“THOROUGHLY MODERN” KIDS…

  First of all, we had a little excitement last weekend here in Sandwich… A car (I should say the person DRIVING the car) apparently thought the drive up window at Walgreens was a drive THROUGH window at the front door…At any rate, it caused a bit of commotion at the local store, and luckily not one person was injured…but the plate glass in the  front of the store was totally wiped out!!

I just HATE when this happens…Can you imagine being in line at the checkout with your prescription in one hand and bottle of wine in the other (that’s just how I roll , and NO I wasn’t there).. when suddenly…CRRRRRASH!!!!???? Glass raining down and flying everywhere, people screaming, and the still running car now sitting inside the store!  “CLEAN UP ON AISLE, NO WAIT A MINUTE….AISLES 1,2  AND 3…hmmmmm…MAYBE 4!!”…Perhaps the gas pedal stuck, or maybe someone hit the gas instead of the brake…At any rate…it sure gave us something to talk about  for a few days, and it does give a totally new meaning to “drive through”…..

  We had a cold and windy weekend here, and I am getting a very bad attitude.  McGyver and I look like Mr. and Mrs. “Nanook of the North”, out hunting for whale blubber when we walk in the mornings..and I, for one, am tired of dragging my winter coat, hat and gloves out of the closet…If we were sure the grass wouldn’t need a machete, we would stay in Texas until April!! The weather person on TV says it is suppose to be 85  here by Wednesday…He also says he has some ocean front property for sale in Phoenix..yeah, right.

  We did have one very bright spot to our weekend here.  Dennis and I went to see Taylor, our 13 year old granddaughter, perform in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” at the Harter Middle School.  (Harter is the school for 6th, 7th and 8th grades students). You may remember that this was a 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews….I sure do remember that movie!  I remember I wanted to BE Millie, moving to New York and on her own, or else Marlo Thomas of “That Girl”…OK,  now I’ll bet I’ve lost a few of you….But, believe me when I say it was every young girl’s dream.!

  All I can say is that these kids are soooo talented at such a young age…Not me…I had ONE line in a play when I was a high school Junior and I was scared to death and almost collapsed before I went on stage!!

That adorable, sweet and small young woman in green would be Tay….She is the smallest in the cast, I do believe….

She was cast as Rita, one of the Priscilla girls staying at the hotel where Millie was staying…NO FEAR HERE!!

These kids had to learn to tap dance…I use to have tap shoes and I took tap dance lessons…Now I just tap dance when confronting something I don’t like….

Am I overdoing the photos?? Am I becoming obnoxious???  Probably….As Judy would say, “Tough Beans!”  Am I proud?? DARN TOOTIN’!!..and I won’t apologize for it…

McGyver and I have to pinch ourselves every so often…We are soooo blessed to have such a wonderful family..every last one a keeper…WHAT A LIFE, EH??

FABULOUS JOB, TAY!!!! KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU LOVE!!!!

“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels!”
                                                                              ~ Author Unknown

Long Time…No Post..:-)

 

  OK, I know it’s been a few days between blog posts…I am trying to keep myself from dreading to sit in front of the computer screen.  I always said that if this blog thing became like a homework assignment, I would “cease and desist”.  Also, we  have been pretty busy here.  At least it seems like we have been.  

Monday, the GMC went into the shop for some diagnosis of his smoking problem…$329.00 later, he refuses to give up the smokes, and the mechanics at the dealership don’t know why he continues to smoke.  McGyver thought it was the injectors (whatever the Heck those are")…The mechanics called and said they were fine…He asked McGyver if he wanted them to check the glow plugs..THE WHAT??( Actually, that sounds like something that I would LIKE have….anything that glows can’t be bad, right?? At my age, I need all the glowing things I can get)…Well, they took the glow plugs apart and they also were fine…

Soooo, the GMC had been in the garage from 8AM until 4:30PM at that point…Dennis was thinking we may have to sell the farm to pay for this diagnosis…As it turned out, the price wasn’t as much as Den thought it would be…We were charged for 3 hours of labor (they didn’t charge us for the GMC just hangin’ around and smoking.)..”What IS the diagnosis??”, you ask.  I guess the diagnosis is that the GMC has a nasty habit of smoking and refuses to quit..And we paid $329 to find that out… We gotta get him on some Nicorette.

Last weekend John Wolff, our son-in-law who lives in Zionsville, ran another Marathon in Indy…He and Chris ran one last November when we were there, but John had a terrible cold and didn’t finish as well as he wanted to…So, he decided to run another one this Spring…Chris,their 2 boys, and John’s mom followed him in their car by driving to check points and watching him run by…He did a great job this time..He ran the 26.2 miles in 3hours and 7 minutes…Now, HE QUALIFIES TO RUN THE BOSTON MARATHON!!!! WAY TO RUN JOHN!!

  We have also been busy  helping our Uncle Jr.and Aunt Jeanette.  McGyver has been doing a few things at their home  that require a ladder…and NO ONE up there should be standing on any ladder!!! They are ages 88 and 96 (him and her) and still live in their own home.  That, in itself,  is darned amazing to me!!

THIS IS THE PART OF THE GENE POOL I WANT TO PULL FROM…

Our daughter, Terrie, has been busy working on some projects…She has the business “Terrie Heiser Designs”, and loves to decorate, redo, and re-purpose.    This usually involves, some sawing, drilling, sanding, painting, and a hot glue gun…Ter is working on a table for her sister, Chris.  Tuesday she came over to borrow McGyver’s drill…

TERRIE IS TOTALLY SWIMMING IN MCGYVER’S GENE POOL….NOT MINE, FOR SURE!!!

Well, it’s now cocktail hour, and I could use a nice cold Rum and Diet Dr. Thunder….(what makes me think the “diet” part is doing me any good??  stupidity)… I promise to put more thought into the next blog….It’s  hard to post some  really “deep and intriguing” blogs when your life is pretty much “ plain and mundane”…

“Humorists can never start to take themselves seriously. It's literary suicide.”                       

                                                                         ~ Erma Bombeck

I think I need a “lift”…

How the Heck did I go from this…..                to this????  My neck has more skin than my 96 year old Aunt’s…

Now, don’t get me wrong..I understand that there is a fair amount of gravity involved in the aging process. I fully accept so the much earned wrinkles and lines on my almost 64 year old face and body.  But my side of the family was cursed with the dreaded “turkey gobbler” waddle.  This consists of extra skin gathering under the chin and falling into ripples that would be the envy of Niagara Falls…My Mother suffered this malady, as did my sister, my Aunt and her daughters, too.  This is not just a bit of loose skin..This is Foghorn Leghorn stuff…It’s loose, wobbly and makes it very hard for  me to find my clavicle…!!

For those who have a weak stomach…I advise you to “step away from the computer screen”….

 

 

OK, that just about enough of ME looking at ME…I’m getting depressed….

 

My Mother had some issues, for sure…but she was a bit heavier woman than myself..I am beginning to feel like a relative to the  Shar Pei dog..

DO YOU SEE THE RESEMBELANCE????

OK, this guy needs a bit more work than I do…but…. “I FEEL YOUR PAIN, DUDE!! WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL THAT SKIN?”

Don’t get me wrong..I am grateful for my life, and I feel very selfish for wanting to change a bit of my appearance.. But, hey!..I own mirrors…and I really hate that waddle under my chin…I don’t want a total face lift..I can live with the wrinkles elsewhere on my face, but that extra skin under my chin has me re-thinking the idea of a bit of a chin tuck…..NO, this is NOT because McGyver has commented….He supports my decision..and it IS my decision…HMMMM ….and it’s a costly one…Lots to think about…

On another note….one of our followers who remains just  “GC” figured out how to give me McGyver as another Emeril…sort of a Denmeril…

 

Now…..This is pretty amazing to me…But what is more amazing ..look closely in the left corner of the photo…And who do you see smiling and admiring Denmeril??? Yep…that inventive photo editor, GC, managed to put me into the photo, too…Isn’t that just soooooo much fun???? Now I gotta post it on Facebook for my kids to see..God knows, they won’t read this blog if they see what the major content is…just tooooooo embarrassing, right????

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all  the women who read my rant about sagging skin and other lovely topics…I know darn well most of the men clicked the big “X” at the upper right hand corner of the screen about one paragraph into this blog…

“Maybe age is kinder to us than we think. With my bad eyes, I can't see how bad I look, and with my rotten memory, I have a good excuse for getting out of a lot of stuff.” 
~ Erma Bombeck

Getting a few things cleaned up around here….

  Yesterday and today Den and I have been getting some Spring cleaning done…The flowers are beginning to blossom (the ones that made it through the frost)…We have the front screened porch cleaned up and our patio furniture is on the deck….

I finally got the house cleaned inside, laundry is done…dinner is ready to cook…

Sirloin steak, potato, mushroom, green pepper and onion kabobs for Chef Dennis to grill…He’s no Emeril, but he does a might fine job…..

I personally think McGyver should wear this outfit…FAT CHANCE!

The wind has been blowing like H-E “double toothpicks” around here for the past week… Our daughter, Terrie, who lives in Sugar Grove had one of her little trees snap right off in the wind!!

 

This little Maple tree had just really begun to grow and the Wind Gods decided it was too close to their pool and took it down for them…The Wind Gods also took a few pieces of the deck fencing down and they are probably clear to Aurora by now…

We still haven’t gotten our garden roto-tilled yet…I think this year we will forego the lettuce, spinach, and any other green thing that a bunny rabbit might find attractive for his buffet lunch…If we only plant Yukon Gold potatoes, and maybe green onions, and some tomatoes…..hmm… Do rabbits like onions?..Do they even know how bad it makes their breath smell?..and if they do, will they then nibble the parsley on my deck to “freshen” their breath????  I’m really tired of having to fence in the whole darn garden every year…

  I want to take this moment to thank all of you who sent your prayers to the family of our friend, Don Hann.  He was a “one of a kind”…I also wanted to share this photo.  It’s one of my all time favorites..

That would be MOI, Tim McGraw, and Donnie Hann…

In 1999, Don and his wife, Linda, asked McGyver and me if we would like to go into Chicago to the George Strait Music Festival at Soldier Field…Being owners of a tavern, they had 4 comp tickets given to them by one of the beer suppliers…AND..those tickets included 2 “meet and greets” with one of the stars…Mr. Tim McGraw…Did we want to go??? ARE YOU KIDDING??…When it came time to go backstage, Linda and Dennis pretended they didn’t care about meeting Tim, and they let Don and I go….Either they were total liars, OR they really weren’t as nuts over Tim McGraw as myself and Don…(You will notice that my left arm is around Tim…very probably on his butt..NO, REALLY??)  We’ll sure miss you, Donnie…

OK, so this is a very strange blog, but what else do you expect from a very strange person???  I have an idea for my next blog…It has to do with this question..”Have any of you had cosmetic surgery?”..and a mole taken off does NOT count….More on that later…

 

“Studio press agents make up anything they want to, and reporters go along with it. One flack created the legend that I had been blown up in an air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by way of plastic surgery. If it is a 'bionic face,' why didn't they do a better job of it?”  ~Jack Palance

Loss of a dear friend puts blogs on the back burner….

  I haven’t been able to get a blog in lately, and here is why….Last Saturday, we unexpectedly lost a good friend to Liver Cancer….Don Hann and his wife Linda use to run Don’s Olde Tyme Inn.. This a very old tavern that has been in downtown Sandwich for years and years..It still has the original wooden floor and an old mural painted on the mirror behind the bar.  This place has been called Peaches, Dicks, and many other names over the years…When the Hanns bought it, they renamed it Don’s Olde Tyme Inn…

  A few years ago, they sold it…and it’s name changed to just Olde Tyme Inn…So, just a note to say that Dennis and I were busy helping Don’s family relive memories in fellowship and sadness…sharing a few adult beverages, helping with the funeral luncheon, which was HUGE!!..It seemed I was deemed the official dishwasher…Don would have laughed if he could have seen me up to my elbows in crusted Lasagna roasters and baked on spaghetti noodles…

 

Here is a photo of the bar…It really is a neat place…Lots of us had many great times in there when Don and Linda had it…Rest in peace, dear friend….you will be missed by many….

I will blog a real blog later on this week….Thanks for being patient…Sometimes we have no time to even THINK about a blog, when life reminds us what is really important…

DEFINITELY a “killing frost”…

 

  Our weather here is actually returning to what it should be…Spring.  Seems like once the Cave Dwellers drove across the Illinois State Line, the Gods of Winter felt we needed a dose of reality..That Winter God really kicked our butts this last week..We managed to get McGyver’s birthday party in just as the weather turned frigid …I mean really freezing!! My poor Hydrangeas are in Intensive Care…

 

Man, oh man…I don’t know if anything will bring this poor thing back …The little bit of green leaves he did have are bowing their heads in defeat…Not much I can do to help, except hope that the Spring God returns the warmth of the sun and gives it some serious CPR!!

 

I did a “walk about” the yard, and it seems that most of the plants are OK, especially the ones near the house..But 2 of my beautiful Hydrangeas are really ill.

 

 

Den’s Aunt “Neenie”, who lives just one house away from us, brought me a bouquet of her daffodils before the frost got them….So..I DO have a touch of Spring inside the house…It is suppose to warm up this weekend and rain, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Hey Al , you were talking about how some folks don’t use the “crop” feature in Picasa to make their photos better…How do ya like the way I managed to leave the used kleenex in the corner of this above lovely photo??(I could have re-cropped it, but I thought it gave the picture some much needed “balance”…whatever.)

Yesterday it was “fair to middlin’ “ weather, so McGyver and I did some long neglected outside work…Oh, and thanks for all your well wishes for Dennis.  I am happy to report that after 2 full days on the couch, he is now healed and taking nourishment…and Busch Lite….

Our GMC hasn’t had a good wash since I got yelled at by the “carwash”police at Canyon Lake, in December.  And NO, that right photo is NOT our yard boy scrubbing it…Can’t you tell by the style and “cut of my jib” that it is MOI…and I am modeling a new ensemble just designed for washing vehicles…right down to the very flattering “chauffer's cap”.  Dennis had some repair to do on his chain saw, and was taking it apart in the back of his blue bomb…

We were working side by side, (which can be frightening in itself), and I was sorely tempted to give a little hose squirt Den’s way, but I had a feeling that if I got that chain saw wet,  we might have a scene from “The Chain Saw Massacres” movie on our driveway…(Just wait till it warms up and he doesn’t have the protection of that saw..).

Chris , John and their boys (our youngest grandsons) are basking in the Florida sunshine at Longboat Key for a long weekend.  They flew out of Indy Wednesday and will return Sunday.  John’s Dad and stepmom own a condo on the Gulf and they are staying there…and having fun…

 

This last was taken off the lanai of their condo…I sure wish we were there with them…Chris and John got married on the beach at the Hilton just down from the condo, in August, 2005….I don’t think Longboat Key has recovered yet..

They had a lovely wedding…Hard to believe it’s been 7 years!

OK, I just checked the radar and it looks like we are in for some rain pretty soon, and tomorrow we may be in for some severe stuff..Just great..I have shish kabobs planned for Chef McGyver to put on the grill…Never fear, McGyver can handle it.. He has been known to stand under an umbrella over his fire pit, so a little rain won’t scare him!!

I REST MY CASE….

“Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.” ~Terri Guillemets