Category Archives: family life

Decisions, decisions.

Posted on by
Reply
  • Should I make a single batch of banana bread or a double?
  • Double, of course. We have enough bananas. Do you even need to ask?

 

  • It’s raining outside. Can I accomplish any garden tasks in the rain?
  • No, silly. Get the laundry done and play in the kitchen, instead. Did I hear someone say banana bread?

 

  •  Big headline in the newspaper about a state level politician reaching his tipping point. What’s the book I’m currently reading?
  • The Tipping Point, of course. It’s on my table in the den.

 

  • “Mom, you have banana bread in the oven. Why are you making bread in the bread machine?”
  • Why not? That wasn’t a good enough answer, apparently. The real answer came from Chuck: “It’s raining outside, so Mom can’t work in the garden. She needs to use her energy in the kitchen instead.” ‘Tis true. Very true.

 

  • I had a message from the Clinic That Shall Not Be Named with a subject line How Are you Doing? and the name of my family doc listed as “from”. How am I doing?
  • Well, Clinic, I was misled for a moment and thought someone actually cared to follow up with me. But when a message is extremely generic and is signed “The Clinic Physicians”? Somehow, I don’t feel obligated to answer.
  • So, Daisy, what was this generic message from the Clinic That Shall Not Be Named?
  • Here’s the actual text:

Thank you for your recent visit. Because we care about you, please take a moment to tell us how you are doing. If you were prescribed any medications, please let us know how they are working or if you have any financial issues affording them.

Do you have any other questions since your last visit?

Thank you for your time.

 

  • How tacky can this clinic get?
  • Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Book Title Poetry

Posted on by
Reply

Call it Title Poems or call it Book Binding Poetry, and you’ll still have fun, whatever you call it. The result won’t be a run-on sentence like mine, either.

My dear darling husband and Public Radio junkie heard the concept on the show “Away With Words.” He walked over to my dresser and saw these three titles.

Almost Haiku

Almost Haiku!

You can guess what happened next. Some attempts were more, shall we say, poetic than others.

You'll have to insert the punctuation.

You’ll have to insert the punctuation.

Can you see the last one?

Can you see the last one? The light wasn’t the best.

 

My favorite so far

My favorite so far.

I have a sneaking suspicion this poetry genre will happen again in and around my shelves. Readers, which book binding poem strikes you today?

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

It’s March, and it’s Madness.

Posted on by
2

My March Madness doesn’t revolve around a basketball.tournament.

The only brackets in my March Madness are those that hold up shelves.

On the outside, my March Madness looks like this.

Snow on snow on snow.

Snow on snow on snow.

Indoors, I decided to fight the Madness with this.

Planting time!

Planting time!

I planted seeds for pepper plants. There’s something about the smell of dirt that helps release the madness of March. There’s a sweet satisfaction in filling a bucket with snow (see it, on the right?) just to let it melt, and then watering seeds with it. The rain barrels are still upside down and snow-covered, but I CAN and I WILL find ways to be green.

The deck may be snowy, but spring is on the way.

 

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

The New MomVan and Tummy Aches

Posted on by
3

It seems like yesterday that Chuck was complaining of a stomach ache, refusing to take fiber, and then talking trash about my minivan. Remember this exchange?

“Here, dear, I found a jar of Metamucil for you.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Not ready?”
“I like my Saturn. I don’t want to drive a Buick yet.”
“I took it years ago when I was pregnant with Amigo.”
“And look what you drive now!”

My minivan — he’d dissed my minivan! The minivan that took us on more than a few vacations, moved La Petite to and from college, brings big batches of yard waste to the brush dump every summer, took my carpool to graduate classes for two years, and more!

My poor Pontiac Transport finally entered its last days when we discovered the power steering was showing signs of failing. It was a ’98 vehicle, old enough, and we’d put plenty of bucks into repair and routine maintenance. It was time.

Vehicle Replacement Procedure requires time: time for research and time for shopping. Time, of course, is something we don’t have in abundance. Decisions take time, too. Did we need another vehicle with cargo space? Or could we buy a sedan instead? Did that cargo space need to be a minivan, or would a small to medium SUV fit our needs? We did a little research, figured out what we could afford, and then started looking.

And then we got lucky. Chuck was filling his car (his Subaru) with gas at the Fleet Farm gas station to make use of the gas coupon we get every time we shop there. He glanced across the street to a used car lot and noticed a late model minivan with a sign in it proclaiming it Manager’s Special. He crossed the street and looked it over. 2012 Dodge Caravan, reasonable mileage, in our price range – what could be wrong?

We asked that exact question the next day when we took a short test drive. Everything looked good, and we were ready to take the next step: the Complete Test Drive. All three of us (Chuck, me, Amigo) came out to the lot for a test drive. While Amigo and I played with controls and explored the many features, Chuck drove to a nearby mechanic. The mechanic checked it over, pointed out a few things, and pronounced the vehicle healthy and sound and a good deal.

The next day, I emptied the personal items (Kleenex boxes, snow brush, tire gauges) from the Transport and drove it to the dealer for paperwork and trade-in. To make a long story short, we did it. The 2012 Caravan is now in the garage, my cell phone charger and garage door opener installed in their proper places.

And perhaps the best part of the story: everyone is healthy. No tummy aches in the family, fiber or no fiber, at the moment. I think I’ll bake some nuts and twigs banana bread just to keep things in order.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Spring Fever – again? Or still?

Posted on by
5

It had to happen. The local rag had a big feature on Garden Tips. Most are tips and tricks I’ve already used or at least read about, such as using eggshells in the soil to contribute to tomato plant growth, or planting marigolds to discourage wild bunnies and mosquitoes. I’ve saved my eggshells a few times, and I finally decided it was just as good to compost the shells with the rest of the kitchen waste. The whole mix will eventually become one with the soil.

And then I began a project of cleaning my inbox(es). I’d saved an email containing this link, hoping that Chuck might build one for our backyard.

Not just for Strawberries!

Not just for Strawberries!

My strawberries, if they made it through the winter, are growing in an old wicker hamper. This looks a lot nicer. Or it could house herbs – parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and who knows what else?

As if we didn’t have enough locavore motivation already, the California drought will push produce prices sky high next winter if not sooner. 2014 might be the summer we give in and buy a second freezer. A freezer full of fruits and veggies bought fresh would certainly beat overpriced, poor quality, imported-from-the-coast foods.

Meanwhile, back at the O.K. Chorale, I feel the need to do something – anything. My to-do list for tomorrow has one pre-garden task on it: bring in the rest of the pots for starting seeds before it snows again and puts them out of reach! 

So, readers, join me. What kind of happenings are causing spring fever for you? Comment, please. I’m getting lonely for comments.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

And the weather!

Posted on by
1

As seen on social media –

  • Free snowman, some assembly required, you haul…..
  • Beginning to think we may not have mail service today.
  • Snowing like crazy and whiteout conditions! Already have 6 inches and more to come!
  • It’s coming down and supposed to get heavier as the day goes on. I am currently doing the snow day happy dance.
  • Snow is on the way. When do we get out of this pattern?
  • Snow scatter is pretty.

Are you getting the idea yet? I hear you thinking: Daisy, you live in NE Wisconsin. You are a fan of the NFL’s venue nicknamed the Frozen Tundra. Why would you post crazy snowstorm highlights?

9 inches and falling

 

kitchen window

 

Folks, this is not my yard. And this is not my truck, either.

truck frontI give in. Much of the land is experiencing wild weather, and much of that stormy weather is in areas that aren’t used to being pounded and pummeled like we are in the upper Midwest. They get snow, but not piles like ours. Here’s the weather map. Please think warm thoughts and send good vibes toward my friends in Kansas.

KS Weather Map

 

 

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

As Baby Boomers Age

Posted on by
1

Oh, the memories. My dear darling husband was in terrible pain with what turned out to be kidney stones. The Emergency nurse asked all the perfect scripted triage questions, and he answered what he could through the haze. “Where is the pain?” He pointed. “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most severe, how would you rate your pain?” “ELEVENS!”

Fast forward to my recent visit to the nearby surgical center. The RN found what she called “good veins” and set up the IV quickly and (nearly) painlessly. Chuck complained that it wasn’t fair, really. The last time he’d needed an IV, they’d searched all over and the nurse eventually sat on the floor next to his dangling arm to get an IV into him.

Then it dawned on us. We had turned into the dreaded generation: those with conversations consisting of comparisons of our various hospital visits. My pre-op nurse stepped out, ostensibly to check with the anesthesiologist, but we think she really had to leave the prep room before she broke out laughing and appeared unprofessional.

I learned that hospital food has come a long way in quality since I worked part time  in food service at this very hospital. The menu was nice and the process was rather personal. And when I finally developed an appetite of sorts, the food was delicious. I think they should rename their transition or bland diet to call it Comfort Food. If I served Baked Mac & Cheese, tomato soup, herbal tea, and a little cup of raspberry sherbet for dessert, the family would call it comfort food and pronounce it good.  My supper tray was good, too.

Back to the aging cycle. My hometown is a somewhat small city. My hospital room was on the sixth floor of a tower wing that hasn’t been around long. From my window, I could see the snowy and icy horizon far enough to recognize the large insurance company building that keeps a fair number of locals employed. After dark, the night lights identified another large building, one that didn’t exist when I was a volunteer in a striped pinafore: The Far North High School, La Petite’s alma mater.

I felt more like myself the next morning – less dizzy, able to walk to the bathroom without a walker, and feeling capable of making irreverent comments. That leg massaging thing? The one designed to help prevent clotting? This is a handy dandy little gadget. Someone should develop a non-medical version for cubicle workers. That list on the whiteboard? The goals I need to reach before I can go home? I call it my IEP.  All too soon, I mastered the tasks on the board, signed my discharge information, and followed Chuck through the bitter cold to his Subaru and then, finally, home.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

You might see:

Posted on by
Reply

I’m home for a while, resting and healing from a major fix (i.e. surgery). While I’m here at home with my pillows and blankets, you might expect posts along these lines.

  • Closed Captioning errors. I plan to watch some mindless TV (is there any other kind?),and I’ll share more humorous errors with you. A few minutes ago I heard Chuck laugh out loud – the captioner had typed “she was out of termites” instead of “she’s out of her mind.” 
  • Pictures of Buttercup, the sweet big bunny. She adopted me last night and spent the entire night under a chair at the foot of my temporary home, the daybed in my office. When I got up to use the bathroom, she waited at the bedroom door for my return. I could see it in her big eyes: “Mom, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She is a sweet and caring bundle of fur. Or maybe, just maybe, she wants to make sure someone is healthy enough to feed her.
  • Book reviews, or at least book lists. I loaded my Kindle and browsed Paperback Swap dot com to prepare for this lengthy leave.
  • Stories. I still haven’t decided how much needs sharing with the blogging world. If I start hearing “TMI! TMI!” in my subconscious, I’ll hit delete. Promise. Probably.
  • Progress reports – mine, not my students’. I expect the healing process to be steady and proceed at a substantially faster pace than my last medical leave of absence.

And off we go, folks, into the next six weeks at the O.K. Chorale.

 

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Prepping for surgery

Posted on by
1

It’s not always what it seems. I followed the doctor’s advice, drank lots of liquids, rested, etc. But in addition, I prepared myself for a six week (possibly) leave of absence to recover.

  • Load the Kindle with reading material.
  • Order a few books from Paperback Swap.
  • Train a substitute teacher – no easy feat in an online school.
  • Prepare all the files the online teacher might need. Store them on a jump drive for her.
  • Buy new pajama pants.
  • Stock up on lip balm and lotion.
  • Renew any meds now – to avoid making extra trips out of the house later.
  • Grind coffee beans!
  • Create a place to rest and hang out. Daybed? Bedroom recliner? Couch?
  • Set up blog posts so my dedicated readers won’t get lonely.

How’s that? Did I miss anything? If I did, it’s too late – unless I put Chuck to work.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares