Wow, I haven’t blogged for awhile…

We’ve been in Lexington this week with Ryan and Lindsay.  She’s due in just a little over four weeks now.  FOUR WEEKS!!!!

Family is doing well, Lindsay looks adorable, there was a lot of dreaming and planning going on at their house, and lots of tummy feeling.  Sweet little granddaughter migrates to underneath your hand when you rest it on Lindsay’s belly.  I don’t remember mine doing that, but it was a wonderful feeling.

Now it’s back to real life, laundry, filling bird feeders, and blogging…

I’ve had a really good couple of blogs swirling around in my head, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what they were.  No surprise, huh…

I’ve got a great blog for you…

Hooterville posted a list of the 25 Best Blogs on her site, The Little Blog, and since she always knows about the good stuff  online, I started checking them out.

I came across this site, it’s called Zen Habits, Simple Productivity.   It’s a blog that offers simple ways to be more productive,  The blog features one article a day on topics such as personal productivity, organization, living frugally, eliminating debt, and cultivating good habits. With Zen Habits, practice makes perfect, and the blog excels at offering specific strategies to improve and simplify your life (16 Ways to Get Motivated When You're In a Slump, 20 Ways to Eliminate Stress from Your Life, 30 Simple Family Pleasures.) This is the rare blog that can actually improve your everyday life.

It’s awesome!  Simple little tricks, that even moi here can do.  No big life changing effort, just the simple things, which I preach about all the time on this site. 

The entries are really enlightening, I’m instantly seeing that I obsess way too much about what I put in my mouth, yeah, I know, you all realize that, no surprise here.  But it really is a great site.  Bookmark this one, girlfriends, it’s a winner, take some time, go thru their archives, I’m sure you will find things that will help you, too.  Pinkie swear ;~)

Here’s the click…

~ jan

ebooks, should I try them or not???

I’ve talked about my love for ebooks before.  I have a Sony Book Reader, and I access library books online, download, and transfer from my computer to my reader on an almost daily basis.

But what if you don’t have a bookreader?  You can still do it, all you have to do is download software to read them on your computer – Mobibooks or Adobe Digital are both great programs, and they’re free.

So maybe you’re interested, but still a little skeptical.  I’ve got something for you to try.  Harlequin Romance Novels, yeah, those cheesy novels we all like to read, is having their 60th Anniversary, and they’ve made sixteen of their books free to download.

So here’s the Harlequin link, give it a try this weekend, you might acually like it, Mikey!!!!

If you have problems, just email me, I’ll help you out.  I think ebooks are awesome, who knows, maybe you will, too.  And don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul that you secretly read Harlequin Romance Novels, pinky swear, I won’t. 

~ jan

The oldies were the goodies....

I’ve got a great product to tell you about…

I’m a huge fan of rectangular storage containers, I started with Gladware, then I switched to Rubbermaid, but now I’ve found the best of all.

I’m a glass girl, maybe it’s my age, I grew up in the Pyrex generation after all.

There is just something about glass storage containers.  They’re substantial, they don’t stain or get a film on them like plastic containers, they just seem…. cleaner, yeah, that’s the word, they are cleaner.

Earlier this summer I saw these GlassLock Containers, Kinetic Go Green, at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.  I liked the look of them, loved the green silicone lids, bought them in three different sizes,and I think they are just awesome, so much so that I went back and bought duplicates.  The lids snap down, so you get a great waterproof seal, and best of all, the lids are easy to snap on and off. 

Four stars on this one, girlfriends, and if you can find them at your local Marshalls or T.J. Maxx, the price is half of what you pay on Amazon.

Poor Boy Sweaters, a blast from the past…

I was tooling down the expressway the other day and I had this flashback of a poorboy sweater.

For those of you who weren’t around in the mid 60’s, Poor Boys were the “in” thing to wear.  This picture depicts it really well, right down to the haircut.  I had the same do, along with a sweater very similar to this.  I think the whole poor boy fad was fueled by Twiggy, but of course, none of us corn-fed midwestern girls ever looked like she did in our sweaters.

What made me think of them anyway?  I hadn’t thought of those sweaters in, well, forever.  I had several of them, and my favorite was heather.  That was a big color in the 60’s, too, “heather,” it was kind of a soft muted purple.  Oh, what a kick, remembering my poor boys.  Drats, I wish I had a picture!!!

Fritos, a blast from the past this morning…

This was what I ate as a child, every afternoon, a yellow bag of Fritos, just like these.

I would race from school to the drugstore where Mother worked, for a bag of  Fritos with a fountain cherry coke. 

And how much did this bag cost?  A nickel, five cents.  Yep, that’s right, five cents.  Pretty amazing, huh…

I’m still a fan, too.  I seldom eat Fritos as they are loaded with oil, but oh, do I love them.  And thankfully, Frito-Lay hasn’t messed with the recipe, they taste just like I remembered them as a little girl…

Don’t send a man to the grocery store….

Carlene sent me this video, I’m sitting here just absolutely cracking up, clutching my sides, laughing, oh this is hysterical….

Things I don’t do anymore…

I was reading a blog today, they were talking about what they don’t do anymore, it inspired me, so here’s my list…

• Use hairspray.  For the first time since I can remember, no spray.  This is a huge deal for me.
• Follow the herd.  John taught me to break away.  I take a different route instead of sitting in traffic, I go to alternate cash registers in stores, I don’t blindly follow what others do, I make my own path,  it’s very freeing.
• Do what is expected of me instead of what I want.  I’m getting old, it’s my time to do what makes me happy.
• Expect things of people.  I’ve learned to be grateful and not expect anything, then when you receive, it’s a gift.
• Take friendships for granted.  I cherish the wonderful women in my life, they are hugely important to me.  It’s a sisterhood, my girlfriends are my family.
• Chew gum, I gave it up, people my age look silly chewing gum, well they do!
• Watch stupid television shows, I rarely watch tv, nothing interests me.  I would much rather read or be on the computer, so that’s what I do.
• Take life too seriously.  I really don’t.  If it isn’t catastrophic, I just go with the flow.  Well, most of the time I do.
• Filter my thoughts, which I was reminded recently by my son that I should do.  It’s not gonna happen, I’m a mouthy old broad, my offspring will just have to roll their eyes and deal with it…
• Have phony friends, I absolutely detest people who are fake.  Best quote ever, “I Yam what I Yam, says Popeye the Sailor Man.”  That’s my mantra, I live by it, and my friends do too!!!

Things I still do, but want to change...

• Stop being a slave to my Blackberry.  I don’t have to check email or messages every time those silly little tunes alert me that I have updates.
• Let my hair go gray.  Oh, I shudder at even typing the words.  I really would like to, but I just can’t.  I have a buddy with beautifully graying hair, I just know mine would be an icky color..
• Procrastinate.  It’s in my genes, I’m afraid there is no hope of ever being organized.  I just don’t have an organized mind, and I’m not going to get one at this age.
• Analyze every bite that goes into my mouth, Weight Watchers Points are forever imbedded in my brain when I look at food.
• Stay away from the jewelry counters.  I’ve got enough silver jewelry now to sell for scrap metal, why do I feel the need to buy more.  Okay, so I really don’t want to stay away from the jewelry counter, but I should, seriously! Oh, btw, I got this pair of awesome earrings last week… *evil grin*
• I’m a compulsive hair twirler, I have always done it, except when my hair was short and there was nothing to twirl,  but now that my hair has grown out, I’m back to twirling.  Short of shaving my head, I don’t know how to stop.  I mostly do it when I read.  Go figure…
• Open mouth, insert foot.  ‘nuf said…

And that’s the way it is, Saturday, August 29, 2007….

All About Steve

I really enjoyed Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, her new movie, All About Steve, comes out September 4th.  Looks a little cheesy, but I’ll check it out anyway…

A card table playhouse, how cute is this….

Anything to do with a little girl is naturally going to get my attention. 

I was reading Amy’s blog this morning, she featured this felt playhouse, for sale at Etsy.  Is this the cutest thing, ever?  

Oh my goodness….

It’s Dilly’s birthday!!!!

 

 

This is Lindsay’s last birthday before baby… 

Next year she will have an almost one year old to share her cake with…

 Happy Birthday, sweet daughter-in-law, enjoy your day!!!

~XOXOXO~

Such a simple thing that triggered a long forgotten memory…

It was another picture perfect day in Heavensville and hubby and I had an impromptu picnic in the park.  This is the view from where I sat, captured with my Blackberry…  It was shady and warm, a soft breeze was blowing, there were ducks nearby, and I was enjoying the moment, when a kerthunk startled me.  I looked down at the ground and a squirrel on a limb overhead had shook a branch and a black walnut fell by my foot.

I had a total flashback to being a little girl again, a time when we regularly ate from the land as a means of survival.  Mother and I would gather black walnuts, pecans, walnuts and hickory nuts in the early fall.  She would sit in the living room in the evenings, listening to the Crosley Radio, and using a nut cracker, with her head bent, she would shell the nuts and dig the goodies out with a pick.  A quart Ball fruit jar would be sitting nearby, and she would plunk the nutmeats  into the jar to save for winter baking.

The black walnuts were the messiest, the hulls would stain your skin, and if you’ve never eaten them, it’s definitely a love/hate kind of food. 

I happen to be a fan, Mother’s  black walnut divinity was just the most wonderful thing…  It’s a strong flavor, really distinct, some people don’t care for, but I’ve always loved the taste.

Of all the nuts we gathered, by far, the hardest to shell, the smallest nut of all, and naturally the one that yielded the best flavor was the hickory nut.  Oh my, they were so hard to crack, and it was impossible to get the nut out in one piece, but like most things in life, whatever requires the most work yields the best rewards.

She would always save the hickory nuts until Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She made the most wonderful hickory nut cake, and hickory nut fudge, neither of which recipe I have, unfortunately.  I did find this recipe for hickory nut cake online, it’s a butter cake, that seems to be similar to hers, with it’s brown sugar frosting and hickory nut garnish.

Pecans were the easiest to gather and pluck from the shell.  We would go in the country to an area where there were pecan trees.  The farmer that owned the land would bump the trees with a tractor, so that the nuts would fall to the ground,  and then would usher you thru a gate to pick the pecans off the ground.  On the way out, your filled containers would be weighed and you were charged for the nuts.  Of course I don’t remember how much it cost, but I’m sure it wasn’t very much money.  It was always something we looked forward to every year, gathering pecans, and we would usually have a car full of women and kids off to the woods on a cool fall day.

What fond memories that squirrel triggered for me today.  I hadn’t thought of  this for years. Now if I could just get my hands on some hickory nuts to make that cake for Thanksgiving…

What is it about fall???

Hooterville sent me this picture a few days ago.  It’s from our fall picnic last year.  We’re all eager for a repeat, soon.

There is just something about sweatshirt weather, the smell of a crackling fire, burnt weiners and marshmallows that makes me long for fall.

I’m a huge fan of burnt marshmallows, I can forgo the chocolate and graham crackers after just a few bites, but I can eat those toasted marshmallows all afternoon.  I never have the patience to toast them golden brown, instead I catch them on fire, blow out the blaze, and suck down those carcinogens like they’re good for me…

It’s more like late September than late August this week in Heavensville.  It really gets me in the mood… 

But it won’t be long , we’ll load up the Smokey Joe, grab the dawgs and burger, and head out for a day in the woods…

I’m ready now!  Why do we have to wait for fall…

Million Dollar Bill, she’s sounding pretty good, girlfriends…

Yeah, I’ll buy her new album.  I was a fan in the day, and it’s good to hear her voice strong and clear again. 

 

 

Watching her again, reminded me of the  best work she ever did, in my opinion.  Talk about goosebumps…

 

  

Of course, Dolly wrote this song, and she's the best, ever - she’s an American original…

 

 

Once you get started with Dolly, you can’t stop watching her.  Here’s a great video with Dolly, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, Silver Threads and Golden Needles.  The imbedding has been disabled, but  here’s the click to watch it…

And finally, a wonderful interview with her on 60 Minutes. 

Let’s talk about boobs, BIG boobs…

Okay, ladies, I always tell you about the good stuff, and boy do I have a find for you.

I have boobs, big boobs, I absolutely detest them, too.  Nothing is more matronly than big  ta-tas… Nothing!!!

They are, however, shrinking with my ongoing healthy eating, nevertheless, for years now, it has been totally impossible to find a bra that I really like,  until now.  I was in Kohls last week, not crazy about the store, but they do have good lingerie, and I was trying on the usual Lilyette, Bali, Olga brands, the samo-samo that don’t really minimize, are uncomfortable, often  ride up in the back, and after a wash or so they don’t support you anymore and your boobs start to sag, heading south toward Florida, then all the way to Cuba.

I had never tried a sports bra before, because the ones I looked at had no underwire, and I just didn’t think they would work for me.

Boy, was I wrong.  I was just about to walk out of the store when I spotted this Lily of France underwire sports bra.  It was the color that got my attention, it was grey.  It was cotton, comfy looking, and didn’t look that much like a sports bra, even though it did have a wider band at the bottom.  So I scooped it up, and back to the dressing room I went.  I tried it on, and O-M-G, it was instantly like a breast reduction.  The girls settled in the cups, they kind of flattened out, it felt wonderful, it was really comfortable.  Then I put on my shirt, I swear, I could have just done the happy dance.  My boobs looked really great.  SERIOUSLY good, well as good as they can look for a fifty-nine year old woman…  That bra  just smooshed me out, uplifted me, and made my bust look a lot smaller, even LC is impressed with the way it makes me look in my shirts.  He’s commented several times how much better I look,  how’s that for a testimonial?  Usually husbands don’t notice these things.

So I bought it, not only in grey, but also in white and black, and yesterday I went back and bought another grey one. 

After wearing them for a week, here’s the scoop.  They wash great, they support you wonderfully, you don’t bounce around, they don’t ride up in the back, the wide band at the bottom is super, the cotton breathes, and the best part, even after you’ve had it on for awhile, you still don’t sag….

If you are all as smart as I think you are, you will run not walk to the store and buy one or two or three or four of these.  True, they aren’t satiny or lacy, but at our age, who cares!  The cotton is soft and comfy, they contour to your body, and they look sporty, not like those armored old lady things from Sears.  I live in jeans and casual clothes anyway, so for me, this is perfect. The straps do not adjust, some women may not like that, but i think it fits great without adjusting, and I’m always messing with bra straps, pulling the damn things up, trying to lift the girls.  You don’t need to with this bra, it’s the best thing I’ve found in years, maybe ever, pinky swear.

You can order these from Amazon, too.  No surprise there, you can order anything from Amazon.  Here’s the click for you.

You will thank me for this one, trust me.

~ jan

Your Daily Dose of Cuteness

Mollie was fast asleep on her back this morning, it was so funny, just had to share.  Yeah, I know her bed is getting tattered, but she loves it and I can’t find another bean bag one like it…  Maybe this fall the stores will have one…

Silly little dog, she always has that tongue out, it never fails to make me smile…

 

Anticipating fall…

It’s almost in the air, not quite, but trees are shedding some leaves now, the days are shorter, and the evenings cooler.  I’m always ready for the changing seasons, this year more so because I know that when the colors change that precious grandbaby will be born.

I was out early this morning, the wind was blowing, leaves were crunching underfoot, and I was listening to the crows.  Oh, it was so peaceful, just watching  the horses in the pasture from my front yard, and living in the moment. 

I’m really good at that, just living in the present, I hope the rest of you are able to do it also.  That’s all we have, you know,  just this moment in time.  I’m doing my best to appreciate what I have, good health, great family and friends and of course my sweet little M&M’s. 

It’s a good time in my life, I’m savoring every moment of it…

Lindsay’s shower, it was such fun….

I wish all of you could have been there.  The shower was at the family church, in the little town of Eva, Alabama.  Lindsay has an amazing family, the aunts, Mary, Regenia, Nora and Judy are the funniest, most charming women, ever.  I swear girlfriends, it was a chapter right out of the YaYa’s, listening to all of these southern women telling  stories.  Cousin Gena was there, Lindsay’s best friend, Heather handed out the gifts. We sat with Nadine, who was so much fun, oh and as you can imagine, Grandma Campbell was in her glory, with her family gathered ‘round. Lindsay’s mother flew in from Seattle, she is such a lovely woman, Deanna, Lindsay and I drove down from Nashville.  There was great food, amazing gifts, and a room filled with love.  What more could a mother-in-law want.  This is going to be such an wonderful little girl that’s coming into our life.  It’s absolutely overwhelming… 

There are a lot more pictures of the shower in an album on my FaceBook page.  If you aren’t one of my FaceBook “friends,”  send me an email, and I’ll add you, so that you can view the pictures…

You can view a larger size of this photo collage  by clicking on it…

~ jan