Last Friday I took a little stroll down memory lane. My Mom has been in an assisted living facility for a few months and my Dad is going to move in with my sister and brother-in-law. So....I headed up to Green Bay to go through my mother's closet and dresser prior to his move, since space at my sister's and at the assisted living facility is at a premium.
To put it nicely, my mother has always been a "saver", which I think came from her years living through the Depression and World War II. But, it was fun to go through all of the clothes and jewelry I remembered her wearing over the years. She still had her wedding dress from 67 years ago (which we kept), but she also had the dresses she wore to my wedding and my older sister's wedding - 37 and 39 years ago respectively.
Seeing certain pieces of jewelry brought back memories of when I was a little girl and watching her get "dressed up" to out for the evening. My Dad and I spent hours going through the little jewelry boxes, remembering when she got a certain piece, when she wore it, and laughing about things that happened so many, many years ago. We also came upon other "treasures" that she has kept over the years.....her registered nursing licenses from Wisconsin as well as Texas where they lived over 60 years ago, her starched nursing caps nestled neatly in a plastic bag in the bottom of a dresser drawer (ah yes...I remember her starching and folding those caps every week when I was small). There was a picture of her father (my grandfather) which brought back all kinds of memories of him and my grandmother, and the note I wrote her and my Dad after my wedding thanking them for the wonderful party they gave us and for everything they'd done for me up to that point in my life.
There were other things that we found that were a bit puzzeling though. A very old, formal photo of a woman that neither my Dad or I had ever seen before. There was no name on the back which was unusual since my Mom always wrote the name and year on the back of pictures. Was it a picture of her mother, her grandmother, a friend? But, I think the most intriguing thing we found was a large solitaire diamond ring and wedding band tucked away in the back corner of her dresser. My Dad said he had no idea where it came from and that he had never seen it before.....so, we have a mystery on our hands - does he just not remember buying and giving it to her at some point during their years together, was it her mother's and she got it when she passed away? Or, was it something she received way back when before she met my Dad? Hmmmmm.....the possibilities could lead to an interesting romantic mystery novel. My Dad was going to see if he could get answers to all of our questions when he went to see her on Saturday. I'm not too hopeful that we'll find out, because along with being 92 years of age comes memory loss - and, as my mother has always had...selective memory.
All in all, it was a good day on Friday - just spending time with my Dad and reliving some of the happy times of when I was one of his "little girls". Who could ask for anything more?
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wedding gift suggestions for an older couple?
My brother-in-law, whom no one in the family ever thought would get married, has met a wonderful woman and will be "tying the knot" next month.
They have a beautiful home on the Green Bay shoreline and because they are older, have had very successful careers, and have each owned homes previously before combining their once individual households into one.
With that said, here's my dilemma.....what do you get a couple who pretty much have everything they want/need for a wedding gift? My thoughts have gone from a high-end restaurant gift card to a gift certificate for a weekend get-away at a resort, to a gift basket of wine, cheese, crackers and chocolate. In my mind, these were all great options....until my future sister-in-law mentioned at a niece's wedding that she thought wedding gifts that can be used over the years and remembered as the gift that came from a specific person were the best wedding gifts a couple could receive. I do have to agree with her philosophy, because I do think about specific people when I use something that we received from them for our wedding so many years ago. But, what do I get them? There is a "Starving Artist Art Fair" http://www.fairsandfestivals.net/events/details/racine-starving-artist-outdoor-art-fair/ coming up in a few weeks and I had thought of heading down to the lakefront to see if there was anything unique yet useful that I may be able to pick up for them. Good idea? Anyone reading this have any other ideas? Send a comment if you do - I will greatly appreciate suggestions.
They have a beautiful home on the Green Bay shoreline and because they are older, have had very successful careers, and have each owned homes previously before combining their once individual households into one.
With that said, here's my dilemma.....what do you get a couple who pretty much have everything they want/need for a wedding gift? My thoughts have gone from a high-end restaurant gift card to a gift certificate for a weekend get-away at a resort, to a gift basket of wine, cheese, crackers and chocolate. In my mind, these were all great options....until my future sister-in-law mentioned at a niece's wedding that she thought wedding gifts that can be used over the years and remembered as the gift that came from a specific person were the best wedding gifts a couple could receive. I do have to agree with her philosophy, because I do think about specific people when I use something that we received from them for our wedding so many years ago. But, what do I get them? There is a "Starving Artist Art Fair" http://www.fairsandfestivals.net/events/details/racine-starving-artist-outdoor-art-fair/ coming up in a few weeks and I had thought of heading down to the lakefront to see if there was anything unique yet useful that I may be able to pick up for them. Good idea? Anyone reading this have any other ideas? Send a comment if you do - I will greatly appreciate suggestions.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Finally.....the heat wave has subsided.....
Who would ever have thought that temperatures in the 80's would be thought of as cooler weather?
I cannot remember a summer as hot or as dry as it has been here in Southeast Wisconsin. When I was a kid growing up in Milwaukee, I remember having hot days and since at that time central air was not the norm in people's houses (yes, I'm old) we would cool off by running through the sprinkler. Remember that some of you "oldsters" out there? That and the coveted Slip N Slide were the neighborhood kids form of entertainment/cooling off. Boy, the past couple of weeks I could sure have used a Slip N Slide in my yard.....over 100 degrees for days in a row. But, I s'pose if I did have one, I would have slipped and slid my way to a broken body part since I wasn't very coordinated in my youth and still can't say that I am.
My garden hose has been getting quite a workout though - but not for fun or cooling off - but to try to keep by flower and vegetable garden alive. The grass....forget about it - it's like walking on straw with very few green patches to be found. The only good thing about that is that it doesn't have to be cut.
Now to just hope for rain - which doesn't look likely for the rest of this week. It seems that I live in the section of Wisconsin where it rains to the North, South and West of us, but dries up before it gets to my "neck of the woods".
I really don't mean to complain, especially since before you know it, the temps will be dipping into the below zero category. Personally, I prefer the hot, dry weather to freezing, icy and snowy conditions.....but one nice long thunderstorm would sure be nice :)
I cannot remember a summer as hot or as dry as it has been here in Southeast Wisconsin. When I was a kid growing up in Milwaukee, I remember having hot days and since at that time central air was not the norm in people's houses (yes, I'm old) we would cool off by running through the sprinkler. Remember that some of you "oldsters" out there? That and the coveted Slip N Slide were the neighborhood kids form of entertainment/cooling off. Boy, the past couple of weeks I could sure have used a Slip N Slide in my yard.....over 100 degrees for days in a row. But, I s'pose if I did have one, I would have slipped and slid my way to a broken body part since I wasn't very coordinated in my youth and still can't say that I am.
My garden hose has been getting quite a workout though - but not for fun or cooling off - but to try to keep by flower and vegetable garden alive. The grass....forget about it - it's like walking on straw with very few green patches to be found. The only good thing about that is that it doesn't have to be cut.
Now to just hope for rain - which doesn't look likely for the rest of this week. It seems that I live in the section of Wisconsin where it rains to the North, South and West of us, but dries up before it gets to my "neck of the woods".
I really don't mean to complain, especially since before you know it, the temps will be dipping into the below zero category. Personally, I prefer the hot, dry weather to freezing, icy and snowy conditions.....but one nice long thunderstorm would sure be nice :)
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy Birthday America!
The 4th of July....America's Birthday!
My birthday wish for America this year is to return to the great nation it use to be. It's time to forget the partisan politics and political correctness - let's get the country back on track so we, our children, our children's children, etc, etc, can once again experience what the insightful forefathers put in place so many years ago.
Enjoy parades, sparklers and fireworks.
It's a great day to celebrate in the United States of America!
My birthday wish for America this year is to return to the great nation it use to be. It's time to forget the partisan politics and political correctness - let's get the country back on track so we, our children, our children's children, etc, etc, can once again experience what the insightful forefathers put in place so many years ago.
Enjoy parades, sparklers and fireworks.
It's a great day to celebrate in the United States of America!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I just saw a news alert that Andy Griffith passed away.
http://news.yahoo.com/report-andy-griffith-died-age-86-141449183.html
In my eyes, he was a tv icon....I grew up watching the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. To this day, I continue to watch Matlock reruns - even though I've seen them all several times. To me, he was a great actor and from things I have read about him, a great person. It was always refreshing to see how good won out over evil in the Matlock episodes, or how bad situations somehow were never as bad as they seemed or proved to be "teaching moments" as well as entertaining in the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. It's a sad day, but I'm sure he is in a better place.
Rest in Peace Sheriff Andy...you will be fondly remembered.
http://news.yahoo.com/report-andy-griffith-died-age-86-141449183.html
In my eyes, he was a tv icon....I grew up watching the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. To this day, I continue to watch Matlock reruns - even though I've seen them all several times. To me, he was a great actor and from things I have read about him, a great person. It was always refreshing to see how good won out over evil in the Matlock episodes, or how bad situations somehow were never as bad as they seemed or proved to be "teaching moments" as well as entertaining in the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. It's a sad day, but I'm sure he is in a better place.
Rest in Peace Sheriff Andy...you will be fondly remembered.
Friday, June 29, 2012
And How Does Your Garden Grow????
Not very well if there are rabbits in your yard!
Every year I plant a vegetable garden because I love tomatoes right off of the vine, as well as other fresh veggies.
In previous years, we've had a problem with rabbits and deer getting into the garden and eating the plants early in the growing season. However, this year the deer hasn't been around (hmmmm....I wonder what happened to him?), and there was a hawk frequenting the sky around our yard during the Spring and early Summer. Since we'd see the hawk, then find tufts of fur in the grass and didn't see any rabbits, we thought our garden would do very well this year.
Well, we haven't seen the hawk for a couple of weeks, and last week I found that the bush bean plants had "nibbles" on their leaves and within days were totally devoid of leaves. Because I really wanted fresh garden beans, I went to the garden center & bought pole beans thinking that if they were to grow up a stake, the rabbits wouldn't get to them. How wrong my thinking was.....although the plants were fairly well grown, within one day of planting and staking the plants all of the leaves had been eaten.....and when I went out to water the garden this morning, the entire plants were gone - nothing left. Just the stake. I had even bought rabbit and deer repellent at the garden center, but it certainly didn't deter those nasty rabbits.
I guess I'll be frequenting Farmer's Markets this summer in order to get fresh green beans since I'm not able to grow them myself. Any suggestions for keeping rabbits from eating my bean plants would be greatly appreciated.
Every year I plant a vegetable garden because I love tomatoes right off of the vine, as well as other fresh veggies.
In previous years, we've had a problem with rabbits and deer getting into the garden and eating the plants early in the growing season. However, this year the deer hasn't been around (hmmmm....I wonder what happened to him?), and there was a hawk frequenting the sky around our yard during the Spring and early Summer. Since we'd see the hawk, then find tufts of fur in the grass and didn't see any rabbits, we thought our garden would do very well this year.
Well, we haven't seen the hawk for a couple of weeks, and last week I found that the bush bean plants had "nibbles" on their leaves and within days were totally devoid of leaves. Because I really wanted fresh garden beans, I went to the garden center & bought pole beans thinking that if they were to grow up a stake, the rabbits wouldn't get to them. How wrong my thinking was.....although the plants were fairly well grown, within one day of planting and staking the plants all of the leaves had been eaten.....and when I went out to water the garden this morning, the entire plants were gone - nothing left. Just the stake. I had even bought rabbit and deer repellent at the garden center, but it certainly didn't deter those nasty rabbits.
I guess I'll be frequenting Farmer's Markets this summer in order to get fresh green beans since I'm not able to grow them myself. Any suggestions for keeping rabbits from eating my bean plants would be greatly appreciated.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
It's summer in Milwaukee.....Summerfest is here!
To me, the "official" start of summer is when Summerfest begins. I love going down to the Summerfest grounds and eating and drinking my way through the festival. Just wandering from music stage to music stage, watching all the people dancing and singing along to the bands and enjoying the view of Lake Michigan is my idea of a great way to spend a summer day! Check out the link to the Summerfest site and come on down to the lake front for great food, drinks and entertainment!
http://www.summerfest.com/
http://www.summerfest.com/
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Customer Service...is it a thing of the past?
I think it is - at least at one on-line company.
My husband had broken the nose piece on his favorite sunglasses while on a fishing trip a few weeks ago. Since he really liked them, and because it appeared to be an easy fix - just unscrew the nose piece and replace it - I went on-line to see if there was a company that may be able to help with this problem. After a little bit of looking, I found one, OpticsFast that's located on the East coast. Their site said they were able to repair the brand of my husband's sunglasses, so I followed the instructions to get a repair number, provide a credit card number for service and packaged and shipped them off. After about a week and a half I received an e-mail saying they were sorry but were unable to repair the sunglasses, but were happy to offer a $20 discount if we were to buy a pair of glasses from them. The e-mail also said they were going to ship the broken glasses back to me if they didn't hear from me by the next day. I immediately sent a reply to them telling them not to bother sending the broken glasses back to me and that they were not to charge my credit card for any return shipping charges. Well, I was rather surprised to receive another e-mail from them a couple of days later giving me a tracking number for the shipment of the broken sunglasses. I immediately shot off a reply asking if they had not received my message to not return the glasses or charge my credit card.....no reply - so back to their website to see if they had a "comments" area where I could express my displeasure with their customer service. It took some doing, but I eventually found an area where I could type a short message...to which I immediately received a very "cold" reply, pretty much saying that their policy is to always send broken sunglasses back and charge their credit card $20 even if the customer instructs them to discard the broken glasses and not charge their credit card. Their reasoning is that they don't know if it's really the owner of the glasses sending the e-mail, but someone else telling them to discard them because they're playing a prank on the owner. Give me a break....what kind of reply is that???? Not a reply like...."we're sorry you're not happy, but our policy is...", or "we apologize for not replying to your initial message requesting we not return your glasses we cannot repair, but our policy is....". Their customer service is definately not based on the customer service principles I learned years ago when I was a customer service rep for a couple of companies.
Enough of my "rant" about OpticsFast. However, my final comment is that if anyone needs glasses repaired - don't use that company because you'll end up paying for shipping the broken glasses to them, as well as back from them with no solution to your problem - just a loss of cash.
Oh, and by the way - I did not see anything on their website regarding their policy of returning broken glasses if they can't be fixed. But then, it's prob'ly buried somewhere in the teeny tiny fine print on an obsure page of their website.
My husband had broken the nose piece on his favorite sunglasses while on a fishing trip a few weeks ago. Since he really liked them, and because it appeared to be an easy fix - just unscrew the nose piece and replace it - I went on-line to see if there was a company that may be able to help with this problem. After a little bit of looking, I found one, OpticsFast that's located on the East coast. Their site said they were able to repair the brand of my husband's sunglasses, so I followed the instructions to get a repair number, provide a credit card number for service and packaged and shipped them off. After about a week and a half I received an e-mail saying they were sorry but were unable to repair the sunglasses, but were happy to offer a $20 discount if we were to buy a pair of glasses from them. The e-mail also said they were going to ship the broken glasses back to me if they didn't hear from me by the next day. I immediately sent a reply to them telling them not to bother sending the broken glasses back to me and that they were not to charge my credit card for any return shipping charges. Well, I was rather surprised to receive another e-mail from them a couple of days later giving me a tracking number for the shipment of the broken sunglasses. I immediately shot off a reply asking if they had not received my message to not return the glasses or charge my credit card.....no reply - so back to their website to see if they had a "comments" area where I could express my displeasure with their customer service. It took some doing, but I eventually found an area where I could type a short message...to which I immediately received a very "cold" reply, pretty much saying that their policy is to always send broken sunglasses back and charge their credit card $20 even if the customer instructs them to discard the broken glasses and not charge their credit card. Their reasoning is that they don't know if it's really the owner of the glasses sending the e-mail, but someone else telling them to discard them because they're playing a prank on the owner. Give me a break....what kind of reply is that???? Not a reply like...."we're sorry you're not happy, but our policy is...", or "we apologize for not replying to your initial message requesting we not return your glasses we cannot repair, but our policy is....". Their customer service is definately not based on the customer service principles I learned years ago when I was a customer service rep for a couple of companies.
Enough of my "rant" about OpticsFast. However, my final comment is that if anyone needs glasses repaired - don't use that company because you'll end up paying for shipping the broken glasses to them, as well as back from them with no solution to your problem - just a loss of cash.
Oh, and by the way - I did not see anything on their website regarding their policy of returning broken glasses if they can't be fixed. But then, it's prob'ly buried somewhere in the teeny tiny fine print on an obsure page of their website.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Is it superstition or paranoia?
As you can see from my last post, my birthday was last week and I was quite surprised when a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered from my husband and two sons. With both my sons living out of town, I figured they would give me a call that evening, but the thought of flowers never entered my mind.
Well, I did get a call from both of my boys....actually the youngest called twice - once to wish me happy birthday, and the second to let us know he had been in a car accident on his way home from playing softball. Anyone who is a parent (no matter how old your children are) cringe when the phone rings any time after 10:00 pm. Well, at 10:20 the phone rang and I immediately got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach....I knew this would not be good news. Fortunately, it ended up not being too bad - he was going very slow in a construction zone on the interstate when the guy behind him hit the rear bumper and tailgate of his SUV....no injuries to either driver - just to the vehicles.
Soooooo......you ask why the title of my post: Is it superstition or paranoia? Well, the last time I received flowers from my husband and sons on my birthday was about 11 years ago....and the same son who was in the car accident last week was in the only other car accident he has ever had. He was on his way home from the garden center where he had purchased mum plants they were going to give me for my birthday that evening. Again, just a "fender bender" - nothing serious. But now in my mind, birthday flowers and car accidents go together. Therefore, instructions have been given to all three of them to NEVER AGAIN buy or EVEN THINK of getting me flowers or plants for my birthday.
Call me superstitious or call me paranoid - I don't care....in my mind, my birthday and flowers/plants cause car accidents (but I must admit, the flowers sure are pretty. Maybe they'll send me flowers some other day than my birthday....yeah, right....but I can hope....)
equals
Well, I did get a call from both of my boys....actually the youngest called twice - once to wish me happy birthday, and the second to let us know he had been in a car accident on his way home from playing softball. Anyone who is a parent (no matter how old your children are) cringe when the phone rings any time after 10:00 pm. Well, at 10:20 the phone rang and I immediately got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach....I knew this would not be good news. Fortunately, it ended up not being too bad - he was going very slow in a construction zone on the interstate when the guy behind him hit the rear bumper and tailgate of his SUV....no injuries to either driver - just to the vehicles.
Soooooo......you ask why the title of my post: Is it superstition or paranoia? Well, the last time I received flowers from my husband and sons on my birthday was about 11 years ago....and the same son who was in the car accident last week was in the only other car accident he has ever had. He was on his way home from the garden center where he had purchased mum plants they were going to give me for my birthday that evening. Again, just a "fender bender" - nothing serious. But now in my mind, birthday flowers and car accidents go together. Therefore, instructions have been given to all three of them to NEVER AGAIN buy or EVEN THINK of getting me flowers or plants for my birthday.
Call me superstitious or call me paranoid - I don't care....in my mind, my birthday and flowers/plants cause car accidents (but I must admit, the flowers sure are pretty. Maybe they'll send me flowers some other day than my birthday....yeah, right....but I can hope....)
equals
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I'm Back.........
Well, it's been awhile since my last post, but I'm back - at least for a bit.
I'm taking another class that requires blog posts, so I decided that rather than starting a new blog - I'd just pick up where I left off.....with random thoughts about any topic that suits my mood.
So....for my first post:
Happy Birthday to Me!
I don't feel any older than I did yesterday...but I am.
I don't think I look as old as I am...but I might.
I think I behave like a person my age should...well, maybe not all the time.
And I definitely hope I have a lot more birthdays.....
I'm taking another class that requires blog posts, so I decided that rather than starting a new blog - I'd just pick up where I left off.....with random thoughts about any topic that suits my mood.
So....for my first post:
Happy Birthday to Me!
I don't feel any older than I did yesterday...but I am.
I don't think I look as old as I am...but I might.
I think I behave like a person my age should...well, maybe not all the time.
And I definitely hope I have a lot more birthdays.....
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)