Windbag..

2009-04-23T00:38:00.001-05:00

I just signed up on Facebook. Couldn`t believe all the relatives and friend I found .

2007-07-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

I figured I better make an attempt to write something. It`s been such a long time since I came around. so much has happened...too bad we can`t see around that corner of life we call tomorrow.

2004-07-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

Poor poor blog..I`ve been so busy with sewing my crazy quilt and tracking down the Emery family (genealogy), that I have neglected to record all my daily thoughts and happenings. I don`t know how I got the genealogy bug, and think maybe it`s the other way around, maybe the bugs got me. Genealogy is kind of like a puzzle. There are a whole bunch of pieces that have sir-names on them that fit together with other pieces that have given names on them that fit together with a bunch of other pieces that have dates on them, that fit together with a bunch of other pieces that have states and towns on them. Now to make it more interesting lets say, you go to sleep one night and someone creeps in while your snug in your bed dreaming about just putting that last illusive piece in your puzzle, and this person dumps a bunch of other puzzles in with yours and then mixes them all up and takes the majority of them and scatters them out through archives in different states (and sometimes even different counties ). You wake up and think, "Have I lost my mind for taking on such a task ? Did I know what I was getting into when I started this ?" Never the less, that ole genealogy bug knew I was from the "School of Hard Knocks" and would beat my head against that genealogy wall till I was silly*.
Maybe that`s what got me interested in the crazy quilts.

2004-07-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

2003-08-28T17:56:00.000-05:00

The last post I made was supposed to be put in last week but, for some reason I couldn`t get my post published. As of now the grandkids are back in school. I`m really in to all the reality shows and I think they are taking up too much of my time. That happened with the Soap`s and I had to quit watching them.

2003-08-28T17:51:00.000-05:00

How time flies! So much has happened since last I posted. We`ve had a busy spring and summer, which has gone by fast for me. I have a remodeled bathroom and new sofa and loveseat . Aunt Francis went home to be with the Lord. The grandsons are going back to school next week. Life goes on and it is great.

2003-01-25T12:40:00.000-06:00

Super Bowl party is tomorrow…YES!! And I`m rooting for the Raiders. I knew Rich Gannon was going places
The first time I watched him play for the Chiefs. Bah Humbug Schottenheimer! Most of my friends are big Buccaneer fans which makes for an even more exciting party. And since the food is always great at these affairs I think I`ll just have to blow off my New Years resolution. Valentines Day is coming up and I sure would be disappointed not to be able to eat any of the candy I usually get anyway.

2002-12-31T14:14:00.000-06:00

I’m all set for the New Year now. I got my yearly supply of Vanderbilt Cologne for Christmas plus the few extra pounds from all the great food , which always supplies me with my New Year Resolution to loose weight. So tonight I’ll have a couple of glasses of eggnog and a few more pieces of fudge just to make that resolution a little more of a challenge . To anyone who might pass this way I hope you have a great 2003, and don’t forget the black eyed peas.

2002-12-13T14:51:00.000-06:00

I still haven’t finished my Christmas shopping and it’s getting to be a tradition with me not to do so till the very last minute. Some people are just hard to buy for and gift certificates just don’t seem warm enough. Money, well everyone likes money ,but nowadays if you don’t give a hundred or so dollars it just doesn’t seem enough. Of course the day after everything always seems like it turned out ok and I am reminded that I’m not the only one who finds it hard to buy for others , especially after I open my gifts and they turn out to be things that are too large or too small or something I already have two or three of.
I just dread going to those exchange windows, but I guess it beats getting the flannel gowns and bath powder that we used to give to my grandma every year. It was always flannel gowns and bath stuff for grandma and Old Spice Sets for grandpa. My mom used to say ,”If you give me a flannel gown for Christmas, I’ll wrap it around your neck !” I have inherited her phobia. I just try to remember the reason for the season.

2002-11-17T12:28:00.000-06:00

There`s something about getting up before dawn and taking a hot cup of coffee and a quilt and heading out back to the patio to watch meteor showers that makes me feel human. Living in a rural area adds to the experience but I think ,even if I lived in town, a privacy fence might do. It`s kinda like the fourth of July, only God provides the fireworks. So on November 19, I plan on getting up in the wee hours of the morning and heading for the backyard to see the Leonid Meteor Shower,
weather permitting.

2002-11-08T16:03:00.000-06:00

We have “Chinook Winds” blowing today. Not a good day for hanging sheets on the line , paying to get your hair done or wearing a full skirt out in public. There are Indian legends about Chinook Winds .It’s name is derived from a Blackfoot Indian word meaning “Snow Eater”, although we have no snow for it to eat right now. I’m wondering where it’s hiding out when we do have snow that needs to be ate.

2002-11-07T00:49:00.000-06:00

On the way to the post office I noticed Christmas decorations going up. What a shame we can’t give full attention to Thanksgiving celebration instead of jumping right from Halloween to Christmas. Now early shopping is a good thing and seems to have been woven into the scheme of Christmas. Somewhere down the line it became a tradition to see who had their Christmas buying done by the first of December. As far back as I can remember people would always ask that question right up to Christmas Eve, no matter how many times you crossed their path, they would ask every time. I would always tell everyone I did even if I didn’t. Saved them a lot of worry I thought. Of course I never really get it all done until the last minute and there’s nothing worse than someone showing up at the door unexpectedly on Christmas Eve with a gift in hand and me not having one for them. It makes me want to grab a paper bag and slip out the back door and head for Wal-Mart. But I don’t, it’s just usually my first thought in panic. Instead I cheat a little and end up giving a loaf of homemade bread or a nice tray of candy or whatever I can get my hands on fast, and usually it’s something that someone else has dropped off at the house earlier in the week.
Then of course I have the guilt trip to put up with till New Years Eve when I make my resolution not to do that anymore. I love the Holidays, but sometimes feel like I need therapy by Spring. After Halloween it takes me about two weeks to quit having nightmares about the grandkids coming at me with rotten teeth from all the candy I’ve watched them eat for several days non stop. Then comes the Thanksgiving feast and the extra pounds that I don’t need. Followed by the stress of fussing over Christmas. It’s no wonder that some people drink on New Years Eve.Incidentally, the paper bag is for hyperventilation.

2002-11-01T00:09:00.000-06:00

I am on a guilt trip!! I am torn between the “Windbag “ and a new love. In my adventures on the net I have discovered Fractal Art and have fell absolutely head over heals in love with it. It`s better than candy! Although I don`t know much about math, the thing that makes the art so beautiful, it is funfunfun.
I don`t know what I`m gonna do with it yet but I`m sure I`ll think of something…..maybe I`ll put it all on a website.
I`ve spruced up Roger`s site a bit and added some more of his artwork. He is also listed as an artist at All into Art, which is a really cool site for artists of any level. Just click artists at the the top of their homepage and he`s the second one down on the list.
I feel the beautiful equations calling me so I`m gonna go fire up Tiera-Zon and loose myself in the wonderful world of colors and shapes.

2002-10-11T12:02:00.000-05:00

I’m baaaack….Long- time- no- blog. I’ve been working on building a web site for my son Roger, who is an artist. I took an HTML 101 course about a year ago offered by-about.com -and now I’m putting it to good use. There is so much to learn on the web and so much of it is free. The plus behind it is the fact that a person gets to distantly be involved with other people who don’t know a hill of beans any better than you do about HTML or building web sites. Of course a person also gets so much helpful advice from people who are pros at it and have a passion for it. They have a great message board where you can post questions on problems and show off your work. It was really fun to look at all the other people’s sites who were taking the course. It’s amazing the way a persons web site takes on the webmasters personality and reveals so much about their interests and about it’s creator. Incidentally , HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, and a webmaster is the person who puts a web site together.
Now there are other ways of going about the task of building a web site.
Most Web Hosts have pre-made templates that one can use.
Then there are great Tutorials on HTML, and a person can even pick up a few nice pieces of free code or scripts that you just copy and paste into your pages.
Then there are programs called Editors that do most of the work of putting in the right HTML code.
I myself am kind of proud of the fact that I can now write HTML in Notepad ,which is a raw kind of way of doing it.
So if you’re out blog hopping today and just happen to stop in here, check out Roger`s art. And hey, While your at it, check out Sissy`s site too. By the way, please sign our guest books and let me know what you think…. Now if I can just find a site that gives free spelling and grammar lessons….

2002-09-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

I get my share of pass-it-on emails from friends and family. Funny one’s, sad ones and just plain annoying ones. Some I pass on to the next person, some I don’t. I like the ones with useless facts, they keep my mind sharp, and who knows, if I ever get to go on a game show, they might just come in handy, (big dreamer me). When I receive one that seems to be a chain or says something like, if you don’t send this to 5 more people in the next 5 minutes, you’ll have bad luck for the next 5 years, I have thoughts rage through my head like, I can stop this right now in a heart beat and put an end to maybe a lot of people laying awake at night thinking about whether they should have passed it on, and who, in their right mind would risk sending these things to someone whom they really like. The person who sent it would surely have believed that , if they didn’t send it to 5 more people, they would be doomed to 5 years bad luck or whatever the doom maybe. Do they ever stop to think what would happen if the person’s computer crashed , or they had a power outage before they could purge it on to the next 5 people what the consequences could be. I mean 5 years bad luck could mean anything from falling off the porch and breaking one’s neck to having your computer crash and never being able to bring it back from never-never land. I say it’s in our power to stop these things and set people free from to forward or not to forward. Here is a site that has the real low-down -skinny on cyber legends. I say, if it’s inspiring, informing, or just plain funny, send it on, if not, delete, delete, delete.

2002-09-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

I wish I had the energy my grandkids have, better yet, just a little more than they have, so I could keep up with them. My grandkids , a three year old and seven year old, both boys, have been living with us since last spring. I had forgotten how much of a handful kids can be. It seems I can never get their undivided attention unless I`m involved in something and had rather not be interrupted. They remind me of a story I once read when I was a teenager called The Ransom of Red Chief ,~O. Henry. At the time I read it, I thought it was hilarious. I am reminded of it every time the door swings open and there stands little blue eyes peeking out of a coating of mud .
Never wear high heeled shoes when you take kids shopping with you.
Never let them get to a ringing phone before you do.
Never say anything around them that you don`t want repeated.
Never get them ready to go somewhere before you get ready yourself.
Always, always remember that patients is a virtue, grandkids are blessings, and you are not really being punished for anything.

2002-09-22T00:43:00.000-05:00

I’m feeling just “too pooped to shoot” tonight. I guess I`m just getting “too old to cut the mustard."
Mom used to say “I`m beat” and dad used to say “I`m bushed." I guess, however one says it, one must be very tired. I find the origins of these little slang phrases and how they`ve changed over time, very interesting. Also interesting is the collective term for which they are called , idioms . Hobos had some “really cool lingo," they were " a class all their own." So guess I’m gonna “hit the hay” now or maybe I’ll just “turn in” or maybe, “hit the sack." Anyway , I’m going to bed. “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”…”Sweet dreams," “I’m gonna sleep like a rock?"

2002-09-18T02:52:00.000-05:00

Work like you don`t need money,
Love like you`ve never been hurt,
And dance like no one`s watching.

Good night all...

2002-09-18T01:52:00.000-05:00

It`s the heart afraid of dying that never learns to dance; It`s the dream afraid of waking, that never takes a chance; It`s the one who wont be taken,who cannot seem to give; And the soul afraid of dying; that never learns to live.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal....love leaves a memory no one can steal.
I`ll miss you Lovetta

2002-09-17T00:15:00.000-05:00

I smell Autumn in the air and am I ever ready for it. The summer heat makes me yearn for cooler days.
The trees are so beautiful when their leaves turn colors. Norbert (Doc Gater) Smith, a college professor turned truck driver, has some beautiful pictures of Autumn in his “Tales of the Road." I think weather is a kind of spiritual exercise, I’m always looking forward to it’s changing, gives me something to talk about when nothing else seems appropriate. Talking about the weather is probably the most generic conversation piece there is. I wonder if it’s Universal?… Probably so, and I wouldn’t doubt that it was one of the first conversations man to man ever had.

2002-09-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

When a person gets to be my age, looking back through old high school yearbooks and old magazines is a great picker-upper. Reminiscing about the good ole days and laughing at all the silly fads and fashions.
I`ve noticed lately that a lot of them are coming back in style. Platform shoes have been around a couple of times, Capri pants. This blogging thing sorta reminds me of the Beatnik era. My grandmother used to say, “You might want to keep that, it might come back into style." She would have loved the yard sale generation, although I think she would have done more buying than selling. She raised 10 kids during The Great Depression, and knew what it really meant to hand down and recycle. She ripped up an old coat once, it was my mothers year before coat, mom bought a new one every year, and made one for me out of the material. It was just beautiful. What is now amazing to me is the fact that she made it with a treadle sewing machine. I find myself becoming more and more like her every year. I keep just about any and everything. Grandma`s words ring through as truth. Here is a great website for anyone who doesn`t have old yearbooks or old magazines and would like to look back and have a good laugh.

2002-09-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack on our country . It doesn`t seem like a year has gone by, but to them it must have seemed like a lifetime. I thank God that I was born in this great country, and not in a place that breeds such hatred that their young people want to travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to kill thousands of innocent people to show their loyalty to what they call God. Such a waste of life!! I cannot believe that a creating God, the author of life, would be pleased with such acts of destruction. I pity the families of the terrorists who committed this tragedy, for their loved ones are truly lost forever.

2002-09-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

I`m Thankfull

For the partner who hogs the covers every night, because he is not out with someone else.
For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.
For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat. For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am in the sunshine. For a lawn
that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing, because it means that I have a home. For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means that we have freedom of speech. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation. For my huge heating bill, because it means I am warm. For the phone that rings at inopportune times, because it means that I can hear. For the pile of laundry , because it means I have clothes to wear. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been capable of working hard. For the alarm that goes off early in the morning hours, because it means that I am alive. And finally. For too much email, because it means I have friends who are thinking of me. And when you think your life is so bad, read this again.

2002-09-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

She was not quite what you would call refined.
She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.
~Mark Twain -"Following The Equator"

2002-09-08T13:31:00.000-05:00

Sundee mornin to ya. Couldn`t resist that, my grandpa used to say that , never heard him say it any other day of the week, just on Sundays. He was a dirt farmer, born in Arkansas, right on the Madrid Fault line, moved to Oklahoma in the late 1920`s. he loved to read treasure mag`s and collect rocks. His big dream was to find a diamond someday, and sure enough he did. Found it in a creek bed, or, as he called it , a branch. He even sent it to the Smithsonian Institute to have it analyzed. They sent it back to him with a letter saying it was a bonified diamond. He was walking tall that day. It wasn`t worth anything, too small to cut and I think they said it was industrial quality. Didn`t matter to him, just the fact that he found it and it was a diamond was enough for him. He used to say that if a person was to read a set of encyclopedias they would have the equivalency of a college education. I ask him about dieing once and he told me that no one ever dies as long as someone remembers them, repeated his name to me and told me not to ever forget it and when he was gone to keep him alive in my heart. I repeat his name every now and then, just in case. Sundee morning to ya O.M. Akins....Ok I know it`s in the PM now but had this down earlier and am just now getting around to post.

2002-09-08T01:17:00.000-05:00

Birthday boy had a great day and loved his spiderman cake. It`s great to be a grandma. Sissy, our bird, is a bit jealous but she deals with it. She`s a Quaker Parrot and is four years old. She`s a mean green flying machine. High in the pecking order and lets us know it. My husband often tells people that he lives in a bird cage.

2002-09-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

Somehow my first post didn`t click, so I`m trying one more time...then the cake.

2002-09-07T13:22:00.000-05:00

If this aint the cats meow! What`ll they think of next? I`ve just been privy to this blogging thing for a short time. Sounded like a fun thing to do, so here I am. I`m a domestic engineer with a PHD(Personal Home Degree), and see no sight for retirement in the near future. . I attract kids, dogs, cats and flys, and occasionaly an old man at the supermarket.Who ever said this profession was self rewarding was nuts. The only time I`m rewarded is when I treat myself to a pitty party and splurge on something way too expensive or eat an enormousely huge meal and have a banana split for desert. Of couse I end up later like a drunk with a hangover, on a guilt trip that lasts for days. That being said, I have to admit that I`m co-dependant to my own will. What ever that means.All in all, I love every ever changing minute of it. Maybe you`ll read this and laugh, maybe you`ll read this and relate, but I guess you`ll have to relate to see the humor. Just don`t send me emails saying I`m down-grading this wonderful profession, that is so often unappreciated, underestimated, and considered by seriousely career minded women to be rated right up there with a bad case of the hives....gotta go do a birthday cake for Tyler, who is my darling, just turned seven today, grandson...I`m out`a here