Housewife, 54

What a wonderful trip we had!  As you know, I had planned everything myself and was a little concerned that everything would go smoothly... it did!  Not a single hitch! We hired a car service to take us to the airport, as that was going to be more economical than driving ourselves and paying for parking (for almost 3 weeks!)  What a luxury! All travel went smoothly.  I do wish to comment that the exclusion of food on long airline flights is quite annoying.  I always pack snacks, but still.... An internet acquaintance offered to meet us at Heathrow and guide us through the subway system to our hotel.  WHAT a gift!  It was so comforting to know that especially in our befuddled jet-lagged state, someone was going to take our hands and guide us through something we had no experience with!  Sally was so accommodating and taught us how very easy it is to navigate around London.  And we loved our hotel.  It was a pub/restaurant with rooms - very old, but nicely updated and the food was

Mark today down for the record books!  I am actually ready 2 DAYS AHEAD! I ran all of the last-minute errands today and took my buddy along.  We had to go to the jeweler's because I had left my good watch in the pocket of my pants and it went through the washing machine!  I thought I had killed it, but no.... it just needed to be reset.  I guess there is an advantage to buying a "good" watch. Fountain at the Jewelry Store I am so glad it was my turn to have our book club meet at my house this week.  When I saw how close the date was to our take-off, I wondered how it would work, but it was great!  I had my house all cleaned before Thursday, so for the 4 days in between then and our departure on Monday, I have had just bits and pieces to do.  One of the things to do was to help Jim finish his packing (mine has been done for weeks), but we got that done today! Not color-coordinated, but who cares??? Now just the piddly little stuff like mowing the lawn and wa

With our BIG TRIP coming up in about 2 weeks, I am just approaching panic phase.  Actually, I am fairly well prepared and at this point, on schedule... but there is so much that needs to be done so close to departure, and there is NO getting around THAT!  In the week before we leave, I have to clean house by Wednesday, as I am hosting Book Club on Thursday - this is a good thing... Otherwise I would be cleaning up to the day before! I have 99% of clothing shopping done, but I don't like the jacket I planned to wear, so I am going out today to see if I can find something just right... and possibly pick up a couple of things for Jim. The REAL crush is going to be the garden produce! We have not had much rain for the past couple of weeks, so things are on slow grow.  But yesterday brought us a good rain in 3 different episodes, so I dashed out to all my (3) gardens and picked everything that I could... tomatoes are likely to split when they get a lot of water after a dry spell.  I

We lost our Pretty Princess this week.  She was 13 years old, and having heart trouble. Her medication eventually affected her appetite and she just didn't want to eat.  We backed off the meds, and eventually just stopped them altogether, but her appetite didn't ever get back to normal.  We had been making special treats to put in her food for months - sometimes she liked it, and sometimes she just didn't want to eat. On Tuesday, she was fine in the morning, and even in the late afternoon.... but at suppertime something was really wrong.... she was shaky and unstable on her feet.  did NOT want to eat, and then laid down and did not want to get up.  On Wednesday morning there was no improvement, so we knew the time had come.  This is the only part of having dogs that I really hate.... Maija was a lovely girl.  So willing to work for me, and happy to learn just about anything.  She was a bit timid, so showing at trials was difficult for her, but she always did her best.

I loved my mother-in-law.  She was a wonderful (and very forgiving) lady and I was so pleased that we shared so many interests in common.  Maybe that old song "I want a gal just like the gal that married dear ol' Dad" has a lot of truth to it. One of the best qualities of my mother-in law was her cooking.  Nothing fancy, just plain, wholesome, tasty, old-fashioned cooking.  I had adopted many of her recipes over the years, but there was ONE thing that she made that I always meant to try to make with her, but never did.... her absolutely delicious Sweet Pickles.  Every time she opened a jar and we were there, we usually finished the jar... and sometimes wanted to open another jar the next meal... greedy devils, weren't we ('we' means the kids and I, her son doesn't really like them!)  Several years ago, I had the best intentions and asked her for the recipe and dutifully wrote it down.... but when I realized it took 15 DAYS and 7#s of small, similarly siz

I must admit that I sometimes have a bit of a panic.  Usually in the middle of the night.  Usually about something that seems much less panic-inducing in the light of day. Twice in the past week or so, I have awakened at night and thought of aspects of our trip that I had not yet made reservations for.  As usual, when daylight rolled around, I forgot all about making those panic-inducing reservations and... thus the additional nights of restless sleep.  TODAY I made those last reservations that I deemed most necessary to do in advance. To Date I have accomplished: Airline tickets Hotel for location #1, first 4 days Bus Tour Train tickets Hotel reservation for location #2 Car rental Guest house reservation for location #3 Hotel reservation for stopover on the way home Reservation for bus trip at stopover location. I have 2 locations after #3 where we will need hotels for 1 or 2 nights in 2 cities, but those can be booked after we get there.  I also have some locations

Good GRIEF it is HOT... just as the Old Farmer's Almanac predicted, so I have been expecting it.  Here in the Midwest, we call this "Corn Growin' Weather!"..... hot, humid and sticky.  Today the humidity is expected because we have finally had RAIN!  Here in Northern Illinois, we have watched storm after storm bypass us, either to the North or to the South, but missing us with amazing accuracy. I know that not all areas around here are scorching dry, as I have done some traveling.  Last weekend we went (4 hours) up to Northern Wisconsin where DS #2 has purchased a wooded property ... and I mean IN THE WOODS!  The temperatures were a bit cooler so it was a very comfortable trip, and since there had been more rain up there, the fire danger was low.  We had a wonderful evening sitting around a flaming fire, listening to the night birds (Whip-o-will and Loon) and star-gazing.... what we could see despite a full moon!  Here is a pic of the "wooded lot" that he

Okay, I am at that age.... actually I am PAST the age when one is recommended to have their initial colonoscopy.  Dear Husband and I have known we should have one for several years now so this year I decided to GET IT DONE!  So we have.  DH had his a couple of weeks ago and mine was today.  Not too bad.  I was worried about the prep.... DH and I had different "formulas" and he had stomach cramps (which is what I dread most), so I was somewhat concerned, but still hoping that since I had the "other" formula, that I would get lucky.  I did.  No discomfort.  Just annoyed that even though you are not ill, you have to forfeit a good 18 hours to this! There will be no photo of this event..... Other than that, I have been quite busy!  Gardens are going well.  I still have beds to make and/or plant at Mt. Hope, and there needs to be a LOT of weeding and weed prevention at the Charity Garden there, but Petersen Farm Garden is almost all planted now and looking pretty good.

I really don't think that I have been all THAT busy!  But I guess I have... or have simply not thought to post an entry here. Yes, considering the previous post, I have been doing a bit of sewing.  I finished a quilt for Jasper's first birthday and had it done and mailed before the Big 1 Birthday.  Here it is: Then in April, we were going out to visit for his Baptism.  So I finished a dress, discovered the weather was going to be cool again, and made a skirt.  Here they are: Myself, Son, Grandson, Daughter-in-law, other son. at the Baptism. So I AM making good use of my new machines!  I am continuing to sew as the weather has been a real roller coaster this year.... we will have lovely warm weather, have the windows open and want to be outdoors all day...then we get a cold front in and want to be indoors with sweaters on for the next week! We had quite lovely weather occasionally in March.  I was thrilled to be able to get some of my plants moved out to t