SSS SPRING

It's time for another episode

of Saturday Scavenger Shots!

Our mission this week...

"SPRING"

Now that's a word I can get behind...

this time of year I cannot wait to see SPRING.

Wood violets are one of the first signs in

my area to say that the season of SPRING

has arrived.

 I like the way that these flowers 

decided to SPRING up between the spokes 

of an abandoned bike.

Once the sun begins to shine and the air

warms up around here...

 Roxy likes to SPRING across the yard

to get her duck.

But if there is a bummer side

to SPRING things...

it might be something like this evil

SPRING rocking horse...

that little Bear was playing on  one

SPRING day.

 

 

She stood in front of it...

pulled the horse toward her...

 and let go...

causing it to SPRING forward and

smack her in the head!

 

 

Then it was our turn to SPRING

to the hospital for stitches.

 Okay.

That's it for this week.

I hope that beautiful SPRING

weather finds you this weekend.

Beware the evil SPRING rocking horses.

A MIND OF HER OWN

 

Saucy, Olivia and Boo

 

 

A certain little girl has a mind of her own...

Olivia showed up a day early...

despite her scheduled c-section for Tuesday.

 

 

Grandma will arrive a day late.

That's okay.

I was extremely envious of the other family members

who were already holding her today...

but I'll get over it...

just as soon as I have her in my arms.

 

 

 

 

So I have been running around getting packed

and making sure that the man has everything he could

possibly want or need in my absence...

from fresh blackberry cobbler to Chicken Florentine.

 

 

 

His biggest concern came up right before he hit the hay.

He led me to his drawer and pointed into it.

I saw things in there;

underwear, handkerchiefs,

two pair of heavy socks, one pair of crummy socks,

and one lone nice sock.

 

 

He pointed at his bare feet.

I looked at them.

He pointed at the lone sock.

 

 

 

"Two feet, one sock."

"We could cut one foot off..."

I suggested rather helpfully.

 

 

 

 

He did not agree with my solution.

 I am not a big meanie.

I knew that he had 5 pair of socks on the laundry table

waiting to go into the dresser.

 

 

I think I'll bring him home a bag of socks as 

a souvenir. 

Well... I'm off to be with family 

and to celebrate

Olivia.

I am not sure how soon I will post...

though I am taking the laptop with me.

We'll see.

Take care... be happy!

 

 

 

 

TRIPPING AGAIN

I have no idea where this picture came from...

its been in my picture files for a long time.

I didn't take it and I don't claim it.

And I don't have permission.

I'd say "Sue me" but someone probably would.

I just like it so much!

I am so excited!

I know that I told you that we are expecting a grand daughter

"Olivia"

on March 6th.

That's only two days away!

Woot!

Bear and Squeaky and my X have all 

united to talk me into coming up for the event...

and once more to surprise Boo and Saucy...

who think that I am not going to be able to come up.

I wonder how many times this surprise thing will work?

Eventually someone is going to think that I will show up...

and then I won't.

Wow.

That will be a bummer.

Well, we will worry about that then.

I asked the man.

No, I do not HAVE to ask the man.

Its simply polite to consider his feelings.

Especially since it will require his assistance

to get me to the bus station and then home again when I return.

It also affects our budget.

The point is...

I'm going to go!

I will get to meet Olivia with the rest of my brood.

=:]

 

I am not exactly looking forward to the bus trip.

But I am looking forward to the adventure!

I am thinking that I will spend two nights.

Squeaky will come and stay with me in the cabin.

We will have a good visit that way.

 

 

Of course there is a part of me that does not want to leave

the man behind.

Who will feed him and take care of him?

Okay... he does know how to do those things for himself.

Goodness knows he did it long enough before me.

 

 

 

But you know...

its nice to think that maybe he won't enjoy not having me

around to take care of him.

Rather than think that he will be jumping around 

in his whitey tighties playing air guitar as soon

as I head out the door.

 

 

 

The excitement builds as I type.

I can't wait to see my kids...

and I am so glad that I will be there for

Olivia's birth.

I haven't missed one yet...

and I don't want to!

 

 

 

I will take pictures.

I will have a great time.

And I will still miss the man.

But then...

I suspect that coming home will be extra nice too.

.

 

 

 

 

 

SSS "COOK"

YAY!

Its time for another episode of

Saturday Scavenger Shots.

Our word for today,

given to us by Tara at Eclectic Spaghetti

is 

"COOK".

 

The man likes to treat me occasionally by 

COOKing me breakfast.

What a guy!

We both like to COOK outside...

on the barbeque, in the oven or on top of the range.

=:]

 

 This is J...

he is a professional COOK...

a.k.a a "chef".

This is my friend... who comes to visit.

She does not like the word COOK at all.

It makes her feel a bit...

well...

chicken!

That's it for this week folks.

I wish you all a great weekend.

The man is back working overtime through 

the whole weekend and beyond.

It will be a quiet one for me.

But that gives me an opportunity to 

COOK up some meals ahead.

And some fella requested that I COOK

another blackberry cobbler.

What will you COOK up to do this weekend?

Don't forget to check out the other SSS

blog posts...

like laura b. and Mrs. Hairy Woman.

(Gosh I really do love her name!)

And as always...

thanks for stopping by!

WANT SOME OF THIS?

Want some of this?

The man is on a mission.

Junk mail drives him crazy.

Most of us would say

"But what can you do?"

and then toss it in the recycle.

First off, 

nothing with our name or info on it goes anywhere but the shredder.

But that can be snipped out with scissors...

then loaded into the shredder

and the remainder goes into the recycle.

That is what we did for a long time.

But then Andy Rooney passed away.

When that happened,

we were treated to snips of Andy's work life on TV,

that we had not viewed in some time.

One of his 60 Minutes episodes

where he ranted about the things that annoyed 

him was focused on "junk mail".

No one really likes junk mail unless you  are 

under the age of 6 and know that "current resident"

really isn't how you spell your name. 

But what exactly can you do with junk mail?

Is there anyway to stop getting it?

NO.

No matter what you do...

who you call...

what removal list you sign up for...

junk mail finds you and creates a pile in your home...

until  you add it to the already stressed landfills.

But Andy Rooney had an answer.

The man has seized on this wisdom with a vengeance.

The rules are simple.

Keep all prepaid return envelopes.

Stuff all the junk mail inside the prepaid envelopes...

after removing your personal information...

and mail them.

Give the people who send you junk mail the joy

of figuring out how to dispose of it.

The postage is paid after all...

and they have a clear response to their offer.

Think of it as doing your part to help keep

the postal service going.

The only variation that the man has to his system

is for credit card requests.

That junk mail he leaves our info on

and writes in big letters across the application...

"NOT INTERESTED... TAKE ME OFF  YOUR LIST."

Does it work?

I don't know for sure.

We've only been doing it for a few months.

It keeps the man happy stuffing his ire into the envelopes.

Sometimes he even cuts the junk mail up into little confetti pieces.

Someone on the other end will have an interesting thing to talk about at diner.

Is that crazy?

Ha.

Feel free to join in.

Or not.

How do you deal with junk mail?

Up in DP'sH I used to keep it to light the wood stove.

Sometimes it makes the flames pretty colors.

But it did make a lot of ash.

Too bad our real life mail box doesn't have a spam file.

 

 

sTiR CrAZy

Birrrr...

Woke up to snow this morning.

Its supposed to do it some more...

though it was not much.

The sort of snow where kids have to scoop up every

flake in the yard to build a small snow man.

We are awful about collecting things and reusing them.

We do recycle in a serious way here.

The whole dang two towns together do that.

(We might as well be one town, but a river runs between us.)

We don't have box sized recycle containers.

We have great big garbage can style bins on wheels.

The neighbors drive the dog nuts rolling out their bins.

We do our part in our house.

So every margarine, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. tub

is carefully collected and put into the cupboard

we call the "Fibber McGee closet".

So named because when you open it, things fall out.

I am sick of reorganizing it repeatedly.

 Their lids occupy two big drawers in the kitchen...

they are in opposite corners.

It is a pain in the butt to find a lid that matches a tub.

The more one digs, the more messed up

each area gets.

It is a flawed system.

The entire time I have been living here...

the man has said to me

"This is your kitchen, you arrange it the way you want."

It's my area.

So as I was flipping through a coupon book for a local store...

I became very excited about food storage containers.

This may not float your boat.

It does mine!

This morning I purchased 80 food storage containers.

Does that sound excessive?

They came in sets of 40... so I bought two.

The thing I like about them is that the lids snap to their container bottoms.

There is no need for the bottoms and the tops to 

live across the room from one another.

Likewise no need for a messy method of picking through

piles of lids that are not the lid I want....

or the annoyance of lids getting stuck when you try to close the drawers.

I spent a wonderful day going through all our containers.

The man has more Tupperware than my mother ever had...

 and a good mix of Rubbermaid, Zip-lock and Glad containers too.

Crazy!

When I was finished, 

I had ten "saved" containers... the sour cream, etc.

stacked with their lids neatly stored beneath them.

Those are for sending left-overs home with guests.

No one has to worry about returning them...

please, please don't return them!

My cupboard is neatly arranged with lids below containers

for all of them.

Two drawers are empty now and ready to be used.

I've no idea what I will put in them.

But something will present itself.

Meanwhile, my recycle bin is 3/4 full of plastic 

bottoms without tops...

and plastic tops without bottoms.

Not to mention all the sour cream, etc. with lids.

I kid you not!

Tonight I will smile when I sleep,

knowing that the cupboard is neat and orderly.

 Happy sigh.

Tomorrow I will hit the drawer under the stove...

I rarely open it, its so scary!

There are pan lids and casserole lids in there for every

pot that resides here or ever lived in this kitchen... EVER.

Most do not have pots to sit under them.

I do believe in recycling and reusing things.

But the man, bless his heart...

is a bit of a pack rat.

Its all clean and lovely.

But certainly needs to be weeded out.

Clutter is a sneaky animal.

Where does clutter sneak into your life?

Are you a clutter buster...

or a pack rat?

I'm kind of both.

But every now and then, I go crazy getting rid of things.

I'm thinking this is spring cleaning itching to bust loose...

I really want the snow flakes to melt off and leave us be.

I'm so ready for sunshine and being outside again.