iTunes and Ironing

I may have said - I didn't know I had iTunes on my computer. It is so much easier to import songs to iTunes than to Windows Media Player. WMP is a two-step process, and iTunes just does it in one click! And it's faster. I've copied a lot to my computer and may - may - look into an iPod sometime. I do have that gift card...

Today was ironing day - it wasn't hard but it was time consuming and I did it in two shifts - this morning and this afternoon. All the time I was doing that, I was copying CDs. Good to hear some of the good old songs I haven't listened to in a while, like Asleep at the Wheel and Grover Washington, Jr. Pants is what I ironed - mostly Paul's. Since I'm home now I can do this most dreaded chore at a more leisurely pace and it doesn't seem to loom over me. So now his khakis are all nicely lined up in the closet waiting for the next go round.

After lunch I watched "The 39 Steps" - a Masterpiece Theater I'd recorded earlier. No commercials and I love the British accents. This one had a surprising twist at the end. I think I had read this some time ago, but I didn't remember much about it, especially the ending. But this was adapted from the book by John Buchan.

The parts for Paul's mower came today and he put them on, but there's something wrong with the transmission, too.

Mama's hostas have abundantly multiplied and are getting a really good headway. Now would be a good time to divide them and maybe by this weekend I can get Paul to chop a couple into and send a clump to Sher. These are from the batch she had of Mama's when she moved from Columbus; so I need to return some to her now that she's settled. The azaleas do have buds, but are late this year. Daylilies are behind the hostas in second picture.

We received Morgan and Steven's wedding invitation today - so pretty. His name is Steven Audrey Ashe. Morgan's middle name is Deane, for her grandfather, Marsha's dad, who died when Marsha was very small. Morgan and Marsha's gallbladder surgeries are tomorrow morning in Sheffield, AL. I asked Marsha to have Mike call me when he could. She said they both had been in a lot of pain.

I had four episodes on my monitor and called/downloaded this afternoon. Three were from last night from about 12:30 to 2:30 - racing heart woke me up - I was dreaming something about horses. Amy told me a dream she had last night and a song she heard in the dream - something by Charlie Daniels. And this morning as she got in her car and turned the radio on - they just started that song! Strange.

Things to Celebrate

#500 Post

It's Friday.

You, Readers, thank you, all who stop by to look at the pictures, read what I muddle through, rejoice in, cry over.

Sister Sher liked #60 of the daylily pictures I sent to her and asked if she could paint it. It is a very unusual color. That's quite a compliment from an accomplished artist, and from my little sister, who muses me, and amuses me. It does sort of have a Georgia O'Keeffe-ish look, and Sher really admires her and her art.

Number 60

Paul has been in Hot Springs since Wednesday and will be back tonight. I get to watch the "big" TV occasionally and last night I watched Benjamin Button. Unusual, based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Teri used to say I'd cry at a Mickey Mouse movie. This one was sad but very good. I have two more Click and New in Town, comedy and romantic comedy. The Blu Ray has been my friend so far; I haven't messed up any buttons yet. Pretty easy even for me. I'll have to check into the Red Box. Norma returned one at lunch time. Just $1 a movie, but have to have them back the next day...

A busy somewhat difficult week. Was on my feet a lot Wednesday and Thursday, but wore New Balance shoes to cushion from the hard floors. We mailed capital credit checks - about 13,000 of them. They all had to be processed, metered, posted, folded, and some stapled and mutilated (just kidding about the stapling - some did get caught in the machines occasionally, but not too horribly). Wednesday I felt like my knuckles were dragging. Thursday wasn't so bad I couldn't watch the movie, but I had everything done before I parked myself in front of the TV. Oscar cuddled a little, but he would go to bed early.

Sunday is Father's Day. I haven't bought Paul a card - yet. If I don't, if the heat keeps me inside, then Paul, thanks for being the terrific dad and husband you are. One more blessing to be thankful for.

Sister Fun

Sher got to our house about the time I got home from work, and being Friday night, we were all ready to eat out somewhere. Paul had been home from Little Rock for just a few hours, too, and we met Dick and Jean at Kelley's. The whole weekend was practically non-stop, but fun:

We were up late Friday talking, laughing, piled up in bed like the kids we are and watched "House," the ending of "North By Northwest," and then switched over to Leno and he was a guest. Discovered the Band from TV, which was really good. Hugh Laurie is pretty talented!

One is hers, one is mine...

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging on for dear life on Mt. Rushmore...

Saturday morning she and I met Jean and Carol at McD's for breakfast (McCafe's & snacks); then we went to the grocery store for "healthy foods." (She's my health guru, but we tried our best to finish up the mincemeat cookies I made last week!)

Saturday afternoon Paul, Sher and I went to Jboro and had a couple of hours to shop before the movie we wanted to see started. Kind of a chick flick and Paul really didn't want to go, so he ate, we went to the movie, had popcorn/soft drinks to tide us over, and we ate later at the same place (BBQ). "Last Chance Harvey" is what we saw and it was good - Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. When we shopped earlier, I bought lipstick, Sher bought some Origins lotion, and I got the B&N Classics edition of Sherlock Holmes, which I've never read. (I have also discovered "House" is based on Holmes.) We were home by 8:00 I guess; walked our dogs - who, by the way, were excellent with each other. Oscar is finally learning "grown-up manners" I think. I was so proud of him. (How'd Hoffman get so "old" - though he did look fine - has it been that long since he was in "Midnight Cowboy," "The Graduate," "All the President's Men," "Rain Man," "Tootsie," among others? I'm not as familiar with Emma Thompson, but I don't see as many movies as I used to! She was very good, too!)

Time out for sunbathing...

I intended to try very hard (hmm, that right there sounds like an excuse!) to go to SS and church Sunday, but what with breakfast, getting ready - just didn't happen. After making our "smoothies" in the blender (Kifir, banana, blueberries, dollops of pomegranate juice, coconut and wheat germ), Sher went back to bed, I sat on the sunny, warm (yes - it had warmed up!) patio. Later I trimmed around Bailey's eyes and face, belly (he didn't much like that part of the deal), and started dinner: white beans, meat loaf, cornbread, sweet potato (we all shared one of the Matthews sweet potatoes), creamed potatoes, slaw, and slices of ham. Stuffed to the gills, we all took naps. Later Sher started on her business law homework and I worked on Week 2 of Bible study.

Each night Oscar was right up in the middle of us (Sher and I sleep together like old times - hogging our sides of the bed and as much of the other's as we could get away with!), and Oscar fit right between us. Bailey slept in his doggie bed at the foot of the bed or right beside Sher on the floor. We had walks Saturday and Sunday, around the block and over to school and back. Sunday was a little warmer and nice to be outside.

My sister is great and I don't know what I'd do without her! We have "history;" laugh at the same things - the best laughs!; enjoy the same kinds of movies. We both love to read. She's always coaxing (and coaching) me into eating healthier, unless, like I said, there are homemade cookies around. Then we both just lose it. We're not identical sisters by any means, but we "play well" together. (Amy texted me Saturday and asked if "you girls are playing nice;" I replied, "Yes, maam!")

Can hardly wait till Pilgrimage in Columbus till we can all get together again. Hopefully Jean and Carol can join us. That'll be sometime in late March, early April. With Bren, Charlotte and Martha, Sher'll have a houseful, but the more the merrier!

Getting ready to say good-bye!

Take a Breath

I have this, this, and oh, this to do. In my mind I thought there were weeks to go to get holiday things completed. Then I looked at a calendar! What!!!?? If I get anything at all mailed I will have to do it by Monday, because the next week is Christmas week! Suddenly time is growing shorter! How? Wasn't it a month until Christmas? Oh, that was from Thanksgiving...

I have some cards mailed; I have a few others to do. I have Mama Nick and Aunt Ginny's gifts half-way ready to mail. I have Nate's gift ready to mail. There are two Sunday School parties Sunday afternoon. A casserole to make, and I always make brownies for the three city departments. Call Aunt Ginny. Call Mike. Paul talked to David last night and told him our stay-home-be-with-Amy plans, and he understood.

Yesterday afternoon I had to go home for R&R, not recreation, but rest. The Lyrica trial is over and I'm trying to get back to "normal." My normal. It's a process. I tried the med. It had side-effects I couldn't live with. After a nap and some soft Christmas music yesterday, I felt better.

I still haven't watched my Christmas movies: "It's a Wonderful Life," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "The Christmas Story." My choice of one of the three at this point: George Bailey.

It's a process.

Saturday

A beautiful day here and a full one... Hairjazz for a trim. Trip to Wal-Mart. Seems to be a regular occurrence and I was going to try to avoid that today. I made soup for whenever we decided to eat. Did laundry and as I folded clothes, watched the last half of "The Shop Around the Corner" with James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. This is the story "You've Got Mail" is based on. Last night I also watched the last part of a movie with Judy Garland and Van Johnson (who at times sounded so much like Stewart) in "In the Good Old Summer Time," which is yet another version. All very good movies, Christmas-time themes.

This afternoon I drove to Caldwell, picked Carolyn up, and we went back to Colt to Mollie and Wesley Davis's open house. It was wonderful - they have a beautiful home and so many family members and friends there to celebrate. Gracious host and hostess. Kevin Turner taxied most of the visitors from Ted and Dorma's back up the hill and the driveway because of easier access and not much parking space for all the cars. There were quite a few parked in Ted and Dorma's yard! Very nice and thoughtful. Beautiful home so well planned and furnished, new, yet felt so comfortable.

Paul went to Earle and rode in their parade, which he had committed to earlier, and had a good time there. He started to take Oscar, but wanted to visit with the folks more and if he'd taken O, would have had to stay with/in the truck.

Oscar and I walked just at dusk - knee and ankle hurt some, but I tolerated it just to get out and walk - and he enjoyed getting out. As we were coming home, the whole southwestern sky was a beautiful pastel lavendar-blue-orange-sherbet color backlighting the Lee's house which had Christmas lights on. I got the camera and went back for pictures and succeeded to an extent, but it was nothing like when we first turned down the street on the way home. Will teach me to go off without my camera!

Oscar was a tired little puppy. This is Total Trust. O would be so embarrassed! Pardon the jammies. (Another pair of Mama's.)