Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from January, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 5:25 pm on January 15, 2018 Permalink  

  Last night when I checked the weather for St. James on the Internet it was 20 degrees. I suited up and cleared off the driveway. As I was finishing the wind was coming up from the north. So be it! I had gotten the several inches taken care. I was hesitant to look out this morning as it was still blowing hard. As luck would have it the driveway was blown clear down to the concrete other than the short area where the house had sheltered the wind. Go figure. Bundling up it didn’t take long and we were again with a clear driveway.

  Mondays are usually a good day to run some laundry through. We are either the dirtiest or the cleanest old farts, or we just enjoy clean clothes. Yup . . . it’s the latter.

  This afternoon friend Renee came by for coffee. Renee worked with me in the courthouse for a very long time. She has since moved on to working at one of the banks here in town. Renee and Carrie graduated together. She knows she has a few years to work before she also can join the “hermit” classification. It was a fun afternoon, but man oh man, I drank way too much coffee. I think I will check the driveway and see if enough snow has blown in to shovel off to work off some of this caffeine before we fix supper.

   
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  Noreen 4:57 pm on January 12, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis braved the cold today for a visit to our local meat market. There will be a batch of chili cooking tomorrow.

  This is the time of the year when I need to keep my cell phone charged. Dennis’ nephew Brett has put his concrete business to bed for a few months. That means that I am on his speed dial for questions in regard to his quilting. I give the man credit for developing a hobby. For Kevin and Jeremy they have skills and passions in all things within their homes. For fellows that have no desire for being a DIY (Do It Yourself), winter months can get long. I mentioned to Dennis today that helping Brett with his quilting has made me be a better quilter. How could I tell him how it should be done if I don’t spend a bit more time honing my own skills. We are both coming out winners. If not for my fuzz and threads, I would be crawling the walls with black ice kidding everywhere outside. These winds have really polished what had been on the path of melting earlier in the week.

  It is now near five in the afternoon and I do close up down here in my sewing studio every day about this time.

   
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  Noreen 4:55 pm on January 11, 2018 Permalink  

  I have mentioned at times about enjoying the swaying of Evergreen boughs. When I dared to slowly open my eyes this morning, those same boughs were not swaying . . . they were in full blown flight. The wind chimes in that same tree were bleating out “When the Saints Come Marching In.” It dawned on me that we may be having a blizzard. When I did get out of bed, I could not believe that we had no snow falling, nor had we had any snow fall during the night. The concrete drive was as bare as a babies butt.

  It takes me awhile in the mornings to take in the new day . . . why rush. Dennis was already in the patio porch. The stove pipe coming out of the north wall of the garage was putting out puffs of white wisps assuring me he and the cats were comfortable. Our thermostat is set at about 60 degrees over the night hours and that allows for both of us to snuggle in and sleep deeply. I pushed the button on the wall to a better temperature and found my slippers.

  As I was going to pour a cup of coffee my eyes caught the calendar on the wall and acknowledged it was January 11th . . . the day the Epileptic clothing drive was taking place. I put the empty coffee cup down. Dressed in my pink fuzzy bathrobe and white fuzzy slippers, I picked up the prepared bag off of the kitchen floor and beat feet down that bare concrete drive and plunked the bag on the curb complete with the required tag for the curb side pickup. On the way to the back door of our house . . . it hit me. It was dang cold and the wind that was whipping the Evergreen boughs was doing a dandy job on me. That was a fairly long 90′ walk. My first cup of coffee for the day never tasted so good. A bit later when I put on the morning news, I learned that we were at sub zero weather. Hmm. It’s o.k., I got the important task done and I could take my time drinking coffee before getting dressed for the day. As I said, why rush.

   
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  Noreen 5:28 pm on January 9, 2018 Permalink  

  Lots of quiet time as I take one piece of fabric at a time to work towards a completion. Lots of time to do some reminiscing and pondering.

  I know for certain I will never ever tire of the feeling of being a mother. A lifetime . . . but never feeling like a job . . . rather a blessing.

  I know for certain the only way to continue enjoying my life is to put things back where they belong once I have used them. That being said . . . I know I most likely carried my rotary fabric cutter with me somewhere. Thank you Lord for giving me a small home in which to hunt. Dennis checked the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and I went through the multiple of waste paper baskets before they went out this morning. Hmm.

  I know for certain that understanding and patience goes hand in hand as Dennis and I take each day as it comes together as one. Each of us bending to the other, much like the Evergreen boughs that I never tire of watching during the winter. Life is sweet.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on January 8, 2018 Permalink  

  It smelled like spring outside today. It felt like spring. We ran away to Mankato. I had not been farther than our Shopko Pharmacy since Christmas for some meds for Dennis. It was a fantastic road date. The first thing we did was check in at Great Clips to see when we could turn ourselves in for haircuts. We had not had haircuts since the week before Thanksgiving and we were both on the fuzzy side.

  As we had an hour a half before being back at Great Clips, we headed to Hy-Vee with a grocery list. The store on the hill in Mankato is a treasure trove of goodies and variety. Dennis was in charge of “people watching” in his little red pickup in the parking lot. He never tires of that.

  We pulled into our driveway by four in the afternoon and were very content. Of course stopping at Perkins for a “meal of the day” didn’t hurt. By the way . . . if we stop at Perkins, that means that this gal is not making anything for supper. Everyone is on their own. It seems to work well.

  Two more nice days and then we will see what winter has left to surprise us with. I will be A.O.K. as Dennis put the handle back on my plastic snow pusher. I am quite sure I will be needing it by Friday.

   
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  Noreen 6:42 pm on January 6, 2018 Permalink  

  It seems the little dash to the left of the temperature reading is becoming a normal. I am still holding onto keeping March in the near future. The minus temps don’t define me. I know it comes every year about this time and I know it does not stay.

  Working on sewing buttons onto a project is always a challenge for me. I need to back up on that comment. Sewing them on is easy with my Sears Kenmore sewing machine, sewing multiple of them on in a straight line . . . now that is something else. I thought about it for some time. I found myself in the storage closet of the basement. Never did I think I would reach for a glue bottle with my stitching. It was a water based glue but fast drying. I put the project on the ironing board where I could measure once, measure twice and then put barely a dab of glue on with a toothpick where the button would go. Of the 57 buttons, I tried it out on five buttons.

  Waiting for the glue to dry had me doing laps around the two church tables. Low and behold it has shown me it will work for the entire amount of buttons. Putting on a dozen or so of buttons is going to be the limit as I don’t know how much shuffling of a quilted project they can take before falling off. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. Nothing is as satisfying as working the gray matter between the ears when you can’t change the cold winter.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on January 3, 2018 Permalink  

  I did get a walk in this morning. While at it I had my snow pusher out ahead taking out the snow we had over the night. Walking the 90′ of the driveway back and forth several times isn’t the ultimate. but it feels good to get fresh air. Soon I will be able to stretch my legs a bit farther and not worry about frost bite. We need to be careful for what we wish for. Taking it one day at a time and being thankful for it works for me. What do people in Minnesota think! It’s winter, get over it.

   
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  Noreen 4:44 pm on January 1, 2018 Permalink  

  It is now 2018 and by all accounts it promises to be a year when more positive things occur than negative here on Stauffer Avenue. Our Christmas tree is back in the attic as well as all things Christmas that were here, there and everywhere. It’s a good thing. We have been safe and sound during the arctic weather. That also can only get better. In 2017 I began my daily walking in March. March doesn’t seem all that far away. It is after all, not the altitude that we fly at but the attitude.

   
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  Noreen 5:52 pm on December 30, 2017 Permalink  

  What a great day for burrowing in and finding busy work with a glance outside once in awhile. Yup . . . it’s still cold and windy. I was surprised that with the wind that I heard all during the night from the north that the snow had not drifted over the driveway to any great degree.

  Dennis ran away from home for a short time this afternoon. I was surprised he didn’t have a pickup full of cats with him as I am sure they are experiencing a bit of cabin fever also.

  I worked at the dining room table with my beads and brass washers on a project. Even with a heat vent for the sewing studio being open there was a chill in the air. Several more days of cold and then it will be different. Each day of winter in Minnesota can bring different. For me, I am prepared and have contentment. Preparing for such glitches in weather is the key.

   
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  Noreen 4:32 pm on December 29, 2017 Permalink  

  As I did the snow pusher today, in my mind’s eye it was as if I was going out for a walk just as I had been doing during the year. The good thing was that I wasn’t a mile from home when I realized it was time to go in and warm up. Several different short walks and the driveway is clear of the snow we had today. I wasn’t alone in the cold. I could look up into the neighbor’s Walnut tree and see the woodpecker that was making his share of noise. I wondered if he was able to peck deep enough to find some bugs that were hiding for the season.

  It is forecast to be bitter cold until the second day of the New Year. There will be no reason for us to venture out that I can think of. Right now as supper time is approaching the house smells wonderful. At noon I put in a pork roast with seasoning and some Habanero flavored mustard. It was an oops in purchasing it but makes a very flavorful addition to the roasting process. The oven at 275 degrees will have pork roast totally falling apart. It’s a good thing.