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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Earring 0151 - Honesty

After a little frustration trying to pay for my meal tonight at a local restaurant, my honesty was tested. They had a blonde hostess who was busily tossing her beautiful, long hair around. It's amazing how she could swing her head and whip her hair. I was wondering how much hair was getting into people's food but she was part of management. Four others paid their bills after I did but I paid with cash. Next time I won't be using cash. Well, according to the drink maker, it took the blonde several attempts to get my change. They must have a special machine they use because she couldn't get the change out. Got me, I didn't see it. Well, anyway when she brought my change to me, I made a smart comment about using a credit card to speed up the process next time. She laughed and I walked out of the restaurant while pocketing my change. Got outside and realized that she gave me too much change back. Thought about just leaving because of the amount of time it took to get my change back in the first place but went back in anyway. The manager came over and I explained to him that I had been given too much change back. I realized that the hostess had given me the price of my bill back instead of the difference between what I gave her and thee price of my bill. Told the manager my idea and he agreed after I told him the cost of my meal. It didn't take him too long to figure out what to do. He thanked me and out the door I went. Maybe instead of her swinging her hair around she should take time to help customers the first time around. Please don't be offended because I feel like telling a blonde joke...I'm blonde.

Needed a break from my frustration and found this site: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaveHax. It's great! I learned how to quickly cut a watermelon into easily handled pieces to eat. I'm a big watermelon eater and am anxious to try this. Hate leaving home after I get home at night otherwise I would be out buying a watermelon to try it. The next thing I learned was how to fold a t-shirt in seconds. Can't believe how easy that was after I watched the video multiple times. Too bad I don't have any t-shirts to fold!

Today's earrings

Last night's supper was almost my Greek eggs but I only had salted caramel Greek yogurt. Instead, I thinly sliced zucchini and sautéed it. Scrambled a couple of eggs, which I put on top of my zucchini, added garlic sea salt, lemon pepper, and grated parmesan. After my omelet looked like it was ready to eat, topped it with smoked paprika. Almost put my yogurt with it but chickened out. Maybe if it had been plain yogurt, I would have done it. Still want to try the other recipe especially after my omelet last night...it was delicious. Here's a photo for my sister.
Maybe it would have looked more appetizing had I taken the photo before I started to eat it. Going to have this again because the thinly sliced zucchini worked great with the eggs.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Earring 0150 - Sighing

Yep, I'm a sigher. When I get frustrated at work, I sigh. My new coworkers aren't used to that because they didn't know I sighed. I try not to do it but when frustrated, I sigh. So I looked online to see how negative it is. It is a sign of negativity to others but to the body, it's a positive move.

According to Psychology  Today's article on "Why Do We Sigh"(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201304/why-do-we-sigh), 77% of sighers sigh 4 sighs per person. I believe that and am sure that is how many times I sigh when I start sighing. They also said that sighing is a way for the body to "reset" itself both physically and mentally by changing the breathing pattern. I believe that too. Pretty much when I'm done sighing, I feel better. I sure don't mean to make others uncomfortable when I sigh but it is one of the quickest ways for me to refresh myself. It's a habit that I have tried breaking many times. Guess this isn't that bad of a habit to break because it does me good.

So the next time someone sighs, don't think of it as a negative; think of it as they are refreshing themselves to get whatever they are doing done. By the way, I sigh when I am by myself too. Caught myself tonight when I sighed because I didn't know where I put my phone - lol.

Today's earrings are keepers


On another note, ten people from Russia viewed my blog today.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Earring 0149 - Treats

Am having a fantastic treat pre supper. One of my coworkers was given some cucumbers and zucchini, which I love them both. Cut up the cukes and eating them with a little bit of ranch dip. Often, I just eat them without anything else on them. One thing I do like is to dice up cukes for potato salad. Cukes and radishes compliment celery and onions, a family favorite for potato salad. Wonder if my one brother realized that I didn't have any cukes or radishes in my potato salad last time. I knew it was missing something but didn't realize what it was until now.

Fried zucchini is next on the last. Add a little garlic, salt, and pepper and I'm set! Sometimes I dip the slices in egg and corn meal but tonight is special because this is my first zucchini this season. There will be more later because it grows so well in our area and a lot of the farmers market people grow it.

Thank you to my coworker for my treats. It's been a long time since I worked somewhere where vegies were brought in. Also, thank you to the person who grew them!

Purple passion earrings

Monday, July 28, 2014

Earring 0148 - Gray area

Here's a pair of words that I read for the first time - shilly-shally, which as a noun, means indecisive. Ah, but then I just remembered mom saying something like dilly-dalling around. I can hear her saying it when I was in my teens. Funny how you can remember stuff so many years later. To dilly-dally means to waste time when you should be doing something else. Both of these words are a good segue into the rest of the blog.

These earrings remind me of a recent conversation with a coworker. Gray area came to my mind. These earrings are really white on silver but it looks like there are gray areas in them. My coworkers mom and my mom had the same saying and basically it's there's two ways of doing something. There's the wrong way and then there's my way. Mom was pretty much always right but I didn't discover that until many years later and more so after she died.

Mom didn't have any gray areas and you always knew where you stood. There was leniency sometimes. She usually would listen to what you had to say first and then decide. Maybe that's why I try to hear both sides of things before I make a call on something. If you don't have gray areas, then people will always know what to expect (and what not to expect). It's either right or it's wrong. Glad that I make less and less of those kinds of calls over the years.

I think it would be hard to me to be a rebel because of that. However, I hope and pray that I will never deny my faith.

 
Can't remember what I was watching on the computer last night. I thought it was a good show but have no clue what it was now. Usually I bookmark something but I left my computer on all day and thought I would just pick it up where I left off. Somehow my window got closed...must have been Bobbi surfing the Net again while I was going.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Earring 0147 - Rhyming Words

http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/itty_bitty.html

Interesting site that couples two rhyming words that make phrases. Not sure their explanation of the pairs makes much sense. What I like is there are many two word rhyming words and their explanation. Once you get started reading it, it may capture your interest...it did mine.

  • beanie weenies (hot dogs with baked beans)
  • blame game (the search for scapegoats)
  • boob tube (television)
  • bow wow (the sound a dog is supposed to make)
  • ditch witch (a kind of excavator)
  • dizzie Lizzie (a scatterbrained person)
  • easy breezy (not difficult)
  • easy peasy (not difficult)
  • fuddy duddy (an irrelevant superannuated relic)
  • monkey's uncle ([imperfect rhyme] an outlandish person)
  • no fuss, no muss (a tidy operation)
  • tootsie wootsie (an affectionate diminutive nickname) - in my mom's later years, I used to call her tootsie wootsie and shortened it to toots. It was just a cute nickname and I think it made her feel younger. Always called her mom but when I was teasing her, I would call her toots.
I've used everyone of these words. There's lots of combinations there that I have used too but thought this list might get you interested.

Today's earrings are not ones I would have worn outside. Just not my style.
and here's Bobbi who is trying to take a cat nap
As you can tell, she rules the roost from high above.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Earring 0146

Four Burning Candles

by Stephen on March 22, 2014 · 20 comments

In a room there were four candles burning. The ambiance was so soft you could hear them talking.
The first one said, “I am PEACE, however nobody can keep me lit. I believe I will go out.”
It’s flame rapidly diminishes and goes out completely.
The second one says, “I am FAITH. Most of all I am no longer indispensable, so it does not make any sense that I stay lit any longer.”
When it finished talking a breeze softly blew on it putting it out.
Sadly, the third candle spoke in its turn. “I am LOVE. I have not gotten the strength to stay lit. People put me aside and don’t understand my importance. They even forget to love those who are nearest to them.” And waiting no longer it goes out.
Suddenly a child entered the room and saw three candles not burning. “Why are you not burning you are supposed to stay lit till the end.”
Saying this the child began to cry. Then the fourth candle said, “Don’t be afraid, while I am still burning we can re-light the other candles, I am HOPE.”
With shining eyes, the child took the candle of Hope and lit the other candles.
The flame of Hope should never go out from our life and that each of us can maintain HOPE, FAITH, PEACE and LOVE.
Author Unknown
Hope never abandons you. You abandon hope. Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
http://academictips.org/blogs/four-burning-candles/

This site has some good stories on it. Different kinds like stories about families, marriage, love, motivational, etc. Little bit of everything. It's a "feel-good" site and has many reminders of what is important in our lives.

Today's earrings
 
Got most of the stuff done that I wanted to do today. Tomorrow, I'm going to start reading my book. Tonight, I am going to relax and put my feet up. Yippy skippy.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Earring 0145 - Light Reading

This morning it took too much time for me to find the earrings I was going to wear. I wanted to wear a pearl earring but wanted one that was off-white. Found the perfect one but couldn't find the mate to it. Have to admit that I didn't have my readers on so I could have found the mate and not known it. Even though I don't need glasses, the little difference it makes makes a big difference for me. My task this weekend is going to be matching up the pearl earrings and other earrings with the similar style. I have three little baggies of earrings to cipher through but it will save so much time next time. These are the kinds of earrings that I will definitely keep because they are so neutral making it easy to wear with anything.


My light reading this weekend is going to begin with an 800-page book entitled " The Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War & Internment", Second Edition. The book has 350 entries on prisoners of wars (many different wars), timelines, maps, Geneva Convention documents, etc.  Have had this book reserved for over three months or more and am glad that I finally got it. Not going to read it in depth because I don't have to write on it. Finished reading a book on Auschwitz about three weeks ago. I was upset with the person who made the introduction because he felt that the German people should have overtaken their captors and not waited around for help. When I'm done with this book, I have to get started on the book about the Hmong girl, the Hmong culture, and U.S. medical personnel.  If you are interested in the prisoner of work book - http://www.greyhouse.com/prisoners.htm

Deep in my mind, I am still thinking about the North Korean prisoner of war camps that exist today and am troubled by those camps...let's save another flower.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Earring 0144 - Save the Flowers

“I thought, "The flowers, save the flowers..."

I never thought for a second
we wouldn't save the people”
Andrea Gibson, Pole Dancing To Gospel Hymns

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/457281.Andrea_Gibson?page=3

Last night, I started reading quotes by Andrea Gibson. If you go to goodreads.com, you will find many poems among her quotes. She touched my heart especially with the quote above. You can find her blog at http://andrewgibby.tumblr.com/ I only follow one blog and now will be following hers. The other blog I follow is of a Minnesota writer who I think may be Norwegian. Haven't gotten into the stories but like the blog; maybe someday I'll read the novels. However, I think that Andrea can capture your soul. Andrea does write some things, or should I say words that may be offensive, that I don't use but I skip over that stuff. It's the meat of the poem or her words that make you think.

Out of eight of us (including my mom and dad), six of us are open-minded. Still, all of us are straight-laced and don't roam far from our deeply instilled roots.

Today's earrings:

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Earring 0143 - Earring 0142 is also posted now

Don't know what happened but I was unable to post yesterday's blog no matter how many times I tried. It's below today's blog. Wondered why my sister didn't call me after she read the blog, now I know. Bet you she calls me tonight after reading yesterday's blog.

My new job is great. Every night I go home with a smile on my face. Makes both the night and the day easy. Have always loved working with numbers. Most of us in my family like working with numbers except for maybe my youngest brother and probably my dad. Dad didn't have much of a formal education even though his family had a school they built on the family farm for Norwegian immigrants who moved in their area. Not sure who exactly started the school but years later heard from several older people who had attended it through sixth grade. It was a single-room classroom which is very common in this area (just like they show on Laura Ingalls Wilder shows.) Dad read a lot (especially Westerns, which two brothers and I also like to read). Dad was born in the early 1900s so it was common for men from the Midwest not to get a high school education. Think Dad finished sixth grade but that might be as far as he went. Part of the problem could have been that so much Norwegian was spoken on the family farm. Mom was a high school graduate. She was excellent with math, reading, and could read/speak/write Latin. Her mom was a teacher so I'm sure mom got her talents from her. My son and grandson, along with all of my nephews are excellent in math too.

Earring 0142 - Çılbır


http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/2007/03/turkish-poached-eggs-with-yogurt-lbr.html

This photo is from the website listed above. This egg is called Çılbır, a Turkish recipe, which I cannot wait to make. It's a poached egg with yogurt and paprika. We grew up eating paprika on everything. Mom used a lot of it and curry and saffron. Don't know how she got into spices and now I can't ask her. This would be a nice time to have a conversation with her because I think there's more to her cooking and spices than just her trying them. Somehow someone must have gotten her started to use them. The photo above is meant to make my sister drool...she is allergic to eggs and can only look at them. Poor girl, not only can she only look at them but she feeds her dog one egg a week and she has to watch him eat it in front of her.

For some reason, there is a lot of activity on my blog from Turkey today. I started to look for ancient earrings, then somehow started to look for a Turkish butter dish (couldn't find one but found a nice coffee pot!), and lo and behold, there's the egg. It's so beautiful and looks delicious. Next time I go shopping, eggs and yogurt will end up in my shopping cart (already have my paprika because I'm like my mom with spices).

Here's today's earrings
To my sister - sorry for teasing you with the egg; I just couldn't resist it.
 

Monday, July 21, 2014

Earring 0141

The past few days I've been thinking about mortality a lot. It could be because my sister lost a close friend last week who was only 64. It could be because my siblings and I are all getting older. Or it could be because of having our family picnic. There's people missing from our gathering that are no longer here. They're really missed a lot.

I was thinking about all my "stuff". Even though I have simplified my life a great deal, there's still so much "stuff". For instance, my rock collection and then there's my pieces of wood that I might do something with some day, and then there's my crochet books that I have a ton of. The good news is that I have all my photos in one place (some day I will mark who the people in the photo are - maybe). Also, I have two totes of things that may be important. One tote contains my son's baby clothes, his teddy bear, some of his baby clothes, some of my grandsons' things, and of course, some of my things, along with some things from my mom/dad and my grandparents on both sides. The other tote contains collectible items that could be sold. Then I start thinking about my cookbook collection.

Since my mom was such a good cook, she had a few cookbooks. Her passion was writing recipes in notebooks. I have all but a couple of those notebooks. There's probably ten or more notebooks. Because I got started in gourmet cooking, I picked up more cookbooks making a full bookcase of cookbooks.  I'm sure that my son/daughter-in-law and grandson would enjoy the cookbooks. When my dad passed, we sold most of mom's cookbooks because there wasn't enough room.

"Stuff" doesn't have much value to me anymore. Think I would be happy living in a camper as long as I had my cat and my arts. Maybe it's time to simplify again to make it easier for someone else in the future.

Almost forgot the earrings for the day. Donna and her husband would have been great to have at the picnic. Maybe next time we'll have to talk about the people who are no longer with us. We're so busy catching up on the living but I don't want to forget those who have passed. It's a good reminder for the younger people so they know their roots.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Earring 0140 - Banner Day

These earrings kind of reminded me of a banner or maybe a flag, which can be similar to a banner. Not every day can be a banner day like yesterday. Today was a quiet day. Sometimes you need a day to sit back and reflect. That's what I did today.


Earlier, I was  watching a show (of course, my Korean drama) and they had a young lady step on her boyfriends shoes because she couldn't dance. I was flooded with memories of my childhood. Often my dad would dance around the floor with my feet on top of his shoes. I loved it. The last time I can remember doing that with dad was in our "tv" room. Back in the 50s and 60s, we had a room that had some chairs in it along with my little table and chairs that I got for Christmas one year. In this room was our television set that we got in 1954 to celebrate the birth of my parents' first daughter (after having had four boys). Almost forgot the rocker that was in that room. We didn't have a television in our living room because that was meant only for company. The exception to the living room was when we prayed the rosary as a family during Lent.

I can remember my dad saying that I was almost getting too big to be dancing while I was on his feet. I wonder if he ever knew how much these memories would mean to me 50 years later. This was the same room that my brothers and I tried to pull out one of my baby teeth. One of my brothers tied string around my tooth and then tied the string to the doorknob. I stood away from the door and someone slammed the door shut. The tooth did not come out. Tried it a couple more times without success. Then when everyone gave up and left to do their own thing, I tried it by myself. Lo and behold out came the tooth. I think I was too afraid to let my brothers do it. That's about the time I realized that I could do things on my own pretty darn good. That night the tooth fairy came and a 25-cent piece was under my pillow when I woke up.

Can't remember loosing my front teeth but I do remember when my sister lost hers. Think she lost them both about the same time.

Memories can make the "not-so" banner day into a banner day.


Here's the snack that I am going to have. Maybe not the whole bunch, but a few. Bought these for flavoring my next batch of kombucha. Never saw champagne grapes before. These are organic grapes and so tiny and I think they will make my kombucha even better.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Earring 0139

Can't get much better than this...family picnic was great. We had a nice breeze which kept the bugs away. Food was super and I found out my one nephew is good at smoking pork. Delicious. Good time today.

Now I'm going to take a nap. Put my whole weekend into one day, or that's how it felt. Tomorrow I will start putting my earrings on index cards for my church to sell at their annual fall fest.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Earring 0138 - No two really alike but very similar

Here's today's earrings. Many of these earrings are similar but there's only a couple that are identical. That kind of reminds me of my family.

Tomorrow, we are having a family picnic. My oldest brother and his oldest son (and his family) and daughter (and maybe her family)will be there. My second oldest brother and wife and their son and grandson will be there. Then there's me. My sister and her partner can't make it because of a funeral. And my baby brother isn't able to make it either unless he just turns up (you never know). Our kids who can't come are too far away to make the trip.

Last year, we all got together and there were a few more of us there. This year things didn't turn out that way. Maybe we'll have to try it again because in my mind, getting together as a family one time a year is not enough especially when so many can't come this time.

Growing up, we always had family reunions on my mom's side. They were great because you could spend as much time there as you wanted. Plus my mom's family could all cook; it's the German in them. My dad's side only got together once in a great while. My dad's siblings were located all over the United States so if by chance they came to Minnesota at the same time, then we would hold a gathering. This side is 100% Norwegian and they didn't have the creative side to cooking like my German side of the family. Don't get me wrong, I love Norwegian food but when it comes to pot lucks German's have it hands down. In Minnesota, we call our casseroles "hotdishes".  My sister was going to make a hotdish for tomorrow; maybe next time. Tonight is potato salad making night for me. My oldest brother is making baked beans. My sister-in-law is making sloppy joes (the best on the planet). A friend of my sister-in-law and brother's is probably going to be bringing deserts and I think my sister-in-law might surprise us with a desert too. I reminded her the other night that she doesn't have to cook for everyone because we're all bringing something. There will be more than enough food to go around. My mom was like that too but everyone enjoys it. It's much better to take home leftovers than not to have enough food.

My sister and I really like gatherings like this because it's a great opportunity to try something that you didn't make. We always joke about stopping at graduation/wedding/anniversary parties so that we can taste test (even though we don't know the people). We haven't done that yet and I doubt if we ever will but it's still a thought.

My family is like my earrings. We have a lot of similarities but yet we are all different. We have body motions that are similar. Some of us have hair like our mom's (not a lot on top). My sister and I have voices that sound alike. My youngest brother and I probably look more alike than the rest of the family. Think we all have Norwegian toes like our dad's. We all have a good sense of humor, high ethics, and can express our love for one another. Great family to be a part of.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Earring 0137 - Simplicity


Simple but elegant and still fun. Well, these earrings didn't even make it home tonight. My sister liked them a lot. We're both into geo, in all senses of the words: geometric, geography, and geology. I forgot geometry. Don't think my sister had any geometry but we both have had lots of algebra.

Years ago, my one  sister-in-law and I got a book entitled "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Brethnach. We got her next book, "Something More" and then my sister-in-law bought "The Illustrated Discovery Journal" for me Christmas 1999. After reading the book, "Simple Abundance", both my sister-in-law and I made changes in our lives. My slacks are all black except of my jeans. My socks are all black. It's almost like she and I went into uniform mode. The difference between the two of us is my love for colorful blouses (mostly geometric patterns). We both simplified our homes too. To this day, if I buy something and bring it home, something has to go out. It may not be the same size. I'm not talking about groceries but more about things that you purchase. For instance books or magazines. This has changed my storage requirements because I don't save everything like I used to. It was a good change.

Tonight I read about Sarah Ban Brethnach, who wrote the book. She came on hard times after she was not longer on the best sellers list. Fame has its price; something I will never have to worry about. She lost her millions of dollars that she made in a short while. It reminded me about the guy on the east coast of the United States that won the lottery twice and ended up homeless. I'm really good at managing others' money. I'm good at budgeting my own money, too. I would have to rely on others if I ever became wealthy because I am pretty sure I would end up like Sarah if I took care of my own finances. Here's a brief article about her. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/20/sarah-ban-breathnach-oprah-simple-abundance_n_3618185.html Her books are well worth reading if you want to get back to basics and realized what is important in life...it's not things.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Earring 0136 Thailand

Just ordered a book from our library system called "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures" by Anne Fadiman

It's a book about a young Hmong girl who is treated in the United States and how her parents disagreed with her treatment. What is interesting is one of her original doctors gave a review on the book and that he wasn't able to help her. He also states that this book is used in most medical training now.

The reason that I have Thailand listed above is because Thailand became a safe refuge for many years for Hmongs who fled China. We have many Hmong families in Minnesota and in several communities in Wisconsin. I love how they have kept their heritage and hope they are able to continue to do so.

Can't wait to get the book. I'm a firm believer that one's faith takes precedence in the healing process.

Here is today's earring:

On a side note, my cat likes to take sponge baths. She's so inquisitive when it comes to water and like I probably said before, I can even run water at a trickle when she is in the bathroom sink. Funny cat. Here's my wet cat.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Earring 0135 - UK

Little things can put big smiles on my face. Yesterday, someone from the United Kingdom read my blog. There are accents that I love; those from Bostonians and the various ones from UK. For a while, I dated someone from England. His British brogue was fabulous and I could listen to him talk for hours on end. Maybe it is because of my vivid imagination because I can conjure up all kinds of stories just by thinking about accents and brogues. Of course most of my stories take me back into older times. My newest thing is to try to determine what language it is when someone is speaking an Asian language. Watched enough K-dramas to know some new words, along with my other Asian shows. Yet, it would be better if I had someone that I could talk to who knows Asian languages.  Was always hoping to exchange language skills with another person but it never panned out.

Here's today's earrings:

By the way, when my British friend sang, he lost his brogue. He did a wonderful job on Elvis' songs but my favorites were always Christmas songs.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Earring 0134

Here's my pretty earrings that I wore today. Also showing is my supper that I kind of threw together. My brother gave me a recipe for Asian salad with packaged salad. Well, I changed it and added way too much vinegar. Made it Saturday and it tasted pretty good. Today is Monday and it is now pretty much pickled cabbage. Know its healthy for me so I ate it with a pickle face the whole time. Way, way too much vinegar!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Earring 0133 - Gorgeous Day

Today was a gorgeous day to be outside and outside I was. My brother and his wife came and we went out to eat. From there we went to the river where my brother fished and my sister-in-law and I got to visit. The view was beautiful, the sky was wonderful, and the breeze kept the bugs away. My brother caught a turtle, which he safely got off the hook and returned it to the river. Along with the turtle, he caught two or three sunfish. They looked like they would be good to eat but he is a sports fisherman and put them back into the water. It's only been the last couple of years that our water looks clean enough to start eating fish out of again. For years, I wouldn't eat fish out of the river nor swim in it. Now with all of the environment things in place, it looks like the river is turning into a good river again. Glad that is happening especially since the river will be here long after our generation is gone.

Was feeling kind of native today and going to the river was very appropriate. So my earrings fit what we did.


What a wonderful day the Lord has made.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Earring 0132 - Heavy

Looks can be deceiving. This morning when I tried on these earrings, these were going to weigh me down. I thought that as soon as I was done with my Saturday routine, I would take them out. As it turns out, the earrings don't feel heavy once they're in the ears. Pretty surprised because I've worn lighter earrings that I had to take out much earlier.

Don't know where the red came from because the sun wasn't shining nor was the sky pink. It's almost like there was a glow somewhere. Well, maybe the glow is coming from me since I am enjoying my new workplace and job.

Today it was brought to my attention that maybe I'm glowing because even though there is still stress in the workplace, the stress is less than what I have had at my other job. Fell like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I feel like a different person. It's great to feel happy and joyful. Even my sense of humor, as sick as it can be sometimes, is coming back. Because I love to laugh, I think that I will be laughing even more! On that note, I'll end it with a pun.

"Having too many vowels is a consonant struggle in the game of Scrabble."
http://somethingpunny.tumblr.com/post/4793921803/having-too-many-vowels-is-a-consonant-struggle-in-the

Friday, July 11, 2014

Earring 0132 - Versatility

These are really cool earrings because you can off the one part and add different pieces easily to make this a very versatile earring. Thinking about all of the different pieces that I've seen at stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels that could be added. Will definitely keep these so there's many options for them in the future. I could make them really fun earrings, holiday earrings, night-out-on-the-town earrings, etc. Could be endless. Maybe I'll have to get some kind of setting so that I can put my garnets that I collected in nature into a pair of earrings. I like that idea.

My dad was a jack-of-all-trades. I don't think there was too much he couldn't do. Besides being a good musician, dancer, bowler, carpenter, he was also a good cook. Mom could cook, sew, and knit. Once she painted a mural on a wall in our living room. That was the one and only time I ever saw my mom paint. Not sure if she was artistic or not (other than decorating, flower arranging and cake making). Dad kind of lived his hobbies. He enjoyed so much of what he did that it was never work to him. Think I'm a lot like my dad because I have fun at work and really enjoy what I do. It sure makes the days and weeks go by fast when you like what you do. I also think that I'm more open to learning new things or doing things like my dad. He didn't learn computers but if he were alive today, I would bet that he would have enjoyed it. Mom probably would have liked a Kindle but not a computer. Mom was an avid reader. I was trying to remember the last book (story) that my mom read to me but it was so long ago; maybe it will come back to me sometime. The first book mom and dad bought me was "Anna Belinda" but I can't find information on it. It was also the first book that I ever saw that had a paper cover over it to protect it. Somewhere through all my years of moving around, I lost the book. I can still see the reddish cover and the size of the book. It was something that I treasured and miss.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Earring 0131 - Coloring

My earring has nothing to do with coloring other than as a child I could stay within the lines of the shapes in the coloring books. As an adult, I have learned that I love to color with pen, pencil, crayons, markers, and paints. Almost forgot pastels too. One of the favorites is geometric shapes. This site, http://www.pinterest.com/jemaco11/coloring-for-adults/, is a great site for adult coloring. I may have to use one of the designs for painting an ink/wash on glass. Have so many arts that I can do but always seem to run out of time.

Here's my geometric shape for the day

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Earring 0130 - Cute Links

http://blog.thecatsdiary.com/ I can relate to this blog because it's written by a cat. Cats put words in our mouths all of the time and if you're a cat owner, you know what a mean. The same goes for a dog and its owner. Most people with pets know who rules the roost.

Then you have the sad cat diary, which I frequently watch because it is so funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk&feature=kp

My all-time favorite is about a talking dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbAx4Lnm9r4. Every once in a while, my sister gets me with this. We'll be talking about food and then she'll start saying little things like "yeah", or "what", or any one of this dog's lines. I'm so gullible sometimes!

You have to love the guilty dogs because they do disprove the theory that dogs don't feel guilt. This video is great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP6O1V2I9_k My favorite one is at 1:45. Supposedly, the theorist say that dogs are responding only to your tone of voice but I don't believe that for a minute. You don't even have to talk and a dog knows that they've done something wrong. This video is 7.5 minutes long but well worth watching the whole thing. It's too cute when dogs walk really slowly because of guilt. My cats have always blamed everything on the dog and the dog has always blamed everything on the cats. But I've never seen my cats look guilty so they must be innocent (lol).

Today's earring

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Earring 0129 - Patience

Instead of showing you the earrings for the day first, I'm presenting my kombucha with grape juice
It was delicious. A few other flavors are in the second fermentation process. There's one that should have been done a couple of days ago but it doesn't look too fizzy. Put it in the fridge anyway. My preference is not so much carbonation so it's not disappointing at all. All it needs is to taste good.  Tonight I found one of my primary quart containers isn't growing any new scoby unless the new one fell to the bottom of the quart. It should be ready to drink now but I'll wait until tomorrow. My newest gallon of green/black tea looks good enough already. Might taste test that tomorrow. Think maybe it takes less time to brew than oolong tea by itself.

Here's the earrings for the day, almost cute as buttons:

Monday, July 7, 2014

Earring 0128 Hot Pink

Learned a lot about the color pink today from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink. Pink in French or Dutch is rose; in German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, it's rosa; in Russian it's rozoviy; in Polish it's różowy; in Korean it's 핑크색 / 분홍색 (http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/Colors.html), in Mandarin Chinese it's 粉色(fěn sè) (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081122130537AAPokWQ) - just to name a few. Really got a lot out of the Wikipedia website listed above. They covered everything imaginable that is pink.

Some of my favorites they covered were pink skies, pink rocks, pink in the written word, pink architecture, etc. I can remember in our town when I was really young there was a pink house near the lake and it was an instant love relationship with me. Almost forgot, they covered phrases of pink too, such as in the pink, getting a pink slip, and to see pink elephants.

Having taken quite a few classes in the last few years, teachers tried to steer us away from using Wikipedia but I found that most of what I researched, you could find it further on noted websites that I guess were true from what I could tell. Wow, that was a long sentence!

With that, I'll end this with the fact that I'm in the pink and feeling great!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Earring 0127 - Oops

Can't believe I did this, but I lost the other earring to go with this one. Took it out while I was in the car because I needed the break from the earrings. Must have lost the other one when I opened the door because it's no where to be found. This makes the 4th earring that I have lost one of the pair. Can't figure out how I've been doing that. The other three were lost at home so there's still hope for those. This earring is lost somewhere in Wisconsin.

My youngest brother and I go on frequent road trips. We both love to see the woods, the animals, and winding roads. Just about every time we go somewhere a bird almost hits my windshield. During yesterday's road trip with my sister, a robin almost bit the dust. Today, a sparrow decided it liked my grill of my car. It makes me sad when a bird dies because of my car. But in my car's defense, it's a big red vehicle, you'd think they see it (unless birds are colorblind - I do not know the answer to that. Today was no different when it came to a close call with a bird hitting my windshield. This one would have done some damage to my car because it was a turkey. With this turkey, I have had three close calls with turkeys and two close calls with bald eagles. I don't need any of those birds coming that close to me.

One of the people I didn't thank was my brother's wife. She lets him go on the road trips. I'm grateful because you never know how much time we have left that we can do this. Any time together is a good time. I really appreciate her letting us have the time together.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Earring 0126 High Water

Today, my sister and I were going to take a little road trip and sit down by the river to read our books. Of course, we both had our cameras with us. The water was too high for me to drive to any of my favorite spots. Like my brother said two months ago, it probably won't go down until September. Some people around here are using sump pumps to pump out their basements. So far the apartment building that I live in has no water in the basement. Think if we have a couple more good rain showers, that will probably change. We haven't had any flooding around here for a few years but you can't count on that. You never know if that 100 year flood was the 100 year flood or the 110 year flood. Man has changed our waterways so much trying to be in control. The joke is always on man.

We did quite a road trip and the roads were really busy because of it being a holiday weekend. There were a lot of couples out on motorcycles since it was a good day to go biking. Only saw a couple of ducks. Something caught my sister's eye and it was hard to believe. A grey heron was standing next to the railroad tracks about ten feet above the water's edge. Neither one of us has ever seen a heron next to the tracks like that. It could have been because the water is so deep and in many places the low areas have flooded.

And again something caught my sister's eyes. She was on top of the ball today!


Luckily, I was able to turn the car around and still catch this pair of eagles. The male is on the right with the female on the left. They let us take as many pictures as we wanted to. This pair must have their home nearby because the eagles that migrate through have been gone for some time. Such a beautiful bird.

As you can tell, my camera  is ready for me to us finally. Got the batteries all charged the other day. Still have to read the instructions. At least my sister was able to show me how to zoom in to take these photos. My first photos are of my cat:
She was being stubborn and wouldn't look at me.

Today's earring



Friday, July 4, 2014

Earring 0125 - July 4

Hot pink, that's the best way to describe today's earrings. When I start painting earrings this fall/winter, this will be a pair that I paint. They are pretty as they are but I prefer decorative earrings. So the next life of these earrings, the hot pink will have zing too!
My hometown doesn't do anything to celebrate the 4th of July. The people who plan the local celebrations do a festival a couple of weeks before the 4th and have fireworks on the last day, which is always a Sunday. There's a car show that is pretty good. It would be nice if they had an art show to go with it. Maybe some year they will realize that the two go hand-in-hand.

The city that I spent my teens in did celebrate the 4th of July. Then they joined forces with another local city and every other year, the celebration is in one city. There's some things for kids to do and adults get to see each other after possibly not seeing them since the previous year or even longer. I haven't gone to this celebration for many years, probably well over 20 years ago. Maybe if my parents were still living then I would go.

I miss the fireworks on the 4th of July. It reminds me why we have this celebration. When I think of it, in my mind, I can hear our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", when the fireworks are going off. Ironically, the song's tune comes from a British song.

When we were kids, we always had picnics at our house. This was a day that mom would make homemade potato salad, baked beans, buns, and deserts. Dad would grill hot dogs and hamburgers. I can almost smell the grilled hot dogs! In addition to family being there, company was always invited too. Nothing was ever done half way and you could expect at least 30 people at the house for these celebrations. At night, my sister and I would have sparklers. Then we would go watch the fireworks.  I know I can remember two of my youngest brothers (who are 6+ years older than me) having sparklers too but I can't remember the two oldest brothers being there. I can vividly see my youngest brother waving his sparkler around trying to get me scared. Ah memories...

One celebration that comes to my mind was when my son, his wife and my two grandsons were staying with my husband (former). My son loves fireworks probably as much as I do. When they had come up from down south, they stopped and purchased fireworks. We were all sitting around a campfire (with full bellies from all the food we made) when my son and his father started lighting fireworks. It was spectacular. It was such a warm, bonding night that I will never forget.

Another 4th that comes to mind is when my second-to-youngest brother, his wife, my ex, and my son went to watch fireworks in St. Paul. I think the fireworks lasted well over an hour. My sister-in-law had her camera with her and got some great firework shots. That was another special night.

Maybe tonight I will have to go somewhere for a drive to watch fireworks!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Earring 0124 - China

Very excited because today a person from China read my blog. The reason I'm so excited is because it's another country and one that I have learned something about. A couple of years ago, I took a Chinese cultural class taught by a woman who was born and raised  in China. That class opened my eyes to be more respectful of different cultures and how they do things. Have to admit that some things I don't understand but I know that it is because it's just the way it is done. So many businesses from the United States have branches in China and we have a great number of Asians visiting our local city because of that and because of the schools we have. It was important for me to be able to treat our guests in the manner that was acceptable to them.

I have a lot of respect for Asian families and how they treat their families. Especially since they take care of their elderly. That is something that US families don't do enough of and it has its drawbacks. Elders can show the younger people their skills, work ethic, and be there for when mothers and fathers have to be working. With the growing Chinese economy, I'm sure they will face many of the problems that have made US be the way it is - with childcare and nursing homes.

Thanks for checking out the blog.

Here's today's earrings:

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Earring 0123 - Being Appreciated

To my sister-in-law, thank you for giving me all of these fabulous earrings. Every day I receive a new gift and besides, it's something that I like a lot. Thank you for being my friend and my sister.

To my sister, thank you for forgiving me for taking a different job. I will miss working with you but even though we aren't sitting together, I'm only a phone call or text away. Plus we live in the same city now and aren't separated by the miles anymore. Words can never express what it is like to be a sister.

To my son, thank you for being who you are. You're a wonderful man and someone my grandsons can really look up to. I'm glad there are pieces of me in you and that there are parts of your dad in you too. We sure wouldn't want you to be a 100% of just one of us! Besides God, I would die for you. I would gladly give my life to make your life better. I wish that God would let us make exchanges.

To my daughter-in-law, the daughter I never had, thank you for all that you do. You've been an exceptional wife and mother. You've taught my grandsons values that many children nowadays have no clue about.

To my grandsons, both of you are so loved and I doubt you will never know how much I love you. You are both unique and special in so many ways. I've been blessed with the two of you and have missed seeing you grow into the teens you now are. It saddens me that I have missed so much of your lives but I am grateful that I had the time with you when you lived with me. Those memories are precious to me.

To my nephew with deep insights, I don't have to say anything because you already know.

To my brothers, you made our Christmas times so much better when mom and dad couldn't afford anything. Even though I'm a senior, I still feel like your little sister and feel the protective care and love that you have for me. Did you ever know that I have that same protective care for you? You already know how much I love you because I always express how much you mean to me. What memories we've had!! and I look forward to more memories with you especially towards the middle of this month.

To my cat, I'm sure you can read because you are always at my touchscreen monitor. Thank you Bobbi for saving my life.

To the readers of this blog, thank you for reading it. I just wished that I knew why you read it. I wish that I could get to know you even if it's just pieces about you. I would love to hear your stories.

I always wanted to keep a gratitude journal. It would get started and then it seemed like I was always writing the same thing. So every once in  awhile, I plan on writing something like this.

Today's earrings will be turned into a different pair when I paint them.


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Earing 0122 -Friends

Good thing I had a nice pair of earrings in today! Saw a good friend of mine sitting outside a café this afternoon and stopped to visit. Had an iced chai but only got a medium because I drink it fast whether it's a medium or small. It's so good and so addictive. Kind of like friends, good and addictive.

The reason I was glad my earrings were nice is that my friend wears earrings, necklace, and I think bracelets. Sometimes his earrings are nicer than mine and with all of the earrings I have now, that shouldn't happen.

My friends and I don't always see each other and see each other when it works out. Tomorrow night, I'm going out with a very good friend. She is so kind and loving and when she needs me, I'm there and when I need her, she's there. We're never far apart and know that. One night, I talked her into watching a meteor shower with me. That was such a good night and we saw so many meteors. I'm blessed to have her in my life and she led me to the church I go to now. That is something I will always be grateful for.

The friend that I saw today is my buddy. We can chat about anything. He's a very skilled artist and I wish that I could paint like he does. He sees things that others miss. He sees the little details that make a difference. He incorporates those into his paintings. He doesn't know it but after I met him, I changed how I did my quilted wall hangings. Now I put something in them like an animal or something else that fits but doesn't fit. It's kind of like finding the hidden object but it's right in front of your face, you may not even know that it is hidden.

Ironically, he hasn't been painting for a while and the last time I worked on my quilted wall hanging was when I was watching him paint. He wasn't being inspirational in his painting that go me to work on my quilt because he was painting the outside of a building. I like working on my quilts when I'm outside. Hopefully, this weekend with the longer weekend, I will take this as an opportunity and work on my quilt. Making a quilt based on the songs of a band. If I ever finish, I will post my quilt online.