Bargain

While in Arkansas a couple of weeks ago, my friend Janice took some family photos. She and Lindsay are actually quite the photographers. Jesse was with Lindsay and family for the photo shoot and was in several of the photos. I'm sure she took some photos for the family too - she has her uses. This photo was especially funny. They were posing in front of an old building. It just happened that Jesse was posed with the word "Bargain" behind her.

My photo upload issues has not been resolved. It seems that my photos get larger and larger and harder to make smaller. I stole this photo off of Janice's FaceBook page. I saved it over to My Pictures and checked the properties. it was 76.6KB. It uploads quickly and easily. Yesterday I took a pic of my puppies and tried to post it. It was 912KB on my Kodak Easy Share program. Then I opened and saved it to Paint, which made it a bit smaller 419KB, but still too large for me to upload with Hughes. So why do my photos get larger. I need to take a class on computer photo stuff. Although Jesse showed me how to ZapGrab and paste, which can make a photo smaller, I have not mastered the technique (old dog and new trick).

Mrs. Bear Dare

Our trip to Lubbock turned out well. On Friday, I was worried about the weather and the drive to West Texas. Although it was very windy and there were a few snow flurries, the snow was not sticking and the trip was uneventful. I was also worried about being bored especially if the weather was bad and we were stuck in the house. By Friday night the snow flurries were gone and all that was left was the cold. Saturday was actually very nice – maybe a bit cool, but not bad for spring. And there was nothing boring about our time in Lubbock.

I did a bit of shopping Saturday morning. Toby would probably say it was A LOT of shopping, but when I found a store that sells nice clothes that actually fit me and they were having a 70% off sale, well, I bought a few things. With my brother’s wedding coming up, I needed a few things. It was the best day of shopping I have had in years.

In my comments Mrs. Bear dared me to tell this storY:
Our friends Bear and Anny met us for lunch. I have mentioned before that when the four of us get together, the years fall away, and it is just as if we were the same four crazy kids that we were back in our college days. It was like that again this time. We went to a place called Cancun’s for some tasty Mexican food. Back in the 70’s when Bear and Anny and Toby and I were all newlyweds, we used to go out for Mexican food in Lubbock. So it was like old times, but this time we had money to pay for our meal. After lunch, we decided to hit some open houses around Lubbock to get a sense of what is in style in new homes – maybe pick up some ideas for building on to our house. For those of you who don’t know, Bear is a contract painter and all around handy man. Anny has a degree in fashion merchandising from TT. Together they are quite the team for designing and redoing a home.

While driving around, we caught up on all of the latest happenings in each other’s life. B&A had recently attended a wedding of mutual friend’s son. Anny explained that a bus had been hired to carry the wedding party around from place to place. After loading onto the bus, the bus driver had announced that the restroom was slightly out of order – and would everyone please refrain from "going number 2" while on the bus. Anny told us that Bear tortured and teased the bus driver by continuously hollering that he had to "go number 2." I’m sure the crowd thought it was funny, but apparently the bus driver did not think so. You would have to know Bear - he can be merciless in his teasing. I can just see him messing with the driver.

We looked at several very nice new homes. Some were impressive; some were gaudy. It was just fun to be with old friends, laughing at old jokes, and being our like youngsters again. So there we were looking through a brand new home for sale, when Bear gets this funny look and announces that he has to "go number 2!" We laughed, of course. No, he meant it! Something he had eaten at the Mexican food restaurant disagreed with him. We laughed harder. Fortunately the bathroom in the new house did have toilet paper. Bear used the new bathroom while we stood outside laughing and hoping no one would come to look at the house. We continued to laugh at him all afternoon. Poor Bear – he was rather embarrassed, and rather put out with our laughing. One thing is for sure, every time we get together with B&A, something crazy happens – something that will go down in our memory books for future laughter and teasing.

Since I told that on Bear – here is one on the rest of us. While driving around looking at open houses, we had to share our reading glasses (another one for the memory books). At the end of the day, B&A dropped us off at Toby’s mom’s house and then went to their son’s home to get dressed for a wedding. Toby left my good reading glasses in the front seat of B&A’s car. We had to drive over to Blaine’s to get the glasses. I was glad for the excuse to get to see Blaine. Anny almost forgot to give me my glasses once we got there, because she was showing us Blaines little house, but she ran out to her car and got them for me. Later that evening, I realized that I did not have my nice glasses case and had forgotten them in the back seat of B&A’s car. I called Anny, and she laughed at Toby, me, and herself for the whole "forgetful" episode, and because no matter how young we feel when we get together, we are getting older.

Dull Moments

Toby took a half-day. I picked him up about 11:30, and we headed west. We arrived in Lubbock about 4:30 without any travel troubles or weather woes. The wind was the worst part of the trip and it was just pretty nippy outside. Although there were a few snow flurries and a bit of rain, we also had some odd moments of sunshine. Never a dull moment in the weather department! I think it might actually be fairly nice tomorrow. On the other hand, what will we do here in Lubbock – I do foresee some dull moments.

I brought my laptop on the trip hoping to take it to some Internet café and show Toby’s mom photos and videos of the GGs. While sitting here at her house, I turned my computer on just to see….At first I did not think I could get Internet so I thought I would play a game (dull moment) when suddenly I had connection. Now I am typing this wondering if there is some sort of Internet Gestapo who will come busting down the door and catch me using stolen Internet. Is it stolen if it just came on all by itself?

I don't really know how I managed to get connected, but it is a fast connection and I am loving it and I am thankful. Now the moments won't be quite so dull.

Wed News

Here is one of the photos that I tried to post the other day, but could not reduce it in size so that I could upload it to Blogger. I still think it is a Hughes.net problem…but lets not go there today. Jesse showed me how to use ZapGrab and paste the photo into Word and then save it so that it is smaller. All of which I am not sure I can do, but I will practice. This photo is the one Jesse Zapped and saved while teaching the old dog a new trick. Speaking of dogs and the photo, GBN1 wanted to walk the dog. She tried walking Zoe, the Great Dane, but Zoe was not always cooperative. They were able to walk a little ways before Zoe turned back to the house and dragged GBN1 with her. GBN1 gets upset when this happens and it has happened several times – so this time she switched to Ranger, the Rat Terrier. Everyone was quite happy with this arrangement – except Ranger. Jesse posted the most hysterical videos of the GGs singing. You might want to see the GGS in action.

By the way, that little twig/broom-like thing in the photo is one of two remaining pine trees that I planted a couple of years ago. Zoe ate the other four pines and bit the top of this one - that is why it is so silly looking. Recently, Toby ordered some Arizona cypress trees from the OK Forestry Service. The good news is that that they are cheap; the bad news is they only come in bundles of 100 trees. We have spent the last couple of evenings planting trees. We planted over 50 trees along our north fence to block wind and neighbor's view.

I spent the morning writing an email to a new friend. I had written a rather long description of my travels and was proofreading one last time, when the electricity blipped and I lost it all. I know; I know! Why didn’t I type it in Word?

My art ladies were lots of fun yesterday. We are all very different in style and personality, we and do not know each other well, but we are beginning to know each other well enough to pick on each other. Teasing may be more of Tex/Okie thang. Barbara, who is a Southern CA girl, is just not used to Okie talk or ways. When we direct our teasing to her, she says, "Hey, I come her for therapy, and I don’t need this (teasing)." And we laugh at her – ‘cause we wouldn’t tease her if we didn’t like her.

Today is my young ladies art class, which I always look forward to. The picking and teasing are rampant.

Art Ladies Here

The art ladies came to my house today to watercolor. I did not fret as much over house cleaning as I did the first time they came. I think they are beginning to know who I am – like it or lump it. I did do some house cleaning, and I made chicken salad supreme for lunch along with my easy cheesecake stuff and fresh fruit topping. All of that preparation took me away from blogging this morning, although, I did try to post. I had some photos of the GGs to post, but no matter how I tried to make them smaller and therefore uploadable, they just would not work. I got that same error message, and you know how I feel about that. So, I gave up and had lots of fun with my art ladies. I do have something new I want to try on my photo uploading, but I need Jesse to show me how to do it – it may be a while before I can pin her down.

While painting today, one of the ladies looked out and remarked how the clouds were interesting. Sure enough, they were unreal looking – odd textured – white and gray. Then it began to hail. Then the sun shown while it was hailing. Then it was over – all in about ten minutes. Okie weather!

After 30 Years...

Yesterday was the first day that I have felt fairly well in about a week. I have been active, and I don’t think I have been contagious, but I have just felt run-down and lousy. After my busy weekend, I had a bucket-load of chores to get done. Last week I had picked up several containers of summer clothes from our storage unit. They have been stacked around the house all weekend waiting on me to go through them and change out the winter for the summer clothes. So, I did that yesterday. Today a cold front hit.

Since I felt well all day , I decided not to take any more cold medicine last night. I’m not sure it was a wise decision. I’m sure Toby thought he was sleeping with Darth Vadar last night - the way I was breathing. This morning I am considering another cold tablet. I do have art class today, and I do not want to be sniffling and snorting through class. Many people around here have already been complaining about their allergies. So far so good on that count, but I am ready to be off any drugs and back to normal.

I didn’t tell this story yesterday, but it is just too good to pass on. Sunday afternoon Toby and I were in town. We decided to get some pizza. Toby handed me his cell phone to call the GGs and see if they wanted us to bring pizza to their house. I made the call, and we were headed to get pizza for the girls. We parked in front of Dominoes and Toby went in to order. While Toby was inside, I was playing with his phone. When he came out I said, "Who is this number…?"
Toby answered, "Scot."
Me: Do you get a lot of text messages from Scot?
Toby: I don’t know.
Me: Well, you have about four here.
Toby: I didn’t know that. How do you know when you have a message?
I showed the messages to Toby and read through them. Then I handed him the phone.

After a few minutes of waiting for the pizza he decided to take Ranger for a walk . When he got back in the car, he asked if I thought the pizza was ready yet.
Me: I don’t know. You should have put a clock on it (old joke between us).
Toby: Where is my phone?
Me: I gave it to you.
Toby: No you didn’t.
Me: Did too!
Toby: Where are the keys to the car?
Me: You have them – you drove here.
Toby: No, you took them.
This continued back and forth like kids.

At this point I am laughing, although most people would not think the situation funny. I have always been that way – used to irritate the heck out of my brother that I found such things funny. Now, Toby and I are searching the car for the phone and the keys - with him accusing me of keeping his phone and taking the keys. I am denying it all and laughing my head off. Finally, we are both just sitting in front of the pizza place because we cannot go anywhere and we cannot call anyone. Toby says, "Well at least I already paid for the pizza."
Me: Do you still have your wallet (giggle)?

I knew that the keys and the phone had to be somewhere in the vicinity because I had just made a call and we had driven there. About that time, we found the phone in the floor between the driver’s seat and the door. I then sent him inside Dominoes to see if he had left the keys there. Nope. Then I sent him to retrace his steps and see if he had dropped the keys somewhere. While he was out of the car, I went around to the driver’s side and started looking under the seat. I found the keys in the floor between the seat and console. Of course, I did not reach for them – instead, I called to Toby and had him re-look under his seat. This time he found them, and then accused me of putting them there. I knew he would do that – after 30 years of marriage I am on to his ways. He continued to give me a hard time – pushing his luck. With one last barb about me "having his keys," he put the keys in the ignition and started inside to get the pizza. Then he stopped and took the keys out of the ignition. There must have been something on my face (Mrs. Potato Head angry eyes) that said "you stepped over the line," because he grinned and said, "Hmm, maybe I will just put these in my pocket so I will not get locked out."

Me: Or left at Dominoes.

Short Time

One of the big things in the news this morning was the need to pass laws to make restaurant owners post calorie info on their menus – as if that will keep people from being overweight. Are people really so ignorant? Do they not know that a Big Mac has more calories than a salad? Is posting such information going to change things? It makes me think our whole education system has failed.

I kept the GGs on Friday. The Piper and the Royals joined us for fun on the farm. It was wild times at the Lazy B. Jesse went to Arkansas with friends to do some sewing for the friend’s future baby. Yes, Jesse can sew – she makes beautiful quilts and has made her father several Hawaiian style shirts. Her hope chest runneth over. Toby and I drove over to WF for some shopping. We dropped by my nephew’s soccer game. The weather was warm, but windy.

I always enjoy my time with just Toby. It seems more and more, we have lots of together time. It is a different season in our life. I like it. I like being able to travel and do whatever we want. But if I had my way, I would have my kids with me. I miss having Bo and Jes riding in the backseat sharing great moments in our life. Don’t get me wrong. I love it that Bo is married and has his own family. More than anything, I want that for Jesse, too. You know how I love my GGs. I am truly amazed when someone says that they cannot wait to send their children off to school or that they could never have homeschooled because they could not spend that much time with their children. To me, the time with my children was short. I am very thankful for that precious time. One of my biggest regrets in this life is that I did not have more kids. I may have to go rent one.

In this old photo, Jesse is 3 and Bo is 6 - that makes me about 27 and Toby 28.

Wedding Photos

Lindz gave me some photos of her wedding. The photos are just beautiful - Lindz is just glowing. Notice how beautiful her dress is - or maybe it is just her. I chose these two photos. The first one is Lindz and Shay stopping to kiss as they walked back down the aisle. You can see how she used all her bridesmaids and groomsmen as backdrop for the wedding. Notice her cousin and brother doing a nice high-five in the background. The second photo is Toby and Lindz walking down the aisle. Lindz had several men from our church who were significant in her life to walk her down the aisle. They each took a few steps and handed her off to the next man. I just love the way she is giggling. The last photo is one of the whole wedding party and all that attended the wedding. You can see Jesse down front as one of the bridesmaids in green. Toby and I are way back in the back. It was just a cool way to photograph the wedding.

Economics 101

Toby has been explaining economics to me again, although he has to go slow and say it several times to get the info in my now dark honey blond hair. My hair may be a bit darker, but it is still blond. He explained how the Federal Reserve is "making" money and he sent me this link to help me understand:

This is from Jim Jubak on MSN Money. He is one of the financial guys I read. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/fluke-credit-crisis-was-a-heist.aspx?page=2

Everything changed March 18 (at least for the short run; in the long run, probably not quite so much). That's the day the Federal Reserve announced it would buy $300 billion of U.S. Treasury notes.
There's nothing subtle about this: The Fed is printing money in order to stimulate the economy. At least that's the theory. Over the next year, we'll find out if the real economy responds to theory. But in the short run, the Fed's move has had powerful effects.

It sent the U.S. dollar lower against the euro by 3.2% and the yen by 2.3% as investors anticipated that lower U.S. interest rates and higher U.S. inflation will result from adding $300 billion to the money supply. Gold rallied, jumping 6.6%, as did oil and, indeed, just about every commodity and every stock linked to a hard asset.
The effect was so strong that on March 19, as the indexes fell, commodity stocks rallied, with investors snapping up commodity stocks as hedges against inflation. Shares of Devon Energy (DVN, news, msgs) climbed 3.1%, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX, news, msgs) moved ahead 5.7%, and Potash of Saskatchewan (POT, news, msgs) gained 2.5%.
In my opinion, we're still in a bear market until the economy proves otherwise. A first-quarter earnings season that's likely to be very ugly is set to begin in just about a week and a half, and the market could easily give back all it has gained in recent weeks -- and then some. I'd still use this rally to sell any stock you've been waiting for an exit

Toby also sent me this link to explain more on how this "printing" of money will effect oil and such. I may be a ding-a-ling when it comes to economics, but I do find this interesting. Even I knew that printing money could lead to inflation and possibly other problems. We will see.

Hearing Toby talk economics is kind of like when Buck talks hockey. I don't know a thing about hockey and I have to really concentrate, but I do like to be informed.

Now it is time to change gears - kick it up a notch - the GGs are coming to spend the day with Booboo.

Springtime Cold

Although I took the day off from blogging yesterday, I did make the rounds of my favorite blogs and wrote some comments. I also caught up on some email correspondence. It made me feel a little better since I have had "comment block." I made a trip to Wal-Mart and had lunch with Toby and Jesse. Wal-Mart is usually a chore, but this time, I felt myself coming down with some yuck sore throat thing, which made shopping worse. Although I had a nap after putting up groceries, I just felt too lousy to make it to church. I do feel better this morning. Maybe this is just a relapse – maybe I did not really get over my cold a few weeks ago. It is just irritating. It may not seem like it to you, but I do not usually get sick. One of my students is having art at her house today. It makes it nice that I do not have to do lots of housework to get my house presentable for the art girls. I do need to haul art supplies to her house. Hopefully I will be well enough to go. Right now, I feel pretty good.

I am drinking hot tea today – what is the world coming to? I rarely drink hot tea preferring coffee. I did drink hot tea while we were in Scotland – it just seemed the thing to do since the hotel provided it and had such a wonderful teapot, and it was cold and wet outside. My throat is a bit raw, and coffee is just not making it better. Now if the Piper came over and made me a hot toddy, I would probably be well quickly or at least happier. Speaking of the Piper, I chatted on the phone with him yesterday. Since I am keeping the GGs tomorrow, I invited the Royals over to do some watercolor. It could be wild times at the Lazy B.

Although things seem rather dull right now, and nothing exciting is happening, there is something about springtime that brings a sense of hope and renewal. I feel on the edge – like something exciting is coming up. For a while now we have talked about adding on and finishing our house. I think that will happen soon. Jesse is going to be in a play, which is certainly new and different. My brother’s wedding is in April in Austin. Springtime in the Hill Country is always great, and Craig does know how to throw a party with dancing and live music. The little tastes of warm weather give me hope for getting through the winter. I actually went by the storeroom and got out the containers of warm-weather clothing. It may be time to do the big switcheroo – putting away the sweaters and coats and getting out the shorts and capris. Change is good. Lifestyle changes are good too. There is something about warmer weather that makes me want to stick to my diet (the thought of wearing a swimsuit will do it). We have broken out the bicycles – ready for some serious riding and exercise. We have a new Hobie Cat just waiting for the lakes to warm up. We would like to take some kayak vacations this year. Toby has ridden his motorcycle to work a few times with the warmer weather. Yeah, I’m ready for some changes – come on spring. And mostly I want to get over this cold.

Brain Gears

I took the GGs to Wichita Falls to visit cousins who were on spring break. We took Buddy, the new fox terrier puppy. The cousins wanted to see Mom's new dog, and he kept the GGs entertained in the car. Actually, we had a few squabbles and a few lessons on sharing. That was one tired puppy when we got home, and Booboo was worn out too. The cousins were highly entertained by the GGs.

You may have noticed that I went cold turkey last weekend - totally without my computer. Well, I was going to a retreat and thought that I should rest from my usual ways, but as I mentioned yesterday, it took a higher gear of brain power to get through the weekend. When I got home on Sunday afternoon, I checked my email and took a look at some of my favorite blogs, but I just did not have the brain power to comment or post. The weekend at the DWC seemed to have used up much of my brain power. Or maybe it was that after coming home from the conference, I kicked my brain gear into idle. Yesterday I had to get moving and get my brain into GG gear early to get to WF and see cousins - so I was not able to browse my usual blogs. Last night, I managed to read a few blogs, but I found that my brain was still not in gear. "That's nice" and "How interesting" were the only comments that would come to mind. I'm hoping that it is just a temporary brain block and that I can come up with more in depth thoughts soon.

Today is art with my beginners, which takes a different brain gear. I have a lesson planned - so I am at least that far. Now I need to get the house ready and get some chores done - another thing that I am behind on. Without a deadline or some sort of pressure, I can be useless.

I did have one thought on the outcry over AIG's spending of bailout money: If you give a wino a handout, he will probably spend it on booze. If you give a handout or bailout to a company who has mishandled their own money, what makes you think they will handle your money any better?

Jesse posted more photos and a couple of videos from the DWC.

Deaf Women's Conference

It was a quiet weekend at the Deaf Women’s Conference – that was a joke, but true. You would think having a bunch of ladies in one place, it would be loud, but it was very quiet, because they do not speak. The retreat was held near Lake Thunderbird outside of Norman, OK. It was a beautiful place to hold a conference, although I did not get to do any sightseeing or exploring the lake. The DWC was actually lots of work with about forty women to cook for all weekend. The Junk Diva, Jesse, Lindz and a couple of other ladies were there to help in the kitchen. Lindz is very much like me when it comes to work – getter done or get out of my way! She and Jesse are always the life of the party. I appreciated their help. The Junk Diva is a worker. She kept me sane and made me laugh the entire weekend. The other ladies were great too.

As to the deaf women, well, that was very interesting and a great learning experience. It made me use my ASL skills - immersing me totally into their language. My friend, Naomi, was one of the leaders who put on the conference. She is technically "hard of hearing" and is considered a "hearing person" or "speaking person" by the deaf community. That means she can hear slightly with a hearing aid and can read lips and speak very well. Communicating with her is very easy. I do not have to sign to talk to her. But to hearing people, Naomi would be considered deaf. Many deaf do not hear at all and do not speak at all – they are considered "deaf." It is a whole different culture. Sign language is pretty much the only way to communicate. Cell phone texting is an option for communicating and so is the old fashion pen and paper. The deaf women were all very nice and patient with us "hearing people." They were very animated when talking. Many were very funny with their animation when communicating and just had great personalities. Some were easier to communicate with than others were. Naomi is the beautiful lady sitting on the first row uner the word "living."

Although I have quite a bit of restaurant experience having worked as a waitress and owned and managed my own café, it has been a long time since I had to work and think like that. It was work. I had been a bit anxious before the conference, because my brain just does not work like it used to. My prayer had been that I could do the work and do it well for the ladies. My prayers were answered. Food preparation and serving went well. My other concern was communication. I just get so dang tense when trying to sign. It takes lots of concentration – ASL is very visual as well as mental and physical work. I did okay in that department too. I did do some funny things, like knock several times on Naomi’s door before I realized that she could not hear me. When I stepped into her room and touched her, she jumped about ten feet. I did have one big mistake: I had all the kitchen help and Naomi in the kitchen giving instructions for serving the deaf women. I told the server girls that they were to ask each lady if they wanted coffee, water or tea. I gave the sign for each – coffee is one fist on top of the other making a grinding motion with the top fist. Water is the "w" sign touching your cheek. The sign for tea is to make a cup with the left hand and pretend to be dipping a tea bag with the other hand – a pinching of index finger and thumb. But when I made the sign for "tea," I did it wrong using just my index finger into my cup hand. Naomi’s eyes crossed and she looked horrified. "No, that is not the sign for tea! That is the sign for intercourse!" The Diva and I laughed so hard that we had tears in our eyes, because basically I had told the girls to say, "coffee, water, or me."

Friday Art

I'm off to the deaf women's conference today. I leave you with the watercolor done on Wed. My art buddies set this still life up for us to paint. Normally I paint from photographs. This real life stuff is a challenge. Sometimes I like part of my painting, but wish I could cut other parts out. I would probably cut out the egg.

Cheri

Something on Buck’s blog reminded me of this story, but it was too long to leave on his comments. I thought it would make a funny post:

My big brother, Craig, and I went off to Texas Tech together in the fall of 1976. He had one year at TT, but I was a freshman. Since Craig was an old pro at college life, he helped me move into my dorm. It was in an older dorm with a big yard to cross from the parking lot. I was also on the third floor and there was no elevator. I was thankful for Craig’s help. This was back in the day when a young man visiting the girl’s dorm had to check in at the office. Craig and I walked up to the office window. The girl behind the desk never looked up from whatever she was doing, but in a bored voice said, "Names?" Craig answered, "Joe Namath and Willie Nelson." I still remember the look she gave Craig and the tone of voice (very irritated) when she said, "No, real names!" Craig looked very innocent as he gave her the, "You didn’t say that" and then gave our real names.

The girl behind the desk, Cheri Cramer, was one of the RA’s in my dorm, and we became good friends. I remember lots of fun times in her room which had a balcony. She dated one of Craig’s roommates (Lord knows why anyone would date such an a-hole, but she did). Craig’s roommates were always those intelligent debate team type guys – the ones that thought they were smarter and better than everyone else and went on to become politicians. Craig did have friends who were more interesting and fun and much smarter than his liberal roommates. Toby was one of them. In intelligence and common sense, Toby could run circles around those guys. Craig recognized this, but being snobby politician sorts, Craig' debate buddies never paid attention to Toby or anyone else that they deemed beneath them or not useful. Toby spoke in a slow West Texas drawl and was a wild ruffian. He could also fix your car, drink you under the table, kick your butt if you needed it, and make a 4.0 GPA in accounting/business. I was impressed from the first moment I laid eyes on him. His yellow Camero was nice too.

I always wondered what happened to my friend Cheri. Maybe since I posted her maiden name, she will google it someday and find me.

Change, Play, Art

Change
The north windows were open wide yesterday. The south windows were open, but not nearly so wide, since the wind has been howling from the south for the last several days. We open the north windows in order to get some air in that part of the house. I was sitting at my computer when suddenly the wind gushed through the room blowing papers everywhere and slamming the door shut. Ah, the cold front hit. This morning there are no windows open, and I am wearing a long sleeve sweatshirt. Oklahoma has weather changes like no place else that I have ever lived.

Play
Jesse has auditioned for a play that some of her buddies are directing at the Duncan Little Theater. They want her to play a certain part – probably perfect for her – the nerdy girl with the quiet voice. The play is a comedy called "Noises Off" which is a play about a play. It sounds like it would be lots of fun for Jesse, but she is not sure about it. The character she would play has to say something a bit off color – it is only one line, but it is probably an important line that cannot really be changed or dropped. It is just something so out of character for Jesse that she is just not sure she wants to play that character. We will see. I’m leaning toward her doing it, but she must make that decision for herself, because she has to be comfortable with it.

Art
I am going to paint today with my art buddies. Here is a painting I did last week from Robert Wade's watercolor book. Tomorrow I am leaving for a deaf women’s conference where I have been asked to do the meals for the entire weekend. I will have lots of help, but I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing. It is like going to a foreign country where everyone speaks a different language than you. Although I have been learning ASL, I’m not good at it, and it makes me tense. Doing the meals for fifty women is not something I look forward to either, although I have been in the restaurant business long ago. It has been a while since I have had to cook like that. The Junk Diva will be with me along with Jesse and Lindsay to make things lively. I will take my laptop, and maybe they will have Internet service. If there is no Internet, I will see you sometime late Sunday.

Birthday Greetings

I had a wonderful birthday. All my siblings managed to call me, which is quite impressive since usually one or all forget. Pete won. Craig came in second. Kathy, the baby, managed to get herself out of bed and call me before 10 AM. I got lots of calls and well wishes yesterday especially via the internet. My FaceBook was filled with birthday greetings. Jan called wishing me a happy B-Day and said that he would not ask how old I was. I replied that last year I celebrated the big 50, but this year was just another birthday. He said, "What? You are going to make me do math!"

All the calls and greetings on FaceBook made me think of other birthdays. On my 30th birthday, my friend Kathy H. turned 30 just a few days before me. We celebrated with a day of skiing at Taos. Here is a photo from that day. From the left: Kathy H, Me, Janetta, and Kathy N. I remember having a great day - and I was much thinner.

One of my favorite birthdays was in 2006 when my art girls took me to lunch in Medicine Park. I posted a photo here. Last year's big 50 party was also great - I love to play volleyball and here are those pics. You know, I have been blessed with some good friends and some good times through the years. Last night's supper with friends was filled with laughs - just what I wanted for my birthday. Thanks to all who made my day special with your well-wishes.

And since I am getting older, I will tell a story on myself. Our TV remote died the other day. We could not turn the TV on or off or change channels. Toby went to Wal-Mart and bought a new remote, but it is just not the same. Toby needs to do some more figuring on it - right now we have to manually turn the TV on, but we can change the channels - sort of. The other night, I had the remote and was trying to change channels. It was not going well, and I said, "Why is it going up when I am pushing the down button?" Toby replied, "Maybe because you are holding the remote upside down." We laughed and laughed. Then Toby said, "Ask me how I knew the answer to that so fast." And we laughed some more.

Figaro, Figaro, Figaro

Although there was a lot of downtime this weekend, there were some busy parts too. Saturday after a quiet morning of household chores, we went to GBN1's fifth birthday party. The Piper and his Royals were there to make things really interesting. They played Pin the Petal on the Flower - both of my GGs cheated - not quite understanding the blindfold thing. They ate sugar cookies and chocolate cake. GBN2 remained sticky for the entire party and had a nice layer of dirt stuck to her nose by the end of the party. Jesse took photos. When opening gifts, GBN1 showed genuine excitement at some gifts, fake smile at others, but my gift, she pretty much kicked across the room in disappointment. I might have rapt her on her head if it had not been so funny. Who would have thought she would not want a soccer goal and ball along with a cute soccer outfit?

After the birthday party I went with Jesse and a couple of her friends to the opera in Norman on campus. We saw the Marriage of Figaro. It was our first opera and lots of fun. We acted a bit like country bumpkins, but we were enthusiastic if nothing else. We sat high in the balcony looking down on the stage. It was difficult to read the subtitles as they flashed on a screen above the stage and watch the action on the stage. Sometimes the interpretation was a bit odd or just bad grammar, and I had to read the words over and over to get their meaning. At times the subtitles were more of a distraction than a help. The music was great and the sets were interestingly designed - they set the play in the 1930's. Figaro was played by an Australian named Flanagan. Susanna was played by a beautiful Chinese girl. The Countess was a large Black woman. And of course, Cherubino was played by a girl and seemed much to beautiful to be playing a young boy. At first the different characters seemed odd, but the music took over and the ethnicity could be ignored. We did not get home until after one AM due to the time change. Jesse took photos and posted on her blog.

Sunday was the usual church in the morning, although we were late getting there. The rest of the day was spent on chores and being lazy. The weather was gorgeous after the last few days of wind.

Today is my birthday, and we are having some friends over for supper. I have lots to do to throw my own party.

Friday Painting

I'm off to paint with my art buddies. This is the painting we did last get-together. One of the ladies brought this little flower arrangement. We set it on the books and painted it.

What to Do with My Do

When I look at older ladies’ hairstyles, I just do not see me going with the tight perm or ratted poofy look as I grow older. Some people might call this the "helmet head" look. Once again it is that 70’s thing. I missed the bouffant hair of the 60’s and came of age when the flat look was in. The long straight look was just cool. I had the long hair, although I had trouble with the straight hair part of the look. Dippity Do on the bangs with a little tape helped a lot. An ironing board could be used if you were careful. Hand held blow dryers were handy too. Life in a dryer climate like NM was helpful for the straight look, but more humid climates cause curl. Having a hairdresser for a mom was a bit of help, but like the accountant whose taxes are the last to get done, my hair was often the last to be done. If anything, I was a guinea pig for Mom and the new styles she was learning. The thing it taught me was that no matter what hairstyle she gave me, hair will grow back (but you might look odd for a while).

Eventually I did outgrow the 70’s long straight hairstyle. I have had perms, color, short hair, long hair, etc. all thanks to Mom and her beauty shop. The last few years I have sported fairly short hair, but I long for longer hair that can be easily dealt with in warmer weather. Ponytails and French braids beckon me. I consider my age and think, "Maybe I should cut my hair off and have an ‘adult’ style." Then I think about having to curl and do my do and I cringe. Nope, I think as I go into my golden years I shall revert to the 70’s. Maybe I will grow my hair longer and braid it or put it up on my head in a soft French twist (not the West Texas Thelma knot). Maybe I will let it go gray and be a hippie grandmother. Well, maybe not the gray part just yet. I don’t think I am quite ready for that.

70's Style

I am a child of the 70’s. By that, I mean that I grew up in some changing times. Girls wore dresses to school – no matter what the weather. My mother wanted to dress me in ruffles and frills. She liked puff and fluff. Just take a look at my school pictures and see what she did to my hair and what she chose for me to wear. But being between two brothers and having a father who was a coach, well, I wanted to be one of the boys. I wore dresses, but I fought the girlie stuff. Mom bought me stockings, but I hated wearing the girdle. I might argue with Mom over my dresses, but she usually won, and I wore whatever she bought. I didn’t really see much choice in the matter. Shopping for school dresses was an unpleasant ordeal. My grandmother made some of my dresses – simple and with pockets so I could collect and carry stuff. As soon as I got home from school, I would be out of those dresses and in to my jeans and tennis shoes and romping with my brothers. When my little sister came along, I congratulated Mom on finally having a girl.

When I was in jr. high in 1970, the higher ups decided that girls could wear "pant suits" to school – dress slacks with matching top. All this time, boys had been wearing jeans and t-shirts or whatever – how very unfair. Maybe it was the women’s movement – equal rights and such – that changed things. My sophomore year in high school, we were allowed to wear jeans. Being a jean and T-shirt type girl, this was right up my alley. I rarely wore dresses to school after that, but style in the 70’s was very simple and more practical. Even my wedding dress in 1977 was a simple country-style dress – certainly not the fluff and puff of today’s dresses.

In college I had a 7:30 AM class. I could wake up 15 minutes before class, throw on my jeans and T-shirt, pull back my hair and make it to class, while other girls were waking up hours early to put on all their make-up and fix their hair. Low maintenance would be my style.

When I started teaching, I did wear dresses – Mom bought me several skirts and blouses. I wore high-heels most of the time, because I looked too much like one of the students as it was. I did feel that it was important to be professional and set a good example. As soon as the school day was over, it was back to my jeans.

I have not been teaching or working outside of my home for almost 20 years. I rarely wear dresses or slacks – even to church. Comfort is the name of the game, but I do have a style that I have created through the years. My "dressed up" look is usually nicer jeans and nicer shoes and a nice shirt or sweater (but it is not good to feed the chickens while wearing this get-up). That 70's thing in me thinks that jeans are better looking and nicer than polyester pants. I do have some dress slacks and a few dresses for when the occasion calls for something special.

I have been to Scotland, Italy, and Canada for a month each and only took one suitcase. So, Monday when I walked into Mom’s house and saw what all she was taking on her upcoming trip to Australia, I nearly hyperventilated. She showed me the clothes she had packed – all were beautiful, feminine, matching, etc. Then she showed me all of the jewelry that matched the clothes. I had an anxiety attack. After several deep breaths and calming techniques, I thought, "What the heck!" She will be gorgeous and stylish on her vacation. I don’t have to carry her suitcase. It will all be fine. But I did tease her about it. I could have traveled around Australia with a backpack, but that is just me. I did talk her into buying some lightweight cargo pants that rolled up into capris. I don’t know if she will really wear them, but it made me feel better.

While we were shopping for the cargo pants, I kept thinking about how different Mom and I are on certain things – like the fact that she is tall and skinny and I am short and round. Clothes have always been easy for her. Clothes never quite fit me right and were a chore. She cut her hair very stylish, but it is a style that will require more work than I would bother with – a ponytail or braid is best when traveling. At one point while shopping, we were trying to think of what we had seen and tried on and what we should buy. Neither of us could think of the name of the store we had been to earlier. We got so tickled that we both nearly peed our pants. Yep, we are a like in some ways.

Two More Entries

Here are the next two entries for the SA card contest. As always, you can click on the pic to enlarge. Last year I was reading Chris's blog and found this photo. He gave me permission to use it. I just loved the care and gentleness of the soldier with the little Iraqi girl. I left out all of the medical equipment in and around the soldier and girl and focused on just them.

This painting was taken from a photo on Kaboom's blog. I believe it is Sgt Bulldog - for those of you who used to read his blog. Once again, the idea of these tough soldiers caring for Iraqi children is amazing and very paintable. Kaboom (wiki link) had to be the best milblog writer of all time, but he removed his total blog under orders, and he seems to have disappeared. Someday, I would like to see his blog published as a book, because it was great stuff.

SA Paintings

Here are two of the paintings that I did for Soldiers' Angels. I have not heard anything on the card contest, but I decided to go ahead and post my paintings. It took me a while to upload these two. Both of these paintings were from photos on Jake Woods blog. Jake gave me permission to use the photos. He has many other photos that are amazing - I may have to use more of his photos. The top painting is a bit larger (9x11), but the second painting is card size (4x6). I would really like to do the second painting again only much larger this time. The light and the subject are just awesome.

I am headed to WF to see Mom today. I will post the other two paintings later.