The Cleaning Job

It has been a few days since I posted any news here at the old blog site. But, truly, has there been anything interesting to write? This winter weather is putting a damper on activity of most kinds. I am just trying to think of anything that I did on the weekend.

Well, we did get a very nice surprise when we went to visit Mother at G.L. in Muncie Saturday morning. When we walked into her room, Cheryl and Jon were there visiting.
Mother did love having all of us visit. Mother loves Cheryl so much. She just opens up and talks and talks when Cheryl is there. Now, the talking isn't understandable to those listening, but underneath it all I know she has some important thoughts in mind. Sometimes you can even catch snatches of sense that give a clue into what idea she is trying to convey. The only bad part of the visit was that it was even harder for her to let us leave. Then Cher, Jon, Don and I went to Steak and Shake and had a very good lunch. It was so good to see the Hollomans up and cured from their colds. We enjoyed our visit.

Monday I worked at the hospital info desk. I couldn't eat any solid food after 11:00 am, because Tuesday morning (yesterday) I had a colonoscopy (everyone's favorite.)
So Monday evening and Tuesday morning I really had to concentrate on the"Prep" time.
I looked at that 64 ounce bottle of Gatorade and thought, "No way can I drink all that." Besides you must take 4 Dulcolax tables Monday afternoon, and 4 more Tues. morning. And you add this large jar of laxative powder to the Gatorade! They have a tiny little 1/4 ounce cup with the powder which measures the usual dose. But for this event, you must ingest the entire jar. Let's just say, I'm no housekeeper, but I did one heck of a cleaning job Monday and Tuesday!

The procedure went well, is actually quite easy once you get there and get the lovely anesthesia. I was quite happy to turn myself over to the professionals and let them do the rest of the work. Happily everything tested fine, and I need not return for five years (or maybe I'll decide to never return.)

I napped on and off the rest of Tuesday, getting the most out of the lovely anesthesia. Of course, by bedtime I was nicely awake, so I finished the latest book,
"Rhode Island Blue" by Fay Weldon. She is a very different kind of author: British,
funny metaphors, quirky looks at everyday existence, quirky characters. I did get some laughs at her look at elderly life (people my age, that is.) Two outrageous widows (neighbors) are living in their huge houses spending their multiple dead husbands' money. One widow is hard of hearing and yells everything she says. She drives with one foot on the brake, and one on the accelerator, bumping along in her Mercedes, stopping frequently to see if she has hit anything.

One widow, Felicity, calls her granddaughter home from London because she thinks she has had a tiny stroke. Well, much happens both in London and Rhode Island and through the meandering thoughts of the characters we learn about the heartaches involved in the family's history. Felicity ends up selling her mansion and going to a pseudo-
elegant retirement home with a quack doctor and evil nurse Dawn. There is a very hilarious and satisfying escape to end this funny book.

Well, it is well past bed time, so I think I shall go crack open a new book and see if it will put me to sleep. Good night.

A Very Uneventful Friday

Friday, and I was determined that I would work at the library, in spite of all the snow. Don drove and we picked up Sarah. Ginny, Norma, and Patty also worked.
We didn't have a lot to do, but did manage to re-alphabetize and straighten many shelves. AND we took a nice long break with just- baked sugar cookies, and caught up on all the news, gossip, etc.

We took Sarah home, and then Don and I decided to eat at Bob Evans. We had a coupon for free tomato soup. We had our usual very good food, good service, and warmm friendly atmosphere. I love Bob Evans! I just now took their survey on-line, so I will get a free coffee next time. Good deal.

This evening we just watched TV as usual. I did have a long visit by phone with Cheryl. Taylor has started his new semester. Good for him, it looks like he may have a good last high school semester.His good friend, AJ, was crowned king of the homecoming dance at Daleville H.S. Congratulations, AJ. Taylor and AJ have been best friends since kindergarten. I watched a good movie called "Black Balloon." It is about a teen boy, his family, and their struggles to deal with his
autistic brother. Well acted. Good movie. I shall pass it on to Cheryl before I return it to Netflix, if she hasn't seen it. She deals with many autistic students at school.

Earlier in the evening I watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as usual. I am trying to finish my latest Anne Perry mystery "The twisted Root", so I read through all commercial breaks. I think I shall now go to bed and read until I fall asleep.
Good night, dear Journal.

Whoops I forgot to share some big news! Sarah says that four-year-old grandson, Carter, is sure that he can win on American Idol this year. With the money he wins he plans to build a big house and have a thousand dogs. Well, good luck to Carter. His little dog who wears a Tu-tu will have a lot of company. (Now that is a whole different story.)

Snow, Sleep, Eat, Snow, Sleep, Eat, Heelllp!

We are really into some deep, dark winter here. After several years of Indiana winters being relatively mild, this one is really hitting us. I have been home, I mean really at home for two whole days now. Yesterday it was the black ice, and my fear of falling. Today it was snow and more snow. Tonight it is getting really cold! I can feel it sneaking in around the windows. Tonight I have on my longest and heaviest flannel gown, my heaviest robe, socks, and bootie like slippers. They feel mighty good.

I swore that I would try and write in this journal every day, but there really isn't a whole lot to write about. I did skip yesterday, and I almost skipped tonight. In fact technically I did skip another day, because it is now 1:00 am. Yesterday I did finally push myself to clean out another closet, but it was about 2:00 in the afternoon before I could even work up that much steam. Don did go in and out. He met Chuck and Roger at Hoosier Park. It is Don and Chuck's regular day at their
"office." We had a tiny bit of soup and half a sandwich for lunch. Then in the middle of the afternoon I must confess that I had cookies and hot tea. Then when Don starting fixing supper VERY EARLY, I wasn't hungry. So I kept most of mine to microwave later on.

Today I was just about a total zero. Don did drive to Muncie because he was to take part in a case conference about his mother's care at the nursing home. I felt pretty sure that these are really formalities, probably required by government standards, but he felt he should be there, even if it meant driving through the snow.
He agreed when he got home, that it was probably a formality, but he learned some things, and was able to express some concerns. But, for the most part, all parties are happy with her progress. I had soup on to warm and had made egg salad for sandwiches when he came. Guess what? He had eaten a large breakfast at IHOP waiting for time to go to the conference! So this time he wasn't hungry. Geez, we're going to have to synchronize our appetites! If I were to summarize today, I would say that I spent the day waking up from many naps in order to get a bite to eat.
That pretty well says it all. And now, here it is 1:00 am, and I am totally wide awake! If I ever get to the place where I must stay home all the time, I shall probably do just that: sleep all day and stay up all night.

Tomorrow I may put on my snow shoes and walk to......where? Oh, just about anywhere.
Bad hip be damned.

No Dessert and No Coffee!

It has been a most interesting Tuesday. The temperatures have been above freezing, and that is a good thing, because it has rained a light, cold rain all day. It would have been a disaster had it been freezing rain. So, all in all, a pretty good day for January.

The third Tuesday of every month is the day that Christian Women's Club meets for their luncheon and speaker. For the past several years we have met at the local Days Inn. The Days Inn as a motel is a perfectly run-down, rag-tag motel. But the banquet room is still pretty and looks to be in good condition. And Jim, the banquet manager has been there for about 25 years. Jim and his waitress, Michelle, and sometimes one other server took very good care of us. Jim always provided a delicious buffet luncheon with two or three entrees, a couple of nice vegetables, a salad bar with several different salads, rolls, dessert and choice of beverages. Michelle and Jim quietly saw to all our needs, and always had the tables quietly cleared before our speaker was ready to speak.

But at Christmas time, Jim announced that he could no longer go on losing money, and that the motel owners simply refused to make any repairs to the disintegrating building. So he and Michelle have taken other jobs, and banquet service is no longer available at the Days Inn. It was told to us so late that we had to make a very sudden decision as to where to go in order to inform our ladies via a mailing for today's meeting.

Our chairperson, Paulette, consulted with Flagship Enterprise and found that their catering service would take care of us. This facility is in a commercial and industrial park that is adjacent to I69 on the south edge of Anderson. The Flagship building is new, very nice, handicap accessible, with a large parking area, and the building also houses a Purdue University branch location. Paulette seemed very satisfied that the catering service would provide us with the same kind of buffet at the same price. All seemed well and good.

Well, things were not exactly the same! Our group of ladies are not young to say the least. The parking area was full of student cars, so parking was not too easy.
Our meeting was on the second floor, which was okay since there is an elevator. The room was very pleasant, many windows, cheerfully bright, and the tables were set attractively. But, on the very short buffet table the ladies found a tossed green salad with two dressings, cold turkey/cheese sandwiches on very large, fat buns. These were cut in half with a toothpick holding them together. Then there were two chafing dishes with a very spicy white chili with white beans and chicken. This was served in tiny little cups. I thought the chili was quite good with a hint of curry, but I saw many cups left unfinished. BUT, the greatest sins of omission were:
there was no DESSERT, and no coffee. Now, any fool in the world knows that you never take dessert and coffee away from women of a certain age! One server set up the buffet table, put carafes of tea and water on the tables, and pretty much disappeared. We cleared our own tables before the speaker spoke. And one very serious situation were the chairs. They were nice upholstered chairs, but rolled very easily on casters. Most of our ladies, myself included need very stable stationery chairs in order to sit down and stand up safely. I was concerned.

I feel sorry for Paulette. I heard many rumblings of discontent immediately today.
I have to miss next week's planning team meeting, and I can only imagine the discussion. We shall see. I think Paulette is determined to make this work. I have been chair in past years. I was just one year away from havung been chair when I helped the new chairperson move us from the Holiday Inn to Days Inn. It is not easy. However, today our speakers were excellent. I hope the ladies can remember that! Oh yes, I forgot. Many of the ladies thought the room was cold, and went into the hallway, retrieved their coats, and sat with their coats on throughout the meeting! The temperature was perfect for me! I am always hot. I liked my chili, my sandwich, and my iced tea. I had a piece of cake and a cup of coffee when I got home. Okay, go ahead and call me Pollyanna. I enjoyed the day.

I had my robe and slippers on by five o'clock. I had worn black and the cat was determined to sit on my lap when I got home, so as to leave as much cat fur on my black as possible. So I just gave up and dressed to please the cat. Don fixed a delicious supper: meat loaf and baked potatoes. And, ha ha, I was hungry after that small lunch.

This evening I finished my Anne Perry novel. I had kind of suffered through it, finding it a bit tiresome, but it did get interesting toward the end. Anne writes mysteries featuring Private Investigator William Monk, Barrister Sir Oliver Rathbone, and their nurse friend, Hester Latterly. Perhaps it was tiresome at first because the stories are based in Victorian England, so the investigations seem primitive at best, and court room prodecures are so different from our modern American courts. But the mystery ended in a surprising and rather exciting way, so I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's reading. I have another Anne Perry mystery on hand, so I shall now go off to bed, and start my new book.

Winter Travels on a Budget

This started out as a perfectly fine day for January in Indiana. There was no preciptation, it wasn't too cold, and Elaine picked me up so that we could work at the information desk at the hospital. We had a good afternoon's work. People were friendly, polite, and appreciative. And Elaine and I had much news to catch up on, so the afternoon passed in a breeze.

However, as soon as we got into the car to start home, we knew that January in Indiana was changing to look like January in Indiana. There was a cold rain falling, the temperature was falling, and the rain looked like the kind that can quickly change to ice. So Elaine hurriedly took me home, where Don had supper waiting and I could escape into my mind and pretend to be in some warm, sunny spot.
That is the only way to survive midwestern winters.

So after supper, we went to the casino for an hour or so, and pretended that we were in Las Vegas. When we were a little ahead money-wise, we decided that we needed to be fiscally prudent, so we traveled back to our home in Indiana, a short drive down
38th Street.

At home I discovered that my travels for the evening were destined to take me just a short way south. One of the Jeopardy contestants was a high school English teacher from Cincinnati. I was listening carefully to see if she would tell which high school, wondering if she could be one of the granddaughter's teachers. She never said, but as the show was ending, the phone rang, and it was son, Randy, calling from Cincinnati. So I was able to continue my Cincinnati trip by visiting in the Smith's home. And a very nice visit, it was.

Back home in Indiana again I promised myself that I would watch the new show on TV with Kathy Bates called "Harry's Law." I have always liked the movies with Kathy Bates, so I didn't want to miss her first TV show. Guess what? When the show started I found out that the show is based in CINCINNATI! So there I was traveling again. I don't know if it is really filmed in Cincinnati, but I enjoyed the show.
I think it is going to be a good one.

I thought my travels were probably over for the day, but I did flip the channels to HGTV for one last look before retiring. There was a House Hunters International episode that I hadn't seen. A London family was looking for a vacation home in Slovenia. Okay, tell the truth. Do you know where Slovenia is? Have you ever heard of Slovenia? Yes, there really is such a country. It is close to Northern Italy, and is in the Alps. It looks absolutely beautiful. They say everything is much more reasonably priced there, and not at all touristy. The family purchased a lovely chalet with a mountain view and close to a ski slope.

To end my evenings travels, I just read niece Hannah's blog. She is spending this semester in London on Ball State's study program there. Her blog, "Overseas Adventure", is very interesting. And, her pictures make London look just as cold and rainy as everyone says it is. They are having a grand time, and I hope they have some sunny days ahead.

I'm tired from all my travels. So Good night.

Smiles

I simply can't stay in my January funk. The dear people around me just won't let it happen. Today was a lovely day. The sun was shining on the crisp white snow, and frozen fog clung to the trees. I even was able to take my "winter" shot for my four seasons in Redbud collection.

This morning we drove to Muncie to have a visit with Mother at the Golden Living Center. She was good, and never fails to give us some of her unselfish gifts. One gift is that she remains happy. And that says a lot when you are in an Alzheimer's unit. Her room is bright and cheerful. She keeps it neat and tidy. She gets up every morning and dresses neatly, complete with beads and ear rings. She is always delighted to see us ----whoever we are----she just knows that we are the two people she really loves.

Don always plays the "can you tell me who these people are" game with all her pictures. She can identify herself in the pictures where she is very young. Don is just the "Boy" or the "baby." In pictures of Mother and Corky, she says that it is "mother and daddy". Today she said they were "Mudder and Dadder." Then we all had a good laugh. Sadly, she usually says that I am her grandmother when she sees my picture. She doesn't seem to match anyone of us with our pictures. She is always excited to see my wedding/engagement rings, and asks if we are going to get married. She so wants us to get married, even though I tell her each time that we have been married going on 54 years, the message just doesn't get through. I am just pleased that she still loves me enough to want us to get married. She has always been my champion.

Last week on Sunday we had her 91st birthday party. She loved opening her gifts. But she never remembers that those new things are hers. She refuses to wear any new clothes, so her new outfit will just hang in the closet. She was upset that her new bed spread was on her bed, and happily has the old one back in its proper place. She has evidently given her new hand cream away. It is no where to be found. Oh well, we had fun giving and seeing her unwrap. We knew this is the way it would be.

Don and I had "singles and fries" at Steak and Shake in Muncie for lunch. The waitress was very slow. She said that their dishwasher was broken, and they had lots of folks in the back doing dishes. I said that was just tragic. Anyway, it would be tragic if it happened at our house.

This afternoon I made potato soup, corn bread muffins, and a honey-bun cake. We had
sister-in-law, Janie, over for supper. She brought us the most beautiful calligraphy certificate awarded to my dad for his service in World War I. Evidently Clyde had had it in with other papers. I love it, and think it should be framed. I am thrilled to have it. Janie seemed to really enjoy her supper. I know that Don and I did. The soup I made was delicious. Janie loves bread, and she ate three corn bread muffins! Wow, I could only down one of those. Anyway, she was too full for cake, so I sent two pieces home with her for tomorrow.

We also smiled because the Jets beat the Patriots. Yes, yes, I know. It was the Jets who beat our Colts. But we have a long-time dislike of those Patriots. Don was glad that the Bears won. I think that is okay, too. But I cheered for Seattle because I know that daughter-in-law Debra, who is from Washington, wanted them to win
so badly. Sorry, Debra, no Colts and no Sea Hawks this year.

Is anyone else sick of the filthy- mouthed, bad acting Hollywood crowd? I watched a tiny bit of the Golden Globes, and the whole mess sickened me. I was more than happy to turn to PBS and watch the next episode of Downton Manor. I love Masterpiece
Theatre, and this new story is excellent.

All in all, a day full of smiles. And, oh yes, Cheryl dropped in for a short visit, too. Now that always brings smiles to our faces. Thank you to all you dear ones who made this January Sunday so special.

Today is Saturday, the second and last day for the January Friends of the Library Book Sale. I've been working the Saturdays of the sale for about the last year.
It is supposed to be the quieter of the two days, and generally we do take in less money on the Saturdays. But on Fridays all the used book dealers come in and buy great boxes of books, spending several hundreds of dollars for books that they then attempt to resell for profit. But I am beginning to realize that for sheer numbers of customers, Saturday may be the better of the two days. Teachers and children shop on Saturdays. But the Saturday customers, just don't buy in large volume.

For awhile now I have worked out in the sale room, putting books away that customers decide not to buy, putting prices on books that haven't been marked for some reason, and helping customers find what they want. I carry a Dewey Decimal system reference around with me, and try to steer them in the right directions. That is an iffy proposition at best, because 1. the volunteers are amateurs at numbering the non fiction books, 2. we have the same books located in several areas,and 3. customers aren't very specific about their wants, nor are they good at following directions!
But we try. They look and I look, and sometimes we find just what they want. But often times we find things that they didn't know they wanted, but they buy them anyway. Now, that's fun! I have probably, unknowingly, started many folks out on some hobby they didn't even want to try.

Today, for example one man was interested in coins, but ended up buying a book on guns. Another person was looking for water color painting books, but we found only acrylic painting. It seemed to work. One customer comes monthly and asks for some very non-specific subjects; like "nature" or "animals." I usually try to find him a lovely book with large colorful pictures, and he goes away happily with his purchase.
Today it was a book about Africa. At the back of the sales room we have a long table
(really three or four folding tables put together) where we put new non-fiction donations. People, and that includes all of us volunteers, love to browse that table. Since we inaugurated this system, it has saved us many hours of shelving time. Now we only have to shelve the books that aren't purchased.

Another fun thing that I do is try to decorate my little bargain corner with its puzzles, magazines, and fifty cent fiction , with seasonal decorations. This month I had posters of snow scenes, and some snow houses on the shelves. I try to display stand up books on top the shelving units that match the seasonal decor. I put most anything there as long as the colors are eye catching. It is a great sales gimmick, the books sell almost as soon as you set them up. I replaced those books five or six times today. We also sell old donated magazines for a $1.00 a sack, and we pretty well clear out the section every month. It makes me happy to think about all the hours of reading that walk out the door every month.

And it makes me even happier to know that the Friends of the Library were able to donate about $40,000 dollars a year back to the library for the last few years. Since libraries have lost much of their state funding, it makes our volunteer efforts even more valuable to the city of Anderson. Anderson has a beautiful library, probably the most used building in town. I hope our efforts can help to keep it that way.

Traveling is on my Mind

When the excitement of the holidays settles down, and the winter weather of January settles in, my mind always starts to dream of traveling to warmer destinations!
So, I bring home travel films and travel books from the library, I watch the travel channel on TV, and watch House Hunters international of HGTV. In recent years that is as far as our travels have taken us. There are always responsibilities that keep us home!

I am so happy for younger members of the family who get to see the world. Randy, of course, travels to many far away spots. I know his travel is work related, which may take away a bit from the joy of travel, but he does get to see many exotic spots.
And Randy's family along with Debra and Rod have had some super summer vacations right here in the USA.

My nieces and nephew have had some interesting travel opportunities. Liz spent a year studying in France when she was in college. Davey had a semester in London.
Now Brenda and Jim's daughter, Hannah, has just flown to London for a semester of study with the Ball State study program there. How exciting that must be for those students! They had a rough time getting out of Indy and then out of Chicago due to the winter storms, but they are now in London getting all settled in. I will keep them in my prayers. I hope that this experience is grand in every way.

So this evening I watched some more international house hunter shows. I think I had already seen all of them at least once before. But I do love getting a glimpse into the different ways that people live in other countries. First of all, the prices are astounding! In most of the major cities of the world, all the available land is already in use, and people who want the excitement and convenience of living in the city must be content buying an apartment or a condominium. But they don't seem to mind in the least spending a fortune for a tiny space with a tiny outdoor balcony for a yard.

Bathrooms and kitchens in other countries are tiny, tiny, tiny! But they do seem to get the job done. Young people looking at houses in the US, always say, while looking at a wonderfully adequate room, "But, it is sooo small!" Gee, what do they intend to do in there besides the essentials? Not only are the kitchens small in the apartments in other countries, but the former owner has taken everything with them when they moved! And I mean everything: appliances, cabinets, sink, faucets - yep it is all gone. So, you pay $500,000 for 850 sq. ft., and THEN you pay for a new kitchen! And you are happy! Just look at that view of London, or Paris, or Berlin, or Barcelona out the window. Maybe I would be happy, too.

So, until all our nursing home visits are over, our own doctor appointments are over, our family assistances are all taken care of (hmm, is assistances a word?)
then we shall do our traveling electronically. But, later on, I may be looking for that tiny little flat in..............oh, let me see? I just haven't decided on the perfect spot as yet.

More about Journals

I have two of my mother's journals, or diaries. One is from the year 1916, when she was 16 and still in high school. The second one is dated 1921. These charming bits of writing have given me a glimpse of a young woman that I never knew. I am the youngest of her children, and she was 36 when I was born.

The 1916 diary has entries that are a full page long, and I will talk about them at some later time. The 1921 diary is full of sketchy one or two sentence accounts of her life at that time. Mother was 21, and working for her dad. As I have mentioned before, he was a very mechanical minded person, and owned a car repair garage in down town Anderson. In fact, the building still stands at 9th and Jackson, but was long ago remodeled into an office building.

Mother ran the office at the garage. She sent out statements and wrote any letters.
If must have been a very informal arrangement, because she seemed to go in at any time of day. She often slept late. And sometimes she stayed late at the garage and came home with her dad as late as midnight. She tells about the stories he has told to his friends at the garage. I remember my grandpa as a very independent minded man. I don't think the women (gramdma and my mother) could ever depend on him to do as they wanted. He definitely lived life as HE wanted.

It seemed that he must have stayed at the garage every evening, because most evenings Mother and Grandma seemed to eat downtown at one restaurant or another. And to think that I thought my generation was the first to adopt that habit! Mother also talks of taking a china painting night class. And, indeed, we still have some of Mother's hand painted china. It is very delicate, sweet, and well done.
She also talks often of going to the movies with her mother and Aunt Loretta.

At this time she is also dating my father. BUT she is not sure that she wants to.
She must have made his poor life a mixture of misery and happiness. She seems to waver between really liking him and really wishing he would go away. When I think that they didn't marry until 1925, I feel very sorry for him. In the diary it seems he is forever sending her flowers, letters, candy, or gifts.

I compare her ease of life at 21 with the hard-working years of her marriage. She raised five children, lived through the depression, and never had much money. I'm happy that she had those carefree days of painting, reading, shopping, and going to movies.

I have read my Grandmother Green's account of her life. She is my Father's mother.
She taught school at 15 or 16, married my Grandfather Green when she was quite young.
And he was quite a bit older than she, a widower, and had one daughter. Grandma Green spent her married life moving from one place to another every year with her minister husband. She raised her own family, kept on teaching school, and looked after Grandpa Green who suffered poor health, all the while moving and moving and moving! I didn't know this grandmother until she was much older and a widow. But she always seemed so serene, happy, and at peace. She must have been a saint.

Then I think about myself at 21. Don and I were married. Randy was born when I was 21. We were busy working, Don was finishing college, and we were having great fun with our new baby. We were years and years working at both of us finishing our various college degrees and working and having two more children. Until this retirement time of my life, I never had the time for movies and eating out every evening. Neither did we ever have the stress of going through a depression (maybe right now we are close to one).

So, as I reflect on these three generations of women, who all raised families, lived in Indiana, but lived a great variety of life experiences, I realize that women just adjust to life situations. Or they must adjust if there is to be any happiness, and that peace and serenity that I always saw in Grandma Green's face. And I am thankful for these little bits of written insights that have been handed down to me.

Is There a WOW in a Snow-filled WORLD?

Snowed-in is not really an accurate description of this day. A more truthful assessment of the situation is that I've elected to stay in from the snowy day.
I DID go to the beauty shop this morning, what with Don driving me from the garage to within three feet of the beauty shop door. As one of my several principals once said, "Nothing should come between a woman and her beautician."

That three feet of ice between car and door encouraged me to stay in this afternoon. The group of retired teachers that has met for 40 years was to meet at MCL for lunch. I know that a few will be there, and I shall miss the fun we always have, but my new hip is appreciating this afternoon time off. It, along with my knees are so stiff in this cold weather.

I seem to be waiting longer and longer periods of time between blog entries, and I am sorry that I have been so----shall we say lazy, or is it uninspired? I think that all the disheartening news coming across the TV and in the newspaper has discouraged any positive thinking on my part. It would be so easy to become sad and negative at this time in history. Birds are falling from the sky, fish are dying by the thousands, maniacs are killing senselessy, and there are so many devastating weather events around the world! It makes one wonder!

I have been so much out of my usual positive state of mind that I resorted to cleaning out drawers and closets. Now, you know just how drastic the situation is!
But, there have been some very positive therapeutic aspects to this cleaning. My office/craft room is looking very spiffy, indeed. I love my little room,but it does get very messy when I am in the middle of projects. Our house is decorated in rather muted shades, I love blues, greys, lavenders, etc. But in the craft room I have gone a little more daring. I have a quilt on the day bed that a former neighbor made. It has a white background that supports every bright, primary colored design. Upon the bed I have pillows in red, greens, and yellows. I have some watercolors that I painted in a class that have lots of yellows and greens.
I have pictures of loved ones and remnants of miniatures from my miniature-making hobby. The room makes me happy! - especially when I get it cleaned up.

AND, the closet is organized, with like items in labeled containers. I can actually walk in and find a wanted item. Now, let's see how long this situation will last.
It will last - until I begin another project. After all, what is the purpose of having a craft room, if one does not engage in craft projects?

When I started reorganizing my book shelf, I found at least three old journals that I started at various times in the last few years. I received one as a gift when I retired, and that summer I faithfully kept the journal for longer than I have ever stuck with a plan. I found another that I kept after Christmas a few years ago, when I received a lovely leather journal as a gift. It only lasted until mid January. Another I kept when I was teaching an adult literacy student. We both kept journals and shared them with each other as a reading lesson.

I really did enjoy reading these old journals. They recorded the events of very ordinary days. But they reminded me of so many happy moments that we forget so quickly. They reminded me of the pure joy that comes from the most mundane activity when those moments are shared with those you love. I cannot change the course of the world. I do grieve with those who are suffering through devastating events. I can pray, I can donate, I can refrain from adding to the evil rhetoric. But I refuse to quit living every day in a positive way.

So I make yet another promise to myself. I will try to be diligent in my journal-keeping commitment. As an anti-toxin to a poisonous world, I must stop, enjoy, and record the things and the people that put the WOW in my world, the HAP in my happiness, the LOVE into all that is lovely.

My Mother's Party Business and the Famous Sticky Buns

I enjoyed reading Rod's account of his dad's sticky buns that he wrote about on their
food blog, Smithbites. I do recall Don making these treats for the kids sometimes on weekend mornings. I made them, too. But I never got up in time to make them for breakfast treats. I usually only included them in company or party meals.

But Rod doesn't know the whole story about the sticky buns. These were the favorite bread served at my mother's party room. They were so popular that people would call and special order a whole pan of them to take home. This was really pretty funny because they are so EASY to make, and my mother made them in a few minutes using the
canned biscuits that you buy at the grocery. She never revealed the secret!

But since my mother is no longer with us, and I think the whole world knows by now, I can tell you the story of Mother's party business and the sticky buns. Plus I may tell some other secrets, too.

About the time I was a senior in high school, or had just started college, we lived in a rented house near downtown. Behind the house was a quaint, ivy covered carriage house with a three room apartment above. It was rented off and on while we lived in the house, but had remained empty for quite some time during the year I mentioned. For some reason my dad had always wanted a restaurant, but never had the skills or money to invest in such a business. My mother and dad decided that they would also lease the carriage house apartment and Mother could start a small party business where ladies clubs and groups could make reservations for meetings and refreshments.

They painted the apartment, made pretty curtains, and spruced up the kitchen. Three of Mother's club lady friends offered to help by being her servers. It was a really cute little party place, and Mother became fairly busy with her little business, but the space would only seat a maximum of about twenty people. Mother had many calls asking about larger parties.

After a year or two, my folks found a perfect house and were able to swing the deal to purchase the very first house, and the only house they were to ever own. On the back of this house was a large addition that had been used as a family room. It had windows all along two sides, and was an attractive, light-filled room. And it would hold a much larger group for her party business.

Mother was very busy with her business at this location. During the holidays, in November and December, I think she must have roasted at least one turkey every day.
The other menu items that I recall most clearly were individual ham loaves, chicken cassaroles, lots of green beans, and I think she made mock baked potatoes. These were mashed potates put into foil boats with cheese on top. But, she was most famous for her desserts. Mother made hundreds of her ice cream cakes. These were made by cutting an angel food cake into three layers horizontally, putting two kinds of sherbet as the filling, and icing it all over with softened vanilla ice cream.
Hostesses loved this dessert because you could change the colors of sherbet to match a color scheme, and it was a wonderfully light dessert.

Another dessert that I recall from the holiday season was a cake-type pudding dessert that my mother called "Holiday Pudding." However, the recipe was called fruit cocktail pudding, and I guess it was similar to fig pudding. It was good, crunchy, brown-sugary, and delicious warm with whipped cream on top. I remember times seeing six or eight ice cream cakes lined up in our freezer.

Of course, like with all good ideas that succeed, we dreamed of an even bigger success. When my dad retired from his General Motors job, he studied and became licensed as a real estate salesman. While working in real estate, he learned of a
very large old colonial home that was up for lease in a neighboring small town. We all got swept up in the dream, and soon my folks put their own home for lease, and we all moved to the large "Mansion."

This house had five bedrooms and three baths upstairs, along with a huge room
that had been at one time a sleeping porch. The sleeping porch had been finished and heated at some point, so it resembled a large party room upstairs. Downstairs there was a
huge glass enclosed sunroom, a formal living and dining room, two kitchens, and a three room maids apartment. Well, it was an adventure! It was not entirely unsuccessful, but during our time there, Mother nearly died from a ruptured gall bladder, and had a long recovery. Then, during our last summer there, Dad learned that he had leukemia. He died in July of that year. And that was the end of the
party business adventure.

Don and I were married at the time of this last adventure. We also leased our house and moved with them to help with the business. And we had Randy, who loved every minute of time he spent there. He truly thought he was the manager, even though he was only three years old. Don kept the furnace going, and the huge lawn manicured, while teaching full time. I cared for Randy, took classes at Ball State, and helped with any part of the business that I could. There are many stories, some funny, some
sad, and some disastrous from that era. But I will save those for a later time.
Anyway, there were hundreds of pans of sticky buns baked at all three locations!