Confessions of a Grandma

Busy around the house today--tidying up, doing some laundry, filing or tossing the accumulation of papers on my desk, taking care of some bills, making those insurance calls--I took a break and sat outside to read for about a half hour after my lunch, then came back in to continue with the chores I'd set myself for the day. The sun was bright and warm.  I kept my head in the shade but I stretched my legs out in the sun and relaxed.  I thought I would go back out a bit later and I left my book on the lounge chair near the garden. How quickly things can turn!  The sky turned black.  The trees were swaying, trying to reach their leafy tippy tops to their roots.  I ran out to grab my book just as the first drops fell.  In a few seconds there was a deluge, lightening flashing and thunder rumbling. My chores are done.  It has turned out to be a good day for curling up by the lamp and reading. Do you think I can count saving that library book from a s...

My neighbors brought over a bag of green beans and assorted summer squashes from their large vegetable garden this morning.  That simplifies meal planning for the week.  And lucky for me that they stopped by before I headed out to the grocery store. I have a couple of casserole recipes for summer squash that I like. My brother gave me blueberries.  A loaf of zucchini/blueberry bread will go in the freezer. I will have to freeze some of the green beans, but I do love fresh picked green beans--just don't know that I would eat them three meals a day for the rest of the week. My mother made a creamy soup with green and yellow beans that I really liked.  I will have to spend some time tracking down that recipe. I love summer meals!

It is no secret that I hate the very concept of insurance.  HATE it. Here is a sacrificial goat I am burning at the altar.  Please don't let bad things happen to me. Here is a big pile of sacrificial money, that may as well be burning at the altar because I will likely never see it again.  Please don't let bad things happen to me. A quote from Kristin Cashore, author of young adult fiction/fantasy:   “Q:  Why do you use swear words on your blog, but never the F word?   A: Because I'm saving the F word for the day when I write a blog post about the for-profit health insurance industry and the way its CEOs become wealthy by not only preying on, but exacerbating, other people's personal tragedies. When my daughter was little, she used to play a card game with my mother.  It was called, "Amy Wins."  So you can guess how that went. The insurance industry has become a gambling game of "You Lose."  But we can't guess how that is goi...

Arkansas Patti apparently feels a bit guilty about giving her new pup rein to indulge its hunting instincts .  She has a problem with voles. There is a lot of that going around.  I went to the hardware store just the other day and asked about traps, poisons, machine guns, anything that might get rid of these little pests. Wikipedia image. Much cuter than a mole. We did not have this problem when our cat was alive.  Perhaps he was more of a hunter than we ever suspected.  Now there is such a system of tunnels in the yard that I sink when I work in the garden.  The tunnels rim the perimeter of the house.  I live in fear that the place will sink into the center of the earth. Our neighbors old cat saunters over to lie down under the shady astilbe and seems to just watch the voles scamper around him.  Useless. Poison all over the yard is a bad thing for other forms of life while the voles a happily pulling the grass down from the roots. ...

Good News! That is how a letter I got today from my credit card company. I can request an increase in my credit card limit--instant!  No hassle!  Ask and it is mine. Good news indeed.  And how lucky am I?  The opportunity to sink myself into debt is as good as winning the lottery.  Really, there is no need for me to want for a single thing. So you won't be able to call me because I have no cell service...but I will be out shopping anyway.

For years and years, I never felt the need for a mobile phone of any kind.  What would I have to say to anyone on the planet that could not wait until I was home. I certainly never overheard a conversation on a cell phone in a public place that did not sound as though it was considerably less than urgent. Then we got stuck at an airport after a weather-related flight cancellation and I noticed that those who were whipping out their cells phones were at a distinct advantage over those few of us (basically Mike and me) who were searching for a public phone to make the needed arrangements. A few years later, when we started to travel to Florida for the winters, I decided to get a phone for travel purposes.  I had seen an ad in the AARP magazine for Consumer Cellular.  At the time is a free phone and $10 per month for a very basic service.  I called them.  They informed me that they could not send me a phone because there was no service in my area.  I trie...

I finally did it, made a step into the 21st century! I bought a smart phone.  So far it is way too smart for me. And I hate being outsmarted by something the size of my hand so I may have to give it a full body smack down. Or perhaps I should go see my grandchildren to have them explain it all to me. I have the "getting started" videos, but they seem to have no relationship to what actually happens when I turn on my phone. I have to stop and go listen to my anti-anxiety tape and I will probably fall asleep as a result. Don't anybody try to call me for a few days.