarts coming down Chelsea St. by Auntie's house in East Boston. At the time, EB was a predominantly Italian neighborhood. The men would be calling, "Eh! Waddamelone!"

How does your garden grow?

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?