Category: Family

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Valentines Day, no surprise

As sad as it is to say sometimes, my husband is not and never has been a romantic of any kind. Zip, Nada, Ziltch. In other words, we don’t do Valentines Day. I don’t even think he remembers when our anniversary is, since he’s never said anything after all of these years.

All this has caused me not to even try to make any plans or even attempts at trying to go out of my way with cards and such for him. It’s not really out of my way, but I don’t think it would mean anything. So, instead…I still get Valentines and candy and such for the kids, despite they are nearly all grown. Just something a little special.

When they were small, I’d make cookies and decorate them, and get balloons and have party with cake and Valentines. Now they all have plans it seems and so I just make supper for who ever happens to be home, and call it good enough. I might start volunteering at the school for the 1st and 2nd grade classes. Little kids still really like holidays and I think it might be just what I need to pick up my spirits.

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The Guitar

When Sammy told me that he wanted a new Yamaha for Christmas, I thought he was talking about a new motorcycle or an ATV.

I can remember driving past a motorcycle store and seeing the word “Yamaha” prominently displayed on the building. I just about flipped my lid! I started telling him how dangerous motorcycles and ATVs can be, and he started laughing at me!

I was so surprised when he told me that he was talking about a new guitar! What a relief that was!

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Trendy Jewelry

I don’t know about you, but I am a big fan of inexpensive and trendy jewelry. I love things like monogram rings, and flashy necklaces that have your name on it. One of the reasons, I think, that I like customized jewelry with my name or initials on it is because that makes it less likely for one of my friends or relatives to borrow it!

You may think that is a horrible thing to say, and I might actually feel guilty saying it, but, let me explain. Over the years, many of my friends, and relatives, have borrowed things of mine and never returned them. At some point in time, I sometimes ask for the item back, because I want to use it myself. The majority of the time, they have forgotten that they borrowed it from me, and deny having it! This has led to hurt feelings, and damaged relationships beyond repair, which is very sad.

So, now, I try to purchase inexpensive (but trendy) jewelry items to wear “out in public.” That way, when one of my friends or relatives admires it, I will thank them. If they ask me where I got it, and how much it cost, I will boast about what a bargain it was, that it cost less than a certain amount of money, and they usually lose interest in it after that!

You know, thinking about it, I could probably start wearing my “good” jewelry out in public again (it has been about six years) and deploy the same tactic – claiming that it is cheap costume jewelry, even if it isn’t!

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Chocolate gift ideas

All of my friends adore chocolate. I’ve been letting my fingers do some shopping online and have seen some great gift ideas. I usually don’t eat sweets or much sugar at all, but every once in a while I get a craving for some chocolate. It’s a craving that usually strikes believe it or not, in the middle of the night. My mom is the same way. She keeps a chocolate bar in the drawer of her night stand and in the middle of the night, will break off a piece and eat it, then go back to bed. In fact, my oldest daughter is the same way. I think we get it from my mom!

Online I found some great gift packs to give my friends and family for Christmas. Usually my mom will always get a box of chocolate covered cherries from all of “us kids” (I have two brothers and three sisters), but she secretly gives most of them away, I found out. But we have been giving her boxes of them since we were young. It’s sort of a tradition. I like them, but only if they have the clear liquid in them, not the white kind.

My youngest daughter always asks for her stocking to be stuffed with chocolate. She loves the dark chocolate, so she’ll be set for sometime. I found a great sale on it and the chocolate mint is my favorite!

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Scary Times in Sports

When my brother was in high school, he was adamant that he wanted to join the football team. My parents were very worried about that. (Keep in mind, this was back in the early 1970’s.) They had heard in recent years how sometimes an athelete that seems to be in perfect health sometimes suffers a massive cardiac arrest in the middle of the field, and dies before ever making it to the hospital! Sure, the schools insisted on each of the kids getting a medical clearance before playing, but at that point in time, they did not even do any kind of diagnostic testing to make sure that the kids did not have any weird heart conditions that had been overlooked by previous physicals.

Times certainly have changed since then! There are entire businesses, such as Wimbledon Heath Partners, that are dedicated to sports medicine. Not just how to fix injuries once they happen, but to run tests to make sure that weird genetic conditions don’t raise their ugly heads in the middle of practice, or a competition. Sports medicine has come a very long way. I am interested to keep seeing whatever happens in the near future regarding American football and concussions. I know that new helmets have been designed, but I have a feeling that American football might just start suffer from this very serious hazard. I think that fewer parents will be giving permission for their kids to play it in school, and that will eventually lead to fewer professionals down the road.

As for my brother, well, he did join the football team, but he came down with mono during the school year, and ended up benched for most of the football season. That broke his heart, but I think that my parents were secretly relieved that he did not spend a lot of time on the field!

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Getting ready for goblins

With tomorrow being Trick or Treating in our town and I’ve been decorating the front yard and porch, hoping the weather is good and the predicted rain or even snow holds off for the kids that come trick or treating. I’m going into town to buy candy and get some odds and ends that I need. I love Halloween. I won’t be dressing this year though. First time in I don’t know how long. I have a pinched nerve in my neck and to be honest, since I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and am down to about 109 lbs, my costumes would all need taken in a size. I don’t have the time to do this. The kids are all ready though and will look great!

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Personalized jewelry

One of my favorite types of jewelry is the necklace. I love the new, trendy look of layering necklaces because it allows me to wear several of my favorite necklaces at the same time! I have a very large peg-style rack (think old-fashioned, accordian-style hat/coat rack) hanging on the wall behind the door in my bedroom that is overflowing with necklaces. At the time that I put the rack there I thought it would help me keep them from getting all tangled-up, but to be honest, they still get easily tangled. I find that frustrating.

But, I digress. I was writing about how much I love the necklace. I especially love the personalized necklaces that I have been given as gifts over the years. I enjoy them so much that I have made a point of buying some for my nieces over the years, and they always tell me how much they love them, too. I especially like the ones that include a gemstone that represents the birthday month of the person that I am giving the necklace to.

I used to buy sterling silver necklaces because they are so pretty when they are new and clean. I have found that they tarnish quickly, however, even though the so-called experts say that if you wear the silver frequently they won’t tarnish. I find that my sterling silver still tarnishes, and then the tarnish rubs off onto my skin or clothing. I have stopped buying and wearing sterling silver now, and buy white gold instead because that won’t tarnish.

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Bakers Twine

Have you ever heard of Baker’s Twine? Me neither. I have, for years, always kept some special twine in the kitchen that I used to tie the legs of poultry when I was roasting it. This twine is on a large cone, and I have had that twine so long that I don’t remember where (or exactly when) I bought it, and the label is long gone. But I do remember that when I got it that I had to go to a specialty place because I wanted to make sure that it was food-safe twine. I had read a recipe that called for using food-safe twine to tie the legs of poultry together, and that piqued my interest in finding it.

Before I purchased that particular twine, I never used any kind of twine when I was cooking, because I didn’t trust it to be food safe. This kitchen twine that I have now, I use it for everything that I need twine for – including bundling cardboard and newspapers together for recycling.

Last weekend I went to a birthday party, and saw that some of the gifts were tied with a very pretty, decorative twine. In the past I’ve seen gifts wrapped with yarn, but not this pretty twine before. I asked the people that had wrapped the gift “where did you find that pretty twine?” and they told me that they had found it online, and that it was called Bakers Twine. It didn’t take long for me to find a few websites that sell it! There are a lot of really pretty color combinations! I don’t know how I am going to choose which colors to buy!

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Staying in Apartments While Travelling

My family originated in London, and I have always dreamed of visiting my relatives that still live there. For decades I have corresponded with some of them, even though I never met them face to face. Originally the correspondence started with U. S. Mail, and then eventually it went to email. Now some of them are even Facebook friends!

Apparently many of them live in the London area, and have offered to let me stay with them for a few days if I ever do go over to London. I think that is a very nice offer, but I think that I would rather stay in one of the many London Apartments that are available to rent on a short-term basis.

I don’t mean to sound snobbish, but I do remember when a few years ago I went to visit my son that was going to college in New Jersey, and I stayed with some relatives that I had never met before. I was on a very limited budget, and it was very nice of them to take me in. The problem was that they guest room was full of sketches that their very artistic daughter had done, and I found the sketches quite disturbing. And the relatives themselves insisted on feeding me supper both nights that I was there – and their food was awful! On top of that, they were drunk the entire time I was there!

When I recall that experience, staying in a neutral place when I travel, like the furnished London Apartments that are available, sounds better and better every time!

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Business sign

My sister is starting up a small sandwich and salad shop and she wanted me to help her have the perfect business sign made up. She actually is the artist in the family, but she really doesn’t use her talents anymore, unless it’s doodling on a piece of scrap paper while she’s keeping our rummy scores. I hate it when a gift goes to waste, but she says that she got tired of drawing and just doesn’t feel like doing it anymore. I’ve known a lot of artists that sort of “tap dry” and who won’t draw or sculpt anymore. I guess it is sort of like a writers block.

While looking at various signs, my sister decided also to look at their brass plaques. There were quite a wide selection and she had a hard time with making a decision. At lunch I could tell she had put her thinking cap on because she was really quiet.

When I asked her why she wanted that kind of a plaque, she said that it was going to be a sort of commemorative plaque for the date we found out our mom and her husband were finally cancer free. The whole family is going to pitch in for this plaque. It makes me really happy that she would think of something like that. commemorative