" Guess What Doctor......I Am Clearly Not A Cat"

If you read the post last week about me deciding to have a surgery I postponed for far too long and are looking for the rest of the story I promised. Well, here ya go!

These days, I guess it is standard procedure to admit you into surgery in the wee early morning hours and by afternoon, you are all bandaged up, drugged up and sent home like a  walking barely walking zombie. Yea, that is exactly how that feels or at least that is how I felt on that day a few weeks back.

Luckily, we got home without incident and so as they say...the healing begins. If I do say so myself, there is a lot to be said for those words. The hardest part is the healing part, the few short hours that come with being sent home from a major surgery are the most trying and of course the most nerve wracking.  You honestly don't know what to expect, how much pain to expect, and you don't know what to expect out of the ones who are all of a sudden your care givers while you are rendered helpless.

Luckily, for said caregivers, the day was almost over and I am sure in the back of their minds nighttime was coming and that could only mean the good patient would sleep while they got a good nights rest as well. Funny, how things don't turn out the way you plan.

Truth of the matter is, those next few days were passed in a blur. I credit that to the pain medicine and chocolate pudding that was given in four hour intervals. But I can say, during that time of healing....the worse pain I have ever experienced in my life consumed my whole being. That first night, when I was presumed to be resting peacefully was everything but peaceful. Beside the fact that I was not able to make a single move without help, the pain was so sever it was mind crippling. I could not move for if I did the pain was so bad I thought I'd faint. I could not breath or catch my breath, for if I did, I felt I surely not be able to stand it, but then if  I didn't, I'd surly pass out. Of course, with this intense pain that was out of control, you can imagine the intense drama that unfolded and the out of control pleas for my poor caregiver to do something..ANYTHING.....or just let me die. Yea, that is the truth of the matter.

I am not a wimp when it comes to pain, and I can tolerate pain rather well. After all, I had both of my children without the aid of pain blockers as I was more afraid of the needles of an epidural than I was the actual pain of childbirth. So I don't credit all of the unpleasantness that came during the days that followed surgery for my lack of pain tolerance, because that just is not a factor. It was rough, and I mean that with every ounce of my being.

Four days after my surgery, I had a follow up visit to my doctor. Let me say this, in my pre-op visit before the surgery, I was assured that I would be able to return to all normal activity right away, I could drive if I felt up to it and I was told I should have minimum discomfort. Well, I am here to tell you there was no way I could drive myself, much less barely dress myself and my good friend took me to that appointment. It was at this very appointment that the beginning of  the end with that doctor/patient relationship was on the fast track out the door.

As to be expected, the doctor asked how I was doing? Well, I guess I did not sugar coat any of it well enough, and explained how the last four days had gone at home, truthfully. I mean after all, I think they have a right to know that this was not the easy walk in the park they had promised. I knew the bewildered look on the doctors face was not a good sign. The words that came next was so offensive to me, I was at a loss for words, and honestly, that is something that rarely happens if ever.

The doctors story went like this: "Well, you know, I once adopted two cats. One was male and one was female so right away I took them to the vet to have them neutered and spayed. I picked the cats up and brought them home and let them out of their kennel. The female walked around a bit and then she decided she wanted to jump on the window seal and look out. She jumped up and made a little "meow/eeep" sound, you know, like there might have been a little discomfort in jumping, but she laid right down in the sunshine and fell fast asleep.  Then, the male cat ate a bite of food and he did the same thing, he found his way to the shelving unit and jumped up, and he too made a little "meow/eeep" sound but settled right down and slept the afternoon away. Now, I wondered about that and wondered if animals don't feel much pain. I decided, no that was not it at all, that what it boiled down to was the fact that animals have no pre-misconceptions of pain. It seemed they had no expectations of pain so therefore, the recovery involved hardly any discomfort because they did not expect it to be that way. So maybe as humans, we expect to experience pain and therefore we bring the pain to our own selves because that is what we expect."

So there I was, sitting on the darn table in the doctors office, hardly able to have the strength to keep from swaying back and forth as I was feeling lightheaded. I was so weak I could barely stand or walk and had loaded up on pain medicine just to make it to the office that day. I had just experienced the worse four days I could remember in all of my life and clearly the worse pain I could not even imagine feeling and this doctor has the audacity to compare it all to their own two cats getting fixed and having no expectations of pain. All of the hardships in my recovery was chalked up to my own expectation of it and that was the issue. I was stunned into silence. I mean, after all, what do you say when  you realize you trusted your life to someone who clearly has little empathy for their patients or worse, who is clearly an idiot.

This is the fourth week since that day I walked into the hospital for a surgery that was promised to be a piece of cake but proved to be most difficult at best, and I guess by my own doing according to the doctor......It has been rough finding my strength to just make it through most days even when I started feeling better. Maybe it is because I am older now, and it is harder to spring back from this sort of thing quickly. But as each day comes and goes, I do move a little closer to being back to my old self. It has just taken time.....and taken a fair amount of time that I did not expect it would take.

I have my last follow up visit on Thursday, which by the way I am not looking forward to. Once that is done and I am released to return to work I will begin looking for another doctor. I have thought over and over about what that doctor said to me that day and compared me to a couple of cats. If I was upset at first, you can just imagine by now with weeks of thinking about it and how I feel now.

My husband and I laugh about it now, somewhat, and wonder if I had been compared to a couple of dogs, then maybe it would have been an easier pill to swallow. I mean, everyone knows I am certainly not a cat person and surly that was the sting of the words that day. Hump.....don't believe that for one minute!

Security Overdone!

I wonder if the owners of this company realize that they are most likely overpaying for security.

Notice there is a security camera located on the side of the building, the padlock and chain on the gate, the ADT security system sign all designed to keep out intruders.

I happen to think the bright red sign is pretty much all they needed. Just sayin'.

I shiver each and every time I drive by this place.  

Confessions of a Cook in the Kitchen

Everyone has a secret or two, don't you agree? The problem may not be in the secret itself but in the fact you forgot you never confessed the secret until...oh....about twenty-eight years later.

Let me start off by giving you a little background to the truth: When my husband and I first started dating I wanted to impress him with my home cooking. Because we all know the way to a man's heart is through food.....yea, whatever. Oh, I could cook a few things at that time in my life, but I quickly ran out of ideas on cooking great dishes that were not repeats. Unfortunately for me, I did not grow up with the convenience of internet to search recipes online. No, I had to search my brain for friends who could cook great dishes and ask them how or would they make it. Yes, I so did that.

Now, my best friend's mother made some of my favorite dishes. One of my favorites was her lasagna. Oh, she made the best lasagna. So one day, I shamefully called her up and asked her if I purchased all the ingredients for her lasagna, would she make it for me. She quickly offered to give me the recipe (which she did and I still make it today) but I was afraid I'd mess it up since I had never made it before. I explained that to her and I remember she just laughed but agreed to make it. It was a huge relief. Seriously.

So the day my then boyfriend/now husband was coming over for dinner, I dropped all the ingredients off at my friend's house before I went to work, and picked it up on my way home. If I tell you that I flew like the wind to get home so I could pop that pan of lasagna in the oven (so it would appear I had cooked it) would you believe me?? Wait...don't answer that! The results however, were exactly what I wanted...he loved the lasagna, and I assume, he thought I was a magnificent cook with that meal and some of the other things I felt confident in cooking...he married me after all ;-)

I am sure you are wondering if I felt bad for that little indiscretion and letting him assume I had made that dinner. I really did not, no sire. I mean after all, I did learn to make that wonderful lasagna myself, and well, no harm was done.I had forgotten that little secret of mine from long ago until a one night this weekend.

My daughter wanted to do something nice for a boyfriend who lives out of town. She very cleverly got him to confess to her what his favorite cookies were and she made a plan to make some and send them to him in the mail as a surprise. They were well received and he loved them. He loved them so much that he told my daughter that they were much better than the cookies his very own mother made him.

He told her that his mothers cookies sometimes tended to by dry..and hers were perfect and wonderful. Now, that would be the conclusion to a happy ending, all except for one small little problem. He assumed my daughter had made those cookies from scratch and he thought they were better than his own mothers...and the fact of the matter was she purchased the cookie dough at the store. Ahem.

I am here to report that my daughter, just like her mother, did not say anything to her friend. She did not confess about the cookies.....but after about three weeks of him bringing the subject up, she decided enough was enough. She could not, with a clear conscience hear him say how great she was and how wonderful she was in making him those cookies, and how great they tasted one more time. She had stood all she could stand and one night she replied..."yea....about that"....and she came clean.

She told him that she had purchased the cookie dough from the store and they were not made from scratch...not really homemade. Luckily, he did not care about that and was more concerned with the sweet gesture made by my daughter. Her conscience bothered her in the fact he assumed she had made them from scratch....She is so unlike her mother!

Last week as my husband and I were talking over dinner, I had told him about her and the cookies. He laughed, but really did not pay me too much attention as he was in the middle of enjoying his grilled steak and potatoes. I continued on with my story and compared it to when I served him lasagna long ago before we were married and how I had not even made it.

There sat my husband, with his fork stabbed into a piece of steak suspended in mid air, just mere inches from his mouth and he stopped mid stream, tilted his head to the side and asked, "What did you say???" 

 I threw my head up from looking at my own plate and when I looked at him I knew right away this was clearly news to him. Likewise,what do you say when you have let the cat and the kittens out of the bag with your big mouth. I guess I thought I had told him that little story earlier in our marriage. Nope. Clearly it was a surprise.

He did not say it, but I know he secretly thanked his lucky stars that our daughter could not keep a secret like that for twenty-eight years. In fact, she could not keep it three weeks.

Moral of this story: Always raise your kids to be better than you consider yourself to be and if you have something to confess....just tell it and get it over with, because you will get to a point you won't remember if they know the truth or not and telling on yourself is not always how you want the story to end! Luckily, I learned to cook rather well even if I started out rather slow and a little dishonest!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Owl Plate

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday

If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

A few months ago, I was out treasure hunting at my new favorite thrift store. I found this vintage painted plate and it spoke to me. Naturally, when that happens, I bring it home with me. This one had a hanger on the back and I hung it up on one of my walls in my bedroom. Now, I must warn you, if you don't believe in strange occurrences and weird things that can happen in a blink of an eye..well, you might want to stop reading now...otherwise....I am going to record this story as it happened.

 I have written before about the owls that frequent our yard in the summer time, when the days are scorching hot. As the years have gone on, we have more and more that come each and every year. However, we never had a single one, not ever until after my mother in law passed away in 2013.

My mother in law must have liked owls, as she had several owl related things in her home and in fact, when she passed away, we took a large wood carving that was done from a chain saw of an owl and placed it at our cabin in Colorado. I always say that owl is standing guard over our little place in the mountains.

I mentioned several weeks ago my husband was in ICU and was there for about four days. One night, when I got home from visiting him in the hospital, I walked down the hall to take the dogs out. Sammie always runs ahead of me and as normal, off he went down the hall. I was not paying too much attention as I was tired as could be, but before I got to my bedroom, I saw Sammie cowing down and trying to hide under the bed. He was curling himself up in a ball and whimpering and doing everything he  could to get himself under the bed skirt and out of sight. This is not normal for him and I have never seen him try to hide under the bed before, I noticed his eyes were glued to the back sliding glass door and he was not going to budge. 

As I go into our bedroom, I glanced at the patio door and there, ON THE GROUND, staring inside that door was an owl. With eyes as large as could be it just sat there as if it was wanting something. That owl had a look so intense, I paused and as I looked at that owl, I found myself speaking out loud, and said these words, "Oh, he is going to be fine...don't worry.....I will take good care of him. I promise." and then lastly, I said, "You know I am more than capable of getting him well.....I will do it, don't worry."  

That owl looked at me for about 3 seconds, then closed its eyes and gave me, I swear a look of relief and then just turned and flew away. In my mind, I heard the words my mother in law always spoke to me, which were " you do that, ya hear? " It was not a moment of fear, but a moment that just was an  extraordinary thing to happen.

Yes, it is a weird story, one that most will think I am losing my mind, maybe I am. However, I do know this, we don't see any owls until summer, and this was March, and it was cold weather at best. We don't see owls on the ground, and they certainly don't sit at my patio window looking in and frightening my dog into hiding under the bed until it is gone. And I certainly never felt an owl wanted an answer from me and was acted relieved when I stated everything was going to be ok.

Maybe the owl was a messenger, wanting to relay a message....maybe it was something else entirely.  Either way, it was an extraordinary experience and one that I took notice of and won't forget. And for the record, no other owls have made an appearance in my yard again this year, and honestly don't expect to see them until the summer months.

Surely I am not the only one that these types of things happen to? Have you experienced anything out of the ordinary as this?? Are you open to things that are unexplainable?

If you are still reading....Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!!

When Potatoes Are The Size of Footballs: Potato Soup Recipe

My brother brought me a box of potatoes he purchased from a vender when he was out of town working last week. In all of my fifty years, I seriously don't think I have ever seen potatoes as large as these. Seriously....they are footballs.

I baked one potato and my husband and I can split it. I made homemade french fries and only cut up one potato and we STILL had left over fries....and we eat a lot, more than we should actually....anyway, you could feed a family of four on one potato. I took a sack and shared them with a friend, she could not believe the size of them as well.

See that potato on the left side of the picture? That is the LARGEST one from a 5 pound bag I purchased at Walmart. It looks like a baby compared to the others.

There is the Walmart potato on top of the others....can you believe it?? And the box says these were grown in the good ole USA. 

Well, having all of these on hand, I decided to make potato soup. I had a couple of people ask for this recipe as they read on another blog about my potato soup. I posted about it in 2009, but I guess it is buried in the archives pretty far back. Here it is below again for those who asked about it.

(with potatoes this large, however, the amount would definitely have to be adjusted)

Not Your Ordinary Potato Soup

This is not your ordinary potato soup but it is perfect for a yummy meal and just add some cornbread on the side... and well...there you go. It is really one of the best potato soup recipes I have ever made. Several years ago, I worked at my daughters elementary school, and once a month when we had a teacher work day, the teachers took turns providing lunch. This was one of the dishes we had during the fall months, and I have enjoyed it very much ever since. I know you will too.



Recipe List:

6-8 medium potatoes
enough water to cover potatoes in pot
4 chicken bullion cubes
small onion chopped
4-5 carrots diced
broccoli chopped fine - (in a pinch I have used frozen chopped broccoli and it works fine too.)
2 Tablespoons parsley
Dash garlic salt and pepper
Ham cubes (optional)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk with 1 Tablespoon flour

The How to:

Boil potatoes, water, chicken bullion and carrots until almost tender. Add parsley, onions and broccoli and boil until broccoli is almost tender. Add milk with flour and continue to boil until thick, about 4-5 minutes, tops. Add cheese and ham and boil until cheese is melted. If you are not going to add the ham, just add cheese and melt. Garnish with shredded cheese.

* I have used left over mashed potatoes with the milk and flour to thicken the soup up just a bit. It works well, and my husband likes a thicker, more heartier soup, so this option works well. I usually just mix, and not measure.

 
This is as wonderful as it looks!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it is very good and great on a cool day. Like I said, it is not your usual potato soup, but it is just as wonderful and full of flavor.



Linking in with Foodie Friday...go check it out!

When my facebook status is put to the test........

For those of you who follow me on facebook, you may very well remember my status about two weeks ago. My husband had been gone on vacation for only about two days and I soon discovered a real eye opener....my status read:

"dear husband.....I have discovered you do more than just watch TV......I will never say that again.......hurry home......but enjoy your vacation...... ♥"


So imagine yesterday if you will, the day after he returned home from his extended vacation. I was running around the house trying to unpack his bags, start a mountain of laundry (his laundry), all the while doing all the normal housework chores for a Saturday.


I walked down the hall in the middle of all of that and this is what I see......at 2:00 pm in the afternoon......

.....somehow, I think he got wind of my facebook status a few weeks ago and intends to take me at my word......ahem!!!


Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there....Happy Fathers day to my husband who is an amazing dad and friend!! 

I am cooking his favorite meal today, and canning some more pickles..(we have cucumbers running out our ears) I hope to maybe find a minute to do a little sewing.


One thing I have learned....be careful what you say on the internet...there are too many witnesses.... and you just might have to keep your promise!! Have a great Sunday everyone!!!

Tell Me Tuesday: Week 21

Welcome to Tell Me Tuesday.....First off the title is a bit deceiving.....it really is not about you telling me anything.... but answering a question truthfully and maybe telling yourself a little something you had not thought about.

I'd love for you to join me each week, and copy the question onto your blog and answer the question....and link back here. I am sure it will be interesting how there will be many different answers to the same question.....and hopefully give each of us something to think about as this new year progresses. My thought is so many people (including myself) are looking for some answers to various things. I have a feeling that the answers are inside needing to be jiggled loose and maybe a question posed a certain way will have a cause and effect in a good way. We will see how it goes! I have committed to this once a week for the whole year of 2012. I'd love for you to take the challenge with me!

I am keeping the rules simple...I'd love to watch this grow as the year goes on.

1. Grab the button on the sidebar if you like so others can find this new writing experience each week.

2. Once you link in, visit the person who linked in before you and leave them a comment. It would be great to visit and leave comments for as many as you can. But at least try and leave the person ahead of you in the link a comment of support.

3. Please link back to my blog and mention Tell Me Tuesday somewhere in your POST. That is it....easy.

Most of all, look at this writing experience with an open mind. Sometimes the questions will be hard...and require some thought. That is a good thing. Other times it will be easy. You can add photos, or whatever you like to your post. It is about you after all. ~ Thanks for joining me.....I hope you enjoy this each week.
__________________________________________________

Week Twenty-One Question:

What is something you don't want to regret when your are older???


If I was to be honest here, and being honest is really what it is all about.... In all honesty, there are lots of things that I do regret at this stage in my life....but going forward I can answer the question and not worry about past regrets.


I think for me, I don't want to regret getting to the end of my life and realizing that once I am gone, I left without leaving an impact or something tangible for those I love. I don't want it to be like I was here for however many years and then I was gone and not even the footprints of my life are left behind.


Have you ever known anyone who has left this world and although they were loved and are remembered, they just existed during their life and really once their life was over, there was nothing? It is hard to put into words, but I have known people like that, and I have known people who at every turn in life impacted others and left their footprints on the world around them and the ones they left behind. It is as if their presence still lingers even after they are gone.


I suppose there are lots of different ways to accomplish something like this, but it is something I am working on all the time. Is it something that will really matter to us once we are gone??....most likely not, but it is important to me for whatever reason.  I don't want to feel I let myself down when the time comes to look back on my life and feel like my footprints will blow away with the dust.


What about you?? Is there something you don't want to regret?

Tell Me Tuesday: Week Two

Welcome to Tell Me Tuesday.....First off the title is a bit deceiving.....it really is not about you telling me anything.... but answering a question truthfully and maybe telling yourself a little something you had not thought about.

I'd love for you to join me each week, and copy the question onto your blog and answer the question....and link back here. I am sure it will be interesting how there will be many different answers to the same question.....and hopefully give each of us something to think about as this new year progresses. My thought is so many people (including myself) are looking for some answers to various things. I have a feeling that the answers are inside needing to be jiggled loose and maybe a question posed a certain way will have a cause and effect in a good way. We will see how it goes! I have committed to this once a week for the whole year of 2012. I'd love for you to take the challenge with me!

I am keeping the rules simple...I'd love to watch this grow as the year goes on.

1. Grab the button on the sidebar if you like so others can find this new writing experience each week.

2. Once you link in, visit the person who linked in before you and leave them a comment. It would be great to visit and leave comments for as many as you can. But at least try and leave the person ahead of you in the link a comment of support.

3. Please link back to my blog and mention Tell Me Tuesday somewhere in your POST. That is it....easy.

Most of all, look at this writing experience with an open mind. Sometimes the questions will be hard...and require some thought. That is a good thing. Other times it will be easy. ( This week...I think is easy....but I can not promise that each week ) You can add photos, or whatever you like to your post. It is about you after all. ~ Thanks for joining me.....I hope you enjoy this each week.


Week Two Question:

What is one thing you remember saying when you were young that as an adult you would do no matter what? Did you do it or is it still a dream?

____________________________________________________


The one thing I remember always saying I'd do when I got older was to go New York for New Year's Eve and ring in the new year in style in Times Square. I remember always watching the ball drop on television and secretly wishing I'd be there one day to experience all the magic that seemed to be electrifying in those moments.

Funny, I had not thought about that until I read this weeks question and had to think on it a minute to answer truthfully. That one thing always held such a fascination for me at a young age. For many years, at least for one night each year I was obsessed with having that experience and looked forward to doing so.

In all of my nearly 50 years, I have never once had the opportunity to experience new years eve in the streets of New York. The magic in the hustle and bustle and celebrating in Times Square has somehow lost all the shine and fascination it once held for me. I really don't think if the opportunity presented itself today, I'd be jumping at the chance to go and experience that. 

It's not that we ever do anything monumental on New Years eve, because most times than not we are asleep long before the new year shows itself at midnight. I guess somewhere along the way the peace and quiet of the predictable has allowed me to settle into the  acceptance that change along with age has diffused a lot of "Must-do's" of long ago.

I wonder about the loss of appeal that things like this once held. I wonder if it is actually the fact that my desires and dreams changed or that fact that somewhere along the way, I settled for not quiet following my dreams?

Five Minute Friday: Beyond..........

Today I'm linking up to Lisa-Jo aka the gypsy mama, who chooses a topic every Friday and writes for five minutes. 

Only five minutes

And the rule is that whatever you write about in that five minutes is what you posts. No editing your thoughts. Today, her topic choice is "Beyond....."

Ready. Set. Go......

Comfort comes in routines or things that become habit. It is a place where one has decided that it is a safe place to be. There are no limits in this comfy place, no restraints, no unpleasant feelings. Consequently in this very comfortable place is also where one can become by choice, unaware of the destruction on the horizon. It is easy to live with your head in the sand so to speak. It is where decisions become hard to make and motivation to do so seem to have disappeared. It is where one might find themselves on the road to giving up and accepting instead of looking beyond what could be and what that would feel like.

I find myself at that very place today. I have been comfortable. I have ignored what I need to do to make a change. Not because I don't want to make that change. It is because it has become hard to look beyond the unpleasant feelings and struggles I will face to get to where I know I need to be. It is the shame that comes from  allowing myself all the comfort which has me in this situation in the first place.

It is hard to look beyond all of that mess and know that it is paramount to do something. Anything to jump start that motivation to move away from the comfort zone. It is overwhelming. It is a little depressing. It can be exhausting to think about. It is where excuse after excuse comes to mind as to why this has become so difficult. It is where looking beyond all the uncomfortable must happen and action must take place.

So today, as I type this and time is running out. Beyond is where I need to find myself. Beyond the comfort. Beyond the easy. Beyond the fear. It is time to visualize beyond the looming struggles is a place I'd much rather be and know I must put forth a great effort to be there. It is time to create a game plan, a force of action. It is time to visualize myself in that place....Beyond.
......Stop.

Five Minute Friday: In Real Life........

Today I'm linking up to Lisa-Jo aka the gypsy mama, who chooses a topic every Friday and writes for five minutes.

Only five minutes

And the rule is that whatever you write about in that five minutes is what you posts. No editing your thoughts. Today, her topic choice is "In Real Life....."

Ready. Set. Go......

Movies, television and media play a big role in our everyday life. Many of the shows we love to watch depict characters lives very different from our own. We view on screen relationships that work no matter what is thrown at them, they work through the issues, seem to forget the problems existed and most of the time seems they live in a perfect world. Oh, sure there are bumps in the road for characters in sitcoms but they always have a rainbow ending just around the corner. Sure, it is good entertainment, but it is not made for real life.

In real life problems arise and they don't get solved in 30 minutes, in fact it can take months or years to work out the kinks of real life. In television and movies, for the most, part no matter the problem, there are happy endings and happy endings that happen rather quickly.

It is hard not to think about that as we listen to debates on television on the state of our country. Many without jobs and have lost everything and locally, many who have lost their homes in a blink of an eye due to wildfires. These days, it is hard to not know someone who is going through a bitter divorce or fighting a heartbreaking custody battle over their precious children. These are real made for television problems, but in reality, these are real life struggles that won't find a quick and easy fix or resolve. For some, it may be actually feel like a bump in the road and they will move forward, for others it may take years.

Real life involves dealing with all kinds of people in our every day lives that in all honestly if we had to chose, we'd not chose them in the first place. But the reality is, they are intertwined in your real life and sometimes, you just have to deal with them the best way you can. Is it perfect? No...but it is reality and we have to make the best of it.

In real life, we live our lives in record speed. We are always in a hurry to get to something or be at something and can not wait to get there. In living our lives at warped speeds, we don't have time for family, friends or even simple pleasures to add "life" to our days. Some of us live with family so close, we see strangers on the street more than we see our own family members. Some live with the notion that we have hundreds of friends, after all, we have our friends list on facebook to reiterate that fact. Yet we don't pick up the phone to call a single one or arrange a meeting for lunch or have any of them be an active part in our lives. It is as if we are all living in glass houses peeking into each others lives from the outside looking in. That is what real life has come to.

Television families such as The Waltons, The Inglles or even The Bradys all lived in perfect worlds, with problems that had perfect answers which were always solved in the end. Everything always turned out the way we thought it should and left us with a feel good feeling. Likewise, there was always time for your family, friends and neighbor. If one of these folks needed you for any thing, nothing was put in front of them, they had your full attention and help. I know that is not reality today, but it sure would be nice if a little of that practice was used today.

But in real life...it takes much more than that ideal to make our lives work and many of the important things to a full life are being omitted just to survive. The simple things.....a walk in the park, a hug from a loved one, a phone call, a visit from a friend....these are things that there seems to be less and less time for. In real life, we are too busy being self absorbed in our problems and struggles. We are too busy trying to be everything to everyone that we are missing out living. Life waits for no one.....not for when you have more time, when the kids are grown, or somedays....it just keeps on going and you never get that time back. Life is not easy, especially in the times we are living. It is how we approach it and what we decide is important enough to make time for that will make all the difference in our every day lives. Will it be easy? No...but the things that are important generally never are. Real life.......make it a good one starting today........Stop.

How One Dachshund Survived The Heatwave of Summer 2011

A favorite pastime for a dachshund is to stretch out and take a good long sun soaking nap on a summer afternoon. Sophie is the queen of wanting to go outside and lay on the back porch soaking up the afternoon sun. In fact, she lives for those afternoon naps.....most of the time.

Our summer has been one for the record books they tell us, and with the record three digit heat wave we have had here, these soothing afternoon naps in the sun have just about all but gone away. Dachshunds are smart and they are no dummies....they no when enough heat is enough and know to stay inside. Sophie these summer afternoons likes to stay wrapped in a blanket on the sofa enjoying the cool air conditioning.

Dachshunds are also head strong and stubborn, at least one of our three is very much that way. Dora does not want to give up a darn thing she loves and has refused to do so. Dora has problem solved the dilemma with the oppressive  heat we have been having and so far it is working rather nicely in her favor.

So for this smarty pants little girl, Dora has discovered that sunbathing is a piece of cake when you let the bottom half of your tummy and tail soak up the sun, while the top half of your tummy and head enjoy the cool air from the ceiling fan.
Dora has this new method down to a science. She is very content to enjoy the heat and the cool air all at once.....thus giving up nothing she enjoys. When I found her this way two afternoons in a row, I had to laugh and wonder where in the world and how did she dream this up.....

All of a sudden she gave me a knowing look and a crazy thought popped into my head. It was almost as if she was reminding me of how I often sleep, sometimes with one leg out of the covers and one leg under the covers to equalize the temperature for better sleeping. It was almost like she was reminding me that she does pay attention and it might be a good thing for me to remember that.  It was almost like she was saying if it works for you, then it works for me too.

Good grief....what do you do when you have a dog that is almost as smart as you are???? Or the very least, absolutely as inventive.....I'm not sure what to make of it, but I promise....it has become a new daily pastime around here for one of our dachshunds!

A Crisis With Identy

I am beginning to hesitate before I open my email! Seriously. This story is true. Every word of it. I will tactfully or at least with every bit of tact I can muster, try to explain how you just never know what might be around the corner....I kid not!

Last weekend, there was a message in my "comments" section of my blog waiting to be moderated and published. I read it, without even paying any attention to who it was written by. Confused by what the message said, I glanced again at who sent it....um..... imagine my surprise when I saw "coloradolady" sent it to me.

Here is said message:

"I want the readers here to know I am the original Coloradolady. I have been the Coloradolady since the 1990s. I do not and never will stand behind what is written here, nor support it. This was not written by me. I am the original. I hope my readers don't think I am this person."

OK....seriously....what the heck????. I read it again and then did a little probing into this statement. I quickly discovered whomever sent this, is correct, I have a feeling they would not like what I stand for or talk about. Original??????...I am not so sure.

I see no reason to quote the email I received, I think you can get a feel for it, and let me just say, it was not a "Hi! how are you? I'm so glad to meet you" type email. Nope. None of that!

Fact Number 1: My daughter gave me this name back years ago when Craigslist started, and we were helping plan a wedding and I sometimes posted in the "wedding Forum" It was a brief stint with that to be sure. So when I decided I wanted to have a blog, even when I really did not even really know what a blog was, that is the title I used as my blog name. If I had of had a better idea on blogs and what they were, and I am most sure I would have went in a different direction and  I would have chosen a different title.

Fact Number 2: When I made my blog, had this title been taken, blogger would not have allowed it. I actually found blogger last, and had looked into wordpress and typepad...but that name was not taken. So I chose it. End of that you'd think.

Fact Number 3: I never even considered searching the name online. Never. Who would have known that this very thing might be a good idea????. Like I said, I really had no idea what a blog was about. I thought you'd write a post and 1000's of people would come comment and love you! Ha! That first post only got one comment and I have no idea how they even found me. (see, I told you I did not have a clue, for we all know that is not how it happens!)

Fact Number 4: Someone else thinks they are Coloradolady, well, actually I guess they are...just a very different one...and they don't seem to approve of asking for prayer for sick children. The don't seem to enjoy old junk or turning things from trash to treasure. This person must have something against quilts, fabrics and crafts. I don't think they like GW or Thrift shopping. They certainly don't believe such a thing as a happy marriage exist. I am thinking they don't like the idea of "play it forward" as well. That is okay...we are all different, we have that right...identity crisis!

Fact Number 5: THIS COLORADOLADY is real and what you see on The Coloradolady Blog is the real "me". This Coloradolady does not enter chat rooms, or post on controversial websites. This Coloradolady does not play online games using this handle. This Coloradolady does not record herself "singing" and post online for all to hear. This Coloradolady does not join on line dating services using this handle. I am sure from the unpleasant email I received, this person who calls themselves CL would be most happy for me to clear this up.

This really upset me, because I wonder what someone would think to find this online and not know there were two of us out there. Two who are very different in all aspects. Well, with the exception of the name and hopefully the love for Colorado.  I wondered if I should change my blog name, but I refuse. "The Coloradolady Blog" is something I have worked hard to build. It is honest, and real. It is not all  happy go lucky, there are real struggles and writing about them helps. But overall  I try and promote good things and thoughts. If someone has a problem with that, well, that really is not my problem.

But please, if you ever find something out there on line and wonder "What happened to her, that sounds nothing like Coloradolady" Please know....it is a mistake in identity. Please know, I only blog under this name...and absolutely nothing else.

I wonder if this happened to you, would you change your blog title? Am I really off the mark with this one? What would you do??? It sorta puts a whole new spin on a  Identity crisis doesn't it????

Ready For Quilting: Brown Bag Quilt Project Quilt Top Finished

My first finish for 2011 happens to be my brown bag quilt project quilt top. I am sure most have read on my blog about my participation in this project. I finished the top and the back this weekend. In-case you don't remember the rules, they were simple. Exchange 2 yards of fabric with your swap partner, something you considered "ugly" and construct a quilt using 90% of the fabrics sent. Tada......I finished mine! (Click on pictures to make them bigger to get a closer look)

Here is the finished quilt top. We were to use the fabrics sent, and any amount from out stash with only buying one fabric to add to the quilt. I finally decided to pull out the scraps of batiks I had and a few other pieces that blended with the fabrics sent. I had no idea really what I was doing......seriously.

The one fabric I purchased was the large outer border fabric. I will be using the same fabric for the binding as well. The small gold border was part of the sent fabric, I had just enough for the small inner border. The pieced border was a complete after thought, but I needed to use up the gifted fabric, so I decided to piece the border in a similar fashion as I cut the blocks out in the quilt. I do like how that turned out. I have to say, that since I have participated in two different mystery quilts, my confidence at adding a pieced border has really gone up. I had no pattern for this pieced border, I just did my own thing, but I think it works well.

This was a really fun project. It required lots of planning and thinking about what and how to use the fabrics that I really might not have even looked at otherwise. It was a great lesson of stepping out of my comfort zone and using different types of fabrics than those that I am used to.

I am pretty pleased with the final top. I am sure it is a far cry from what Mary, my swap partner had in mind when she sent the fabric, but I hope she likes how it turned out. This is a pretty large quilt. It measures
79 1/2 X 102. I don't really ever think small when it comes to quilts, the larger the better. I don't know why that is.

Here is one more look at the outer border and the fabric I purchased. I think it goes pretty well with the busy looking quilt top.

This is the back of the quilt. I had the main fabric already in my stash, it was 5 1/2 yards, a little light than what I had originally planned, but with the two large pieced strips with it, so I think it will be fine. It really looks a little better in person than what the pictures show.

Here is a closeup of one of the pieced strips on the back. It was a good way to empty out my stash of all these fabrics and use them up in this quilt.

Here is a picture of the fabrics my swap partner sent me to use in this quilt. Some of you may remember them, but some may never have seen them.

And this is ALL that is left. If I had to guess, I used 98% of all the fabric Mary sent me and I think the finished quilt top turned out great. I am going to get this to the quilter soon, and I can not wait to get it back and get the binding on this one. I will have one more post on this project, and it will be once it is complete, I will show it once more. Thanks for following along in this journey, it has been a lot of fun. To see more wonderful quilts in the works, visit Judy at Patchwork Times.