New Interest

I have a new interest that I'm exploring... Fairy Gardens! 

I built my first one, basically just to learn.  Found out that building the patio area was the most difficult.  Between laying the tiny stones and setting the 'concrete', it turned out a little messy.  I guess I could dig it up and try again. 

Will post pic soon.

My Life in Review

Recent events have given me cause to review how I got here.

I have spent my entire adult making sure the people I am responsible for are well taken care of.  I was a single mom, so it was utmost to me that my son was safe, healthy, and prepared for his adult life.  But at the same time, I was responsible for the safekeeping and care of my elderly parents. 

I was moving along at work, and as people reported to me, I took it as my personable responsibility to make sure my direct reports were well trained, received the appropriate education and were well-paid.  I represented them in all things corporate.  

I made sure I took care of everyone.  While at the same time I got my Masters Degree. 

I made sure my clients at Deere had their needs met.  Along with that came budget, personal development needs for my direct reports, as well as meeting the needs for the company. 

Then came the time when my health began to fail, and Deere didn't want me anymore.  So I was forced to retire.

I was then alone... no one to take care of... no responsibilities.  Simply ALONE.  It was a place I'd never been in before.  I was not prepared to live in this space.  Was no sure how to deal with it. 

My health issues inhibited me from moving into another responsible position. 

This has been a struggle for me.  It seems all of my "big girl strength" had been used up.  What did I have left? 

My answer, I am still struggling with it.

California Dreamin'

I returned from my California trip a couple of days ago. The trip was wonderful. I love San Francisco. I got to visit with my best friend from high school, Nicki, and her English bulldog Bowser. I wish I'd taken a pic of Bowser, he's a hoot! And we also met another good friend from high school, Elmira for lunch at a beautiful restaurant on a mountain top.

Ahhhh... the beach!

Of course no trip goes without some glitches! I lost my cell phone on the trip home. It's amazing how dependent I've become on that little critter. All my calendar appointments and contacts... gone. I did buy a new one, just need to figure out how to use it!

Then the day after I got home, I got sick. I don't know if it was from being packed onto planes in close quarters with so many other people breathing on me, or if something I cooked had been in the refrigerator too long... but none the less, I was one sick little puppy for a couple of days.

Oh well, I'm back to normal now... at least "Pam-Normal".

And ready to plan my next get-away trip!

Landscaping

I have landscapers working on my yard this week. These guys are great. They've torned out old bushes, demolished a storm-damaged structure beside my house, leveled my driveway and a ton of 'miscellaneaous stuff' so far! They'll be planting some new trees and reattaching a downed downspout when they come back. Now mind you, some of these things Steve (my son) the ultimate procrastinator had promised to do... had been promising to do all summer. So he was quite relieved to hear that he was now off the hook for those tasks. We still have the "Battle of the Garden Weeds" onsuing though.

The yardwork is in preparation for the big spring project; a new patio with waterfall and fishpond in my back yard. The patio is a zen-thing for me, so I can sip coffee while gazing at the neighborhood pond and pondering deep thoughts. I added the fish pond mostly for my Jakester to enjoy.

Of course this is costing me a ton of money! But I've earmarked one of my IRA's for that purpose so I guess I'll be cashing that baby in just a little early.

I'll post some 'after' pics next week... after my upcoming trip to visit friends in San Francisco!

Deep thoughts...

Yesterday I got the bug to do some cleaning/organizing around the house. Why is it that as I work real hard to get one little area of my bedroom organized, I create an enormous mess somewhere else? Must be some long-forgotten law of physics. Ditto as I try to move & organize my exercise/sewing room. I threw away enough stuff to fill one of my mega-garbage cans, and yet the fallout mess appears.

On the bright side, my cat caught a mouse... I guess that's on the bright side; since at least I didn't see a live mouse.

Even did some yard cleanup... but to be honest it still doesn't look any different to me. At least it was a beautiful day outside.

Thought I'd catch up on my dishes later, and since I do them by hand in the sink (dishwasher doesn't work very well with my extremely hard water, and keep forgetting to call the Culligan Man to get an estimate to install new filtration system... I digress) so I started the hot water and loaded the sink with dirty dishes. Had to leave the dirty pans in the empty side of the sink for a second load. Then left it to fill while I loaded the laundry, where I got distracted by a couple of small tasks in the basement. Returned to the kitchen to do the dishes and yepper, water on the kitchen floor. geez.

Come bedtime I settle in to my bedtime reading routine, to discover I'd lost one of my contacts. Well that happened to be my last pair of contacts, and since I'd broken my glasses playing with the Jakester, I had to dig the two pieces out of the bottom of my purse and super glue them together so I could read. But the book was humorous so it was a good day!

Wacky Grandma... Goofy Songs

Yesterday was my weekly 'Day With Jake' day. And I have to say that there's nothing on earth that I'd rather be doing than hangin' with the Jakester. However upon my return home I'm always haunted by the demons of those wacky songs we sing! Today of course I still have 'Five Little Monkeys' jumping around in my head...

I've been carrying around a new little tball set in my trunk, and since I've never been known to hold onto gifts for official special occasions, I broke it out yesterday afternoon. The little critter knew exactly what to do with it! (Must be something genetic...) Grabbed the bat, stepped up to the plate and gave it a good smack; left-handed of course. I never got to bat. Grandma helped retrieve the balls.

As usual, he was Mr. No Nap for me. We were busy, busy, busy all day. We finally settled down to chill out and watch Shrek, when Daddy got home. I set Jake down on the couch while I went to the kitchen to get him some juice (I've become a very obedient retriever) and when I got back only seconds later, he'd already fallen asleep on the couch and Daddy took him up to lay him down on his bed.

I guess Grandma is just too much fun to give in to a nap!

(By the way, he's not picking his nose in the pic! He puts his finger on his mouth while he ponders deep thoughts.)

Top Toddler Chef! The Noodlemaker

Grandma shows Jake how to pat the dough out, which of course Lori had to show me first.

Jake inspects his dough to make sure it's patted out to the exact consistency he wants.

Of course Jake wants to get right to the equipment, not allowing Grandma to help since he automagically knows how to operate any piece of machinery. And voila... noodle perfection!