Thanks for the help~

Thanks to all you sent emails, with suggestions for getting rid of the orange background. I finally figured out how to fix it.

Have enjoyed the PBS broadcast of some old Andy Williams Christmas shows on TV tonight. That & singing Christmas carols in church this morning has put me in the holiday mood. I got my 4 foot "always decorated" Christmas tree out of the storage shed this afternoon, brought it in the house & plugged it in. Also put out some silk poinsettia's here and there. I'll do some more decorating but not like I used to do when the kids were little. Hardly anyone comes to the house anyway, so the decorations are basically for me.

I hope you all had a good weekend~for some it's back to workie tomorrow.

My little tree, to my left as I sit at my computer.

BLACK FRIDAY

Never in my adult life have I set the alarm and hit the stores at the unreasonable hours of 5am or 6am on this, Black Friday. But after looking thru the mountain of ads in Thursday's paper I ventured out this morning. However, I did not set the alarm, I woke up naturally about 7:15am, got up & got dressed, fed Gabi, had my bowl of cereal and left the house about 8:10am. I had three stores in mind....Half Price Books, Target & Best Buy. I got what I wanted at all three stores and was back home by 9:45am. So now I know, that getting up at that ungodly hour is not necessary.

They say the economy is bad, but the parking lot at the Mall and the three stores I went to were all full. People we circling the Mall parking lot like sharks and I had little trouble finding good spots at the three stores I visited.

And my approximate wait time to get checked out was 12- 15 minutes. So it was not a bad experience like I expected. I think the trick was NOT getting there at the early opening hour and having to wait in line for the doors to open. Sure I didn't get the freebies handed out to the first 100 people, but I don't care~I got what I wanted at excellent sale prices and that's all that matters.

I know some of our friends in Bloggerville, like Linda down in southern California work in retail and were up at o'dark thirty this morning, to go to work & put up with the obnoxious early bird shoppers.....I hope they survive the day.

How about you? Did you get out there & get some good deals? Or did you stay home & snuggle in your nice warm bed?

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I went to my brother & sister-in-law's home along with my son and the new woman in his life. We had a great day and plenty of good food. We ate early so I was back home shortly before 6pm in time to feed the hungry kitty that lives here with me. Bob went to Enumclaw for dinner at the home of his #2 daughter & family. He also had a good day as daughters #1 & #4 were also there with their families.

I don't normally ever take a nap but I think I'm going to gather up Gabi and go take a little nap. Until next time.....Linda

Happy Thanksgiving !

The pumpkin pie is made, my car is loaded for the drive to my brother's house across town so it's time for me to say "From my house to yours~a wish for a warm and wonderful day. Let's all take a moment and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for!"

Happy Thanksgiving ! Linda

On Senility~

"The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs"

Corn Maze For Blondes

November 22, 1963~Do you remember that day?

I will never forget that November day. I was working the grave yard shift at the phone company and had gone to bed about 9am leaving my young daughter, Julie in the care of a live in babysitter. I woke up about 4 o'clock in the afternoon because of all the noise coming from the living room. The TV was blaring, I could hear the babysitter crying, sobbing actually "oh no, oh no." I got up and went out into the other room to see what all the commotion was about...and there it was on the television. The President had been shot! I was stunned~how could this happen? The images were flashing across the screen, the newscasters were updating the situation almost by the minute. Then the news came that JFK had not survived~he was gone.

I can't even remember now if I voted for the man, but the fact that someone had assassinated him was unbelievable to me. This was the USA, not some third world country with guerrilla's roaming about seeking to take out the country's current leader.

I was up and of course could not go back to sleep. I knew it was going to be a long night. When I got to work, shortly before 11pm, it was frantic. The boards were lit up like Christmas trees. Everyone was calling long distance to talk to their family & friends about this national tragedy. Some of the "big wigs" were still there "plugging" away. (This was the age of the old cord switchboard) And extra help had been called in. Everyone was in a somber mood. During breaks people would head for the cafeteria, to have a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. But others were in the lounge area just sitting talking softly with each other, some crying~all not believing the events of the day.

Other than the fact that it was 12 days before my daughter's 2nd birthday, I will never forget that awful day. I can picture the day in my mind like it was yesterday. And I've often wondered, if he'd served his full term~how would history have been changed?

I pray everyday for the safety of our new President elect and his family. This country, no.... the world does not want to go thru another day like November 22, 1963!

Do you remember? If so what were you doing when you first heard the news?

Do You Know How Ice Cream Is Made?

That age old question has now been answered! Thanks to my daughter, Julie for enlightening me on this subject.

FOOD FRIDAY

Unless you have several large football teams over to the house on Thanksgiving, I know you'll have turkey leftovers. I've posted this recipe before but thought since "turkey day" is creeping up on us, it was time for a re-post so you'll have it handy if you can't think of a way to use up the leftovers.

Chicken/Turkey Enchilada Casserole

3-4 cups diced, cooked chicken or turkey, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 can Cream of Chicken soup, 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup, 1 can Chicken Broth, 1 can chopped green chilies (I use the mild ones) 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned (partially drained) 1/4 cup salsa, 1 small can sliced olives, 1 small carton sour cream, 12-15 tortillas, torn into bite size pieces (corn or flour) and 1/2 pound grated cheese, Cheddar or Jack mixed.

Mix all ingredients, except grated cheese. Pour into a 9" x 11" baking pan. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and bake at 350* for 1 hour if using corn tortillas, a little longer if using flour tortillas.

This is a favorite of ours anytime I have left over turkey or chicken. You can make it as mild or hot as you care to just by choosing mild or hot salsa and chilies. Enjoy.........Linda

Marie Antoinette Award~TY Sugar & Sandra !

Both Sugar and Sandra have awarded me the "Marie Antoinette" award for real people with real blogs. Thank you so much~both of you...for this honor. Now it's my honor to pass this award on to some other deserving people. There are so many good blogs out there and I think we've all done a tremendous job in transitioning from AOL JLand. Here are the rules as posted in Sugar's blog;

1. Please put the logo on your journal - Real Blogs/Real People.

2. Place a link from the person, from whom you received the award.

3. Nominate as many as you want (2-10, with 7 being ideal).

4. Put the links of those on your journal.

5. Leave a comment on their journal to let them know.

6. Put the award on your sidebar, if you want.

Here are my choices (hopefully they haven't already received the award);

1. Vagabond Journey's

2. Yellow Brick Road

3. Life on a Bison Farm

4. Finding Footprints in the Sand

5. My Quest of...

6. A Corgi in Southern California

7. Joann's New Journal

8. Jimmy's Journal

9. My Spot 2

10. Monica's Mindless Mumblings

11. Garden of Hope

Like I said earlier, there are so many great Blog's out there I know I missed many. But now these 11 people have the honor of snagging the tag and passing the "love" along to more Bloggers. Until next time Linda

Laughter is good for the soul

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on ... If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Windows?
COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?
ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?
COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows? ABBOTT: Wallpaper.
COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software. ABBOTT: Software for Windows?
COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recommend something.
COSTELLO: You recommended something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!
ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.
COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue 'w' if you don't start with some straight answers! What about financial bookkeeping?
You have anything I can track my money with?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.
COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?
ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much? ABBOTT: One copy.
COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?
ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.
COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?
ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT! (A few days later)
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?
ABBOTT: Click on 'START'.............

My hanging baskets.........

...........have never been so beautiful. I was so thrilled when we got home to find 4 of my hanging baskets still in beautiful shape. Usually by this time every year they are dead or dying. These 2 are the ones I'm so happy about. I spent about 6 dollars for the flowers in both of these baskets last Spring. They were little tiny 1 inch pots and I never thought they'd amount to anything. Over the summer they did grow but there were days I thought they were going to die, especially if I went a day and forgot to water them.

Before we left on the road trip in September, I moved all my hanging baskets & pots down on the patio near the hose, so that if it was dry, my neighbor could water them and if it rained they'd get watered from above.

Barbara and I went to the movie today. We went to see "The Secret Lives of Bees." I know, I saw it a couple weeks ago but she didn't, so I didn't mind going again. Once again~it was agood movie.

That's all, I just wanted to share the phenomenon of having annual flowers still blooming the middle of November in western Washington. I also have several geraniums blooming. I hope this is a sign that we're going to have a warm winter.

FIRES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Once again southern California is on fire. It was burning when we were there in October, too. In fact we were turned back up near San Simeon because of fires in the Big Sur area. We experienced a couple nights when the Santa Ana winds tried to blow the truck and camper down the street from where we were parked in the driveway at Bob's daughter's home. It's really, really an ugly wind. Not gusting but steady at 40, 50, 60 miles per hour. After experiencing the wind I better understand the fear that strikes the heart of those living near the fire zone. This last week the fires were in the Santa Barbara area. My sister in law grew up in Santa Barbara and even though her dad passed away a few years ago and her mom is presently in a nursing home there, the family home is ~ well, still in the family. The kids are cleaning and working on it in stages so that when the market is better it can be sold. The kids take turns going to Santa Barbara work on the house and of course to visit with their mother. This house has been touched by fire several times in the past but continues to stand. Once a wall mirror in a back bathroom shattered from the intense heat but the house didn't burn to the ground. Needless to say my sister in law and her siblings have been in a tizzy this last week over this house. Saturday my brother was able to get ahold of one of the neighbors, who had walked back up into the neighborhood to see the damage. This neighbor took a picture and emailed it to my brother & sister in law and they feel a little better. But once again, it was a close call. The fire truck is parked in the street next to the garage...notice the fireman up on the hill behind the garage. My brother & sister in law are searching for inexpensive plane tickets so they can fly down to Santa Barbara & check out the house. My heart goes out to the people in southern California who are victims of these fires. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor.........loosing your home is a heartbreak. Also, the authorities are concerned that there may have been many lives lost when the fires wiped out a mobile home home park for senior citizens. I hope and pray they are all safe.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who live in the fire area or have relatives and friends in those areas.

Car For Sale

The following is an actual advertisement in an Irish newspaper:


Automobile for Sale


1985 Blue Volkswagen


Only 50 miles. Only first gear and reverse ever used.


Never driven hard. Original tires. Original brakes.


Original fuel and oil.


Only 1 driver. Owner wishing to sell due to employment lay-off.

Photo below---


You HAVE to see this.........

A SPECIAL OFFER

Earlier in the week I was flipping thru the channels and came to the Oprah show. I rarely watch her show anymore but she was doing a show on "clutter" and her guest was Organizational Expert Peter Walsh. This is one thing I deal with constantly in the double wide mobile home that has too much stuff in it. (Stuff, I have a hard time getting rid of.) Anyway, all this to say...she told of a special offer for viewers at The Container Store. This offer is only good thru this week, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it earlier. But I just went on line and placed an order & thought I'd at least tell you about it, and maybe it will help you get a little discount on something you've been needing. Ok~so go to; ContainerStore.com and look for what you're needing then during the check out process when they ask for a "Promotion Code" type in the words CLUTTERCREW. This will give you a 25% discount on our entire order.

When we were in Pasadena I fell in love with The Container Store(pictured above.) There's a big one in downtown Pasadena and we made 2 trips there. There's only one in the state of Washington and it's in Bellevue which is north east of Seattle and a horrible location to try & get to from here. (The traffic is an absolute nightmare). So ordering on-line and paying for shipping is the only way I can ever get anything from them until I go back to Pasadena.

Anyway, if any of you end up ordering something from them, let me know what you think. I'm totally happy with all the little things I bought from the Pasadena store. Linda

FOOD FRIDAY

Cranberry Jello Salad

Dissolve 1 - 6oz box of raspberry jello & 1 cup boiling hot water in a bowl. Add 1 can whole cranberry sauce, 1 - 16 ounce can crushed pineapple (drained with juice reserved), 2/3 cup of the pineapple juice & 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional). Mix well then pour into a 9 x 12 pan and chill until firm.

Topping~ 1 cup heavy whipping cream & 1 - 12 ounce package of whipped cream cheese. Whip heavy cream until thickened and then fold in cream cheese. Spread over the top of chilled jello and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Note~thanks to my friend Judy for this recipe. I served it last year as part of my family Christmas dinner and will probably make it again this year. It's so easy to make and very good. My recipes from now on will probably be geared towards holiday meals. Linda

Thursday Evening

Back in August I mentioned that I had lunch with a gal that had a journal on AOL. Well, she's started a Blog here in Bloggerville and I'm happy to welcome my friend "Trees." You can find her blog at; http://trees-gardenofhope.blogspot.com/ so I hope you'll all stop by and welcome her aboard. She lives in Canada and is just the sweetest lady. Be sure and add yourself to her list of followers and also to your Blog List so you'll know when she posts an entry. Welcome again Trees...happy blogging.

Guess what folks? It did not rain here today. It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperature was just under 60*. Bob & I have several 2 for 1 coupons for the buffet at a local casino so we went out there about 2 o'clock this afternoon for a late lunch. I hate the smoke in those places but the food is delicious! Plus when we do that~I don't have to cook dinner. (Hehehe!) A little bowl of fruit or cottage cheese later this evening will suffice.

We stopped at another one of our local Goodwill's (there are 4 of them in this general area) on the way back and I found a couple more books. They actually had a ton of hardcover books, brand new, donated by Target & Costco (some still had their price stickers on the dust covers). They charge $3.99 for all hardcover books, I think that's a little high for a used book but for a new book it's a steal.

Tonight is my show...."The Office." I saw Steve Carell on Ellen's show this morning. After watching "The Office" it's hard to believe he's a happily married man with 2 little kids. He plays such a jerk on the show.

Gas prices are dropping! Bob got regular unleaded at Costco today for $1.999. It will be interesting to see how long they continue to drop and how long the prices stay down.

That's all for now....I have a little someone looking up at me meowing~she's begging for her evening portion of Fancy Feast. So I guess I'd better go fix it before she faints and falls over. Until next time....Linda

Time To Build An Ark

The whole of western Washington is being deluged with heavy rains. Rivers and creeks are flooding, people are being evacuated from their homes. It's just a nightmare ! I'm so glad I live in a spot where I don't have to worry about floating away.

It took until yesterday to recover the car that went off the road last Friday morning into the Green River near Auburn. A 16 year old girl was driving two family members ~ a 2 yr old to day care and a 13 yr old to school for her aunt, who had just had surgery. The 16 yr old driver managed to escape the submerging car but the other two didn't. The river is running so swift and deep that rescue/recovery efforts were hampered. The little one was still in the car but the other teenage was not. With this heavy rain continuing it may be awhile before they are able to recover his body. Such a horrible ordeal for all concerned.

I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. Just a cleaning and x-rays. I'm happy to say that Linda is a good girl and brushes & flosses like a fool so there are no new cavities. YEAH !!!!!!!!!!! My one bad habit & hard on teeth~drinking an occasional soda, once again hasn't done any damage.

I posted another entry on my travel Blog today. It took forever! I even left in the middle of it & went to the dentist. I sat there in the chair thinking how upset I was going to be if the thing timed me out & disappeared. So I was happy to see it was still there, partially finished when I arrived home. It seems to take forever to get pictures loaded and into the right spot on your entry. I don't think it was like that in our "other life" (AOL journals)

Well, that's all for now...I'm off to fix some dinner. Linda

If you don't have the link to my travel blog, you can find it at; http://packyourbagsletsgo.blogspot.com/

Veteran's Day

Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day in every free country, it's a day to remember those who served and those who gave the supreme sacrifice for our many freedoms. Military service goes back a way’s in my family...my paternal grand father served in WWI, my dad in WWII and my son was in the Air Force during Desert Storm. Thankfully my son served stateside except for a short time he was sent to England. My dad served in a railroad battalion in Italy, Sicily, France and North Africa. He continued in his civilian job in the U.S. Army as a train dispatcher in those locations. I have no details about my grandfather's military service, just pictures of him in his uniform and the Bible that was given to him when he went off to serve.

All of my family members came home, safe. Today we remember all veterans, those past and present. We thank the ones who are with us still and we honor those who didn't come home. Hundreds of thousands from all peace loving countries.

I've had the privilege of working with nurses who were in the military and served in Viet Nam. Their life over there was no picnic. In the United States women have been serving in the military since the American Revolution. I read in one report that there are almost 2 million women veterans in our country. I know here in my area, I live very close to an Air Force base and there are many women pilots flying those big cargo planes over my house.

We must also remember the 4 legged veterans. The United States started training dogs for the war effort in 1942. They were used extensively in WWII, the Korean conflict, Viet Nam, Desert Storm and even today, they presence is seen in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

May we all pause for a moment today and remember what these brave men and women have done for us.............Linda

FINALLY !!!!!!!!!

I was finally able to get an entry done~the first installment of our recent road trip. I know one thing....it was sure easier to add pictures on our former Blog (journal) site than it is here. Very time consuming for sure. But I will not gripe too much for fear this one will disappear too. I hope you will sign on as a follower and I will do my best to get cracking on this Blog.

Remember tomorrow is a holiday...so there's no mail & no banking, because all those people will have a day off. I've been waiting for some payments for some eBay items I sold over the weekend, so if these people pay this evening (as promised) their packages won't be on the way until Wednesday.

That's all for now...hope everyone had a good weekend.

Check out; http://packyourbagsletsgo.blogspot.com/

A Little About Food Friday

Food Friday began in our other lifetime (AOL JLand) and was created by our dear Sugar. She started it and created the Food Friday Tag. The purpose was to give a means of sharing tried and true recipes with our JLand friends.

Sugar and I would like to see this tradition continued. We all have recipes we love, you know those old family favorites. With the holiday's coming and not to mention those colder winter days....I propose we all pitch in and make this something to look forward to each Friday. So dig out those recipe cards, ragged pieces of papers or napkins where ever you've scribbled down the recipes you love and let's do this thing. Before long we'll all have enough recipes to fill a notebook. I hope the men out there will participate too. I know some of you are probably great cooks.

So "snag the tag" and let's see what we come up with this coming Friday.

We may not not have AOL Journals anymore but we can still do Food Friday. It's late Friday night but it's still Friday here in Washington, so I decided to post a recipe. And I plan on continuing this each Friday, as I remember, Linda


Apple Cake
1-1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup shortening, 2 eggs, 2-1/2 cups flour, 3 cups apples cut in bite size pieces, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup warm coffee, 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and shortening and then add eggs, beating mixture until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and salt. Sift into mixture, adding alternately with warm coffee. Fold in apples and nuts. Grease and flour an 11" x 9" pan and pour mixture into the prepared pan. Top with a mixture of 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and the 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes.

This apple cake is so good. It would be great to serve at a brunch or just for the family on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Movie Recomendation

I took a little break today and went to see a movie. I had read the book a couple years ago and loved it....so off I went at noon to see "The Secret Life of Bees." It stars Queen Latifa, Alicia Keyes, Jennifer Hudson and little Dakota Fanning. It was wonderful......just as good as the book. I recommend that you see it if you can.

There seems to be a break in our rainfall. There's been so much damage done already. Busy city streets have become lakes, rivers are overflowing their banks (fish are actually swimming across flooded roads), there's mud slides, accidents on the freeway because of poor visibility during the heaviest downpours and loss of life. This morning, a 16 year old lost control of her car in a deluge and went off the road into the Green River, in Auburn, Washington. There was a 14 yr old and a 2 yr old in the car with her and when I left for the movie rescue crews were frantically searing for these two dear ones. The news people were saying the 16 year old, who managed to escape the car & swim to shore was inconsolable.

My poor neighbor was on his roof at 2am this morning spreading a blue tarp, trying to stop the water pouring into his house. This poor guy bought that mobile home from the park several years ago. A mobile home that was not put together correctly when it was moved in here. He's had nothing but trouble with it from day one. And of course he can't even sell it until everything is A-Ok. Have you ever seen the movie "The Money Pit?" Well, that's what he's got there. I did tell him next time he does something like that, he should at least call me & let me know...so that if he falls I can call 911 and get him so help.

The only redeeming thing about all this rain is that it's not cold. It was about 64* earlier. So I'm thankful it's rain and not snow. They say it's going to continue for another 4 or 5 days~I hope there are no more tragedies because of it.

The neighbor on the other side of me has a huge amount of apples falling on the ground and they are doing nothing with them. I'm going over and see if I can take some of them off their hands. Remember the recipe I posted for Crock Pot Apple Butter ? I think there's some coming in the next couple days.

Until next time, Linda

Giving DVD or Books For Christmas?

Bob's Pasadena daughter has turned me on to a great web site for buying DVD's and books at a discounted price & free shipping. It's called "Deep Discount DVD." Right now they are having a 25% off sale on all items unless they are already on sale. You can find Deep Discount DVD at;
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/?pops=010111 and if you do order from them, when you get to the page that shows your subtotal....there's a box over on the left for a promotion code.....put in the word "SALE" and you should see the 25% discount on the next page. This website has a ton of DVD's featuring old TV shows and older movies. I've ordered from them several times and had excellent service. And Bob's daughter is constantly ordering from them and she also loves their great service and selection. Happy shopping.....Linda

The Pineapple Express......

.........has come to western Washington. It's rained cats & dogs all day and the temperature is hovering just under 60*. I got wet taking the garbage can out to the curb, so came in and lit a fire in the wood stove and now it's a little warm in here.

I almost pruned my roses way down the other day and now I'm glad I didn't. Pruning them now & then having this warmer temperature would only stimulate new growth. Then when & if it freezes, they could be damaged. The last blooms have turn to hips but I think I'll wait to do the winter pruning until after our first freeze. At least I'm getting to enjoy my beautiful hanging baskets as long as it stays warm like this. They are all still blooming nicely.

I think I'm going to create a "travel" journal (oops BLOG) for story & pictures from our trip. I have downloaded all the pictures so maybe tomorrow I can get started on it.

Well, that's all for now....I'm going to go make some popcorn because"The Office" is about to start and I don't want to miss a minute of it.

Until next time........Linda

ELECTION DAY

Well by now most Americans have voted or are standing in line somewhere waiting to vote. I shared in the form of a comment earlier today, that I have a real problem with the media starting to make projections as soon as the polls close on the east coast. I truly believe this could be a deterrent to those voters on the west coast, Alaska and Hawaii. It's only 4pm here right now & they are already blabbering away about who it looks like is winning. It's just not right. In fact, I wish they couldn't utter a word about election results until one or two days after the election. Do the absentee ballots not count? Here in my town, they're saying they won't be finished counting them until towards the end of the week. I'll climb down off my soap box now.

I'm going to be watching movies tonight, I won't be able to stomach the non stop election commentary that will go on all evening.

It's been sunny but windy here today. I ran a couple errands (by the way I got regular unleaded yesterday for $2.30 a gallon) and then came home and put on my "work in the yard clothes." I ran the lawn mower over the front lawn to pick up the leaves and the debris the cedar tree drops. I must have felt ambitious because after the lawn was done I got out the big wide patio broom and swept up the millions of wet leaves on the driveway and in front of my house. Then I used my snow shovel to scoop them up and deposit them in the yard waste can. Before I was done, I nearly filled the can. For the moment ~ the front yard and driveway look wonderful. But they are predicting another wind & rain storm for my area so I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing all over again in a week or so.

I'm going to start downloading the vacation pictures real soon. I'm still going thru mail, and the bags of stuff laying around on the living room floor plus the normal day to day stuff. Tomorrow is my Reader's Group at the Round Table Pizza so that will take me away for about 3 hours. But I am anxious to get started on telling you about our time away from home.

Until next time........Linda

What An Experience !

A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons nor prior experience. She mounts the horse unassisted, and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slide from the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the horse's mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse's neck, but she slides down the horse's side anyway. The horse gallops along, seemingly impervious to its slipping rider. Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde attempts to leap away from the horse and throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup, she is now at the mercy of the horse's pounding hooves as her head is struck against the ground over and over. As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when to her great fortune.... Frank, the Walmart greeter, sees her dilemma and unplugs the horse. And you thought all they did was say "Hello."

I Set All The Clocks...........

.............except the one inside Gabi. I stayed up late Saturday night, playing with this Blog and listing stuff on eBay and watching the taped episodes of "The Office" that I missed. All the time thinking "I'm getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning so this is OK." Well, it was OK with me but it wasn't OK with the little creature that shares my bed. She started pawing at my arm about 5:45am (Pacific Standard Time) wanting her morning of Fancy Feast. Now this is the cat that has bowls of dry food (and water) in two locations in this house. But no she wasn't content with icky old Meow Mix ~ she wanted the good stuff (mixed with a little warm water I might add). So I fixed her food, put it & her in the bathroom, put the baby gate across the door and went back to bed. But it was too late, I could not fall asleep again.

It's a nice dreary, rainy day....I guess I'll build a fire in the wood stove and get busy going thru those piles of mail. Later this afternoon, I'm going to the home of my middle niece & family for a 5th birthday party of my great niece, Lindsey.

Have a wonderful Sunday...........Linda

Fall Back

Probably a lot of you on the east coast have already gone to bed but just in case you forgot~turn your clocks back 1 hour when you get a chance. I have one wall clock that I never change so starting Sunday morning, it will once again show the correct time. I have a light in my carport on a timer, so I went out and changed that this afternoon. And I also have a light in my living room on a timer and I've changed that. And we are all lucky because our computers, cable boxes, cell phones, etc. are changed automatically by the BIG time changer in the sky.

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day here in the Pacific Northwest today. A combination of sun, rain & wind. When I came back in from my shed this afternoon, there was a good breeze out of the west and a shower of leaves were blowing off the mighty oak trees across the street from me. I stood there and just watched it for several minutes....it was so pretty. It was between 55 & 60* all day. Because of the humidity, it did feel a little cool in the house earlier this evening so I built a little fire in the wood stove to warm things up just a little. Miss Gabi is all stretched out on her pink blanket sound asleep here in the nice warm living room.

Today I managed to go thru the 5 boxes of Avon that piled up while I was gone. Monday I'll be out delivering. I have sorted the mail into 2 piles~one pile is stuff I need to open up and look at and the other pile is flyer's, catalogs, etc that will eventually go into the recycle bin but first I need to tear my name & address off each piece and shred away. Then there will be all those credit card applications that will need to be shredded. I can't believe the amount of junk mail that is sent out. Who thought of junk mail by the way?

Hopefully by the middle of next week I'll be able to sit down and concentrate on this Blogger business and start posting the tales of our latest road trip. I still have to figure out how to get the pictures into my entries. I'm thankful to Jeannette and Yasmin for the "JLand Blogger Help Page." I've printed it out and stapled it together, I am sure it will become my "operating manual."

Until next time.........Linda and Miss Gabi