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dooley's Blog




The tea party

Category: Holidays | Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:35 am

We had our tea party. DR made coffee which is a good thing because Joe doesn't drink tea. DR makes strong coffee and Joe like it just fine. Now, we are relaxing. I put a couple of potatoes in the oven to bake so we can have our supper in awhile. I'm afraid I ate too many cookies but when I think about it I probably did not. Talk, talk, talk, or as Wannabe called it chatting over tea.
Joe and Anna live across the street. Anna is Joe's aunt I think. She is 93 and has cancer and doesn't get out too much. She was pleased when I went over to invite them to tea today. I think because she is old and sick that people don't think to ask her out. Joe said she was watching the clock and reminded him that it was time to go to tea. She is quiet but listens and puts in her comments. She is so thin and eats very little but she had tea and the lemon cookies. I had some "store bought" butter cookies that she could eat.
Marilyn and Frank(not our gnome) live next door. His weakness is cookies and I always share what I bake with them. Joe gets his share.
When we were just talking and everyone quit eating cookies, I brought out Christmas boxes and told them that they were take out boxes and they should fill them with whatever they liked because there were a lot of cookies. So, they filled their boxes like a kid in a toy shop. I gave Marilyn an extra box to fill for the older people who live across the big street. (It's paved, ours is not so that makes it the big street) After everyone went home I filled a larger box with cookies and some little hard Christmas candies and delivered it to the kids at the end of the street. I still have to fill a box for the couple that live across the alley but that's for tomorrow. Then, I will have enough to take a box to work. I hope that uses up most of them so I don't have many left to eat myself. I saved the zucchini coconut bars for dr. Now the countdown to Christmas. Dooley

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Time is flying

Category: Holidays | Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:52 pm

Time is flying and it seems that I'm at a standstill. The problem is there is too many things to do and I am not good at making decisions. It seems that many I am not good at making choices either. I only have the llittle bear tree up. The big tree is still in the shed. You can't put presents under the little bear tree. But, I don't have any presents to put under the tree. DR has one. I don't know what is in it though. He wouldn't tell me. The only thing I have is the gift cards going to Wisconsin. I have to get Grandma's boxes in the mail soon. They are going to New York. She says she doesn't have much room for things so I'm a little stumped for what to send. I have goodies and I want to send her some cookies. (Not made yet). I did send her some little snowflakes that I thought she could pin to her curtains. I am sending her a snowflake pin soon. She likes to wear pins on her blouses or tops. I don't know how many survived her move to the nursing home. Since they are small that seemed a good choice. I am looking for a suitable lap robe and I may just have to wait until after Christmas and make something.
We have the Santa and reindeer up, finally. DR bought it at a yard sale and it turned out too big for our little front yard. So, where to put it. It is now hanging from the front of our house. It looks nice when it's lighted up. Not that we see much of it since we work when it is lighted up. But, there are three evenings when we are home to see it. I guess we put it there for others to see so that's good. Our neighbor says it looks great. He has so many lights up that you can't see his house. He says he's going to steal my garland and bows but I don't know where he would put them. Sometimes simple is better.
I was going to put a little tree that is an extra one in the front yard where the pond tub is covered over for the winter. But, we don't really need another Christmas tree. I'm thinking I may wait until after Christmas and put it out with fruit and vegetables and peanut butter pine cones. The birds would get to enjoy it. The bushes and trees in Frank's(not our gnome) yard is full of birds. He feeds them all year long. He doesn't have a heated bird bath for water so every evening when the birds go to bed he empties the birdbath and everymorning he puts new water out. He gets up with the birds so they don't have to wait for the water that is not frozen or too cold.
I brought another cookie book home from the library last night. I already had a list made and yesterday I made zucchini coconut bars which were not on the list because I brought a cookie book home from the library. But, dr liked the zucchini bars. I had a lot of the grated zucchini in the freezer. I made the fruit and nut cookies. I made a raisin cake, very spicy. It calls for a glaze but I only sprinkled a cinnamon sugar mix over it. Much better, not TOO sweet. Last night on the way to work we stopped at the grocery store. I bought cream cheese, eggs and sour cream. I have lots of cookie making stuff. I hope the neighbors like the cookies. But, I have not had any complaints yet. This year they may not get too many if I don't decide what I'm going to do today. And, as if there weren't enough things to do, I have four books home that need to be read as soon as possible since they are new books and Dan lets me read them first. One is on diabetes. It's a good book to read at this time of year as it reminds me to watch my diet.
There is a Christmas breakfast at work on the 22nd. It's my day off so I guess I will go and then finish my shopping (or start my shopping) after. I am going to make Kringle. Now, I've never made a Kringle but it doesn't look too hard. It's a Danish that is very popular in Wisconsin. We always bought them. Racine, Wisconsin is the Kringle capital in the United States. Danish immigrants started bakeries there in the 1800's. I could just order one, but I just have to give it a try. So this weekend dr and I will sample it to see how it goes. I ask Andy to find me a recipe. He says since they are always so easy to find in Wisconsin he hasn't tried to make one. I forgot to ask him how his Cranberry Salsa turned out.
So, I put chicken in the slow cooker with tomato sauce and Italian spices. I think we will have spaghetti for dinner tonight. But, it's noon and I have yet to get anything done so I'd better hop to it. Dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 4523 times


Little Bear Tree

Category: Holidays | Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:47 am

I decided that today was the day to put up some Christmas other than the wreath on the front of the house. I chose to start with the little bear tree. About 25 years ago more or less, I started collecting bears. We had a big house and a big tree. The top ornament always touched the ceiling. As a decorative touch the bears were grouped around and under it. Well, there were too many bears and not so much room. This was even before I had more than a hundred. Anyway we found this little two foot tree and set it up on a library table with the little bears grouped around it and it became the little bear tree. It still has some of the same decorations and has suffered some in it's travels but it hasn't missed a year yet. The display has grown. Last year it was on a round table with a Thomas Tank train. This year, no train. It has a house and some years, a pond with skaters. This year there is no room for the pond. Little bears from half an inch to about five inches have crowded around it. They set on benches, chairs, sleds, wagons and on the snowy surface. The larger of the small bears go on the shelf across the room where they can still see the tree. Larger bears all are grouped around the room. When the big tree goes up, some bears will be under the tree on sleds, etc. So, the bears have taken over Christmas, also.
I digress, I was about to tell you about putting the little bear tree up this year. Remember my saying I was looking and not seeing a place to put a tree. Well, we made a space. BUT!!!!!! We must have moved every piece of furniture in the house. Well, not the computer desk or the refrigerator. Chance got very worried when we started carrying things out the back door. Before we could make room in the living room, we had to make room in the small bedroom and the laundry room and some things are even in the dining room waiting for a final destination. But, the little bear tree is up and lighted. There is a space for the big tree which DR is in charge of putting up. He doesn't decorate it, he just puts it up. We used to always have a live tree but when the boys all left home we found it easier to put up an artificial one. That drew strong comments when they came for Christmas but we told them there was room for a real one and ornaments to spare, have at it. No one ever went and got a live one. Tom and Andy do have live trees in their homes though. Dan has an artifical one now. So, tomorrow I will do something else. After having moved things two days in a row, maybe I will put garland and bows on the front fence. Dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 579 times


Christmas shopping

Category: Holidays | Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:11 pm

It is COLD here today so we may go and do a little Christmas shopping. When we lived in Wisconsin and the boys were small we always hired a babysitter about a week before Christmas and went to dinner and then shopping. It feels like winter here now but thankfully no snow. I'm not with Toni on the snow. It's pretty on the top of the mountain but that's where I like it or on Christmas cards. Last week I went and bought gift cards at the book store for the Wisconsin crew. I was going to do the same for the California ones but they may be coming to Arizona at the end of the month so I may just wait and take them shopping. Erin will be eleven in April and I bet she would like to go shopping with us. Tom is going to run a 24 hour race so they are coming a day early. We are going to go down to Goodyear and find a motel so they won't have to drive two hours back and forth to visit and not have much time to spend here.
I applied for and got the days off that I needed. Ha, I just thought. I will only have to work one day between Christmas and New Year's. We get Monday and Tuesday off for Christmas and I will work Wednesday and then have five days off. Great!!! Though I can believe there will be a ton of books to put away when I get back. It just works that way. I'm just now getting caught up from the Thanksgiving two days off.I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies yesterday. I think I will mix some refrigerator dough for cookies in a bit and then they will be ready when I want to bake them.
Chance is running around the yard barking because there is a white chicken on the street. She knows chickens are not supposed to be in the street. If it would just come into the yard she could have chicken for dinner. I made banana muffins for breakfast. She didn't have time to come in for any.
I checked on my plants. They are doing okay in the exercise room. The begonia in the swan looks a little wilted but it should have come inside. It wasn't much warmer inside when we got home last night. The comforter felt good. I think this is the coldest it's been since we left Wisconsin. It's still November. I wonder what happened to the warmer than normal winter.
Last night DR started the truck when he went down about ten minutes before the library closed. When we went out and the other ladies saw the truck running they said that tomorrow night they would all give DR the keys to their vehicles and he could warm them up, too. Dr said, "Yeah, fat chance!"
The wind had stopped for the most part so the drive home was easier.
The City of Lights display is open so one night after we get off from work we will go and drive through it.
There are all sorts of lighted scenes and tunnels of lights that you can drive through. It's free and stays open from 6pm to midnight.
We got the first Christmas card today, from my sister. We usually get the first card from her daughter. But her daughter has three girls and now works as a pharmacy tech so doesn't have the time she used to have to do them. I used to do mine on Thanksgiving weekend. I have addresses on them but that's about it.
I just have to put a note or letter in each one. My dad always said, if you can't find the time to write something in them you might as well not send them.
I guess it stuck so all of them get a note or letter.
Maybe I'd better go start on that instead of rambling on here for pages. Dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 552 times


Beginning

Category: Holidays | Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:20 pm

Thanksgiving is over and it's on to Christmas. Not much time to get it all done. I sit and look around and can't seem to think what to do. There is no place for a tree. DR says it doesn't have to go in front of the window. I guess he's right. Then, there is the little bear tree. I know where I had it last year but the space has magically filled up with something else. We cleaned out the shed yesterday to find all the Christmas stuff. I've thought about just emptying the living room into the shed and starting over but there is too much in the living room. A good half of those bears living in our house. There was an ad in the paper yesterday. Someone else must have the same problem. It said they had 200 bears to sell. Part of a collection, never played with. DR wanted to know if I wanted to call about it. NO, NO, NO!!!! I can't even figure out what to do with the ones that I have and everytime I go to the thrift shop I buy another one. Don't get me wrong. I love bears and there is always one who really looks like it needs a home. There is always room for just one more, and one more and one more and one more and one more......Pretty soon we will have to move out to the shed.
I brought out the garland and lights for the front fence. I probably won't get it up today but soon. I guess I'm getting to be like DR. Wait for the coldest day of the year to work outside on a project. He has his own problem. He bought a Santa with sleigh and reindeer and doesn't know where to put it. The roof is out. No way to fasten it. That big mulberry tree hides the roof anyway. He says it's about 10 feet long. We also have a big star to put on the front of the big shed. Maybe it will stay in the big shed this year since we have a sleigh with Santa and reindeer. I have been gathering up all the Halloween and Thanksgiving and fall stuff today. I guess that is the first step anyway. I do have a place for it but the stuff seems to have multiplied so I hope it all fits.
I moved my CD player because there was no longer any place to plug it in where it was located. We have downsized many times in our 45 years and things just seem to grow like Topsy and fill in the empty spaces. I marveled at the large living room when we moved here. Little did I know. Should go to the post office and then decide what to do with the rest of the day. Work 6-9 tonight. Dooley

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Thanksgiving blessings!

Category: Holidays | Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 5:43 am

Isn't is nice that with all of us busy with the holiday and family and friends that we found the time to come and wish our Gardenstew friends and family a happy holiday. True, most of us were busy throughout the day but the day doesn't seem to end until we come and check on everyone. It's sad when one has to spend a special day alone but with friend like the ones here they can still feel special. DR spent some time here showing our friend the site and all the places to visit and I am sure Al will find the time to check it out from time to time. We hadn't seen them all year and it seems like if they are less than two hours away we could manage to visit from time to time, but we all keep busy and we all have ailments that keep us home from time to time. We have made plans to see them at the end of the year when our oldest son comes to Arizona to run in a 24 hour race down by where Al and Ree live. Al will be playing music both days but we will get together for breakfast or lunch. I have both days off. Tom will be coming with someone else so won't be able to come up so we are going to go down and stay a couple of days. He is going to bring Erin and we haven't seen her in a long while. She will be eleven in April so I thought instead of sending her a Christmas gift we might take her shopping while Tom is busy running.
The descendents of Sam and Myra Fleming are having a reunion in April in Phoenix. There were seven children of which I am the third. I had one brother who was the oldest. He was killed on his way home from Vietnam. I have an older sister (Wannabe) who lives in Illinois. My next youngest brother lives in Missouri and drives a semi-truck cross country several times a month. I don't think I could do it myself but he's been doing it many, many years. My next youngest sister lives in Phoenix. I don't see her as much as I'd like. Her husband had a stroke a couple of weeks ago and is now in rehab. I should have found time to call her today, but I didn't. I'll try to remedy that in the morning. The next youngest is a boy and he lives somewhere in Nevada. He has trouble with serious depression and only keeps in touch with Wannabe. We are all happy that he at least keeps in touch. He won't come to the reunion. The youngest lives in California. She is one of the organizer's of the reunion. Now, they have a web site or I should say a group e-mail through yahoo where everyone can voice their opinions. Between the seven of us there are 23 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. We live in 5 different states. But so many of the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren do not know each other and last Thanksgiving the four girls were together in Phoenix and decided we needed to try to get together so they could meet each other. There are 54 direct descendents but there are wives and stepchildren too so there are more than 70 who will try to be there. It is going to be spread over three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and more days if they want to come earlier or stay later. Andy says that's the week Ben has spring break so they will come earlier in the week. Tom hasn't said if they are coming. I think Erin has her break in March. So, even with large families it is hard to get them together. I remember when we were having reunions that of my dad's family and we were the younger generation. Now, only one of his brother's still lives and none of my mom's siblings still live. We are the older generation. When did that happen? It just crept up on us. We weren't watching close enough. I suppose it would have come anyway but it would have been nice to have had some warning. You know that means we are maybe getting older. I called to wish my dad a "Happy Birthday" when he turned 65. He said,
"What's so happy about it. This is the one where you start to get old." He died when he was 73 years old. I will turn 66 in January so I guess I started to get old about a year ago. I only feel it when it take me longer to get something done than it used to do. I dig my garden and flower beds with a shovel. I used to could get it all done in one day. Now, it takes all week and my knees and back complain daily about it. Talk about being weak-kneed. Oh, well, I still don't feel 65 so maybe you only start to get old when you start to feel old. Only my knees feel old. I am still young at heart and with that, I think I will take my old knees and go to bed. We did have a great Thanksgiving day with friends and Dan and with the ones we have never met in person but still consider to be good friends. Dooley

Last edited: Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:17 am

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I'm done! Maybe

Category: Holidays | Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:43 am

Yesterday, we went to Prescott and did grocery shopping. Of course, we just don't know when to stop so we did a lot of other things too. We had lunch at the Chinese Buffet. That is always good. We left home at 9:30 am and got home at 4:45 pm. Long day.
This morning we got up at 6:30 am and went to Phoenix to have breakfast with our friends. It was an hour and twenty minutes to the diner where we were meeting them. They only had to drive for forty minutes. I was amazed. We arrived only five minutes after them. We sat and talked and drank tea or coffee for awhile after breakfast. They finally had to leave because Al had to play accordian for a Christmas Party in the afternoon. He had to go home and pack all his equipment into the van.
We went and bought fish for Christmas Eve. Then, we went to my sister's house to tell them Merry Christmas. They aren't feeling very Christmasy because her husband is having a heart valve replaced on Jan. 9th. I took her a rice steamer, cooker etc. She wants to try steaming his food to make it softer and easier for him to eat. She was a little surprised because although we had talked about it, I hadn't told her I was buying one for her. Then, she was upset because she hadn't bought me anything. I had to convince her that it wasn't a Christmas present, just something she needed right now and I could get it for her.
They haven't put up a Christmas tree. They don't think they will put one up, but her daughter came and said she and the girls would come over after work and do it for her.
We came home after that. We didn't feel like shopping anymore. We have it done anyway. We really didn't need to do shopping. We just wanted to connect with friends and family before Sunday. Our son Dan will come for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
I gave eight tins of cookies and still have a few left. I have one more tin that I could give away if I would. I just have to decide if I have enough Christmas spirit. I'm not too happy with the person, but Christmas is a time to be generous so maybe I should do it anyway. Should you give a gift of cookies to someone because it is Christmas and maybe the right thing to do? Should you skip it because it isn't given with Christmas spirit and love? I can't decide if it would make me feel better or worse. Maybe the answer is that it would make them feel good.

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Shopping

Category: Holidays | Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:13 am

Today, we went shopping. I think one more time and all will be done. We came home early today which is fine with me. I mailed Christmas cards this morning but I still have half a dozen that needed letters. Now, I only have four left and I did three. Amazing how things seem to multiply when you aren't looking. I got one in the mail that I hadn't counted on. I had not the new address, but now I do so I have to do one for this person. I mailed the only package I'm going to mail. The others are getting gift cards. But, Brian's mom doesn't understand gift cards. She is in her 90's and mostly homebound. So, she gets a box.Dan lives close so he gets presents. The other two sons and families live off and I don't know anymore what to buy them so they get gift cards. I don't like gift cards except for the grandchildren. They get bookstore gift cards. They are all avid readers as were my children. I have the new computer so my list was short. Brian will not make a list so I have to guess. Sometimes I guess right and sometimes not. If not, he can just choose his own next year. Now, I have to go back and finish those cards so I can mail them tomorrow.

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Cookies

Category: Holidays | Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 2:39 am

I made some Christmas cookies today. I made pfeffernusse again. I made them around Thanksgiving but they are all gone. I'm glad someone ate them because they weren't so great. I was about of anise and they weren't so flavorful. This batch is much better. They still have time to age a few days before someone eats them. I also made the poppyseed cookies. Brian says they have crunch. A few go a long way.They are rich. A whole cup of butter.
I think I need to start on Christmas cards too. I don't do so many now. I used to have business cards as well as family and friends cards. I don't do business cards anymore but some of the business people qualify for friends cards. I usually put a letter in each card. My father said if you can't spare the time to write a few lines don't send the card. I like getting cards with a note or letter in them. I think it shows the person was thinking about you and not just trying to send a card because it was expected of them.

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Early Day

Category: Holidays | Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:29 am

We got up before 6 AM and went to the flea market in Prescott Valley. We do this once a month or maybe twice. We sell various things we've collected over the years. It's how I got money for the computer. Now, with Christmas close we went to see what we could sell. We did really well today and came home about 2 PM. It was cold all day. It maybe got into the 50's but it was windy.
We stopped at the grocery store coming home because I have a recipe that needs half a cup of almonds. They were expensive almonds. We spent $24.00. I guess you cannot go into a store and buy just one thing. We ended up with three bags of stuff.
The grocery store has a policy where if the scanner scans a price different from the shelf price you get the item free. So, when I got in line to buy a powerball ticket there was a lady in front of me that had an item and her sales receipt. The customer service clerk had to go and check the shelf price visually and compare it with the scanned price so the line got quite long. There was only one clerk on duty. But, the lady did get her money back. We did one time, too. So I wasn't too unhappy with the wait but there was some grumbling. People are so impatient.
We made several other stops on the way home but still made it by 3:30 PM.
Then, I made myself some tea and decorated the Christmas tree. My son stopped by and said I had a lot more decorations than he had. I reminded him I was a lot older than he was and had been collecting them a lot longer. We used to live in a house with 10ft ceilings so we had a big tree. The taller the tree, the wider the base. We had a LOT of ornaments for the tree. They won't fit on our 6ft tree. So, We have ornaments hanging around the house, too. Those I haven't done yet. You can only accomplish so much in one day.

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