Tuesday August 24th - Life is Good. I have survived celebrating my birthday. I went to work this morning and all the 'girls' greeted me with birthday hugs. It was great. (Like last week at Dr Marks, wonderful, warm, positive greetings.) We are all ages and different backgrounds and we all get along so well. I ask myself, why did I stay in a toxic office for so long. I know that I loved the patients and had loyalty to them but truthfully I was blind to the toxic and malicious and even greedy environment. I know I missed a lot just because I was there only one day a week. I just wasn't looking for the bad stuff until it slapped me in the face, and I can't believe I tried to give the job I have now to someone else, I am glad God is watching over me especially when I am not acting smart. Dr V treated the whole office to lunch and we sat outside and enjoyed one of the last days of summer. Family Dinner was lots of fun too. The nieces brought birthday greetings too and Dinner was good. I am cooking from the freezer so I started with some gold potatoes and roasted them with garlic and olive oil @ 500 degrees for about 20. During those 20 minutes I took some thawed chicken breast and pounded them thin and pan fried them a bit on each side using an Italian herb seasoning that I got at the oil and vinegar store. I cut the chicken in smaller pieces and put it on top of the potatoes then I added some frozen broccoli and frozen zucchini on top of the chicken and on top of all of that I poured a jar of marinated artichokes with the dressing and continued to bake at 400 degrees for another half hour. The meal was delicious with some good crusty bread. Amanda brought brownies that she had taken to work. They had a brownie smackdown: four or five people had brought in their brownies and there had been an office wide taste test, Amanda's came in second they were awesome. She also brought her computer with her as she had just bought a new computer program, Rosetta Stone for learning Greek. So we all sat around the table and had a lesson in Greek until our brains couldn't take any more. I pretty quickly understood what I was learning and could hear the sounds that were important but I could not 'say' any of them correctly. It was a great program to work with and lots of fun.
Wednesday August 25th - Another full day at work. We were still eating birthday brownies and cupcakes at the office too. After work on Wednesdays I try to run errands through Redmond on the way home. Tonight I picked up ten more bags of compost and 3 of potting soil. When Bill was unloading my car he said next year we are not doing it this way, we are getting a big truck load at one time. I didn't know I was going to need so much compost but it is really helping the beds look good and it is eventually going to enrich the soil also. I missed AAA by 15 minutes, they closed at 5:30 and it was 5:45 when I got there so I will go by there in the morning. Then I stopped by my friend JoAnn's house and watered all her hanging baskets and pots while they are on a cruise on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Bill had all ready had dinner, (leftovers) when I got home. The television was not working well at all (We don't have cable and the antenna is not a good answer, in my opinion.) so I went off to another room and wrote a few thank you notes.
Thursday August 26th - I so look forward to the extra rest I am getting on Thursdays these days. It was wonderful. There was rain in the air and the temperature was about 50 degrees. I did some laundry and some work at the desk then dressed and went back to Redmond to AAA to get maps for vacation planning. Vacation will be coming up in a few weeks and we are starting to get excited. Do you want to see the house we have rented? Check out this link: http://sohnrealestate.net/rentals/sycamore/ Then I drove to Renton and met Tamara for lunch and to get my hair cut. I like the cut, the color I will need to get used to. The highlights are sort of orange..... she called it a 'wood' shade, definitely more brown than golden that I have been used to in the past but it is not hot pink.... but it looks pretty orange to me. Then I just came home and hung out. I am listening to an audio book and knitting. Maybe I will have something to show for it by the end of the week. Not as much as I wanted but that’s the way it is.
Friday August 27th – Bill took the day off. Actually we had both planned to be off today because we were going to go camping with Christopher’s family and the rest of his side of the family (Priscilla and Jeff, Avram, Rivka and her Chris, Linda, and Jerry) We had planned it for a couple of months and were really looking forward to it. Then when I came back to work from my second surgery there was a sign up in the staff room that said, “Staff Meeting, Mandatory Attendance, Friday August 27th” so you guessed it, we missed the camping trip. I have missed too much work this year and I just couldn’t miss this meeting. I did take my knitting, a scarf that I am working on for a friend of Bill’s. I have finished the hat and I am making the scarf to match so I used the border of the hat for the ends of the scarf. It is not an interesting knit, just a knit2-purl2 ribbing so listening to the consultant and participating in the class all day really helped the knitting process. Friday evening we did meet up with our Friday Night Dessert Group, we met at Bob and Karen’s and it was BYOF. We stopped at Rock and Roll Burgers in Issaquah and got sandwiches, I got a bacon burger, hold the burger, my attempt at getting a BLT and it was very good, not in competition for the ‘best’ sandwiches but it was very good.
Saturday August 28th - We had one more birthday party to go to. Mick was Bill’s best friend when they were growing up and his birthday is the same day as mine. Mick and Christie put together a barbeque and lots of our Mount Vernon and peninsula and Canadian friends came and we all had fun catching up and seeing each other. That is one group where the food is always awesome usually healthy and for sure delicious. I made a pasta salad out of multi colored orzo made with corn, black beans and red chilies. The dressing was made from salsa and Greek nonfat yogurt. There was grilled Salmon, a corn salad, lemon green beans, broccoli salad, rice salad, good breads, rhubarb pound cake, chocolate brownies and lots more goodies. Bill and I went up in separate cars because I wanted to run some errands and he had a meeting to go to and was going to be running late. I did go by one of my favorite yarn shops that was having a sale on everything cotton, getting ready for the fall yarns, but I did not get very much. I was looking for the shades of peach for a hat I am working on and I got yarn for one other children’s project. Mick and Christies’ house is one exit from an outlet mall and so I ‘had’ to go by there when I was in the area…. Chico’s, and Coldwater Creek in the same area and I didn’t buy one single thing, I was running so late by that time I didn’t look at the shoe stores.
Sunday August 29th - We were up so late at the party and driving home and then I had a hard time falling asleep so I slept till after 9am. I put on my ‘work’ clothes and started cleaning up the herb bed. I did all the beds around the back porch area before I quit and felt like I had made great progress. I pulled the drying foxglove and shook all
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| I'm in front of the Bay Laurel |
the seeds into a white plastic garbage bag. I want to cultivate the seeds and strategically plant more. I love the height and color it brings to the beds. The seeds are so tiny and I bet I got between ¼ and 1/3 cup of seeds. Bill sorted out all the miscellaneous stuff and got it to just seeds. When we finished in the yard we decided to rest and watch a movie. I had Avatar on the Netflix list and it had come in the mail so that’s what we watched. We had seen it, 3D in the theater but I enjoyed watching it again and I paid more attention to some of the details this time around. We had a movie, documentary about Mark Twain but it didn’t work, in either of our DVD players so I am going to ask for them to send us a different DVD and we will try that again. We have really liked the biographies on historical figures that we have been watching. I think we have Thomas Jefferson to watch next. While I was watching TV I finished the second sleeve on a top that has been in process for over a year. Thanks to my new LYS (local yarn shop) and an awesome teacher there I finally charted the sleeves, knit them and now the sweater is ready to sew together. Yea!!!
What I am reading: I am at chapter 6 of ‘Respectable Sins’ by Jerry Bridges. I am listening to this in audio and when I got to chapter 5 and 6 I listened to it, then stopped and went back and listened to it again and now I am listening for the third time in the past couple of weeks. There is a lot of meat to chew on in this book. I may have to break down and buy a paper version so I can underline and go back more easily. It is very thought provoking. I am almost finished with Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux. It is an easy read, a romance novel with a twist of history. Nothing is turning out like you first think it will. I checked it out from the library and it has been a fun read.
Positive Thinking: No matter what happens to me, I am intent on remaining personally grounded: no longer thrown off course by events or my reactions to them. (Taken from Everyday Commitments by David Richo) That decision has really played a part in my life this year. I am grateful for a great support system of family and friends that have help me keep on track and reminded me that God is with me. I know I am healthier physically and mentally because of my experiences this year. I know that no matter what comes my way I will do my very best to handle it. My daughter-in-law Anne asks the children each night “What is your goal for tomorrow?,” the appropriate answer being ‘be a good boy… or make good choices. With Anne’s question in mind my goal for the week is to stay grounded and handle whatever comes my way in a positive manner.
Grannies’ Diary: Bobbie Ann Maxwell 1945: For a few years now my grandmother’s (my mom’s mother) diaries have been sitting on a bookshelf above my desk. Now that others are reading this, I think I will take things from her diary and tell you what was happening at her farmhouse also. I have started with the first complete looking diary and the year is 1945. I am telling her story, in her words as best I can.
Aug 24th Friday Well, well, I had a letter from Chy, the first I have had since she left July 26th. I sent Son a letter and I sent Bill one Tuesday. We washed today, sure had a big one. I mopped the floors. I am having trouble with my stomach but my leg is better. I talked to Emma and she is sewing. I talked to Mrs. Smith and they cannot come Sunday night as her aunt is dying she said she went to see her this morning. She also said for us to come and get her freezer. I told Jymmie to bring some of her friends Sunday night but Elsie said if she brought June Spruce she wasn’t coming. My telephone broke late this evening as I was trying to ring Cherokee.
Aug 25th Saturday - I ironed today and Dad and Frank went to Cherokee to vote. I can’t ring anybody but they can ring me. I wanted to ring Mrs. Walker and tell them to come eat cream with us tomorrow eve at 7 o’clock. I never did get Shelly Fay but I guess the girls told her. I talked to Em and Lovie and they went to town but the bank was closed. Tom M Jr. finally got Lovie some money and he deposited her checks for her.
Aug 26th Sunday – Well we had the big ice cream supper and it was sure nice, had a big crowd and lots of cream. It tried to rain late this evening. Elsie, Tom, Jymmie, Tom A, Jim, Gordie, Gordon all were here. Lovie, Hilly, Nancy, Emma all put this big to do on. I say again it was nice We have been married 36 years and Mrs. and Mr. Bowden 37 years.
August 27th Monday – I didn’t do much today. Talked to the Emma and Lovie. Emma wanted me to go to Brownwood with them and get my glasses and she told me late this evening that Gordie was going to take Gordon to Dr Phillips at San Angelo, so I guess they were going by Brownwood then on to San Angelo but I didn’t feel like making the trip with them. I’ll just have my glasses change up here in San Saba when Dr Conner comes, as I figure he is about as good as any eye specialist. Well the big storm on the coast has not gotten here. The radio says it is doing a lot of damage, some lives have been lost. Had a letter from Bill and he is in Colorado Springs.
August 28th Tuesday Well I wrote Bill and Chy each a separate letter today. It has tried to rain today and it is raining tonight. I guess the wind comes from the storm on the Gulf. Lovie called me and said the Peggie got off to Brownwood. The SanSaba girl scouts were bringing a play over to Cherokee tonite, a mock wedding, but we did not go as it was so rainy looking. Cecil took his nieces and Carolyn, and Alene went over to stay with Flora as Thomas was kinda sick. Dad got the goats in before it gets to stormy.
August 29th Wednesday – My we had a big rain today it sure was a much needed one. I talked to Lovie and I had forgotten to tell her that Bill had written us that he was in Colorado and that he might be home on a leave in a week or two. Sure hope the Peggie girl has a big time up at Jeans. 8 o’clock tonight. Gee, it is still raining, just fairly pouring down. I am so anxious for my two little Las Cruces girls to get here. We will sure love a body coming which includes ‘Lady Ann’, that is what Jymmie used to say when she was beginning to talk. She would stretch her eyes real wide and say ‘I hear a body coming.’
August 30th Thursday - Well we had a letter from the Chy, said she and Ann are ok but Ann had fallen down and hurt her nose and cut herself between the eyes, said she was going to have her picture in the paper. Sure hope she send us one. Well Mr. and Mrs. Bowden, Carolyn all came for a few minutes this evening and it started thundering and they hurried off home. Dad worked like a Trojan today separating one of his corn cribs into two bins, one for oats and one for maize.
August 31st Friday - Tonight at 10 minutes before 12 o’clock little Ann will be one big year old. We had a letter from Bill and he said he hadn’t gotten his leave yet as his chart hadn’t gotten there but some one said it came in the day he was writing to us, so maybe by now he will know how long a leave he will get. Mr. and Mrs. Bowden came this morning and brought me the steel saw. Dad and I sawed the heads from the iron beds and they look right cute. Mrs. Bowden said Tomas O had ear trouble in both ears, poor fellow. Lovie called but she didn’t know anything. I made pepper relish today. Banty started sitting on 7 of her eggs last night.
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