Thursday's Things in a Row

Nothing too exciting this week. We drove up to Minnesota a week ago for Jim's class reunion. I kept my eye out for things in a row on the road.

We stopped at the cemetery and paid respect to Jim's Mom and Dad. This is the ornate fence in front of the cemetery. Notice all the crosses along the top.

Here is the tree-lined driveway leading from the cemetery. It really is a beautiful area.

Telephone poles lining the road. It can get mesmerizing after awhile!

I took many of these shots from a moving car, so please bear with me! Corn sign identifiers.

Aren't these for putting hay in or something like that? C'mon,  you're dealing with a city girl!

Stripes and checkerboard in a row on top of a silo.

Snore. BORING! Sorry. I hope next week's photos will be more interesting!

Signs - Smile!

Spotted this car in a parking lot. This car was advertising for a pair of orthodontics.  But this one was cute, being one of those extra small cars (Smart car?), and have that big toothy grin on the front!

For more signs, please visit Lesley here.

The Winner Is......

Congratulations to Eva from Wrestling with Retirement! She is the lucky winner of:

I will contact you, Eva, via email to go over the details.

Thanks to all who participated!

Thanks to Bob from Simply Bags for sponsoring this giveaway!

Two old ladies go to the movies...

Recently I invited my friend Barb out to the show. She recently had hip replacement surgery, so her days have been filled with doctor's appointments and therapy. She's healing pretty well, and uses a cane only if she's out in public.

I wanted to see the movie, "Hope Springs" with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones.

We arrived at the theater at about 4:50 pm. Usually tickets are offered at a discount price before 6 pm. Around here anyway.

Barb was first in line. She told the girl behind the ticket counter, "One for Hope Springs, please."

"Ten dollars," the girl answered.

Barb just handed over the money.

I said, "Are you kidding me? Don't you have an 'old people's' rate?" (even though at some places that is 65 and over, and I'm 56, I've been known to go along with it).

The girl said, "No. Not when we offer the summer discount rate," and pointed to this small sign.

The sign read, "summer rate $5 all movies before 6:00 pm MONDAY-THURSDAY"

A lotta good that's going to do us on a FRIDAY.

Why don't they have a senior rate on the days that the summer rate doesn't apply?

OR have a senior rate all the time, and have the senior choose which rate they want to pay (whichever is cheaper?)

In my appeal for lower rates, I had slapped the counter. I saw the look of fear then disdain in the girl's eyes. I said, "Oh, you know how crabby old people get!"

Barb and I laughed and walked away - $20 lighter.

 A young man with unruly red hair stood behind the refreshment counter.

"You look like you are just dying to help us!" I kidded.

"I am!"

We told him what we wanted, after changing our order a couple of times. He was very polite. I didn't drop my teeth (if I wore false teeth I guarantee that I WOULD OF, though) when I bought a 20 oz. bottle of water for $4.75! I didn't realize it was that much until he rang it up! I could have easily bought 24-30 BOTTLES for that price.

We had a bag of popcorn, one honking big cup of soda, and a bottle of water. Plus my purse that weighed a ton. I said to him - "It would be so nice if you carried my purse for me!"

And do you know what that young whippersnapper said?

He said, "MA'AM, I COULD GET MY SUPERVISOR AND HE COULD HELP CARRY YOUR THINGS!

I replied, "We may be old, but we're young at heart!" I hope we walked away as jauntily as we could with all our aches and pains. We got about two feet away when the redheaded brat called out,

"Ma'am, you left your cane here!"

I thought Barb and I were going to split a gut. Or wet our pants.

With as much dignity as was possible, I turned around and snatched the cane.

Did I want to beat him over the head with it and teach him not to f*ck with seniors?

You betcha!

Barb and I held our heads up high, she grasping her cane firmly with one hand, the pop in the other, me slinging my one-ton bag over my shoulder, my expensive water in one hand, and expensive popcorn in the other and we made it to the bathroom before we pissed ourselves.

Life is good.

And so was the movie.

I highly recommend it. You will laugh. You will cry.

Of course, I just love Meryl Streep.

And Tommy Lee Jones is a bonus

Steve Carell is great as a serious character.

Here is a snippet of the movie.

Boxes, boxes and MORE boxes

Seven years ago we decided to live full-time in our trailer and travel.

In March 2005 we moved the remainder of our belongings into a storage unit. This was after we whittled it down to the bare minimum, getting rid of the majority of our furniture, Jim's tools, books (donated 650 to the library!), and other miscellaneous stuff. The remaining items that I could not POSSIBLY part with fit into a 10 x 10 storage unit.

Which we've paid on for 89 months.

I don't want to tell you how much money that totals up to.

Billions and billions.

Okay I'm exaggerating.

But not by much.

Anyhoo, the day had finally come to empty the storage unit. When we first came back to Illinois, we moved about half the storage things into our garage. Of course I unpacked the dire necessities such as dishes, towels, pots/pans, etc. But many things I just didn't want to deal with and left in the garage.

Big mistake.

Every month since we've been back we say, "We've GOT to get the rest of the stuff out of storage so we don't have to pay another month."

Of course, we say this when there's about two days left of the month and it's almost impossible to schedule the moving van from the storage place.

There was always an excuse.

But this month we bit the bullet, scheduled the van, and moved all the stuff.

In one day.

It is 40 miles one way to the storage place. We got there, got the instructions for the truck, pulled it closer to our unit, then went inside.

I should have taken a picture of our unit.

It looked more than half full, although Jim assured me it was not.

Huh.

Luckily, Jim is a BIG GUY, with strong muscles and is like a work horse. An old work horse, that sweats like a mother, but strong nonetheless.

I, on the other hand, am worth shit.

I can say it's from fibromyalgia, which is partly to blame, but pretty much I am a weakling.

I admit it.

Even though I used to be a good arm wrestler.

I arm-wrestled every boy in the 6th grade and BEAT THEM, except for Jack Indurante.

Who else could put that on their resume?

But I digress.

Even though we donated so many books to the library, I bet we have 20 boxes of books! Seriously? Now what?

We loaded, and loaded, and loaded, and eventually filled the truck and emptied our space.

Mission accomplished!

Jim looked like he ran through somebody's sprinkler he was so wet! There was sweat even dripping from the brim of his hat!

Now I admit, I wasn't as fresh as a daisy, either!

We arrived back home soon enough. Then I decided to get out of the truck.

My body did not want to move. Every muscle was screaming "NO!"

I plugged my ears and said, "La,La,La", ignoring the pain, and slowly stepped down.

We have a one car garage that already had boxes. It was about 3/4's full.

Hmmm....now what.

I told Jim that I wanted all the Christmas boxes in one area. I kept pushing box after box after box of Christmas stuff to the end of the truck while Jim brought them into the garage. Just when I thought I was done, I'd find another one and sheepishly bring it out. "Here's another Christmas box!"

Jim was an angel and didn't say a word.

Any box that said "knick-knack" or "household items", etc, were brought right into the house. I also went through the boxes that were previously in the garage that were marked the same, and instructed Jim to bring those in, too. Here is where I regretted not doing this before.

Because this is what my house looks like now.

and this

and this

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway posted here. Ends Monday,8/27, at midnight.

A giveaway!

Hey everyone!

How would you like to win this cute insulated Zebra-striped lunch bag? Embroidered with whatever name  or initials you choose?

Description:
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Bob from Simply Bags contacted me recently and offered me this bag for free if I mentioned his web site on my blog.

I decided to spread the love, so to speak, and offer this bag up as a giveaway. Sorry, only open to US residents.

Here are the rules.

1. You MUST be a follower of my blog.

2.  You MUST visit Bob's website, Simply Bags, and tell me which bag you like, besides the one above. Of course, you will only have a chance to win the above listed, but maybe another one will catch your eye and Bob can drum up some business and that will make HIM happy, and return make ME happy.

This giveaway closes on Monday, August 27 at midnight. Winner will be announced on Tuesday, 8/28.

Good luck!

Thursday's Things in a Row

Last week I took you on a tour of my library. I'm finishing up with the pictures this week. Just a note - I never even got to the second floor of the library! That's where all the non-fiction items are, plus magazines, and many, many computers for people to use.

A view from the fiction stacks

a different view of fiction

I am an avid reader, and I can say that it is RARE if this library doesn't have a book that I want to read!

There is this wonderful fireplace in the fiction section. I'm sure it has gas logs, but it gives off a nice ambiance of warmth! We came here in April and there was still a chill in the air, so I got to experience sitting by the fire. There are about 20 cushy chairs with lamps sporadically placed between them in front of the fireplace. The chairs have a "table" that slides up and across your lap for a computer or writing desk if you should prefer to use one. Plug ins are available every few feet, and wire less is available throughout the library.

Here is a close up of that beautiful artwork of glass in a row above the fireplace.

And finally, here's LOTS of things in a row. This is the check-out line. We were lucky enough to be next in line, but sometimes there can be SEVERAL people ahead of us. There can be anywhere from 2 to 4 circulation clerks working at one time.

Even though I promised the Library Director that I wouldn't take pictures of people, I couldn't help it for this one. I don't think you'd be able to identify anyone, though, as their backs are to my camera. Whew!

What 'cha got?

Signs - Which Way?

This is a sign near the lodge and cabins where we held our family reunion. Our resort was the last one listed! Luckily there was no one behind us on the road as we ran down the whole list of resorts before finding ours at the bottom! Notice ours was the only one that was straight ahead; the rest were located to the left. Sorry the photo isn't that clear; my husband took it with my point and shoot camera while hanging out the car window!

For more signs visit Lesley here.

Monkey Bread - Yum!

The finished product....can't you just smell how good it is?

One morning at the cabin, my granddaughter, Lily, and I, made monkey bread as a special treat for everyone. This is definitely not for those who are diet-conscious!


1  cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cans (12 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
½  cup chopped walnuts, if desired
½ cup raisins, if desired
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Separate dough into 40 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces
.
Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Makes 12 servings

NOTE: I have never made it with walnuts and raisins, but I’m sure it would be good!

Here Lily is "pre-shaping" the quarter pieces before putting them in the bag of cinnamon and sugar. Don't mind my just rolled out of bed hair!

Lily putting the sugared pieces into the pan.

We presented the fragrant, delicious monkey bread to everyone sitting around the campfire. Lily and I agreed: one stipulation before taking a piece of monkey bread: You MUST act like a monkey! Here is Jim's brother Vern right after he scratched under his arm and called out like a monkey!

My niece, Cora, did a GREAT imitation of a monkey! She deserved a BIG piece!

My week at the cabin

I spent last week at this little cabin:

And yes, it's true that all the floors were slanted, and the water smelled like blood, because it was well water, and the curtains didn't match.....but all that didn't matter because THIS was our view from our little living room:

We took time to cuddle with loved ones:

Dave (son-in-law) with Lily (granddaughter)

Cora (niece) with Lily, and dolly

There was quiet time, just reading books....

Lily with her Mommy, my daughter Jessica

or catching up on e-mail:

and relaxing time.

Lily with her beloved George the bear.

Outside activities included:

blowing bubbles

paddle boats

searching for the perfect rock

sitting on the beach

splashing water at a cousin

Of course we had a fire at night. And many a s'more was eaten. Jim makes THE BEST roasted marshmallow EVER.  Just saying.

But mostly, we just sat around, ate, drank (not always booze, either!) and caught up with everybody's news.

Jim has 6 brothers and 1 sister. Two brothers did not make it to the reunion. I'm sorry I didn't get Jim's sister, Mary Jane, in this photo. Here are 5 of the boys, Jim being the second on the left of course!

We STILL had 38 people attend. These are just immediate families. And babies? Lots and lots of babies. The youngest was Emerson, less than a month old, then came Reid, 4 months, Kira, 1 year, twins Abi and Bri 2 1/2 years, and Lily 3 1/2. Six kids under 4? Yowzer! But it was fun!

The motley crew!

photo credit: Mary Jane, sister-in-law

Thursday's Things in a Row

This week's photos were taken at one of my favorite places....the library!

photo credit - internet

We are very fortunate that our new home is located just a few blocks down from the library, which is the second largest public library in the state of Illinois. With over 1 million visitors each year, the library circulates over 2,000,000 items annually.(Info taken directly from library's website.) Jim and I do our part in circulating items! We visit the library at least two times a week!

The first photo I took right from the front seat of my car. Don't worry, Jim was driving! This is of the parking lot, and all the cars in a row! The library is always busy, and a parking space near the door is a premium!

As you walk into the library, this gentleman greets you. He sits in the lobby, right outside the coffee shop.

I know this isn't really things in a row, unless you count the glass panes above, but I just wanted you to see how realistic this statue is. Seriously, did you think he was real?

I had to ask permission to take pictures in the library. I told them it was for my blog; AND I promised them I wouldn't take pictures of any people. I lived up to that promise except for my last photo (which I won't show you till next week). But at least everyone's backs were to me!

First stop - the media center. Look at this wonderful marquee - like an old-fashioned movie theater!

I like all the white lights in a row. In this large room there are many, many:

DVD'S

And for those not into this millennium yet, VHS tapes:

There are also CD's available, which I did NOT take any pictures of, and sheet music. I'm sure they even have albums.

They have the latest audiobooks available:

And finally, this is the area where you pick up any books that you placed on hold.

I will show you the remainder of my photos from the library next Thursday.

I am trying out a new linky. I sure hope it works out okay.

Signs - Halfway between here and there

Saw this sign on the way up to the cabin last week.

For more signs, visit Lesley here.

Welcome Back

to my blog, that is! I was only gone a week and can you believe that when I got home, I forgot which toothbrush was mine? There were two in the holder on the sink: a green one and a pink one. Now I ask you, which one do YOU think was mine?

Exactly. The pink one.

So I used it three times, even though there was a niggling thought in the back of my head that, hey maybe this wasn't my toothbrush.

Finally the other night I walked into the man cave with the pink toothbrush in my hand.

"Who's toothbrush is this?" I demanded to Jim.

"It's mine."

"You're kidding me. Pink?" I said, a little sarcastically.

"It's red." Jim said.

"Uh, no, it's PINK."

"I'm telling you that that is RED."

I see where the problem is here.

Actually the toothbrush is HOT PINK.

Bottom line?

I've been using it.

So I still think I won this argument. Don't you?

On Vacation