107 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-17-18”

  4. I know that you are on the edge of your chairs to hear Further Tales from the Grandpa Chronicles.
    Last night I was at the art center getting ready to feed the artists from the show their dinner after the awards. I get a text from Grandpa. “Can I trade in my truck?” Then the rapid text of why it makes sense. His is a 2009 and this is a 2017. With USAA pricing and his trade in, it will be the same payment…and wait for it…..It’s a four door truck and that will make things a lot easier with the baby!
    I did not prepare this much for my own child. At the time I was driving a two door Mercury Cougar that belonged to my dad. (He had “loaned” it to us so that we could make infertility payments rather than car payments). I had no desire to purchase anything. The only things our parents gave us for the baby was a chest of drawers from my dad that matched the borrowed crib and changing table and after all my showers my mother in law took me to Baby’s R Us to get what was left on the list of what I needed.
    Oh, and since I work in Pensacola, I can drop by a couple of days a week and watch the baby while DIL takes a nap while she is on maternity leave. After she goes back to work it will be nice if I can make sure they have a couple of meals during the week. Hello???? I don’t even cook around here that often!!!
    I am very proud of myself. I just smile and laugh and tell him he’s dilusional. I think he may have gained a little “baby weight” and I am starting to wonder if I should prepare for post partum depression.
    (In case you are wondering, this really does make me laugh)
    I am sure what DIL really wants is for her (step) mother in law to hover over her and drive her up a wall. She is 26 years old. She has made it this far. Besides she is almost as picky a eater is BG.

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  8. I was bumfuzzled about Donna’s congratulation until I went over and read Cheryl’s rave.
    Congratulations Cheryl.

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  12. Close to moving a bunch of furniture out and around 🙂 Or at least I was until the worker took a flying leap off my front porch. Cute turning bookcase all cleared off, TV cabinet cleared out (except for TV). Still have 2 valances to take down. Worker was going to start prepping wood trim on house exterior but now we’re beset with injury & late-season rain, with more to come next week.

    And today is tax day.

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  14. The Irish drum is called a bodhran. I got one for Second nephew as a Christmas present, since he is always drumming or otherwise making rhythm. He was quite delighted. That branch of the family has a strong streak of Irish, since my father’s origins are Scots-Irish and Eldest sibling-in-law bears an ancient Irish surname.

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  15. So I posted last night at 12:01 EDT and Jo posted on this thread at 12:09? You mean if I had waited a minute or two I could have been first on this thread and last on yesterday’s?

    Congrats on the new house, Cheryl.

    Have fun with the excited grandpa, Kim.

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  16. I said this last year too, but saw the Chieftains at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago, lots of fun. 🙂

    And while we’re primarily Scottish/British, here is one of my Irish ancestors in honor of the day:

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  20. No photographs exist, of course, of my great-great-great-great grandfather who was born in Ireland and came to Canada 256 years ago. He was five when he made the voyage with his parents, and became the first settler in the community where my father grew up.

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  21. Chas, does that mean you didn’t get my e-mail last night? You were included in the group I e-mailed when we got home, but maybe your account blocks e-mails with photos.

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  22. Cheryl, I got an e-mail from you about a week ago, but not last night.
    I can get e-mails with photos.
    Sometimes “dangerous looking” material goes to my spam filter. But I always know what I’m deleting. i.e. each post is deleted separately.

    I am now getting e-mails from a lady who thinks I am Brian. And she wants to tell my fortune.

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  23. I think I have everything for the tax man. One thing I was looking for was, indeed, found in a box in the garage. It’s been that kind of year.

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  24. Does anyone watch the TV show The Good Doctor? I don’t watch it, but I will be recording Monday’s episode to watch. Someone on a Moebius Syndrome Facebook page mentioned interest in the upcoming episode, about a girl who can’t smile and wants “smile surgery”. I don’t know if she is being presented as having Moebius Syndrome, or some other facial paralysis, but it sounds interesting.

    If you’re wondering, yes, “smile surgery” is a real thing. There are a couple kinds that are performed, I think, but basically it is taking a piece of muscle from another area (often the thigh), and kind of making it a sling in the cheek. The patient learns to bite down on the back teeth to make the smile happen. (That is the way the procedure was explained to me years ago. It may be somewhat different now.)

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  30. I am sure none of you will be surprised to hear that Little Miss H got a another outfit today. It’s a 9 month so she should be able to wear it for football season when she and her grandpa watch football together.
    He also wants her to be a Dogwood Trail Maid. I messed up and told him she would have to live here to do that. (We are at least 16 or 17 years from her being able to anyway). I also told him that had been a dream for my own Baby Girl but she wasn’t cooperative.
    He is sure I am going to want to spend all of my lunch hours seeing her so her mommy can take a shower or nap. I told him I rarely leave the office as it is. This will be different he assures me.

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  32. Kim, is this first attempt at being a grandfather?
    He won’t understand at first, but will soon learn that the best thing about being a grandfather is that you can give them back.

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  34. Kim, Elvera once said that when she takes over the country, she was going to make a ruling that grandkids can never be more than an hour close nor farther than five hours away.

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  37. Oh it has been a lovely day in CO…I went antique shopping alone…needed to have my “own” time for just a bit. I wore green…I do family history of descendants coming over from Ireland…however my Irish ancestors originated in France so I’m not certain what that makes me exactly! ☘️ Then my neighbor and I went for a 5 mile hike…my feet are now sore!
    I am so happy for you and your husband Cheryl. May you find many sweet times and begin the making of sweet memories in your new beginnings! And hopefully you will have many new fine feathered friends flying about your new location!

    Liked by 2 people

  39. Chas – My mother would not have agreed with Elvera about that. The farthest away from her and my dad we ever lived was about half an hour, and when the girls were 8 and 11, we moved to the same town my parents, and also my brother and his family, lived in (where we still are). Mom and Dad loved doing things with their Three Beautiful Granddaughters (my two, brother’s one), and they even enjoyed babysitting, as long as they were not taken advantage of.

    I often chuckle at that saying about grandparents – that they can enjoy them and then give them back. Having Nightingale and The Boy live in the same house is indeed a tremendous blessing, especially since Hubby died, but it means I can’t be as much of a doting, spoiling grandmother as I would like to be. (Although I am a softie, nonetheless.)

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  40. Re: the TV show I mentioned earlier, with the upcoming episode about a girl who can’t smile. A comment on that Moebius Facebook page post said she saw a preview, and it seemed that the character’s lack of a smile is due to complications from a stroke. I’m still gonna watch it, though. It does sound interesting. (Part of the plot, from what I saw, is that the doctor thinks it it an unnecessary surgery, presumably because a smile is not necessary to one’s health.)

    There are several in the Moebius community who have had smile surgery (many very successfully, some not quite), and there are also many who chose not to have it. There is some controversy as to whether or not parents should choose to have their young children have the surgery. It is most successful when done while the patient is still young, but many feel that parents should wait until children are old enough and mature enough to decide for themselves. (Many young children do want it, though.)

    In my case, where I have half a smile, I don’t know if they would do it, as I think it is only done on patients with full facial paralysis. When I was 16, and we had only then learned about Moebius Syndrome, we were planning on me having the operation. My naive 16 year old mind thought that it would somehow make everything better for me.

    I was devastated when the surgeon decided he didn’t want to do the surgery after all. At the time, I think it was a relatively newish procedure, and he felt the risks to the optic nerve were too great.

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  41. Kizzie, I don’t think I have your e-mail address. If you have mine, e-mail me, and if you don’t, then e-mail Kim or Michelle (I think you have theirs?) and have them give you mine or give me yours . . .

    Liked by 2 people

  43. Cheryl, when I fly into Indianapolis airport I take 65 to 74 and head south toward Cincinnati….if you are in the vicinity perhaps we could have a meet up sometime. I am planning a trip this Spring….most likely in May. Not certain if that is an area where you are, but just in case 😊

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  45. I love old beat-up furniture pieces. Cleaning up the antique cedar chest — much scarred but in a very cool way — to serve as the new TV stand for now. It came from my mom’s house, but I’m not sure if there’s a personal history to this one. But I love the rustic look and it’s served well as a “coffee table” (and may again once I figure out the TV piece of the puzzle in this house).

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  46. Kizzie – I watch the Good Doctor every week. Here is the description form the ABC website:

    “Freddie Highmore plays Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, relocates from a quiet country life to join a prestigious hospital’s surgical unit. Alone in the world and unable to personally connect with those around him, Shaun uses his extraordinary medical gifts to save lives and challenge the skepticism of his colleagues.”

    Everyone doubts his abilities until he comes up with solutions no one else thinks of. He also has to learn social skills, so his bedside manner is blunt and to the point. It’s a good show so far, but it has only been on since September.

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  47. And now that it’s been treated with several cleaning/restoration coats, it doesn’t look that old at all anymore. 🙂

    Never heard of the Good Doctor

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  50. Nancy Jill, I’d have to look at a map to see how far any of that would be from me, but I think it would be doable. You can get my e-mail address, too, and I can tell you more specifically where I will be. 🙂 We’d probably have to meet somewhere other than our house, though (moving boxes and all of that).

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  51. DJ, I love old furniture too, I have several older pieces (probably not older than 1930s, though). It’s hard to find older pieces out here since this area was settled much later than the rest of the country.

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  53. Dj I use an old carpenter’s trunk as a coffee table in the family room…I, too love the more rustic look. I also use a very old officers field desk as my bread box…it has little cubbies inside where I keep microwave packets of popcorn 🍿

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  54. So much of my house is furnished with ‘old’ (family) things — my mom’s childhood kitchen table from Iowa (which will likely serve as my ‘new’ dining table); my grandfather’s old trunk & ‘shaving’ mirror; my grandmother’s ‘sewing’ rocking chair; my dad’s high school workshop table; oh, it goes on and on.

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  59. DJ, I thought the TV was going on the wall between the kitchen and the den, with the sofa on the exterior, side wall (not the one with the window or the wall opposite it). The trunk was going to be the coffee table again.

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  60. Yes, but in baby steps — although I still don’t like TVs on walls 😦 that’ll take some rethinking. Right now just trying to clear out bigger pieces

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  61. Wondering, too, about how well WiFi router will work from way in back of the house so just a few things like that I’ll have to take up but all in good time

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  63. https://www.marthastewart.com/1106009/konmari-trendy-new-organizing-method

    Keep only what you really love and let the rest bless someone else. You have some FABULOUS pieces. I really want your spinning bookshelf in the den. It is such a great piece. I have the above mentioned book on Kindle if I can share it with you, even if you don’t do it all it helps with mindset.

    decluttering-book-2-d112046.jpg
    PHOTOGRAPHY BY: MIKE KRAUTTER
    I’ve always said that I’m a connoisseur of stuff — which is really just a silly way of saying that I have way too much of it.

    I collect kooky knickknacks from flea markets and souvenirs from my travels; I amass paper, paint and pencils for that next project that I always promise myself to get to next weekend. Oh, and then there’s my antique bottle collection, my bird statuettes, my books… You see my problem? So when I heard circles buzzing about the book on the trendy, life-changing organization method known aptly as “KonMari,” I knew I was the perfect candidate to try it.

    The organizing consultant’s name is Marie Kondo. Her “KonMari” method of simplifying and organizing the home led to the runaway bestseller “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” She’s even garnered a cultlike following — they call themselves Konverts and proudly share before-and-after photos of their properly folded sock drawers and emptied closets. These Konverts were made just from reading her book. The real-life Kondo has a three-month-long waiting list.

    In her native Japan, Kondo says, tidiness is a way of everyday living. She applies feng shui principles to the tenets of her tidying and ditches long-held organizational beliefs — such as cleaning little by little every day, storing items according to the seasons and discarding one item for every item brought into the home. She says that these principles, though meant to help, are the very reasons why we seemingly are never able to maintain our mess.

    Instead, she advocates for one epic cleaning sweep: Keep only what “sparks joy,” discard everything else, and assign a home for everything within your home. Easier said than done, right? Kondo claims that this can be done but can take anywhere between a few hours to six months. I know what you are thinking — that is a crazy time span. But let me assure you that it can be done.

    For the purpose of trying the KonMari method myself, I did this in a three-day weekend in the middle of winter (when the spring sunshine wasn’t going to lure me outside). My apartment was due for spring cleaning, and I was stuck indoors on a slew of blustery, snowy days, so why not? I had run out of excuses. It was time to take control of my clutter, once and for all. And these were the philosophies I had to adopt:

    mld102519_1008_laundry.jpg
    LET GO OF THINGS TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE THINGS THAT MATTER
    And I don’t mean material objects either.

    “Before you move a single thing, the first step in Kondo’s method is to visualize the life you wish to have with a clutter-free space. A free closet or uncluttered walls isn’t deep enough. Dig deeper. What does a life free of clutter mean to you? Maybe it means hosting more parties for your friends or adopting a pet or raising a baby. For me, I visualized a more creative home life: one in which I could bake more, draw more, paint on canvas more (a hobby I’ve all but abandoned since my move to New York). These things have been put aside for dealing with my everyday messes. And who wouldn’t want to spend time with friends over organizing china in the cabinet? Kondo asserts that by discarding things, we’re freeing up space for the things we love.”

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  67. This was part of my reading this morning, from 2 Kings, chapter 3:

    “So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. Then the king of Israel said, ‘Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.’ ”

    And my mind immediately sang, “We Three Kings disoriented are. . .”

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  68. Besides, 50 bags, boxes 📦 to Salvation Army in 2017 – I’m on a roll with that, have been for a while now, no need for ‘zen’ masters. But I do love the antique bookcase, it stays somewhere. The ‘universe’ not getting it yet

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  71. DJ, You do know that I am living vicariously through you. Mr. P is a pack rat. I have 1980’s stereo components in my garage. “They don’t make them anymore, they’re classics”. I have a GIANT L shaped sofa in my living room that must stay because it has a 6ft chaise and fits his back so he can watch TV. The TV can ONLY go on that wall. The man only in the last year gave his son a pair of boots he bought in San Antonio in 1984. He has a sleeveless Hawiian shirt he wore to a party some time in the 90’s. I have broken tables that belonged to his mother.
    I on the other hand am willing to haul everything into the front yard and have an “estate sale”. Estate Sale sounds so much classier than garage sale. Oh and we also have the parts to an old computer that has photos on it. I told him the other day to pull the hard drive and take the rest of it to the dump.

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  72. Yes, there’s an outlet there, 2 I think. And one on the wall with the window (toward the back, away from the kitchen. But not on the wall dividing the kitchen and den — and that wall does have 2 built-in shelves that need to be put to better use, granted.

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  73. Well, I’ve done my share of hauling 🙂 Remember the garage and all that stuff from ‘home’?

    I honestly don’t have a big problem with boxing, bagging and giving stuff up. It’s the physical and time-consuming process that becomes tiresome and requires a couple breaks in the action now and then.

    And I’m about to haul away a few signficantly large pieces of furniture which will make a big difference in the space.

    I have no problem with putting the spinning bookcase in the den. But the other antique case stays, though maybe in another room as a swap for a less-interesting bookcase I’m fine with giving away. But that baby is staying. 🙂

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  74. Cleaning out the desk drawers a few weeks ago I came across several old phone components, both cell and landline varieties — cords, extra handsets, etc. I wound up with a bag full of those things and luckily we have an e-waste facility nearby, so off they went.

    I have an upholstered chair from home in the ‘den’ that will likely go as well. It was one of my mom’s favorites and I had it re-upholstered when I moved in here (and now there are a couple tears in that, thanks to a former dog). I’m over it for the most part. Maybe it goes to the garage initially, but it likely will go to Habitat (if they’ll take it with the tears, they’re small and are likely fixable) along with the computer desk & hutch, standing desk (yeah, good idea but I never used it) and TV cabinet (which I am keeping in the garage to be re-purposed for gardening, Xmas and/or other supplies).

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  75. Oh, and a quilt rack, which I’d used as a ‘towel’ rack in the kitchen, is now in the spare bedroom holding … a quilt, imagine that. I realized I use very few dish towels (I prefer paper towels, I buy them in bulk at smart n final) and the rack was just taking up valuable real estate in the kitchen. So out it went last night and into the spare bedroom where there is plenty of room for it at the foot of the single bed in there. Much, much better.

    I love and am open to finding new uses for things I want to keep. Glass-door antique bookcase I’ll wrestle with the universe to the death over = buffet in the new world order? Maybe.

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  81. An umbrella that could fit a revolving bookshelf would need to have the dimensions of Mary Poppin’s bag.

    Since we are speaking of antiques, I may, during my time off in the summer, be doing another antique restoration project. When my mother moved to the smaller bedroom on the ground floor, she asked to exchange her antique dressing table for my small washstand, since the washstand fit better in the new room. So, I now have the dressing table. It is painted white, but I know what it looks like underneath, since one of my siblings has the dresser that matches the dressing table, and she took off the paint and refinished it. The paint on the dressing table is somewhat the worse for wear, so it could use some refinishing. I’m still not sure what I will be doing this summer – while part of me wonders if I should try to work, another part of me thinks it would be wiser not to and instead build up my strength for going away in the fall.

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  82. Kim, I feel your pain. My dear father has the hardest time giving up anything he has hauled home over the years. That includes a lot of office equipment, since he made his living repairing office equipment. He has manual typewriters, electric typewriters, an adding machine or two, old electric calculators, parts of old copiers (growing up, we always had a copier, since he would get the apparently defunct ones and make them work again), fax machines, defunct computers… the list goes on. He is somewhat justified in his reluctance, since he has the ability to repurpose old parts of machines in very creative way – at one point, he worked for a big national office equipment service company, and they took forever to send replacement parts, so he improvised. He no longer works, but he still repairs things around the house, and you never know when he might need ____. Second siblings’ spouse is also one who repurposes things, so between the two of them, the amount of stuff is not being reduced. They are not hoarders, as hoarders save what cannot be used and is waste (I have a relative who is a real hoarder and there is a difference), but it can feel a bit crowded. I have decided I can live with it, so long as my room is the way I would like it.

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  83. My father still has his old stereo set from circa late 60s/early 70s, complete with not only a record player hook up, but also an 8 track player. The 8 track player still works! So does the record player, of course (short of being melted or scratched out of all recognition, records are very durable). So, sometimes, when I feel like hearing the ambiance of record music, or playing that one 8 track that never got transferred digitally, I will go down and dig my father’s set out of everything he has piled on top of it, and play it. It still sounds really good, certainly better than the small speakers that we have to plug the computer or mp3 players into, or our former CD players. I have played the set for my older niece and nephews, who were really intrigued about how records are an actual physical record of a sound wave.

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  86. Cheryl – Michelle sent me your email (which I haven’t had time to look at yet, but look forward to). Btw, you and I have exchanged emails in the past, so you might have my email address unless it got lost if you changed accounts or something.

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  88. Ok, antique (non-spinning)bookcase can be moved and repurposed to hold colorful dishes in dining area, it will look so cute. I’m trying to figure out how old it is based on what look to be the original brass hinges – late 1800s or early 1900s is my guess.

    No pet rock has been found yet, Chas, sorry to report. Maybe Mr P has it.

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  89. Chery I thought I had your email from a past attempt to have a meet up but my contacts list isn’t revealing it if it is there! Michelle graciously forwarded your email to me…I saw it while I was at church and we have just now arrived home so I have yet to read it…but I do have it now…thanks Michelle! ♥️
    And that revolving bookcase…the quality of Dj’s is not something that is common to find…so if you ever come upon one at a shoppe or estate sale…snatch it up…those who happen to own such a treasure never let them go. We had one in the shoppe where I once worked…that shoppe was in business for 34 years and only once did such a treasure find its way to us….and it was snatched up within hours…Dj keep yer doors locked!! 😃

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  90. Just finished eating dinner that I made together with my younger son. It was actually his project, a recipe that my husband found and suggested, because our son likes to cook for us about once a month. But he takes on recipes that I don’t try because they look too complicated, so I end up helping him to get everything done. It was a lot of work, but it came out pretty well (if not exactly like the picture in the recipe) and it tasted good.

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  93. Now where is that umbrella of mine….?
    Well, here is an interesting helmet I could put on, and some football gear, leftover from some child or other… some cleats…

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  99. There are some who would sneak in and grab, not caring who gets knocked down in the process. And at my advanced age.

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  101. Hmm. Well. That was kind of…er….rather…ummm…well, never mind. Everybody just go about your business. As if you need to be told. Returning uniform parts to their boxes. Nonchalantly walking off set, whistling quietly to self.

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  104. Hmmm….that’s all I’m a sayin’….well except for one more thing…it is snowing…big time…big flakes…lots of flakes…first thing in the morning I am going to make a snowman…yes I am!! ⛄️

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  105. My mother had fun making a snowman this past week with three of her small grandchildren. She’s been helping out some with Youngest sibling, who is due to deliver any day now.

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  106. Mumsee, (assuming your question at 8:46 was in response to me) it was called Scalloped Potato Roll. It has a layer of sliced potatoes and parmesan cheese, which get baked first, then a layer of spinach mixed with ricotta cheese and garlic, then a layer of ground beef with onions and diced tomatoes and parsley and some seasonings. Then you roll it all up and bake some more. We had some trouble with the rolling up part, but it mostly worked. And I assured my son that it would taste just fine whether it looked like the picture in the recipe or not.

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  107. Nancy Jill, I also wanted to answer your question as to the possibility of a meet-up by communicating about where we will be living. Which I suppose you know if you got my e-mail forwarded to you, but it would be nice if you and I could touch base more directly.

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