Here it is, almost the end of July, and the weeks are rushing by. Sunny days find us outside, playing; yesterday we found a butterfly, played in the sandbox and on the swing, then came inside to play with Legos.
The days are filled with fun and the nights are filled with well-earned sleep!
Enjoy your summer;
Pammie
Do you ever have one of those weird dreams where you’re wearing something you’d never, in real life, be caught in? Last night I had two dreams, both almost the same, but both with the same twist. In both dreams I was at a party…make that LARGE party, both seemed to be rather formal affairs, and both appeared to be at my house (although I certainly don’t live in a house THAT big!). Part-way through the dreams it occurred to me that I was the one hosting the party and I happened to glance down-in one of the dreams I was wearing a bathrobe and black slippers, in the other dream I was wearing what looked like blue jeans with the hems rolled up (I NEVER do that!) and the same black slippers…funny. I actually seemed to be almost bored with the whole affair, in both dreams. At one point someone said they were going to go get some coffee and would anyone else like any? I remember stating rather casually: “I didn’t make any” and not feeling like I cared if there was coffee or not! Goofy dreams!
Hugs;
Pammie
ps: No, I hadn’t eaten anything spicy, or odd before going to sleep.
As I’m sure you are all aware, the cost of buying groceries has greatly increased just during the past few months. I went grocery shopping yesterday and found out just how MUCH things had changed in just a week’s time. The frozen package of hamburgers I usually buy has gone from $6 something a few months ago, to $7, and yesterday was up to $10! Bananas have gone from 39 cents a lb. to 59 cents a lb.; packaged salad fixin’s that were $1.99 last week are now almost $3; green peppers & cucumbers that used to be 3 for $1.00 are now 3 for $3.00! As I was reeling from those prices I came to the meat department and quite another shock greeted me: meat packages which were in the $3-5 dollar range last week are now in the $10-12 range! We had a long discussion at our dinner table last night as to the actual cause of all this. I had read that draughts and flooding would cause a rise, but my husband believes that because our government is now going into Ethanol and using corn as fuel, the spiraling effects of decreased amounts of corn being available to feed live stock causes the rise in grocery prices as well. Makes sense, but doesn’t help decrease that ’sinking feeling’ while trying to feed the family. I’m finding myself going back to recipes of the past, crockpot cooking, and good-old standby’s using rice, potatoes, pastas or egg noodles as fillers.
I’m also a coupon-cutter from way back, perusing many grocery store fliers before making my final selections as to who has the best deals THIS week. Guess there’s really no use in complaining as it does no good; just thought I’d log these comments as I’m sure we’re all in the ’same boat’ when it comes to rising food costs.
Hugs;
Pammie
I just returned from helping middle son register for classes at our local community college. It occurred to me while there that it had been somewhere in the vicinity of 23 years since I’d graced that campus! While going through the various options with his counselor I began to see just how ‘far’ technology has brought us. When he suggested we go to sign up for classes today, I cringed. “In MY day” that involved long…LONG lines of students, many papers, many more lines until you finally arrived at your goal of getting the classes you wanted and THEN you went to buy your books. In today’s world you do everything ‘on line’…in a matter of minutes we located the classes, paid by credit card and sauntered into the book store like pro’s! Where were all the lines, you ask? I have NO idea…my son had said that most students sign up via computer, but my past experience said that we still would be faced with many lines, many people and a huge headache at the end; this was not the case (thank heavens!). He is now OFFICIALLY a college student! The college has grown by leaps and bounds since I was there, and technology has certainly made the ‘ins & outs’ a whole lot easier…I stand amazed.
Hugs;
Pammie
Today is another beautiful in-the-80’s degree day; sun shining, clear skies-just gorgeous. Looking outside at our birdfeeder one finds the ever-present little chipmunk who’s decided that the base of our birdfeeder is heaven for him. Surely, he’s got to be stuffed and yet, there he is almost all day long, jowls stuffed to the bursting; I love chipmunks. All of the flowers of summer are now in bloom and our wild blackberrie bushes are bursting with ripened fruits; it’s a sweet treat to be able to just go outside in your backyard and pick little dark purple morsels of sun-warmed berries-an instant burst of sweetness on your tongue!
I managed to visit one garage sale today, it’s almost the first of this summer for me. The reason I attended this particular sale was due to a email from a friend, informing me of “tons of yarn at $1.00 a skein!” You can BET I was there! I was thrilled to see that much yarnie-goodness all in one place and all at unbelievable prices-I purchased 24 skeins of varigated yarns and was pleased as punch! Rushing home, I quickly emailed everyone in my immediate vicinity whom I thought might be remotely interested in this sale (I’d promised the seller I would). I would venture to guess that she had, after I left, a good $80-100 dollars worth of yarn left (that’s at HER prices of $1.00 per skein.) She told me that she was holding this sale hoping to raise enough money to purchase a tombstone for her Mother’s grave who had just died and been the original owner of the yarns.
Last night, upon returning home from Friends Group (my special needs adults Bible study group), I was indulging (just a little) in a small bowl of strawberry/vanilla ice cream and gazing outside at the quickly-fading daylight when what to my wonder began to glint in the darkness, but 3 little lightening bugs! A true sign of summer, if ever there was one. I mentioned to my husband that it still amazes me – all during my entire childhood and up into my 30’s I had never seen a lightening bug in real life (yes, in movies or photos, but not by my own eyes). I well remember the first time, many years ago, while we were vacationing at a cabin up North that my oldest son came running in all excited about the ‘flashing bugs’! We were able to produce a small jar in which to capture them, for a brief time, just to admire their abilities. Fireflies are, to me, a reminder that the Lord must have a sense of humor, because they always seem to make people smile!
Today, while driving around doing errands, a multi-hued butterfly accidentally flew into my windshield wiper! I had to drive for about 4 miles before reaching my destination and worried if he/she had truly been killed by the impact. By gently moving the wiper away from the window and carefully placing the tip of my finger under the wiper, I was able to free the tiny creature and it flew away…another ’simple pleasure of summer’, seeing a butterfly do what they do best…Fly! It flew to a near-by tree and rested. Poor little insect, to be ’stuck’ between the wiper and the pressures of the wind blowing against the window while I drove…needless to say, I was VERY glad to see it was still alive!
Simple summer days; simple pleasures. I hope that you are able to enjoy these days-look for the ’simple things’ that bring a smile to your face and warmth to your heart.
Hugs;
Pammie
Sorry for not posting more frequently; things around here have slowed to a quiet, summer pace. Drove youngest son to our church this morning at 5:30 a.m. to drop him off for a week of adventures with our church Youth Group. They will be going to the Pittsburg Pirates baseball game tonight, then later in the week to West Virginia for white water rafting, rappelling, caving and tent camping. I’m sure when I pick him up late Friday night, he’ll be one very tired young man.
Our weather has been really nice lately – in the 70’s and low 80’s (my favorite temps), sunny and clear. The flowers are blooming everywhere, tons of birds (and one tiny chipmunk) frequent our bird feeders daily.
I did get a good report at the doctors this morning, which made me happy (general check-up; all’s well). Today has been (thus far) a very calm, relaxing day. Got all my errands done in record time…the only ‘fly in the ointment’ was when I went to my favorite ‘haunt’: Tim Horton’s, hoping for their breakfast sausage sandwich (to refuel my body after the 12 hour fasting of the night before) alas…that was ‘not to be’- seems they now follow the same early day schedule as the other local fast food places when it comes to only serving breakfast items up to 10:30 a.m. (it was after 11, sigh). I’m a healthy, hale person so waited it out until I got home to eat. (Hey, left-over red skinned potato salad and a left-over hot dog tasted just fine to me!)
Anyway, friends…that’s what’s shakin’ around here these days. OH! I am starting on afghan # 93 today; my good friend “Momma” (see the blog list) volunteered to crochet the borders on the completed afghans for me. She said she loves crochet (for me, it’s just downright boring!…hence, I tend to drag my feet when it comes to doing the crocheted borders…sigh). Knowing that I just have to choose the squares and sew them together really lightens my load immensely (once again THANKS, “Momma”!- I ought to insert here, also-THANKS, Dar for delivering the completed afghans for “Momma”!) Only 7 more afghans for my personal goal of 100 completed afghans! Yes, I’m still going to keep on making them, this is just a goal I set for myself last year when this project began. Anything over 100 is ‘gravy’!
Hoping you are all enjoying a wonderful, relaxing summer;
Hugs;
Pammie
This article was in today’s local paper…thought you might find it ‘interesting’:
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS: (AP)
Amsterdam police say 15 camels, 2 zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied pigs briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage. Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout. The animals were back at the circus later Monday after being rounded up by police and circus workers with the assistance of dogs. Aben says neighbors fed some of the animals…which he said was a bad idea…but they were tame and nobody was hurt. Says Aben: “You have to imagine somebody rubbing his eyes first thing in the morning and saying :”Am I seeing things or is that 15 camels walking past?”
Could prove to be an ‘interesting’ morning, for sure!
Hugs;
Pammie
