Numbers

19     41     42     48     90


Looks like a set of random numbers doesn't it? 

Well, they each represent something to me.


19 .....

    That's how old I was when I received the phone call telling me my mom had passed away. 


41......

     That's the number of years my children have been without a grandma.


42.......

     That's the number of years my mom has been gone.


48......

     That's how old my mom was when she died.


90......

    That's how old my mom would have been today if she had lived. 


Random numbers - yes - but each one represents something. 

These do not include:

      the number of hugs not able to be given
      the number of phone calls not able to be made
      the number of family birthdays not able to be attended
      the number of family dinners not able to be attended
      the number of I Love You's not able to be said
      the number of laughs not shared
      the number  of tears shed
      the number of school plays and programs not attended
      the number of graduations missed
      the number of grandchildren, great and great great grandchildren not held in her arms 
      the number of whispered confidences of those grandchildren
      the number of books not read


The list could go on and on.  Every year on her birthday I remember her - I remember what she is missing and I remember what I have missed by not having her here.  I also remember what my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have missed by not having her here. 

I remember her at other times throughout the year. Christmas - which she loved and probably why my brothers and I all love Christmas.  Memorial Day - when I take flowers to her and Dad's grave site. March 5th - the day she died.  March 8th - the day we buried her.

These are just a few of the times I remember her and think of some of those random numbers.

Salad Equals Love

This is my lunch.  I've had one of these Italian Pasta Salads every day this week. 

It's really good!  Pasta, artichokes, peppers, red onions, cherry tomatoes, pepperoni, salami.  All mixed up together. 

I'm not showing you this to make you hungry, although it should.  I'm showing you this picture to show you a picture of love. 

That's right - I said love.

I take my lunch to work every day.  Every Sunday my husband prepares my lunches for me.  This week happened to be Italian Pasta Salad.  Some weeks it's soup, some weeks sandwiches. 

Whatever my lunch is for the week, Gary prepares it on Sunday.  He then portions it out into containers and puts it in the fridge for me.  Then all I have to do is put the container and any snacks I want in my thermal along with a bottle of water in the morning.  Presto - lunch is ready to go in no time! 

He doesn't do this because he has to.  He doesn't do this because I have asked him to.  He does it because he wants to.  It's something he does because he loves me.



 

4th of July Goosebumps

I've talked before about my granddaughter.  She enlisted in the Army a couple of years ago.  I wrote a blog about that.  I'm used to service to my country.  I explained how I was the only one in my family who didn't serve in the Armed Forces. 

I'm used to sending letters, care packages, etc. to friends and brothers in service.  I thought I was ready but man it's much different when it's your granddaughter. 

Then when she chooses Infantry/Paratrooper as her choice of service.  The feelings are strong that's for sure. 

I've known for several months that she was scheduled for deployment.  I even made arrangements to be able to spend some time with her while she was on leave before deployments.  We have our flag flying at home, for our country, our veterans, and our deployed granddaughter.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. We were at the ball game.  We have a minor league baseball team here and it just seemed like the perfect way to spend the holiday.  What's more American than a baseball game, right? 

So our favorite paratrooper has been on her way for deployment, plane rides, waits in airports, I think this is probably typical for anyone on deployment but I'm not sure. Anyway, she has been underway for a few days.

We are at the ballgame.  We are standing for the National Anthem as any good American citizen will do. 

I get a message that our granddaughter has landed at her destination.  Wow!  Talk about goosebumps!  We got 'em!
 

We are enjoying our Freedom and celebrating with fireworks while she is defending our right to do so!  We don't take this lightly. 

The next few months may be a little emotional for us but we will be showing our support for her and all deployed service members.  Our flag will be flying, we will be wearing our red on Fridays (Remember Everyone Deployed). 

Tornado Season

It's May in Oklahoma. One thing you can count on is we will have tornado warnings.  The last few days have been pretty intense for us here. We started with earthquakes on Friday and progressed to tornadoes and flooding.

If you're my friend on Facebook, or you have friends on Facebook who live in Oklahoma, you might have seen several funny posts regarding tornadoes.  We deal with it with humor.

That doesn't mean that we don't take these warnings seriously.  We do.

Over the weekend the weather forecasters were advising that this was going to be a major storm.  The severity was enough to cause several school districts to cancel school Sunday night for Monday.  Some schools closed early on Monday.

I don't know about the rest of the state but the meteorologists here in Tulsa are AWESOME!  They pinpoint and advise and go non-stop coverage. And when I say pinpoint they tell you area by area where the threat is right down to specific neighborhoods.

Yesterday my work let out at 10:30. The day was rainy, overcast and gloomy. The main storm didn't get to us until close to 8 pm or so. Sirens went off - and off - and off. The weather guys were vigilant and very informative in their tracking of the storms.

First round was intense. It was close to 10:30 before we felt it was safe enough to go to bed.  We never took cover ourselves here at our house. If we had kids at home with us we probably would have as a precaution. Again, our forecasters are amazing and we knew the direction of the storm.

The evening was filled with occasional warnings of severe storms, flooding, etc. but uneventful. Got up this morning early to get ready for work as usual. You guessed it - sirens and warnings started about 6:20 am.  Torrential rain came down - tornadoes spotted - as close as one mile from us.  Once again a big shout out to our forecasters - who had actually been on air non-stop since last night.

The weather has cleared out now. The sun is shining. The storms have passed but we still face flooding from all the rain received.

For family and friends who have checked on us, we appreciate the thoughts and prayers. And again, we may joke and post funny memes etc, on Facebook but we do take these warnings seriously. It's just Oklahoma's way of making the best of a bad situation. 

Showing Love

I took this picture last month when my in-laws came down for a weekend visit.  We had gone out to do some sight-seeing for the afternoon and ended up at Turkey Mountain.  We got out and walked around a bit. I was behind Gary and his mother and snapped this photo. 

I love this photo because it captures so much. 

Notice how he has given her his arm so he can help her walk?  This is typical. 

When he is around his mother he is always looking out for her.  When they come to visit he wants to make their favorite meals, Vicki loves meatloaf and Gary always wants to make it for her.  I try to talk him out of it because I know that Red doesn't like meatloaf.  It's kind of a 50/50 deal - sometimes Gary makes it sometimes not.  LOL

Grammy is always cold so it's not uncommon for Gary to take a blanket and wrap her up in it. 

This picture also gives you an example of how Gary was raised. He loves his mother very much, therefore he takes care of her.  That's a tribute to her and also to his father.  He had to have the example of his father on how to treat his mother.  And obviously he was treated with love and is showing that love to her as he takes care of her.

Ladies, watch how the guy you are dating treats his mother.  It's probably a good indication of how he's going to treat you.  Guys, make sure you are showing your daughters and sons how they are supposed to treat mothers. 

Yes, Gary looks out for his mother and he also looks out for me.  We've been married 25 years come October and for all those years he has been looking out for me.  I like to think I look out for him too but I know he does a much better job than I do.  And it's because of the example he had growing up and continues to have from his parents. 

Online Shopping

This may create some controversy.  I've been reading several articles lately about how stores are closing, malls have empty stores, everyone is shopping online.  The articles go on to say how sad it is, it hurts the cities, etc.

I'm an online shopper.  Let me tell you why I have turned to online shopping for the most part.

      1.  Do you know how hard it is to find ANYONE to help you in a store?  Seriously, are the workers permanently located in the break room?  Or do you just not hire enough workers to help the customers who do want to come into your store?

    2. Self-Service Check-Out   -- I HATE THIS!!!  I am not on your payroll.  You are not giving me a paycheck every payday so why should I come to your store to scan and bag my own items then give you my money? At the very least there should be a discount for you if you choose to do self-service check-out. Nope I'll wait in line for the one checker you have on the registers (of which there may be 24 but you only have a checker on 1).

  3.  Temperature of the store. I know it's difficult to find a temperature that is comfortable for everyone and this is more of an issue for me as I've gotten older.  But I hate standing in a store dripping sweat while trying to shop.  It makes trying on clothes a torture!  No thanks -- I'll take my chances and order online and send it back if it doesn't fit.  I'm sure there are other menopausal women out there who understand this.

  4. No place to sit.  You may be thinking if you are shopping why are you sitting?  Well, again this may be an issue only for older people, but I can only walk so long before I have to stop and rest.  I have one leg that goes numb or dead if I stand on it to long.  If that isn't happening, then my hips hurt so bad that I literally cannot take a step without pain.  I just need to sit down for a couple of minutes and rest my legs then I'm good to go again.

  5.  The general disarray and messiness of the store itself.  Some stores are so cluttered, so messy that I cannot find anything I am looking for.  This relates back to #1.  I've worked retail.  I know that customers come in and look at items and while some may fold the article and put it back where it goes neatly for the most part they don't.  But I don't need to have to watch the floor to be certain my cart isn't running over items that have been thrown on the floor.

  6. No prices.  Have you noticed how many items don't actually have a price tag on them - just the bar code?  Yeah, this may be convenient for that one checker you have but I kinda like to know what something costs before I buy it.  Looking at tags on the shelf isn't always helpful because of the fact that someone did not put the item I'm looking at in the correct place.

There you have it - six big reasons I do most of my shopping online.

 Now don't get me wrong.  This applies mainly to larger stores or 'chain' stores.  Smaller boutiques are not this way.  The stores are always well maintained, dressing rooms are not overflowing with clothes. You have a question, someone is right there to answer or assist.  I still think they could put a couple of chairs around to rest but that I can deal with since they provide such great service.

I've worked retail before - grocery and department stores so I know what it's like. I'm not trying to upset anyone who works retail now.

I agree, it is sad to see stores closing and buildings sitting empty but now you know why I prefer online shopping.

Sled Riding and a Car Hood

I grew up with three brothers and I was next to the youngest.  I was kinda spoiled but I never realized it. My brothers tend to make sure I had anything I wanted. They still do. 

My brothers were my best friends and their friends were my friends.  My next oldest brother was 3 years older than me and he had a lot of friends who always hung out at our house.  The baby of our family was only 18 months younger than me so we were pretty close.  Our oldest brother was 6 years older than me. 

We always had lots of fun together.  All the cold weather that most of the country is getting has me thinking about my childhood and how we spent our winters. 

We spent as much time outside as we could.  We'd bundle up in a couple pair of jeans, extra shirt, gloves, hats, boots.  It was not uncommon to put bread sacks on over our socks before we put our boots on. This would help keep our socks dryer longer. 

We lived next door to the grade school. Here we spent a lot of time. The driveway and parking lot as well as the open space used for sports was the perfect playground.

One of our favorite things was sledding.  Now at our own house we had a really nice hill we could use. But if the snow was really good then we'd head over to the school to go sledding.

The hill at the school was pretty steep, not a gradual hill like at home.  This led to a large open area that was used for sports when we  had gym class. This area led to another smaller hill with trees that led down to the ditch and a small creek known as Buck's Branch.  So when the snow was really good you could sled down the hill and the goal was to see how far across the field you could go.  If you were lucky you might make it all the way across the field and even down the shorter hill. 

My parents both worked and as we got older we were allowed to stay home by ourselves while our parents were at work.  We did our chores but still had plenty of time to have fun. One day during winter we had a really good snow.  My next older brother, my younger brother and myself were home and several of my brothers friends had come over.  This usually included the twins, their younger brother, their uncle, and another friend who was quite heavy. These boys were pretty much always at the house if my brother was there so they were kinda like brothers to me as well. 

One winter day my brothers and I and my brothers friends were all at the house.  We had had a pretty good snow and decided to go sledding. We took the sleds and headed over to the school hill.  The sleds were fun for a while. We'd pile on top of each other on the sled.  The more people who piled on the sled the faster it would go and also the farther it would go. Sometimes you'd wreck and end up in the snow. We kept going farther and farther.

Then my brother remembered that we had an old car hood just sitting around at the house.  We discussed this and the consensus was that if we all piled in with the heaviest person at the very front of the hood we might make it all the way across the field and even part way down the next hill. 

So back home to get the hood.  We positioned it just right on the hill - aiming for a particular spot on the next hill if we made it that far.  Then we positioned ourselves in the hood.  Shoved off and away we went! 

OH MY GOSH!! That was so much fun!  I don't really remember if we made to the next hill and down but I'm guessing not as it would not have been a good idea to crash that hood into the trees that were there. 

After a afternoon of sledding we'd head back to the house to warm up and make a big pot of hot tea. 

Those were good days. This picture while not of my brothers and I is how I remember those days.