Confessions of a Grandma

The house we bought came "partially furnished."  This means that there was a furnished master bedroom. spare bedroom, living room, dining area, and all the major appliances.  There was a patio set of table and four chairs and a few decorative items.  But of course we want to make the place our own and then are are the little things we needed to furnish for the kitchen and the stuff of life. We have a budget and a set of priorities.  We want to be able to cook and clean before we start adding some decorative color.  We wanted to use the one completely empty room for an office/work space.  But we find that we have to be flexible.  Venice, Florida is a good place to score deals at consignment shops and charity resale shops.  They are everywhere.  Some places are like dumpster diving and others are so high end we can't even afford the used stuff.  So we might set out looking for one thing (a bookcase for the office) and come home with some...

We arrived at our new home on Saturday afternoon and have been keeping busy getting settled in.  We have contacted Florida Power and Light and signed up with the county Water & Sewer Department.  We have been hitting the resale and consignment shops along with Target and Big Lots, but we are taking our time about making decisions.  Although, some of those decision come fairly easily.  Mike found a Lazy Boy recliner at the Goodwill store that is the exact twin of one that was already in the house.  He has put the new recliner in the office along with his closed captioned enabled TV and is relaxing a bit today. We looked down our street last night after a rainy day and caught a glimpse of the sunset. It reflected pink off the fence to the east. In addition to getting the house itself settled, I noticed that there is some weeding to do out in the yard. This tree was in the morning shade, so I weeded under that. I'll have to learn the pruni...

The car is just about all packed up.  Mike approaches the job of car loading like some kind of giant jigsaw puzzle and every little nook and cranny has something stuffed into it but nothing interferes with visibility.  We will leave tomorrow morning and arrive in Venice Saturday afternoon.  We plan to be back in Vermont in about three weeks time.  A lot of car travel, but we are kind of excited about spending some time in our own vacation home.  Most of what we are taking this time will stay down there. I should get a air miles credit card because eventually the car trip will has lost its appeal.  Anybody recommend a good one? I have a last minute load of laundry to do and I'll give the house a quick dust up, but I am pretty sure Mike is wishing we were on the road already. 

I hope everyone in the whole world reads Arkansas Patti's blog, the New Sixty.  She is a woman with an interesting life, an interesting take on life, and a wicked way with spinning out a story.  I just finished reading "The Circle of Life."   Please check it out now. I was taken with this: "Then the years pile on and I believe they do not pile on evenly. I think they pile up all on one side, causing our balance to become suspect. " I would almost like to be able to explain my total lack of coordination as another one of the of aging, but, alas, no.  I was simply born with a clumsy gene...a very dominant clumsy gene. I actually have two vivid memories of my toddler years.  Details were filled in by my parents: we were visiting maternal relatives in Toronto.  I had to go to the bathroom so my mother took me upstairs.  I was old enough to be toilet trained, but young enough and sleepy enough so that my mother felt the need to pick me up at ...

It's not often that I am ahead of any kind of trend.  I am not even sure that this counts.  I've written about my old Opal Kadette and my yellow VW bug --small cars that got me through the energy crisis and the escalating price of gasoline right on into the 80's (remember--went up to a dollar!).  I was into small, fuel efficient vehicles while others were just rolling their eyes at my toy cars.  I liked small cars--putting up with the lack of room and family loading conveniences for the ease of driving and parking. So when it was time for the yellow car to go to the car assisted living facility, I bought a Ford Fiesta.  A likeness can be seen on this video  if you look quickly--except mine was white.  This was a small car.  Very small.  Another standard transmission, stripped down model, but it definitely got us all where we needed to go.  This was a time when I should have had a minivan, soccer mom kind of vehicle because I...

In spite of the signs of autumn all around, nice weather has been hanging on in defiance of the weather forecasters and their dire predictions for frost and chilly rains.  I suppose it won't last for long though. I made chocolate cake for Mike's birthday.  Let me rephrase that...I made CHOCOLATE cake for Mike's birthday. Here's how: Butter a 9" cake pan and line with a circle of parchment paper.  Butter the parchment paper too. Melt 7 ounces of good quality baking chocolate and 7 ounces of good quality butter over hot water.  I used 4 ounces of unsweetened and 3 ounces of bittersweet.  Or maybe it was the other way 'round, I don't remember exactly anymore.  Stir chocolate and butter together. Add the chocolate mixture to 1 1/3 cup sugar in a mixing bowl and allow this to cool a bit. Then beat lightly. Add five large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 (that's one) tablespoon of all purpose flour. Scrape the batter...

Today was meant to be a somber day--although I don't really understand why the tenth anniversary is any more significant than the first or the seventh.  It was a tragic event, the bombing of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. We should remember it and especially those who rose as heroes to deal with the crisis and its aftermath.  We should also learn from it and bring the human race to a higher plain.  Since that does not appear to have come close to happening in the past ten years, I do consider it a very somber day indeed. I don't know if this was planned, but the VT air guard was flying overhead at 8:45 this morning.  Was it a tribute or was it an emergency?  I found it quite disconcerting but when I turned on the television we were all observing a moment of silence (except of course in my sky). I spent the day in  garden related pursuits.  I tidied up around all the garden beds.  I picked green beans and Italian peppers.  I canned thre...

Mike's cardioversion went well and he said this morning that he feels great.  Frisky, even.  That is good news even though he really hadn't noticed any symptoms previously.  (I admit that I was concerned at his being a bit out of focus, though.)  He is still hoping that the fist full of  medications he has to take each morning will be reduced.  His doctor said, "We'll wait and see."  I was reminded when my kids would get frustrated when they were given an answer of "Maybe." He had more Happy Birthday wishes than ever.  Every single person that interacts with a patient in the hospital asks, "What's your name?  When's your birthday?"  We were out of the hospital by 9:15 AM and he took a good long nap after we had some breakfast.  We'll have his cake tonight, so, in a way, he's getting a prolonged birthday. **************************  There are a number of puff balls growing in the back yard.  This is really a mutant lo...

There are a some photographs of Vermont's recent visit from Irene to see at http://mansfieldheliflight.com/flood/ . There are still a number of schools that have not been able to open because of washed out roads.  The piles of soggy stuff outside people's homes is just heart breaking to me.  Of course, most Vermont towns are located along rivers through mountain valleys but few of us ever thought to purchase flood insurance.  It's a sad situation.

Labor Day was very rainy--but at least there was not the flooding of the previous weekend.  The weather report for today is "cloudy until midnight, followed by more clouds and possible rain showers."  I had a dentist appointment today (replacing an old filling) and then went shopping.  On Friday, Mike has a doctor's appointment for a cardioinversion to reset his heart rhythm.  Routine.  Nothing to worry about...right??  Friday is his birthday #68.  Delightful way to spend it.  They say he will be done and out of there by 9AM. In between the week's appointments, the dreary kind of weather has given me some incentive to stay inside and get started on some cleaning.  The cloudy weather and Mike stepping in spilled oil in the garage and then walking through the house gave me incentive.  I have mentioned the carpet cleaning product, Argosheen, before.  It really works. We are also getting ready for a three week trip to Florida at the...

Not according to the calendar, but there is something about Labor Day weekend that makes it feel as though summer is making its exit out the back door while fall is knocking on the front.  My sister and brother-in-law were over for supper last night--a summery meal of chicken Cobb salad, fresh green beans, tomatoes and corn on the cob served on the deck.  Still, it was dark by the time we got to dessert. We had finally heard from our brother who lives in a town that was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Irene.  He lives near a mountain stream besides.  The were without electricity and the yard was flooded, but house, barn and animals were all safe. It was very sad to ride into town the other day and see the damage that has been done.  The next town, the one where I grew up, actually, was hit hard and it seems like everything is just covered with river silt.  My husband's old shop was flooded with four feet of water.  State offices in another town we...