Playing Catch Up...AGAIN!!

I don't know what happens with my time. I try to budget it and keep up with my blogging friends on a daily basis, but this time of year when we're putting in the cool crop plants, and garden preparation is the most important thing in the world, I find myself dragging in, butt on the floor, chin on my chest and eyes half closed in anticipation of a nap. Yeah, a little fifteen minute cat nap that mostly turns into an hour. Then it's time to cook and yadayadayada...but I know that you all know what I mean! I have to thank our sweet Deb at The Bunnies Bungalow (http://thebunniesbungalow.blogspot.com ) for the wonderful giveaway which I won. I received the package the day that we lost our Ariel and so wasn't much in the mood to even open the package. I opened it several days later and was so amazed at the bounty! Even a book on flea marketing ( I love going flea marketing) a gorgeous wire cross which I immediately hung upon the lintel of my porch as a blessing. So many lovely things (and I'll be posting pictures this weekend...). If you've never visited Deb, you really must, go here ~the Bunnies' Bungalow~ she has something for everyone at her site, household hints, recipes and fun. Do go pay her a visit! She's one of my "must see" 's.

So, as I was saying, time keeps getting away from me like a runaway train and I'm going to be sitting in here after supper tonight visiting everyone. It may take most of the evening, because you know I have a lot of folks I call friend. The one thing we all seem to have in common is a strong faith in God and a belief in miracles. Together we put up a powerful prayer chain for those in need. The old adage "walk a mile in my shoes" is so apt these days. We never know what problems in life each person has that is so close to being the straw. If we can lift one straw from the bale that loads a friend down, then we've done a powerful job.

While we've been doing the fall garden (I'm praying for pumpkins here, people) I've been neglecting to tell you of awards that I've gotten of which I'm so proud. So here goes...from Brenda and Susie Q and Holley and the rest, I say thank you...you are my Side Bar Pals...you make my day, too...I intend to hand these out very very soon...pass them on...heck, there's no time like the present, is there?
So, first my thanks to Brenda for this sweet award...and now to present it to a few of my favorites...
.this award goes to IbeatiI Beati- a meeting place to share our blessings and laugh a little !!
She never fails to have something in her blog that sets me off to giggling or having a warm feeling . And to Jo at Jo Beaufoix who tells a tale in such a way that you feel you are there with her. You'll love her sense of humor! (and her two cutie pie kiddies) I'd also like to pass this on to
Vee, our newlywed at A Haven for Vee who never fails to make me smile! And finally, but not least, to Jeff B, at A Word In Edgewise and if you've never visited him, you're in for a treat.

Thank you Susie Q from Rabbit Run Cottage I really appreciate this and sorry I haven't accepted it before now...but it's a lovely award from a love lady. Susie is another Navy Wife with a lovely family...you'll love visiting with Susie and Bill and their two wonderful children.

I'd like to pass this award on (and this is a SusieQ creation) to several of you...first of all to Jan at THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LI'L OL' ME.....another of my friends you'll enjoy visiting! Also to San at A Life with a View You'll love her art work and her take on life. Cowgirl at Riverdale Ramblings is one of the hardest working women I've ever known. Her life in New Zealand is no lady of leisure life, but she handles it and her family well, plus her myriad guests at the bed and breakfast...and the cows she has to take to higher ground...lost yet? Go check her out! She's a peach. And to David McMahon at authorblog who is the most helpful blogger out there. Really. Go see. You'll be amazed at what this man manages to do for us all the while caring for a family and a job...

Thank you my dear Jayne at Country Cottage Chic. Jayne was one of the very first bloggers that I met. I met her thru my niece Kari at Just Livin' Large is the first of the blogging friends I'm passing this on to. If you read her you'll know why. This is not just family pride, neopotism has not a thing to do with it. This girl is capable of making you so angry you can spit, laugh till you're sick and wonder about life and why we are the way we are...and that's all in the same post...so I pass this on to Kari...and I'd also like to pass it on to Tara at Days Missed on a Hammock . She's the perfect blogging buddy, always ready with a kind word and has just the most amazing blog. Go see for yourself! I'd like to also pass it along to Crazy Cath at CrazyCath's Reflections
Go visit...you'll love her blog, too! I'd also like to see that Christine at Epiphany Sanctuary receives this, she has the most calming blog in blogdom...

Okay, and just today from Holley at windycornerI received this:
and earlier in the week had received it from Jeni at Down RIver Drivel .
Who could ask for more? It's all tea...four cups of loving tea...and I say thank you Holley and Jeni! And I want to give this award to everyone one who reads this...because you are all my friends and if I tried to list you all I'd still be playing catchup next week. This includes the ones I've just awarded the others to, so don't cheat yourselves!

For anyone I may have left out who gave me an award, please forgive me...I'm old now, I'm lucky I remember my own name...I need a secretary. I can't afford to pay much. But I'll feed you well. And speaking of feeding...

There's one more site I want you all to bookmark and visit daily is Click to Give @ The Animal Rescue Site

Click on the site and help feed an animal...it only takes a few seconds of your time. They'll thank you.

Tell Me Why

Before you begin to play the video, pause the music player on the side bar or you will get bleed over on the music.

So often we ask ourselves why, during an election year, people become hard and vindictive, often blaming all the ills of the world on one man, when many should be held responsible. And not just the citizens and polititions of our nation, but many nations. We ban religeon and then cry out for God's help. I'm sure He is confused by all this, too. I remember one lesson well that Jesus taught...and a little child shall lead them. Please, enjoy this video. I hope someone has the answer. Then, tell me why. Please.

The Rain Barrels

When I tell you that we have had another dry summer, I am not kidding you. Last time we checked, the rain deficit was standing at 18 inches. That's 18 inches of rain that we need to get just to come out of a the severe drought stage and into the plain old ordinary drought stage. We have rain barrels set up at the back to catch what little rain might fall. Mac was threatening to load them on the back of the truck and go wherever he heard that rain might be falling. He said we could be like the storm chasers, only instead of looking for tornadoes, we'd look for rain. He said we could park beneath underpasses and the rain that flowed off the bridges would fill the barrels pronto. I told him the men in white coats would be more apt to pick us up. I love to watch a storm, always have. I think I get it from my Grandpa. He liked to watch storms. I remember once standing on his front porch and he was holding my hand and we were watching a cloud begin to form a funnel. My heart was beating a mile a minute. It wasn't fear though. It was excitement. I was to young to know that the storm that was brewing could kill. I know now. But I can't help but still have that shiver of excitement when a storm comes.

This morning we were anticipating that Fay, the hurricane that wouldn't quit, was going to bring us rain. Poor Florida (and I so hope that my friends there have survived without much damage...) was hit at least four times by her contrary self. The rain barrels at the back of the porch needed to be completely emptied and the flower beds needed watering, so that's how we spent the morning. Emptying and watering. Preparing for what is to come. Because we know that once this rain goes by, it may be some time before we get another soaker. And a soaker is what we need. We haven't had a real rain in months. The usual April rains failed to materialize, and June was no better. And so the ground, dry and hard, repels the water at first, which causes flooding in areas. If we hadn't dragged that blamed hose from garden to garden we wouldn't have anything to show for it. It was hard work. But for now, we'll hope the rain barrels fill, the ground grows soft and supple again and Mac can stop planning on being a storm chaser! I'm to old to start another career.

Is It really Wednesday?

I remember my "elders" talking about time flying and I didn't get it at all. Time dripped down like molasses from a wooden spoon. It was in no hurry to pass, at all. The closest we got to understanding was when summer zipped by like mayflies. Suddenly it was time to go back to school, Thanksgiving was an eternity away and Christmas was just an impossibility somewhere over the horizon. That was then. This is now. I want to know where my weekend and whole 1/3 of a week disappeared to. It seems like just yesterday, it was Saturday. And now I'm told it's WEDNESDAY! No, really? Well what we've been doing is putting in my fish pond. When we lived over at the other house on Jackson Road, I had an ornamental pond filled with the loveliest Koi...they were so tame they would take food from your hand. I believe I told how the pond came about in an earlier post...it was like this, tho...for our Anniversary Mama gave me a complete pond outfit...the large rubber liner, the pumps, the chemicals etc...in April, I took it upon myself to put the pond in since Mac had made no move to do so. I got my can of spray paint and outlined the pond shape I wanted...sort of a kidney bean on steroids...then I got the tiller out and wrestled it over to the area where I was going to put the pond. Mac came to see what I was doing and promptly told me I didn't have a clue what I was doing and took over the project. Didn't know what I was doing? Little does he know. The pond was dug in just a little over an hour. By nightfall I had fish and plants in it. When we moved I had to sell my Koi because we didn't have a pond home for them to go to in the new place. I cried over their departure...they were my pets. But the gentleman who bought them kindly promised to let me come "visit" them. Okay, so here it is four years later and I decided that since I never intend to move again, we should try the pond again. We put the pond in three weeks ago, but it still needed to be landscaped. I had another vision...Mac says "you can't sit out here for more than five minutes without having a vision, can you?" No, I can't. I decided that we needed two contrasting stones separated by landscaping timber with mulch around the outside to go around the plants...we started this project on Saturday. We finished last night at about 6 pm. We collapsed into bed at 9 pm. It was well worth it. Now I have to go find myself some Koi.

Doing a little edit here...Poetkat did a "which muppet are you quiz...oh my...turns out

You Are Elmo

Sweet and innocent, you expect everyone to adore you. And they usually do! You are usually feeling: Talkative. You've got tons of stories to tell. And when you aren't talking, you're laughing. You are famous for: Being popular, though no one knows why. Middle aged women especially like you. How you life your life: With an open heart. "Elmo loves you!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

A Can of Spackle, Adorn Hairspray and a full color palate from Sherman Williams

Have you noticed all the information on makeup and facial care that's coming out of the media these days? You pick up any magazine (well maybe not Hot Rod Weekly) and they have an article on how to put that makeup on and look as though a pancake applicator has never touched that fresh dewy face. What's the point? If it doesn't look as though I've spent hours in front of the mirror trying to attain that plastered wall smoothness, why have I wasted my time? I learned to put my makeup on from my mother. I can remember her dressing table with the tubs of wrinkle cream and foundation, the tiny little jars of rouge of every hue...there was "daylight blush" for that " you've been out in the sun just long enough to get a little color" look. There was "dynamite" to show that you were in a temper and might be in the mood for a little romance...but there was nothing that said "dewy innocence". No "fresh face, no makeup need be applied". Nada. The foundation was light, as Mama was very fair skinned (as am I) and by light I mean in color, not in texture. The foundation actually had a small triangular little doohickey that you used to spread the thick goo on your face...sort of like a trowel...then you spread it out with your fingers into your hair line, down under your chin to the throat...if not, you were in danger of looking like one of those Japanese wall masks that were in vogue a few years ago.

I can remember approaching Mama's dressing table with something akin to fearful awe. This is where "Mama put her face on". I heard Daddy say "don't bother Mama, she's putting her face on" so much that in nightmares Mama would appear faceless. No eyes, no mouth no nose...just a white blur. One day, I sat on the edge of her bed and watched the master at work. Her face was pretty to start with, but she had a smattering of freckles across her nose (as I do...Mac loves my freckles) that she attempted to banish nearly every day of her life. I watched as she examined her face that morning, turning it this way and that, lifting her chin, taking three fingers of hand and using the topside of those fingers, began tapping on the skin beneath her chin. I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was trying to beat back time, and laughed. Her laugh was like the tinkling glass of a wind chime, and I can hear it now, in my mind. She picked up a jar of something called "Disappearing Cream". I watched in rapt attention to see if anything on her face disappeared from sight. But no, her skin just glistened a bit. Then she lightly patted at her face with a tissue before lifting up the little trowel and dipping it into the jar of foundation. She put six blobs of a pale beige goo on her face. One in the middle of her forehead, two on each cheek one blog on her chin and two on either side of her throat. Then she picked up a little white sponge (in a jar of many little white sponges) and began to smooth the foundation over her face, up into the hairline, up her throat. At this point she stopped and said, "notice I'm drawing the sponge in upward strokes...this is supposed to help keep the skin from sagging down...which is just a fairy tale that I'm afraid to go against," and she laughed. She picked up a little compact that held different colors of eye shadow, and picked one to apply. Then she took the mascara from the small drawer in the dressing table. I watched her apply it, her mouth making an "O" of surprise, one eye closed as she applied it to the other. When she was finished, she took a powder puff and lightly dipped it into some loose face powder, shook off the excess and lightly went over her face to "seal it". She then removed the pins from her hair and combed it out, put in a clip or two, picked up a can of Adorn Hairspray (the precursor of Freeze Spray) and sealed her hair in place, too. And finally, she picked up a tube of "Fire Engine Red" lipstick and applied it lightly to her lips. She was beautiful. (To see a picture of Mama, she's on the sidebar with her beloved Shelties.)

All this took approximately forty five minutes and the fact that I could sit still that long just shows the amazement that captured my attention for the rest of my life. I now knew the secrets of "putting on your face." I never forgot them. At one time, it was a routine I went through every morning of my life. I often arose before Mac to "put on my face" (as though the face that lay beneath the makeup was so repulsive he might turn away in horror at the nakedness of it!). But then one day I was telling a friend about my morning ritual and she nearly had a stroke laughing. At first my feelings were a little hurt, but she assured me that that was not her intention. She put her arm around my shoulder and said "wake up girl, it's the 70's, women are burning their bras and throwing out their makeup! Get with the program!" Okay, so I got with the program...slowly. This was a ritual so firmly ingrained in me that it was hard to go cold turkey. I weaned myself off the makeup mornings a little at a time...then one morning at breakfast, Mac ran his finger down my nose and smiled. "Hey, I didn't know you had freckles, " he said. "Imagine that."

Why we put ourselves through the grief of loving a pet

I heard my mom say time and again "well I won't be putting myself through that again anytime soon!" after the loss of a beloved family pet. Then in a few weeks she'd have found a new love to fill the painful void in her heart. That's when the stories of the previous love could be told without tears and without that hitch in the throat whenever his or her name came up. I dreamed a couple of months before we knew that Arial was so very ill, that she had died. She was telling me that I would need a new blogging buddy to keep me company in the late nights I tended to keep. I'm thinking that the arrival of Hound was prearranged somehow. I have always felt that animals keep us sane and grounded, that they show us what it is in our lives that is missing and somehow fill in the pieces. When Mac was on long deployments, I always had a pet nearby to tell my troubles to. Arial was special, so small and observant yet she was the Queen of the household of cats. No one crossed her. No one. When she entered the room it was like the parting of the Red Sea, everyone got out of her way. She even had a royal walk, head moving from side to side as she took in all she surveyed, knowing that everyone in the room belonged to her somehow. She never scratched, she never hissed she rarely meowed. I can't remember her ever being vocal, she controlled everyone with a look. Oddly, I can feel her here at the computer at my right hand where she always sat. She never bothered me, she simply sat with me. I would reach over and pet her as I tried to get a point to gel and she would lift her chin and close her eyes in ectstacy and allow me stroke the royal fur. Then when my brain had wrapped around the sentence in just the way I wanted it to, she would draw back unto herself and I would go on with my typing. I couldn't make myself come in here Sunday, I came in for a bit on Monday. Hound refuses to let us wallow in pity, and Pyewackit, the Clown Prince, has also taken it upon himself to drag us back to the happy side. And so they have succeeded in making us realize just why it is we draw our beloved pets to us...even though we know that grief will come, the loving of them makes it all worth the pain. Thank you my friends for all your sweet words, they have meant so much to both of us. You mean so much to me that words won't come. Yet.

A brief note

I am so lucky to have all of you for my friends. Today I am feeling better health wise, thank you so much. But we lost Aerial, my little blogging buddy at 2:30 pm and so I won't be back in till Monday. I have to get myself together over this one. Nineteen years with a beloved animal is like an eternity to them, I'm sure. Thank you all so much for the kind questions and concerns, you mean so much to me that I am not sure how I'd get along without you now. Hold us in your hearts, till Monday then
Sandi

I don't know who was driving that truck that hit me...

I feel as though I am hearing things through an old fashioned megaphone, my eyes ache and my bones are full of creaks and groans that are scary. Mac keeps asking me how I feel. "How you feeling hon?" Casting my eyes sideways, I grunt something about getting up, making the attempt and then collapsing back upon pillows and pull the covers up to my ears again to hold in the shivers. I haven't run a fever in years.

I'm never sick. Ever. Oh I have my bouts with the RA (and knock on wood even that is getting to be infrequent occurrences) but for the most part I'm healthy as a horse. As far as I know, I don't have any allergies that could threaten life and limb, lucky girl me. I do however, have a need for half way decent air and if the air is stagnant, it makes me cough after being out in it. So what's wrong with me? I forgot that when the temperature is 99 and the heat index is about 72 that you really shouldn't be out in it if you can help it. Well, I had a birthday party to attend, so I couldn't help it. When it finally reached the point where sitting with my head down instead of cheering on the young folks trying to break open the paper mache' guitar filled with candy, I really should have paid attention.

So, for the past few days I have been lounging on the sofa, listening to the news till I got so depressed that I finally just went back to bed. I mean, really. Cloning puppies was one of the top stories of the day and this in a world where millions of animals are destroyed yearly because they can't get a home. And to top it off, the cloned ones were pit bulls. I guess when that little nugget of info was dropped I must have snickered because Mac said, "must not live around here...all they'd have to do would be ride down the road, open the door and call out and they'd be jumping right in. If they don't kill you before you get home, could be a nice pet." Okay, so that really got me into a coughing fit of laughter and that was when I made my apologies and headed back for the inner sanctum. That was Monday. Tuesday I noticed that Arial, my little blogging buddy, was looking worse than I felt and opted to take her to the Vet. The news is so not good that we'll leave that for another day altogether.
...but we came home and both climbed into bed. At this point I am not sure how you would describe how I look and feel but warmed over death comes to mind... My temperature went up to 102 but the chills I was having was the first time I'd been cool since Saturday so I just let the fever take me. Ah, bliss...the very idea of cuddling under a blanket and actually longing to get warm is a sensation so close to heaven it is hard to describe. Today, though I still have no appetite, I at least feel good enough to sit up and take a little broth...and tea. I've been in here for about ten minutes and haven't slid to the floor yet. Yet. So, right now I'm going to wind this up. I promise I'll be catching up with you all soon...may not be my normally witty self, but you'll forgive me...

Back tomorrow~

Too much sun...should I be saying too much fun? Well, the birthday party was fun, but sun has me laid low...back tomorrow! In the mean time for your enjoyment:

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things. He phoned the police, who asked 'Is someone in your house,' and he said 'no.' Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available. George said, 'Okay,' hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. 'Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them.' Then he hung up. Within five minutes six police cars, a SWAT Team, a helicopter, two fire trucks, a paramedic and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence and caught the burglars red-handed. One of the Policemen said to George: 'I thought you said that you'd shot them!' George said, 'I thought you said there was nobody available!'

(True Story) I LOVE IT - Don't mess with old people.

A Birthday Party...Directions...and Maxine

Oh I'm going to rock a few of your worlds this morning! I've had a few of you ask about the directions for the play list and they are about to appear before your wondering eyes! The only change I would make is the change of the numbers after the word "width"...change those numbers to 250 and you should be good to go. The directions say change it in increments of 10, but that's not necessary...and there are four places in the code that the word "width" appears, keep that in mind. You can thank Lee for this, it was her hard work that made it an easy job for me! I would recommend that you listen to others play lists and write down songs you want to cut down on time. I know that I have a couple of short songs one that were more or less teases because I didn't pay attention! So, pay attention when picking your music! Okay, you can copy and paste these directions with no trouble:

Warning...doing this will take a fair bit of time so set some aside
before you start this. Yes, you can stop at any point and pick it up
again but I think you're the type of person who wants results
quickly. So be prepared. :)

The play list is easy. They talk you through the first song addition.
After that you just have to read the directions and follow them.

From my website: click on the create your free play list button and
it takes you to the website. There's the slot for you to type in the
name of a song you want to listen to. You can search by song or artist.

Type in the name of a song you want to have on your list.

Click the round search button.

A lot of what follows is on the page. It's pretty user friendly.

If the song you want is available it will bring up a list of places
you can hear it from. They all look pretty much the same but
sometimes you can hear a difference or tell that there is more than
just the artist you want in the performance.

Look closely at the number of minutes and seconds each song in that
list plays. Some of them will be just 30 second clips. You don't want those.

Click on the triangle button next to a choice to preview the song.
Listen to it all the way through so that you know it doesn't skip or
pop or anything.

If you like the sound you hear click the add to my play list button
next to the preview button. If you don't listen to another one. There
may be several pages of songs by an artist or versions of a single
song. You don't have to listen to them all. Just listen for a good
tone for quality sound and volume...they didn't all play at the same
volume. I listened for a rich tone when possible. Some were richer
than others.

After you add the first song to your play list you need to name it and
register. They walk you through that too.

Once you are registered search for other songs. There's a link to
search for songs at the top right of the page.

Sometimes searching by name means you spell it more than one way. Or
what you thought was the title isn't the real title or how it was
listed by the person who added it to the page...so be patient and get
creative with your search techniques.

When you are ready to add the play list to your blog you go click on
"post my play list" which is another link at the top right. It will
give you options. Choose E. which is get the code for social networks
and blogs.

They step you through this too.

Once you get to where you select the play list player you can choose
it to start on loading the page or not. choose whether to play in the
order you put the songs on or random play, pick the color. Then you
tell it to give you the code.

When you see the code highlight it all and then right click on it and
choose copy. you will then paste it into your blog.

COMPLICATED PART: I would put it in a sidebar if you want it
permanently on your blog and not disappearing in a post that is
archived. This is where you sign into your blog, click layout, and
then choose add a page element. Pick html code from among the ones
available. Paste your code in the space provided. Give it a title.
Click save. Be sure to preview before you save the page permanently.
You might need to adjust the width. That can be done in the html
code. you look for the word "width" and the number after it (I found
it 4 times) and change it in increments of 10 till it is the width
that fits your blog. Smaller numbers mean smaller width just like
when you're laying out the dimensions of a garden. :) Those numbers
are pixels. 5 can make a visible difference. If you have problems and
want me to talk you through this I can do so from Windows Messenger.

Remember to change each of the 4 widths the same amount. And preview
each time you change all 4 of the numbers. If you don't like what you
see do it again to make it narrower. When you see something that
works in preview then save your page a final time and click view
blog. You're done.

You can add songs later to your play list without all of this other
stuff. Just go to the web page and search for more and add them to
the play list you created. Be sure you bookmark the page at some point
so you can find it easy if you hear a song you want. Otherwise you'll
have to go through your blog every time.

If you are determined to have a song that isn't on their current list
of songs we can search for one elsewhere and I can step you through
adding that to your list too but that should happen in another session.

So, we are getting ready to head to Florence for the Birthday Party for the Princess! In the mean time, please enjoy Maxine. I always do.