elsewhere living

Lazy Sunday

 

 

 

 

Bits

 

- The amount of towels I am washing each week is ridiculous. The kids think that they are like paper towels. Use one, then toss into the hamper where it will sit and become mildewy. I hate the smell of mildewy towels. From now on they must hang their towel on the line for the next time they need a towel. I have high hopes for this plan. I'll update you all later on it's progress.

-I started reading  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and am very much enjoying it so far. I heard about it from here .  I also made custard pie yesterday because of this post . I read the following exert to the Hubs...

"Mrs. Mullet, who was short and gray and round as a millstone and who, I'm quite sure, thought of herself as a character in a poem by A.A. Milne, was in the kitchen formulating one of her pus-like custard pies," says Flavia, the sassy eleven-year-old narrator

...and he declared that the most disgusting analogy he had ever heard, so I knew, of course,I had to make the pus like custard pie at once. I am such a nice wife like that. He was cajoled into eating a slice after dinner last night and said of it, 'Not bad". I rather liked it. Maybe with some raspberries and peaches slices next time.

-The family has been existing on cold cut sandwich's, watermelon, and tomato salad. It is too hot to make anything else. Well, anything else except for custard pie.

-The youngest has taken to stealing my green tomatoes off the vine. This is making me crazy.         C.R.A.Z.Y

- I have been rocking out to this crooner while out on the back deck watching the kids in the pool. It is my new summer music.  Sing it to me Elvis....

-We have a pervert peeper in the neighborhood. Yes,a  pervert peeper. And no, it is not my son. One of the neighbors apparently saw a strange man looking in her window in the middle of the night and it scared the bejeejus out of her. This has the block in an uproar and us ladies are alternating between giggling and being outraged. My oldest finds this new revelation very exciting and has a plan of action all planed out if she gets peeped on. I just keep checking her binds and locking the doors.

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Tell me, what happened in your neighborhood when you were a kid that seemed wildly exciting? I would love to hear any stories.

The dude abides

 

The Hubs.

He is home.

There are really no words to describe how happy and thankful we are to have him back. Deployments are so hard.

Today has been full of everybody hanging on or around Daddy, myself included. He is just so dang handsome, I can't help myself.

My heart is bursting. But in a totally good way.

................

I hope you all have a very, very happy weekend.

A pillow, I think.

 

I love the granny square.

It is simple, fairly easy, and holds endless options.

I love these  grannies especially.  For years I have gone back to look at those beauties. I dream of recreating a blanket much like hers.

Isn't it just perfect?

I have been playing around with my Tahki Cotton, making large squares. It is not a yarn I would want to make my dream granny coverlet with though. I think I would chose a yarn like Debbie Bliss baby Cash merino, just like she did hers with, but alas, I am not as rich I as I would like to be. So I continue to dream of the day me and the baby cash will unite to fulfill my destiny.

I know. The drama of it all.

The squares I have made, I think I would like to make pillow covers with.

 

Maybe the size of the smaller pillow.

Has anyone ever made pillow covers out of granny squares?

What would you back the granny with as it is a bit 'holey'?

I'll have to investigate further. I would love to hear what you guys think.

Summer reading

Making me happy

 

Behold!

A tomato!

That I grew!

Can you feel how excited I am?

This is a very exciting time for me. I have never had much luck growing things.

I try. I really do.

Every year I think, this will be the year of success.

Then the squash bugs eat all my plants and the drought burns them all to a crisp. It is a very sad state of affairs, I tell you.

But so far this year, the going is good. I have tomato's and bell peppers and basil and flowers. I just planted some green beans and okra today, a little late, but I am a rebel like that.

 

Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

.........

This could be the year of success.

Monday list

 

We are home and holy balls it is hot.

Hot.

Hot.

Humid.

Hot.

How easily I forgot that a Tennessee summer can kick my ass. I miss Colorado already.

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Today we are-

-doing laundry

-mowing the lawn

-melting

-buying insect repellent. I also forgot how buggy it gets here in the summer.

-buying a baby pool

-melting

-sitting in the  new baby pool

-weeding. ALOT.

-going to an afternoon movie

-wiping the sweat off our brows

-waiting for someone special

-grilling something for dinner cause it is to hot to cook inside

-drink iced tea in massive amounts

What are you up too?

A daily reminder

Next month will be three years since my Gramma died.

There are some days it seems like it was just yesterday that I heard her laughing.

Other days it seems like a lifetime.

Anyone who has lost someone they loved very much, knows how that goes. After she was gone I felt like I was traveling the same road, but with new rocks to navigate around and dips that I fell down in. She was the first person I called if the kids had a fever. She had five babies of her own and was the wisest woman I knew when it came to raising kids.  After she was gone I picked up the phone to call her about the kids being sick and was shocked when the phone had been disconnected. Sometimes you forget they are gone. Then you remember and it takes your breath away.

 She was covered in wrinkles, had the softest hands on Earth, and a terrible potty mouth in her later years.

She was the most beautiful woman I have ever known.

 

She made the best yeast rolls that ever melted in your mouth.

After she found out she was dying, I came to Colorado to help take care of her. The doctors had told her that she had six months left and that the lung cancer would take her. She signed up for Hospice, made a living will, reviewed her estate, set up funeral arrangments, and asked the kids what they wanted so she could give them whatever they wanted before she died. She did not want any fighting after she was gone. Then she settled into living those last months.

She hated that the morphine made her sleepy and her mind groggy. She wanted to be on the ball when she visited with her loved ones. For a short time she tried to take less morphine but couldn't handle the pain and the breathlessness. She ended up choosing groggy and sleepy. I hated to see her physically weak like that. My entire life she was a leader. Strong, fearless, and full of perseverance, she was. I think she died like that too. She tried to make her death easier on us.

I remember sitting with her while she dozed off. I stared at her face telling myself, to remember. Remember this moment. She was still so beautiful after the cancer had ravaged her body. She opened her eyes and caught me staring at her. 'What is it?', she had asked me. I told her, "I love you. I love you so much Gramma." She said she knew.

I really hope that she did.

I asked her what I was going to do without her and she said she didn't know. I didn't know either and I still don't.

 

The road without her is still rocky and still holds a few dips. Everyday I think about her. Everyday I miss her.

She is not fully gone though. I see her in my kids. I remember her with my heart.

..........

I had started this post to tell you about the rings my Gramma left me. As I wrote, the story about her death kinda took over, so please forgive me the length of this post.

When she was asking everybody what they wanted, the only things I could think I might want would be a cheap clock that hung on the wall on the farm I grew up on and a painting that reminded me of her. She laughed that I would want that cheap old clock. It didn't even work. She said she couldn't think of anything else I might need. I joked that she gave all the good 'jewels' away already. My Gramma didn't have much jewelry. She was never a flashy person that I remember.

She asked if I might want her wedding bands from her second marriage. Well sure, I said. Her second marriage was a rough one. They were married 20 years and I don't think they were all that enjoyable. Her first husband, my Grampa, died when my Mom was a year old. I think his death broke her heart and she loved him until she died. I said yes, that I wanted the rings, not because they were from a cherished marriage or that they were very valuable. No, I wanted them because she wore them everyday for 20 years.

She made bread with them on.

She weeded her garden and put up preserves while they sparkled on her finger.

She lived, loved, and laughed always with them on her hand.

That makes them priceless to me.

That they were hers and now they are mine.

 

I put them on today. They have always been a bit snug on me, but now they fit.

When I look down at my hand, I feel closer to her.

I will make bread with them on.

I will weed my garden and put up preserves while they sparkle on my finger.

I will live, laugh, and love with them always on my hand.

In this way, she is with me always.

It is my daily reminder.

...............

I also got the cheap clock that doesn't work. It sits on a shelf in my bedroom. Just looking at it makes me smile. One day I will have it fixed and I will put in on the wall and I hope my kids remember it when they think of home long after they are gone.

Dang good.

 

 

 

 

Tonight we had dinner at Cafe Berlin in downtown Denver. 

If I never ate any other type of food other than German, I think I could die a happy woman. It is so good.

I liked it so much that while we lived in Germany, I gained thirty pounds in three years.  I also had a baby there, but I think most of the extra pounds were from all the cheesy spatzle and putenschnitzel. It was a lot of cheesy spatzle and putenschnitzel. My mouth is watering just thinking about all that cheese and gravy.

Tonight I had the rouladan. If you ever in you life have the chance to eat this dish, do it.

If you ever have the chance to have it at Cafe Berlin in Denver, double do it.

 

Dang it was good.

Cheap, beautiful, and old.

I may have done a little too much thrifting here in Denver.

I may have bought too much stuff.

I may have had bigger eyes that I had room in my suitcases.

 

But just look at these dishes! They were cheap, beautiful, and old. I have a thing for cheap, beautiful, and old, you know.

In dishes and quilts I mean. Get your minds out of the gutter... 

 

I bought the set of these. There are sixteen total.

How the hell am I going to get these home, you ask?

I have no idea.

But they were cheap, beautiful, and old.

It is a weakness.

 

This one...

You know the drill.

Cheap.

Beautiful.

And old.

 

I only brought two suitcases with me.

I stands to reason, my reason, that I had to locate some extras to tote my treasures home.

I might be the only person in baggage claim with suitcases like these.

I like to think they are full of character.

...

And of course, they were cheap, beautiful, and old.