hello

Just thought I'd peek in and say hello. Work is going ok. Colds are going around the office, so now I have it. We keep swapping office space, phones, pens etc. Have been home for the weekend and 2 more days trying to get better. Am going back today and see how it goes. I hope they have the air conditioner fixed!
I miss my blogger friends! I'll check in again someday. hehehehe

Back and Forth

My mom told me to be careful driving back and to to work. I told her I would. Then I grinned. I know that is what we say, but shouldn't it be to and back? Or ... are we going back to work and then to home? Whichever, I will be careful going to and back.

He or She?

Why do we have to use both? I know in our modern world and with women’s rights we cannot only say ‘he’ all the time. But why both? Why not ‘she’ sometimes and ‘he’ sometimes? Why use both each and every time? Actually, each and every bothers me too, but that is a different story.
The Bible refers to the human race as ‘man.’ I never had a problem knowing what ‘man’ meant. Since a child, I knew and understood ‘man’ meant mankind. Or, is that mankind or womankind?
Actually, it is fine and proper to use he for the pronoun all the time. I am not highly educated, but I do not think of he as only males when I read a book or article. Does higher education make people that picky? Maybe there is something to just good old horse sense. With all the new dictionaries containing so many new words why can’t someone devise one word to represent ‘he or she’? But then, I guess he or she has not thought of it!

New Job

I guess the title should be just 'job'. I did not have another one outside my home. I started work (temporary). I am working in an office. I have not worked in an office atmosphere for 38 years!! I have been a full-time housewife since 6 months after getting married except for a couple little things now and then, but none like this one. I was told it was a temp-job up to 35 hrs a week, but when I arrived I was told it was a 40-hr a week job with no extra benefits. OK, I will try to handle that. 2 days are behind me and God is helping me learn what I am to do.

I've worked 4 days now and so the first week is behind me. So far, so good.

Adams Crafts Online Bookstore

We now have our online bookstore up and running. We even received our first order! If you get  a chance, please check it out and let me know what you think. I know it needs some more tweeking, but at least it is up finally. Steve has not settled on just what he wants to do for woodworking, so for now it is only my books. I want to add a photo at the top of us both doing our crafts, but it has to wait for now being I start my temp job for a few months. I have not worked in an office for 38 years, so it ought to be .... interesting.
Adams Crafts Online Store

e-cousin

Tonight I met my e-cousin. After my parents divorced when I was a small child, I did not grow up with or know my cousins on my father’s side. About 12 years ago, one of them and I met over the internet. We neither one can remember just what led up to the meeting, but during the years, we have kept in touch off and on and more often as the years went on. She has ‘followed’ us as we moved to Alaska, Germany then on to Utah and now to Georgia. I have ‘followed’ her through her ministry and acting career. All online.

Last May we retired and moved to my parents’ home town, where a good many of my cousins live. This weekend is the reunion for my father’s side and I got to go to a supper tonight and meet all these people I do not know and hopefully get to know them!

I was out on the back porch eating and heard that my e-cousin had arrived. I gave her family time to get in the house and say hello to ones close at hand, then I walked into the dining room and stood watching her for a few seconds before she noticed me. It was so exciting when she looked and realized I was there. She did not expect me until tomorrow for the reunion. We were finally face to face and could hear each other’s voices instead of chatting online or reading emails. Don’t know why we never picked up the phone, but we had not. Well, we finally got to meet! Her parents informed us that we did meet when we were younger (20+ years ago) but it was for only a few minutes and did not know each other back then. Now, we do.
It is so nice to be home.

The photo is the two of us with our younger writer cousin. Belinda, Ariel & Laura

Love Haiku

Hidden little notes
Help keep the romance alive
As the years go by.

During the years, my husband and I have done this. You never know where or when one of us will see a little love note tucked away or written on the edge of a page of a book, etc.
I also wrote love notes for my mother each trip I'd come home to visit. It does not have to be for romance! We need to let our loved ones know we think of them. Mom would tell me each one she found as the months would go by. Once, I only did one note. I forgot to do more. Later, she mentioned that she only found one. Oops, I confessed that was it. Now that I am home, I have not done it. I guess I should not quit, though.

Non-Retired

Well, my husband is no longer fully retired. He has been training to be a sub-school bus driver for 2 months and now has his license. He has driven all week so far. It is funny to hear his stories when he comes home.
Me, I've been getting things done at home. I try to use the morning session to work on household things and the afternoons to work on my writing. I'd rather write in the mornings, but I feel I need to encourage myself to get those things done first. And, too, I enjoy the feeling of knowing the house is in order when I'm busy at my writing.
It seems funny for him to get up and go to work and me be at home alone again.

MUFA foods

Olives and olive oil
Nuts and nut oils
Seeds and seed oils
Avocados
Chocolate (Dark)

MUFA is short for monounsaturated fat, a good fat. It is supposed to help reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.

They say (right now) these foods are good for you. If you want to do a search, you can see why. As with all things, everyone does not agree.
We try to work at least one with each meal. We have a mixture of ground flaxseed, chopped walnuts and cinnamon we use on our cereal and in our cookies. I use ground flaxseed in most of my baked goods. I call my biscuits 'Southern Biscuits' because they have freckles.
Well, anyway that is why we call chocolate covered nuts, MUFA-MUFA.

Busy, Busy

I am still trying to get our online store ... uh ... online. I have it all done, but figuring postage and handling. I ordered a postal scale from USPS last Wednesday. I wanted one of theirs so I would know it would be right and it was the best deal. Have been waiting for it to come ... and wondering why it has not. I figured with $9 p/h it would be here by now. I got an email today saying they shipped it today! urghhhh You would think .... Well, I'll get it when it gets here!
I think I will make some chocolate covered nuts. One of our favorite snacks. We call it MUFA-MUFA!

Elements of Style

An excellent little book for writers or anyone who wants to know how to use our language better. This is one of the first books recommended to writers.

Spring Vegetables Recipe

A dish I made yesterday. I got it from Woman's Day Magazine and it is on their web site. I forgot to take a photo, and did not know if I should copy theirs and use it.

Mine looked a little different, because I thought I had frozen peas in the freezer so did not buy any. What I had was brussel sprouts! But, the photo on the back was small so it looked like peas. So, I used peas and snaps from my mother's garden that I had in the freezer. It worked. I still want to try it again with frozen peas. We had it with baked chicken. Yum. A Fit for Life meal.

Two thoughts for writers to remember

1. If there is any way for anyone reading your work to misunderstand what you say, someone will misunderstand it.
2. Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood. (Epictetus the ancient orator & philosopher)
So .... we need to check and recheck our writings so others will know exactly what it is we want to communicate.

I guess I am back to blogging. :)

The Mind

The mind is a funny thing. Sometimes, I can remember things from way back and as old as I am, I mean way back! Then sometimes, I can’t remember what I said an hour ago. Or if I said it. Did I just think to say it? Anyway, we were watching a movie on HULU.com the other night and it was sponsored by Verizon Wireless. They sang their theme song to the same tune and different words (but almost the same) that Big Red chewing gum used a few years ago was so popular. Maybe they still use it, I don’t know. I have not seen TV that much in a long time.
Anyway, back to the mind. Have you ever got a jingle stuck in your head and could not get it out? Yesterday and today, those songs have been going through mine. Not just one at a time, but the two of them mixed up. Not a pretty sight (sound). I’ve tried singing something else to make it go away. I even tried to sing it and make it go away, but can’t keep the two straight in my head! Whew!
I am just so glad I don’t have to listen or see all those commercials on cable or satellite! Just the little time we are at my parents makes me really happy, we choose not to have TV shows piped into our house. At least on the internet, we can choose to watch the old shows when modesty and non-use of bad words were still virtues to most people.

Prune juice

Where do they get the juice from prunes? There is no juice in prunes. OK, do they get the juice from plums? Shouldn’t it be plum juice? But, then would that be something like plum pretty? Get it? Plum juice. OK, for you non-southerns … plum can mean truly. So, that would be truly juice. Real juice.
OK, this is from Wikipedia “Prune juice is made by softening prunes through steaming and then putting them through a pulper to create a watery puree. Prunes and their "juice" contain the natural laxative dihydrophenylisatin (rela
ted to isatin). Faster results are obtained by heating the prune juice. Prunes also contain dietary fiber (about 6%, or 0.06 g per gram of prune). Prunes and prune juice are thus common home remedies for constipation. Prunes also have a high antioxidant content.”
So…. Prune juice is actually made from prunes. I learned something today. And, yes, we drink prune juice sometimes. And now I know it is plum good for me besides the obvious. :)

Made in the USA

I made a new page for our home site. I thought it would be neat to share some of the products I like, especially the ones made in the USA. If interested, click on this link. There are also links to more sites that feature made in the USA products.

Dishwashing

Tonight, I was doing dishes after church. I rarely leave them dirty when I leave the house, but tonight had to be an exception. Toward the end, I noticed a pan that had food stuck on it and thought I’d have to soak it for a while. But, within a couple minutes it was ready to clean. It reminded me of when I was a kid at home and my sister and I would do dishes. There were nine of us so there were a lot and it would take us a long time because we argued and fussed while doing them. I don’t know why Mom let us get away with that being we were all in the same area of the house. Finally, we would get to the pots and beg Mom to let us leave them soaking. She agreed most of the time. Of course, she had to do them the next day while we were at school. After years of marriage and doing dishes, etc, I realized that if we had soaked them at the beginning of the dish washing time, we’d been able to clean them at the end. Why did Mom let us get away with that? I don’t know. I guess moms just do that.

blogging haiku

Homemakers blogging
Letting the whole wide world know
We like our life