New Adventures

Well I haven't been very good about keeping up have I?  That's because I've been busy having fun the month of July while Gary is off work.  But that time is winding down.

You are perhaps wondering what "New Adventure' I am talking about.  It's not us, it's our oldest granddaughter. She graduated high school this year.

Yesterday she took her oath for the Army and set off for Basic Training.

She is ready for this!

She has trained for this!

She has talked about this!

She has this!

She is a strong young woman who won't let anything stand in her way.

I thought I was prepared for this.  Turns out I wasn't as prepared as I thought.

I've seen my brothers go off to basic training. I've seen my friends go off to basic.

I've sent numerous care packages.

However - when I got that picture showing my granddaughter with only a backpack showing her possessions. I cried.

Then I got pictures and a video showing her taking the oath.

I cried.

When did the little girl who called herself "Sparkle" and did makeovers become old enough to be joining the Army?

Yes, I cried.  Weepy is more like it.  I know she is ready and I know she is doing what she wants to do. I know she has this.  I'm just the weepy grandma wondering where did the time go?

I'm proud of her and could not be any happier for her as I know she is doing what she wants to do; and when her graduation from basic comes around I'll be there.

In the meantime and for the next few years, I'll be sending care packages again.

Just Catching Up

Oh my gosh - it's been a while since I posted.  I had kind of a busy May. It wasn't planned - several things came up and I ended up doing a lot of driving and was gone  Put probably 5,000 miles on the van.  I'm glad I was able to do so but it was good to get home.

Then our Summer Semester started which of course meant a few busy busy weeks for me at the beginning. Now things have settled down some and I thought I would just pop on here and let everyone know I'm still here - still catching up.

I had the privilege last month to watch my oldest grand daughter graduate from High School.  I say privilege because to me it is.  I've always had the goal of seeing all of my grand children graduate from high school.  This may seem a little strange to have as a goal to some but my parents never got to see my children graduate so it has been my goal.  I have a few more to go but it's looking like I might make that goal.

Then I also had the privilege after the graduation of bringing my grand daughter back home with me (she lives in Arizona - part of my May travels) and attending a graduation from Army basic training for one of her friends.

This was very emotional and a privilege for me to get an idea of what my parents and my brothers went through during their training.  Not sure how accurate it might have been for my parents but it gave me a glimpse into military life that I did not have before.  What a honor to see these men and women who are willing to serve our country for me. I have always appreciated my family for their service but this made it even more meaningful for me.  Cannot wait to go and watch my granddaughters graduation after she completes her basic.

Our New Food Night is resuming as of tonight.  It had been on hold due to ball games etc. But we are back on.  Don't worry - we all managed to eat during this time but are now ready to try new foods again. But you will soon be reading about our choices once again.

Summer is getting in full gear and I have two vacations planned for next month.  Excited about both of them. You will probably be reading some of our exploits in future blogs.

Work is - well work.  For the most part not to bad but I still have my fair share of really stupid calls that really irk me.  I sure wish I could punch a button on my phone and it would sent a shocking jolt to the person on the other end. Maybe they would realize how stupid they sound.

And just a little interesting piece of news for you to brighten your day -- today June 20th is National Ice Cream Soda day. So you can eat all the ice cream you want without feeling guilty -- they made a holiday for it!

Okay - I've kinda caught you up. I will be posting again soon. In the meantime, if you have something you want me to blog on or perhaps research and blog for you -let me know.  I'd love to hear what you want to hear about.

Rainy Weekend

When nothing but rain is in the forecast for the entire weekend, what do you do?

Well - plan a whole lot of nothing!

That was kind of our weekend.  However, I did accomplish stuff.  Guess it was kind of a DIY weekend for me.

We did our traditional Diner Saturday.  We took Chris to work - took him to do his shopping - did our grocery shopping.

I was needing some coffee creamer so decided to try making my own.  Hello Pinterest!

If you've read my blogs you know that sometimes my Pinterest projects are not just fails but major epic fails!

This link details my Pinterest fail of trying to have swirled nails.  Not near as easy as Pinterest said it would be:

http://kmarrs.blogspot.com/2014/07/nail-tastrophe.html

That link will take you to that particular post describing my little adventure.

And trying to make a watermelon boat with my cousin when we were visiting my Arizona daughter was even worse.  I ended up with 7 stitches in my hand.  I'll spare you a picture of that unless you are just adamant you want to see it.

However - these weekend projects went well.

I needed some sugar scrub.  I can handle this one.  I make it all the time.  So I whipped up some lime-mint sugar scrub.  I use this on my feet every day.  Love using essential oils for different fragrances and then adding some food coloring to make it look pretty.

I was out of coffee creamer so decided I would try to make some.  Found an easy recipe with only a few ingredients and then dozens of variations I could try.  I decided to try Cinnamon Struesel Creamer.

Winner!! Winner!!!  This one was a keeper as well.

I also spent some time in the garage working on a painting project.  I am painting a bakers rack for Lily's bedroom.  Little bit more work than I planned but I'm pleased with it so far.  I had the garage door open while painting.  My apologies to any neighbor who may have seen me trying to get up off the garage floor.  I know it isn't a pretty sight.  LOL

I also was able to get all the laundry done and used some of my new Norwex products to clean a few items around the house.

Gary and I actually sat down and watched a couple of movies on Netflix over the weekend as well.

So it may have been a very rainy weekend but I accomplished quite a  bit, I think.  Here's hoping for some drier weather so I can do some outside work.

So tell me, how did you spend your weekend?

General Information

Have you ever wondered about little things?  I think we all do. And today I want to share some of the information I have discovered about those 'little things' that maybe you know and maybe you don't. No particular order or theme just general information.


FITTED SHEETS

Have you ever wondered - how in the world am I supposed to fold those things?  Or maybe you just don't care.  Easiest way is to just get all four of those corners in one spot.  Start by folding it in half and putting the corners inside each other. Then put those corners together.  From there you can fold it in thirds lengthwise and then fold it again.

Now after those sheets are folded you need to store them.  If you have more than one set of sheets anyway.  If you only have the one set then don't bother folding just go put it on the bed. I finally figured out the best way to store my sheet sets was inside one of the pillow cases!  Brilliant!! I take the flat sheet, place the folded fitted sheet on top of that and the extra folded pillow case then put it all inside the extra pillowcase. The whole set is now together and I don't have to rummage through the linen closet trying to find matching pillowcases.

Ever wondered, which corner of a fitted sheet should go on the bed?  Just make sure the corner with the tag is in the bottom right corner of the mattress.

You may already know all of this but I didn't discover some of this information until later in life.


TOILET PAPER

This can be a source of annoyance more than anything.  People may argue over what is the proper way to place the toilet paper on the roll?  My theory -- as long as you replace it - I don't care which way you put it - over or under.  Just Thanks for replacing it!

And oh yeah, if you take the empty paper roll off the dispenser, then add a new roll!  You've already done have the job of replacing it!

That's it -- nothing major here just replace the roll.


DISHWASHER

One word on this -- LETITGO!  (Let - It - GO).

Yes, I admit I am somewhat guilty of this but I'm only wanting to get as much as possible in there so I don't have to wash anything by hand.  I am working on this, though and remembering to letitgo!

Here's a caution for you though --

Babies are not dishwasher safe.  You can however use your sink to wash the baby.


There you have it -- some general information that you may or may not have known.  Is there anything else that I can enlighten you on?  Just ask - I'm sure I have an opinion.

Student Dilemmas

Ok - I work at a call center for a local college. I take calls for all departments - Financial Aid, Advisement, Enrollment Bursar, Facilities, IT.  As you can imagine we can get some pretty off-the -wall calls.  And just when I think I can't be any more amazed I get that next call.

So today on my blog I'm going to vent a little.

We require that students attend a New Student Orientation their first semester.  This is for their benefit. They will learn about the ins and outs of our system and receive assistance with logging in.  This is a requirement. No exceptions!  Student calls and is going through questions regarding enrolling for a class, etc.  Then he says, "It says here I have to attend a New Student Orientation. That doesn't pertain to me so you can just remove that."  Me, ' No, that is a requirement and you will have to attend the New Student Orientation.'  Student, 'I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to me, I know everything already.'

SURPRISE -- it DOES refer to you -- every student first semester must attend.  That includes you!

Student calls regarding financial aid. Keep in mind this is student is in their mid-twenties. Student is upset about requirements for financial aid.  After some discussion and me explaining what they will need to do to finish up their requirements the student states, ' Well, it's just not fair!. Not all parents do the adult thing and help their children!'  ---- EXCUUUUSEEE ME!  No where does it state that a parent HAS to pay for your college education. How adult are you being here?  I'm sure most parents if able are more than happy to assist their children but by the time you are in your mid-twenties - you need to be an adult yourself.

The very next call after that was from a parent. He wanted to know if his son was actually attending classes or was lying to him about it?  Seriously?  I have no way of knowing.  Perhaps you need to be having a discussion with your son not me.

And for the parent trying to enroll their child for class.  Sorry, we cannot help you over the phone.  Once your child becomes a college student we kind of think they should be able to handle things for themselves.  This includes the basic stuff such as signing into your own account.  If you do that and set up your child's security questions, guess what?  They probably won't know where your mother was born, nor the street that YOU lived on in third grade.  You just successfully hindered your child.

And here's another.  Yes, you may have already met all the requirements needed to take that class you are wanting to take BUT - and here's the big one.  If we do not show that requirement met in some way, usually by submitting your transcript, we are not going to allow you to enroll in that class until we have verification that the requirement has been met.  No, again - I cannot make any exceptions for you nor can I hold that class for you while you get your act together and turn in that transcript.

Now here is how I try to appear on the phone - helpful and friendly.

But sometimes this is the way I really am after I get off the phone.

Thank you for letting me vent.  Now tell me something else you want me to talk about for my next blog post.

Text or Call?

This morning on the way in to work I was listening to the radio as I always do.  The station I listen to always does a little fun survey and I like to listen to the call-ins answers.  The question this morning is - Are you a texter or a caller?  Their answers were pretty much half and half..

So it got me to thinking - are you a texter or a caller?

I've got to admit - I  LOVE texting!  To me it's a quick way to keep in touch and it lets people know I'm thinking of them.  Now when I first started texting I would occasionally check my cell phone bill to make certain we were staying within limits, etc.  I'd look at the bill and think "WOW! Who in the world is that girl texting so much?  That's a lot of text messages for one month". This was when one of my girls was on our plan.  Then I looked on down and thought "Oh, never mind -- I did a LOT more than that".

Texting is great!  I can check in with all the girls at once.  Share something funny with the whole family. Get input on decisions. Keep track of my brothers. Catch up with friends.  And I can do it on my time.  Meaning that if I'm busy at work I can read the text and send a quick answer if needed. I can also let them know - hey, busy right now let me give you a call when I get off work.  I also don't have to answer a text at 2 in the morning if someone has to much to drink.

Another reason I like texting?  I hate talking to people.  Yep, it's true I really don't like talking on the phone all that much. Yeah, I know I work in a Call Center and that's what I do for a living but it's not my favorite thing to do.

Now don't get me wrong.  I love talking to SOME people.  Love when I talk to my brothers and my kids and grand kids.  In fact, one of my girls and I have a set date each week when we call and talk.  My brothers I tend to talk to almost every week.  Sometimes 2-3 times a week. But there are times we may go a couple of weeks without talking.  Then I'm sending a text - Hey everything OK?  It is nice to hear their voices.

But texting is still my favorite. I love getting random texts that make me laugh. I love writing texts so funny that I'm laughing while writing them.  Maybe I like texting so much because my family is so far apart and group texting makes it easy to share things with all the girls at one time.  Or even get an opinion from all of them regarding something.  Trying to set up a group conversation can sometimes be difficult to do.

Now an interesting fact was brought up on the radio this morning. You should call instead of texting because people can then hear your tone of voice and know your feelings when telling you something.  With texting it's just words on a phone and people can't hear your emotions.  Well, if I'm reading the text to myself, or even out loud to Gary, I'm giving you those emotions.  Because you know that I know how you meant to say those words.  LOL

There was a time I sent one of my brothers a text saying Call me when you get a chance.  He called back pretty quickly asking "Am I in trouble?"  LOL  No I just needed some information and knew it would be easier to get the information across through conversation than texting.

The only bad thing about texting to me is auto-correct!  I detest that!!  It can make for some awkward texts.  I always try to check but sometimes things slip through, even when I have corrected it more than one.

So tell me - are you a texter or a caller?

A Little Caribbean to Soothe the Soul

Get your taste buds ready for this weeks New Food Night! Do you guys ever wonder what we are eating on Tuesday nights?

Well, this week we went with a Caribbean theme.  Do you hear the Jamaican music playing in your head?

Gary decided to make Caribbean Jerk Pork. He said he would need my help. This usually  means that I clean up after him LOL -- but not this time.

I mixed up the seasonings - ginger, onion powder, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, some other kind of chili pepper, soy sauce, lime juice, -- I know there's more but just don't remember what all it was.  Put this in a Ziplock bag - add some pork tenderloins - rub the seasonings in and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then bake in oven. How good does that look?  And although some Jerk recipes can be spicy this was not overly so.

Miss Annette went with Cuban Red Beans and Rice.  She had some Cuban seasoning - I don't know what that would be - and used it in the beans.  Didn't she make this dish look pretty?  It tasted yummmers!

K.C. made a dessert dish.

This is Banana Pando.  It's typically served for breakfast - a cross between a pancake and a  donut - thus we made up the word Pando and now I don't remember what the real name for it was.  LOL  It's served with Nutella.  Don't you love that serving tray?

Now when I think Caribbean I think drinks.

 So, I made up a pitcher of Grenadine Fruit Punch.  It's orange juice, pineapple juice and Grenadine Syrup.  Very refreshing


Gary put Caribbean music on Netflix for us to listen to while eating.

How good does that look?

Guess it was all pretty good because there weren't many leftovers.

Does anyone have a challenge they want to throw at us or an old recipe they would like to see us try a new way?  We're open for suggestions.

New Food - New Dishes

So we only had one New Food Night last month.  Sometimes conflicts come up and we postpone and that was what happened.

So my title is New Food - New Dishes.  We did eat our new food in some new dishes; but some of you who follow me on Facebook may think I'm talking about new dishes I got. But I'm not.  Let's start with those though just because I'm so excited to have them!

Some time ago a friend sent me a picture of some dishes she was getting rid of to see if I wanted them.  She knows I love dishes.  I went back and forth with myself on whether or not to get them and had really forgotten about them with all that we had going on.

Now fast forward a year and it's time for Gary's mom's annual trip to Tulsa for his birthday.  She had him bring in a big box and said it was for me.  Well - that's kinda nice that I get a present on Gary's birthday weekend.  My friend had sent those dishes down to me!

Man was I excited!  These dishes are BEAUTIFUL!!

Now what makes these even more special is that they are Remington Red dishes.  Yep, you know where I'm going with this.  My Best Bud is named Remington.  I could not wait to show them to him.
Gary put these dishes to use last night for our Valentine's dinner.

Don't they make a beautiful setting?

So now back to our New Food Night.  Gary had been wanting to make Lasagna Soup. So that was what we planned our New Food Night around.

Here's the soup going in the oven to melt that fresh Mozorella on top!

See those soup bowls?  Those are kinda sorta new.  We had four like that but needed more so I went online to order more.  The new ones I ordered came with matching spoons.  How cool is that?

I made a simple salad to go with this.  Put all the tomatoes on top as there are a couple of people in our group who don't like tomatoes.

K.C. made some Onion Cheese bread.  Doesn't that look good?  Well it was  LOL  I am a big bread lover.

Now how good does this look?  Perfect winter evening meal - if we had had had winter weather.  LOL  It was good though!

Now how do you finish this meal off?

With a chocolate cookie topped four different ways of course.  Miss Annette know Gary well and since his birthday was the day before our new food night she made this for him.  One section had chopped pretzels, one had nuts, one had white chocolate chips, and one had chocolate chips.

Now that is some good eating right there!

So tell me, which one of these are  you wanting to try?

Planting Seeds

I know it's not spring but we have certainly been having spring-like weather here in Tulsa.  It was in the 70's just a coupe of days ago!  Now I don't garden really but when we bought our new house last year it had some gorgeous flower beds!  I will be trying my hand at keeping them up.

I'm talking about gardening because of church.

You might wonder - 'What does one have to do with the other?"

Well, at our church we have cards to carry and hand out to people inviting them to our church. The back side is blank so that we can put information on it - start time - our name - that sort of thing.  Our pastor mentioned that he had passed one out to someone. He saw this person on several occassions after and the guy always said, 'I'm going to come visit your church."  Well just a few weeks ago when he saw the same gentleman the guy said. "I lost that card do you happen to have another one?"

So a seed had been planted in the guys head. He hasn't acted on it but it is germinating there as he has asked for another card since he misplaced the first one.  That reminded me of a poem I wrote some time ago.

PLANT A SEED

Plant a seed as you go

Although you may not see it grow.

Plant a seed wherever you are,

The outcome is seen near and far.

Plant a seed every day,

Fertilize it as you pray.

Plant a seed, do your deed,

Help to choke out every weed.

Plant a seed, spread God’s word,

You never know who might have heard.

Plant a seed, tell it with care,

Let others see as you share.

Plant a seed, there’s needs to fill,

We can’t be caught standing still.

Plant a seed; it is God’s plan,

And spread His word throughout the land.

Written by:  Kathie Marrs

                     July 25, 2010

Just a reminder that you may not see the outcome of your efforts. You may share the message 100 times (or more) with someone. It may take the 101 time from someone else for it to click.  

So tell me, do you plant seeds?  

Age is Relevant

My brother turned 66 a few days ago.

I thought to myself - 'Man he's really getting old - almost 70!"

Then I thought to myself -- "Man - I'm going to be 60 this year. I'm getting old!"

Funny thing is - I don't really feel old. There are times my body tells me that yes you are getting older. But in my head - nope - I'm not that old.

Now I have always said that anyone who lived to be in their sixties was old.  Any one who was past their mid-sixties was REALLY old.  My brother is getting to the REALLY old part.  But I don't think of either of us as old.

Then I think - "Wow - I have aunts and uncles still alive!  They must be ancient!"  No offense meant to them because they don't look as old as they must be considering how REALLY OLD my brother is.

I know I said I don't feel that old but I can say that my kids act like I am REALLY OLD.

     "Do you need help getting down the stairs?"
      'Don't try to lift that - it's to heavy for you."
     "You have no business thinking of riding a Seque!"
     "Want me to order for you? I know how confused you can get?"
     "You have no business driving that far by yourself."

Now I know they mean well and yes, I do sometimes have trouble with stairs. And in regards to the ordering - that was because there was a new restaurant with the menu on the wall and it was humongous. Those things do confuse me.  Heck - a menu that has more than two pages to choose from can confuse me.  I don't need that much to choose from.

Then I think about friends of mine whose parents are still alive!  I'm like WOW!  I can't fathom it!  Te me that's mind-blowing!  (Keep in mind my mother died at the age of 48 and my dad at the age of 51.)

Then I got to thinking about looks. Some people really look old!  And they may not be.  Now I happen to think that my family has some pretty good genes because my girls and I don't look that old.

This picture was taken 3 years ago. So I would have been 56 - making the girls 36-34-32 (yes contrary to what one or more of them may tell you they are in the thirties).  I think those girls look pretty darn good!



So tell me - what do you think of as old or REALLY OLD?

Winter Weather

We live in Oklahoma.  Our weather is bi-polar.

Yep - 70 degrees one day then we will have a 40 degree drop. We may have snow - we may have ice - we may have wind - we may have rain - we may have fog.  Take your pick - they all happen here and you never know when . We may  have all of them in the space of 24-48 hours

Now why am I telling you this?

Because all week long our weather forecasters have been advising of the approaching winter storm.

Yep - we already have this in effect.  I got notification yesterday when it was 70 degrees outside.

Last week we had great weather - then on Friday a front came through we had MAYBE 1/4 inch of snow.  The school closed (yes it was very cold and I understand that this may be why they closed the schools but let's get real here.  The temperature wasn't that cold and I know that there are resources available for students to get coats if the parents want to avail themselves of the resources. I also know of students who have the proper clothing but choose not to wear it).

So school closed last week - it was cold Friday and Saturday then we warmed up.  BUT -- even before the warm up came on Monday our forecasters were telling us to brace ourselves for the next round of cold weather.

I know the storm is bad and there are areas that will receive severe snow and ice from this but I do not understand the hype that we are receiving here. It started Sunday - advising of the upcoming storm - ice - freezing rain.  Now keep in mind - they also advised that it was to early to do an accurate determination of the location this would take - it might go north of us - it might go south - it was to early to tell.

So Monday - I start receiving calls wanting to know how will they be notified when we don't have class on Friday.  Really?  Who told you we wouldn't?

This has continued all week.  The forecasters are still saying it's hard to determine the exact line of the storm and what we will get.  We are in an area that seems to be a dividing line for all storms whether winter, tornado, etc. It goes north or south of us - sometimes right in the middle.

Now I know that in 2007 we were hit hard with an unexpected ice storm and there were people without electricity for 10 days or longer. I know that they want people to be prepared but I'm wondering  - are they over-preparing us?  Now I kinda secretly hope we do have some bad weather and that classes are cancelled - I'd love a snow day.  But at the same time - I am not preparing for it before it happens in my head.

Yes, it's smart to be certain you have food and water and necessary supplies but don't you usually have those on hand anyway?  Do you go to the grocery store before every meal or even every day. Is it necessary to compare a storm that isn't here yet to one from 9 years ago?  We don't know what this one will bring to us.

I also know that it keeps my brothers who live in Michigan and Pennsylvania amused.  We closed for temps at 16 and less than 1/4 inch of snow. In Michigan it was minus 2 and some lake effect snow -everything was normal. Pennsylvania had 2 feet of snow - it had been snowing for 2 straight days but all was normal.

So how about you?  Do you think the forecasters over-prepare us?