Have You Ever Done Something Stupid?

And the answer to that question is  "of course,  I have." There isn't a person alive that has not  done something dumb. The next thing I want you to do is do a rerun in your mind, kind of like a video of the things that make you smile, make you grimace, make you angry and on you go with the memories of the dumb things you have done in your life.
Years ago I added the checks instead of subtracting them. I often slammed into doors that opened the opposite direction. I have written some of the crazy things in this blog. I have done my share. I have driven at crazy speed, I have had to much to drink, I have smoked to much.
But tonight you might not think what I did was stupid, but I do. It is a strict rule in my mind not to watch scary movies. It has been fifty two years since I watched a scary movie. I watched it with my oldest son. We were holding on to each other and yelling and right then I vowed, that my children and I did not need to watch what I called "crap."  The name of the movie was "Cujo" This movie I am sure, compared to the modern movies is nothing, but it was really scary to me, because it could have been real, not make believe junk.
Tonight I broke my promise to myself and watched a scary movie called War of the Worlds. I know, I know. Not scary, but to this old grandma, yup, it was. So once again, No more scary movies! I much prefer Chick Flicks and detective movies.

About My Dad

The last time my brother visited, he said that every time he looked in the mirror he saw our dad.
Dad didn't have a beard, but both of them had/have very little hair. Both of them don't have dimples, but laugh lines where the dimples should be. Both have wonderful senses of humor.Both my father and brother love/loved their children with all their heart.
Both had/have a strong faith in God.
My father was very quiet and loved soft music. My brother is not particularly quiet, but not noisey either. This picture shows his daughter, Jenna, how a turkey should be gotten ready for the table. My dad knew better than to do that. Mom would have kicked him out as fast as she could!
Looking at this last picture, I can just smell the turkey and the fresh baked pies.   Umm.

Happy Father's Day, Guys!!

In The Old Days......

When my children were small, they used to ask me to tell them

stories about the old days. I am sure my stories were hard for them to imagine. Today I was watching television and found one that made me think of the old days. The family of mom, dad, and children were going out for a picnic. They first spread a blanket on the ground. We seldom do that anymore. We carry a table cloth with us in our camper or the picnic table outside.

As I watched that, I thought of what we had to go through to have a picnic. Mom would fry piles of chicken, make bowls of potato salad, and take a lot of other things to complete the meal. Of course, the meal was always in the shade! Mom made the most delicious potato salad in the world and the prettiest. When it was chilled and completly mixed, she would take an egg and slice it vertically and make a daisy for the decoration on the top. She did this for every day meals. That's just what she did.
Well, the meal was over and the blankets were picked up. What a mess. There were stick tights, thistles, and cockleburs all stuck to the blankets. In those days we  used double blankets. They had double the area for all the sticky weeds to adhere themselve. What a tedious job to pull those tiny little stickers out so that mom could wash the blankets clear of them. Memories of all of our picnics are very dear to me.  Oh, I think of deli potato salad now and just can't believe the difference. I just don't think my mother ever bought any.

But I Want Something New To Play With!!!

This year has been extraordinary for crawly things in the yard.
On the highway the terripins have been so populated, it is difficult not to hit one.
I have a huge ceeramic turtle in my flower garden that is very old; it was my mother's.  The terripins are interested in it and generally crawl slowly by it. Well, while they crawl slowly by;  Maggie goes nuts.
The other day there was one on the other side of the yard. I saw her "playing" with it with her paw like a cat would do. I yelled at Fran and he rescued the poor little thing.
I have never seen such a year. Well, yesterday I was about to take Maggie outside and there was a huge snapping turtle. Maggie lunged at it. It was all I could do to get her back to the house. That turtle would have really hurt Maggie. I wanted Fran to kill it. I love turtle, but Fran said, "no I can't kill a turtle." Ok, dear man. The turtle changed directions so all was well.

Poor Maggie, all she wanted was something new to play with.

Has The Food Pyramid Been Replaced?

Well, they say that the pyramid was confusing and caused obseity. Now they call it the food plate. They also say to use a smaller plate so you feel like you have eaten enough.
Well, we have a "critter" that is completly focused on the "food plate."  Our critter enjoys vegetables and fruit.
Fran went out this morning and came back in this morning with a long face. He said, "the deer ate the tops of the green beans." They also had some tomatoes and for dessert they ate some peaches.
My new  dwarf peach trees were just full of peaches and the other day one of them had three peaches hanging on for dear life. I was so disappointed.
Before he was killed our Sheltie, Alex, chased the wild animals away, we miss Alex a lot.  He was such a good friend and a guard dog for hungry deer.

A Line Of Story Tellers

I love to tell stories. I come from a long line of story tellers. My dad loved to tell stories and so did his brother. My dad would always clear his throat before he started a story. My uncle Les loved to tell stories. Most of all my mother absolutely loved to tell stories. She would tilt her head  and smile so I would know a story was coming.
My grandfather had no sense of humor so he did NOT tell stories.
My brother and sister carried on  with the line of story tellers, but I think I have the gift with built in  enthusiasm.I get the visual in my mind that makes the stories so vivid. My sister would get the giggles so bad while she was telling the story she could hardly talk. My brother told stories with great detail and still does and then I get the giggles.
I started telling my baby girl stories when she was just little.If she would  be fussy at nap time I would tell her a story in a soft voice and she would go to sleep.
As the children got older they loved my stories even those I read to them because I would change my voice to be different for each character. They would laugh or be scared whatever I wanted to convey to them.
When the kids were about ten or so I would tell them Halloween scary stories. All kids would be invited to our fall barbeque no matter their age and they all loved the stories. Personally I think I loved to be the center of attention. Gee, I hate to say that, but it might be true!
My daughter grew up to be a story teller and a writer.  Her father could tell stories for hours without stopping. He was fun to listen to because he would laugh at his own stories, so is this a learned talent or just a plain old right brain, left brain thing?
There are some days when I think I have no stories left in me, but there  are always more. It seems like every day after coffee, I think of something else I want to tell you. I just can't wait 'til tomorrow!

But She Said Please!

This all started very innocently. I do not like spaghetti four times a week. Fran was starting on his third time this week and I just couldn't stand the thought of it. I thought there was a can of salmon in the pantry. Salmon is an excellent source of omega 3 which I need. And besides that, I like it. I couldn't find the salmon, but I found a package of Girl Scout cookies that I had hidden from Fran and me so we had something sweet in emergencies. Well, this was an emergency.  We have been trying to cut way back on carbs and we have been doing very well. We have fallen off the wagon a few times like when we went to my daughter's house.  Those free days are allowed sometimes.
I couldn't open the box of cookies. Now that I look back at it, I think that was an omen that I should have put the box back. Anyway, Fran opened it.

Then there was Maggie. Oh my gosh she went nuts!  Her nose was sniffing, her tongue was licking and she was whining. I really felt bad when I told her she couldn't have any as I was popping one or two in my mouth. I know I am terrible.  After all I am sure she said, "Pleeease!"

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?............

It's interesting isn't it that when you live with someone you don't notice little differences; like how  much the kids have grown, like how your husband is getting deaf. No not deaf, but really hard of hearing. Not too long ago my youngest son came over and was sitting in the computer room. I was fixing supper. Husband was sitting in the livingroom. Each distance was approximately eighteen feet away. Husband would say something and I would say"what?" That was not my fault. He mumbles and has his head away from me.
I would say something and husband would say, "What?" After about fifteen minutes of this, my son  had had it. He said, "This house has more "what's" in it than a light bulb." Of course, hubby and I both started to argue and of course laugh.
This morning it started to rain. I said, "Thank goodness it has started to rain."  He said, "you are hearing things." I said, "you are losing your hearing." Of course, he argued. I told him to go look and of course, sure enough it was raining. He didn't say much after that, but I am sure he will argue again if the situation arises. "What?"

I Think I Have Aged Ten Years In The Last Month

Has anyone noticed that I have been gone?  I sure hope so. I love writing my stories and I have not been able to. Yup, computer crashed. I was too cheap to either get a new one or have this one fixed, so my daughter in law said, "just do it yourself!" Ha, anyone that knows me would know that a computer is one thing that I cannot fix and will not attempt to fix.
We have a neighbor that works on computers for a living and couldn't fix it. I have to give him a break, he didn't have much time due to a family emergency. You also have to know that my husband is about as computer illiterate as you can get. When he started messing with it one night, I asked him what he thought he was doing with MY computer. His answer was quiet," just thought I would see what I could do with it."  I was reading, all of a sudden I heard the Windows music. I started screaming and yelled that's Windows music. Yay!!! Well, little did I know how much work there was left to do. My daughter in law did tell me that it would be like starting out like new. OMG do you have a clue how much is in a computer that you have had for two years. I will tell you....a lot!!
Just for instance my Favorites. I have to have My Favorites. I didn't have them any more. So I started out to my desktop to get them. For some reason some of them weren't even there. And of course, tool bars, desktop icons, contact list was STILL there. Face book was STILL there, Huh? Weird stuff as well as Twitter. Unreal. It's thinking was all messed up. My blogs were still there. Oh by the way my address is mrsfrenchie1.@blogspot.com  I hope you will stop by and visit. I should be able to start writing on a regular basis from now on.
I always put my signature on these. That will take awhile. It was wiped out too, I just found out. Oh, well, carry on!
P.S  Finally figured out how to get  my signature back, but I can't move it. Oh what a day!