A Long Story Made As Short As Possible

I have been away for awhile.  I haven't been in an asylum, rehab or on a desert island...let me explain...
(and I am not lamenting--I'm just explaining what all has happened)
Not long after my last post  early on a Saturday morning, Fontana was running around on the bed, missed the steps, fell off and broke his little foot.  The vet put a  on a cast (pink---sigh) that he wore for 3 weeks. He quickly learned how to get around with the cast on his little foot.
The following Sunday morning at 3 AM, the nursing home called and my sweet uncle John had passed away in his sleep.  We had his grave side services on Wednesday.  It was quite beautiful...the military played taps and presented me with the flag.  And a family friend that he had taught how to play the guitar, played Amazing Grace on the fiddle (yes fiddle, not violin).  All and all it was a wonderful tribute to a simple man who found great pleasure in simple things.
The following Saturday, I woke up and knew something was wrong.  Went to the ED and sure enough I had a large kidney stone that was too large to pass and was blocking my kidney...this bought me a trip to a large medical center and lithotripsy the following Monday.
I came home Monday after the lithotripsy and then of course Thanksgiving was Thursday.  So between passing the "sand" from the stone, running fever, cleaning and cooking......well enough of that.
Back to work.........then last Wednesday went to the urologist for a check up and....have two more stones that are small enough to pass sigh......feeling okay but on the way home started running fever......missed more days of work.
Oh and during this time my lap-top is at the computer doctor....I have been reading your posts on my iPhone, but I haven't been making comments.
Now I'm propped up here in the bed in my semi-decorated house...
Me:  David this is not all of my Santa Claus figurines
David:  Well, I got all the boxes down.
Me:  Can't be...
David: Is to.
Me: Is not.
David: Is to.
Me Is not.
Most all of the gifts are bought, but none are wrapped.
Fontana's puppy foot is fine. Priscilla, Ginger and Ann Margaret are fine.
I miss my uncle, but I know he is in Heaven playing "Rubber Dolly", "Carroll County Blues" and "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" on the fiddle (yes fiddle-not violin).
Our kids are fine,
All the Grand Kids are fine,
David is fine,
I am fine.
Life is good.
And let my Heavenly Father be praised. 

Things I Bought At The Auction IV

The only thing that I really do for just myself and the only time I ever leave the house messy on a Saturday is the first Saturday of every month.  That is the day of the local auction.  I only miss it when we are out of town or I am sick.
I check out the website before I go and look at the pictures.  That is the time I decide on the things that are coming home with me.  No matter what. I do have my set point...but if it is a certain thing that I need it is most definitely coming home with me.
Case in point. The glasses that match my every day china are Fostoria Virgina in the color brown. I have 8 but that of course is not enough at Thanksgiving or any other family get together.  And we wind up drinking out of plastic cups--which is just not right.  I have been trying to complete the set now for a couple of years.  I find them on eBay and have found some pretty reasonable prices...but the shipping is always prohibitive.  So imagine my joy/excitement/etc. when I saw 16---yep count 'em 16 on the auction website.
Long story short--I got 'em for 20 bucks!!! Whoopie! Yeah! And so on. Now I have 24.  That's right 24.  I probably could have waited until the auctioneer went down to $15.00 or maybe even $10.00, but sometimes that starts a bidding war.......nobody but me bid on them.  So I figure I did really well.  I got about $160.00 worth of glasses for $20.00. I will be patting myself on the back for the next few days.

The other thing that made me happy was this almost complete set of Oneidacraft stainless set--Lasting Rose.  It is service for 12, 3 of the knives are missing and a couple of the forks, but everything else is there--the serving pieces-butter knife, sugar spoon, pickle fork, cold meat fork--you name it.  All in the original plastic holder.  Now here's the thing, flatware is like socks around here--it just disappears and I always run out at Thanksgiving.  So I bought it for $10.00.  A good run through the dishwasher and it is as good as new and now resides in the china cabinet awaiting the next family get together.
And I bought a small box of silver plate flatware for $5.00 that had 4 serving pieces, 4 forks, 4 salad forks, 12 teaspoons, a butter knife, a sugar spoon, a pickle fork and a few other pieces that went from this...

to this with a little silver polish.......

the patina is very pretty...these pieces too now reside in the silver drawer of my china cabinet...I've decided that I will continue to buy random pieces of silver plate...for you know when I entertain here in rural MS...
Oh and I really didn't mean to have a theme...but I bought these two gorgeous coffee table cookbooks.  And the recipes are wonderful as well......I wonder if I could sale 'em on eBay.........

Oh and I bought a cool old trunk too, but it's still in the trunk of my car....all and all it was a great day.

Meet The Newest Members Of Our Family

David and I had been thinking about a new puppy for awhile now.
We contacted CiCi and GinGin's breeder Loretta and long story short we went to Birmingham and picked up a brother and sister.

T

That is Fontana Eastwood McCaulla on the left and Ann-Margaret McCaulla on the right-asleep in my arms.

I love this shot of the back of their heads.....Fontana's ears are big....I'm sure that he will grow to them.

Avery holding Ann-Margaret on the way home.

I love this picture of Avery giving them kisses.  Avery, Loretta and I understand that they are more than just puppies...they are real.
CiCi and GinGin have adapted pretty well to having a little competition for attention.  We make sure that all are given attention and love.  Our friends think we are  crazy because we now have 4 dogs in the house.  But we have 4 times the love and puppy snuggles.
Oh and D. J.Fontana was Elvis' drummer and of course Ann-Margaret was a girl friend and long time friend of Elvis.  They too will have nicknames....BayBro for Baby Brother and Maggie for Ann-Margaret.
Sigh....

Mommy, Why Are Our Neices

and nephews dressed up in crazy outfits?

We know that you always call them Wild Monkeys...so why are the dressed up as....

a pirate?

a cat? (of all things...a CAT!!!!)

and is that a Dragon Slayer?  an Alien? a Genie? (isn't there supposed to be a bottle somewhere?) and a Diva?  a Diva?
Why didn't we get costumes?  We never get costumes...and we never ever get candy.  Never.  Not even if one of them drop some of their loot...yawl grab it up before we even get half a chance to nab it and run under the bed...
Just wait till next year...we going as...Priscilla Presley and Ginger Alden......yeah that's right....our names sakes....

Mommy, You Haven't

posted anything in a long time again.  Quite frankly we don't like it.  And we are kinda sad because we like to read the comments from your clogger friends.  Because sometimes they say how cute we are.  And you know we like that kind of attention.....and besides you got some cool stuff from the talkshon that you went to. I know they would like to see it..
Me:  Okay, I really don't have a good excuse except that.....well whatever.  And once again it's blogger, not clogger.  Oh and it's auction not talkshon.

I kept my eye on this vase until it was brought up--well I'm actually close friends with one of the runners and he put it up for me so that I wouldn't have to wait in anxiety for the entire auction.  Nobody but me wanted it and it was mine for $2.50.  It looks like it is hand blown glass, but what do I know?  I just know that it makes me swoon every time I look at it.  It is about 12 inches tall.....and it's purple....and it has a special place on top of my kitchen cabinets.  Oh and it has that twisty stuff in the stem....sigh....if any of you glass people think that it might indeed be hand blown, please advise.

The other thing that I bought for $2.50 is this candy dish. It is pink with purple grapes and is about 14 inches long by about 6 inches wide.  I have no idea why it appealed so to me.  But I had to have it.  It now resides on my fireplace hearth.  (Till I find out where it is suppose to reside)

Another thing that came home with me is this jug.  I love it.  It is a gallon jug that has one half of the original cork in it.  The auctioneer held it up and said "It even has the original cork in it."  And proceed to try to pull it out and broke it off.  I have the other half and I think I'm going to put it back together with a long needle to hold the two pieces together.  The runner you see in the back ground is the one I bought for 25 cents at the Salvation Army.  And that is tatted lace on the edge. It is on a chair that I bought at an estate sale. I cleaned the chair up and it is a catch all at the back door.  I think I had to pony up $7.50 for the jug, but I wanted it very badly.  It was the highest thing I bought.

When I look around my house, I realize that it is decorated with auction/estate/Salvation Army/thrift store/flea market finds.  But every single thing makes me smile.  So my decor  is eclectic junktique...
Oh and here is one more picture that makes me smile...Avery GBaby #4 and Ginger.  Like me, Avery is the only other person in the family that knows the puppies are more than just puppies.  They are real.  They are puppy girls.

Mommy, Why Haven't You

been playing with your laptop thing...you know tapping your fingers on it...and putting pictures of us on your clog thing...so that all of your cloggy friends will know what we are doing?
Me:  I don't know, I keep thinking about all these things that I want to blog about--it's blog not clog,  but I just can't seem to get around to it.
CiCi and GinGin: Oh blog..okay.  Well go ahead tell them what has been rattling around in your head.
Me: Okay, here you go...
I went here the other day, because there was something there that wanted me, and whatever it was...was calling to me.

For those of you that read my blog will know that I have posted about shoes at the Salvation Army before. Check it out here
For some reason, I'm drawn to the shoes there and (no I'm not crazy) and think about what are the little stories behind them..so here goes.

These are Ferragamo pumps with "Made in Italy" stamped inside.  Ferragamo is embossed in gold on the buckles.  My cousin Annette says they are from the 80s.   It's hard for me to imagine these shoes on someone deep in the Mississippi Delta...they remind me of  Krystle Carrington...somehow she must have made her way through here while filming Dynasty.

These are Chrissy.. from Three's Company.

These are Alexis Carrington.....hmmm they were both here. I wonder if they got in a cat fight while dining at Lusco's...

And here are the twins Ann Landers and Abigail VanBuren...

And last but not least they are still here......to the anonymous bridesmaid.....always a bridesmaid...never a bride.....
Disclaimer: One of the rules of my little game, is that I can't touch the shoes, only photograph them.  And the thing is, nobody in the Salvation Army pays the least bit of attention to me while I'm doing this.

A Little Rant

Yesterday as I was driving towards "The Delta" to do a little shopping, I turned on the radio.  I was struck by the fact that I couldn't remember the last time I had actually listened to the radio.  I prefer to drive in silence.  And I don't really remember when this started.
At some point I began to be really annoyed with the music that is currently being churned out these days.  I was raised around music.  My brother is a retired musician.  My uncle John L. (who is now 85)--if you put something in his hand he could play it(before arthritis took it away).
My Mama always said that if it had a string on it John L. could play it.  He is the real deal...the music is in him.  The music was in my Mama too.  She, Uncle John L. and my brother all "played by ear."  I started piano  lessons when I was in grammar school.  I still play, but I in no way have the ear that they do.
That said, I grew up around music of all kinds, and I love music of all kinds...some of course more than others.
But I said all that to  say this.  Am I the only one who doesn't get it?  Usher was on American Idol and I patiently listened to him. I listened with an open mind.  Then David (who is an awesome drummer by the way) and I just looked at each other in wonder.  What is all the hoopla about?
I don't get Akon.  I don't get Avril Lavigne. I don't get Christina Aguilera--who by the way has an awesome voice.
I don't get Brittany Spears. Lady GaGa makes me break out in hives.  I can't tell you one single song of Taylor Swift's. I checked out the top 10 songs of 09 and I didn't know a single one of them...well after all I did stop listening to the radio.
I think that Kelly Clarkson has an amazing voice...she had one of the top ten songs of 09--"My Life Would Suck Without You."  Are you kidding me?
I have also tried to listen to a little rap...but it makes me close to apoplexy.
I have always loved country music, I could go on and on about Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Rich, Rodney Crowel, and Travis Tritt, who are just a few of my favorites...but I have lost track of almost all of the newer artists...I looked at the list of 2010's top songs--and I didn't know a single one.  The only new country artists that even begin to pique my interest is Lady Antebellum...I really like "I Need You Now."
Okay, I'm done with my little rant...I think I've figured it out...I'm living in the past...and Emmylou is singing... I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham
I would hold my life in his saving grace.
I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham
If I thought I could see, I could see your face.

Sherry, Sherry Baby

Sherr-erh-erh-erh-erh-erh-reee  Baay-yaaa-beee...uh...yeah, I was in Frankie Valli Heaven. David and I went to see Frankie Vallie at The Orpheum in Memphis. We had a great time.  He was great, and even though he is now 76 years old, his voice sounds just like it did he first time I heard Sherry, or Rag Doll, or Walk Like A Man, or Dawn or Stay or Oh What A Night or....I could go on and on.
And his back up band was awesome, horns, saxophones, flutes, 6 guitars, keyboards, drums...the sound was just awesome.  He had four young back-up singers with him that were superb--from what I understand, they are now "The Four Seasons."   I don't know if they were any of the guys that were in Jersey Boys, but their voices were just beyond compare. 
David and I saw Jersey Boys at The Orpheum back in February and had an awesome time, so I was beyond excited to get to see Frankie (yes I can talk as if I know him personally) in concert. 
I have always loved him and that pure falsetto/tenor three octave range of his.

Sigh, so I can now mark Frankie off my Bucket List.  Now on to Tom Jones!!!

While We Were On Vacation,

I mostly read/ate/slept/and hung out.  The beach was pretty but there was a lot of sea weed in the water and on the beach, and since it was lonesome with out David, I hung out at the pool-which was very nice.

As the holiday weekend approached the beach cleaners were out early in the mornings and removed all of the seaweed. I shared the beach with these little sand pipers one morning.
When we were in Perdido, David fished and I would hang out under a tent.  He was always close by and I much prefer this, but with all the seaweed in the water, fishing from the beach was impossible.

The pier is a quarter mile long.  I walked it only twice. Late in the afternoon.  No way would I be out there in the heat...I don't see how David stood it.  We could see the pier from our balcony and windows.  I could even see David with binoculars and I could see him on the pier web cam...technology...

This sculpture is in the atrium on the ground floor, we were 15 stories up, I made the mistake of looking down at it from our floor...I didn't do that again.  I'm scared of heights, but I eventually got used to being up that high.

Bought this at an antique mall...

I'm a fool for a lonely, chippy and rickety chair.  But there would have been no way to get it home, we didn't have room in the car.

This purse was at the flea market, it seems that two little girls have been sneaking out of the house while their daddy and I are at work and doing a little free lance work...I'm going to talk to them about it.

I bought this round bottom bottle because I love the color and it looks like sea glass. I can't really be sure that it is sea glass, but it is frosted inside and out.  From what I have read, these bottles were made in the late 1800s early 1900s.  I can just imagine this bottle being thrown overboard and washing up on the beach 100 years later, where it turned up in a flea market outside of Navarre...I bought it for $3.50. Oh and the peaches and pickled asparagus came from the flea market too.
There was a lot of stuff there..but it was soooo hot, I could not fully appreciate all of it.

And for those of you, who like me came of age in the 70s I leave you with this picture of 8 track tapes.  Did any of you ever stick a piece of paper under the tape to keep it from dragging?

Mommy, Do Your Blogger Friends

Wonder Where You Have Been?
Me:  I guess I need to let them know what we have been doing don't I?
CiCi and GinGin:  Yeah and be sure and show them pictures of some stuff.
I have been reading all of your blogs, and have been keeping up with all of you.  We have been on vacation and when we came home we have been playing catch up.
We went to the beautiful beach of Navarre Florida.  Our condo was beautiful and best of all for David, within walking distance of the fishing pier.  David literally fished from can to can't.  He was out there when they opened at 5AM, came in for a break around one or two and then would go back out again around six and stay until around nine.  And get this---he didn't catch anything. Nothing. Nada.  Even though nobody was catching anything, he was not in the least bit deterred or disappointed.  He enjoyed himself immensely. Apparently it is just as much about the anticipation and the act of fishing as it is about catching the fish.  Some people were catching Spanish Mackerel, Blue Mackerel, Lady Fish..and I saw pictures of Pompano.  I had my heart set on grilling fresh fish, but it didn't happen.

[CiCi and GinGin:  This is us with our Daddy.  He is just back from fishing, had taken a bath and is taking a nap while our Mommy gets dressed.  He took our Mommy out to eat. That fishing stuff must be really tiring.]
The things I did were: ( and not necessarily in this order) eat/drink, sleep, read and  hang out at the beach/pool.  Oh and I did some shopping at a few antique malls and I went to a flea market.  I'll post pictures later.

Let's See...

Do I have anything interesting to tell you?
Hmmm.
Just had my book club buddies over, we read "The Glass Castle."  If you enjoy autobiographies like I do, I recommend it.  It was a very interesting read.

Right now I'm reading "Of Human Bondage" by Somerset Maugham.  It was a free download to my Sony eBook.
I made it through another major Head Cutting Meeting Department Head Meeting. And good news---David and I still have jobs.  I had a major proposal to present and although the DHs didn't vote it through, it was quite a success as I received a round of applause and many compliments on it.  The boss was as complimentary as he is able to be to me and said that he felt that it was something that we could incorporate in the future.  I knew it was visionary.....but hey, I'm happy.
David and I are planning a brief getaway to Navarre beach.  We really need it.  I found a condo that will let me bring the furbaby girls and they are excited...well no, I really haven't told them yet.  I plan on doing nothing but propping up on the beach, listening  to/looking at the waves and reading as many books as I possibly can.
6 of the wild monkeys live here and 3 have started school here for the first time, One first grader (how can #4 be 6 years old?--only yesterday I was taking her picture in the dough bowl--I'll save that story for some other time) #s 2 and 3 are in the second and fourth grades respectively.  They moved here during this past summer. They all look so cute in their school uniforms!!  #s 6 and 7 are in day care for the first time. #5 is in kindergarten. Gosh they are all growing up so fast.  #7 is starting to talk and string sentences together.  I just love it when he says Nonna.
I actually felt a teeny tiny bit of Fall in the air this morning....and when I walked outside when I got off work, it was a balmy 90 degrees with the wind blowing and no humidity.  Heaven.
I am already dreaming of snow......I'm starting my snow conjuring early this year.  I have a plan...I'll let you know when I figure it all out...

I Have Four New Tires!!!

My car is almost 10 years old.  I have 88,000 miles on it.  It is still in pretty good..to very good shape...except the head liner is coming down, and there are a couple of small dings here and there.  I have only had one set of new tires put on at somewhere around 40,000 miles.
So I was way past due for a new set of tires...the old tires made my car shimmy and shake like Beyonce...."I'm a single lady, I'm a single lady..."
Okay...anyway.....so yesterday afternoon when I got in the car to leave work, I thought hmmm what is that smell?  Smells like new tires....I quickly dismissed it.
But this morning when I cranked the car up and the "low tire pressure" alarm came on again...I sighed and turned in at the Exxon station.
Me: Trent when are my new tires going to be in?
Trent:  I put them on yesterday.  Couldn't you tell how much better your car rode? (They forgot to reset the low pressure alarm)
Well, as a matter of fact, blah blah blah blah.
Long story short, sweet David ordered and paid half of what was owed on them.  I wrote the check out for the rest and was on my merry way.
And....I was so excited.  I don't know when I have been so excited.  I wasn't this excited when David brought me that bracelet back from a hunting trip to Colorado...
At work I told everybody "Ive got new tires, I've got new tires, la la la la"
And then a light bulb went off in my head.......you know you are getting old when you get really excited about new tires. More than jewelry.  More than a movie and dinner.  More than that new blush you ordered from your Mary Kay representative.  And (are you ready?) more than that stuff you bought at the auction.
NOT!!!!
But still you get the picture.  I was excited.  And I'm old...well my body is old...my heart is still young...except for the tire thing...my heart is still young.

Coping Mechanisms

The other day after I had washed/dried/hung up some of David's jeans, I put them all together and counted them.  He has 26 pair.  26.  That's right--26.  I think that this is ridiculous.  Why?  Because he works in scrubs...He can't possibly wear them all.  He has brand new ones that still have the labels on them.  He has some that are so worn/torn that you can  see...never mind.  He has some that are too tight, that he is forbidden to wear.  He has some that are to short, too long........And every time I mention it to him, he's like yeah, I need to go through them and do something with them.  But he hasn't.  So in order to cope with this, I folded them a certain way and turned them all the same way on the hangers.  It made me feel a little better.
Yesterday when I was looking at them I decided that if I tried to get them all about the same length on the hanger, I would feel better.  So I took each one of them and tried to hang them about the same length from the crotch on the hanger.  This made me feel better.
Then this afternoon I was looking at them and I decided I would feel even better if I hung them from lightest color to darkest color.  Hmmmm.  This made me feel better.  Then I thought maybe I should put them all on the same color of hanger, most of them are on white hangers sooo......but I didn't.
No I do not have OCD.  I'm just trying to control my environment....is that a little crazy.....hmmm maybe...but at least it makes my closet a little neater.
Oh and by the way there are on 23 in the picture and I have no idea where the other three are.....

Mommy, This Has Got To Stop...

CiCi and GinGin:  Mommy, you have done it again...you went to that auction didn't you?  Didn't you? You haven't even played with all the stuff that you bought at the last auction, or that estate sale thing...
Me: Sighing deeply.....I know I know...but I can't help myself...it's just so much fun.  Maybe I'll take yawl with me sometime......

Let the bidding begin.....

I go this which is a piece of the Fire King Depression Glass cookware that I collect...and are you ready for this, the auctioneer was selling a box of stuff which included this:

and this

there was another platter that I gave to my auction buddy....oh and a jello mold...are you ready?  All for $2.50 and the auctioneer put the Fire King in at the last minute.

This is the thing that I went to get.  Last time the auctioneer stopped dropping the price at $50.00 and took it off the block.  This time I was determined that it was going home with me.  It is a beautiful little sewing rocker that folds up...I got it for $40.00.

This compote will look great on my dining room table. $7.50.

This was a mistake.  I didn't look at this close enough.  It's a gravy boat, but it is hand painted ceramic piece, and poorly painted at that.  I paid $5.00.  Can I paint over it?
CiCi and GinGin:  What is that thing you bought for daddy that sounds like a duck when he blows on it?
Me: It's a beginner's bagpipe thing.

CiCi and GinGin:  See what we mean...you are slipping.
Me:  No, that just goes to show yawl don't know everything...Daddy loves bagpipe music and said he wished he could learn......so there.
CiCi and GinGin:  Mommy....
Me:  It's true..just ask him.
CiCi and GinGin: Sigh.....