Category Archives: Meme

Weekend Roundup X

1. A Word with an “X.”

PM1909

An Antique postcard from 1909.

2. A Favorite.

X marks the barn.

3. Looks like “X.”

Our daughter making a snow angel.

Parting shots:

The J.M. and Birdie Nix House in San Antonio, Texas. (mostly the sign and not the house)

Here’s the house which is located in the King William Historic District of San Antonio.

Thanks to Tom for hosting The Weekend Roundup.

We traveled south to the big city of Spokane today to do some shopping. The roads were clear and the weather was dry which was a win win for easy access on streets and into shops. Have a good weekend everyone.

Wednesday Medley

1.  National Ding-a-Ling Day is observed across the United States each year on December 12.  Ding-a-Lings on this day call the people they haven’t heard from in a while.  It may be an old classmate, co-worker or neighbor from years ago.  Or perhaps a call will go out to the child who used to mow the grass during the summer.  How about that couple who carpooled for soccer. There are all sorts of people in our lives who manage to slip out of our lives who would love to hear the ding-a-ling of a call from you or me.  So tell us who you want to call today!

Well, this ding-a-ling didn’t know there was such a day. If she were alive, I would love to call my first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Nickolaus.

2. Each year on the 12th day of December, people across the United States recognize National Poinsettia Day. I am including this “National Day” too because my neighbor’s poinsettia from last year is blooming beside their house!!  Have you ever tried to plant a poinsettia outside?

Another day that has escaped me. I always enjoy going to Molbak’s in Woodinville, Washington to see their beautiful display of poinsettias and their poinsettia Christmas tree. We don’t live close enough anymore to pop into this great garden store.

3.  Do you believe in Bigfoot?  What size shoe do you wear and do you have trouble shoe shopping?

 

Well, do photographs lie? I would have loved to buy this huge piece of yard art to put up on our mountain behind our country bungalow but I have grandchildren now and wouldn’t want to make them afraid to go into our backyard.

I am a 7 to 7-1/2 depending on the shoe style. I don’t have a problem finding shoes in my size but it is hard work finding shoes that are comfortable to wear in general. I am way past the stiletto days. Even when I could have managed them I didn’t wear real high heels.

4. What is one thing you refuse to share?

My husband. The only way I will share him is for him to do his acts of service for others. He enjoys helping people.

5. Are you finding that this Christmas is stressful? More or less than last year?

What’s stressful about painting all your interior walls in the month of December? Don’t you love how the Christmas décor intersect with the painting equipment?

But no, thankfully I’m not stressing about the above photo of what real life looks like at our country bungalow.  Things will be back in their proper place before Christmas. Our family of 9 and a half chose to only have stockings this year and all of us won’t be together till Christmas afternoon. The 4 who are flying here on Christmas day are staying until the 28th and we are going to take one day at a time while they are here.

6. Tell us something random about your week so far!

We are having our first December snow that will linger and I’ll be driving in it for the first time since we moved. Our road is a 50mph road and I’m watching cars and trucks going slower then usual. They’ll not enjoy driving behind me because I’ll be going real slow and steady. I’m a wimp in the snow. Our motion sensor light above our garage was on this morning because of the snow falling. The little birds were flying under Dear’s parked truck and congregating there. Where do little birds go ?

I’m happy to report I made it there in the snow and then back home again in the dark. When there is snow on the road it is hard to see where your lane begins and ends. I made it up our kids mile long driveway with switchbacks in the light and then in the dark. She is patting herself on the back. It was sweet to spend time with Addy while her folks went to the hospital to have an ultrasound to see how Addy’s baby brother is doing.

Hope all your preparations for Christmas are going well.

I’m linking up with Terri in Florida for the Medley. She asks the questions and we answer them. Thank you, Terri.

Wednesday Medley

1.  On November 28th, 1995, President Bill Clinton ended the 55 MPH nationwide speed limit that began in 1974 as an energy saving measure during the Mid-East oil embargo.  If you are old enough to remember this (I sure am) did it make you happy?  Do you have a heavy foot when driving or does 55 MPH sound good to you?

It made me very happy. I do have a lead foot and try to stay at 5mph over the speed limit…most of the time. I do go 20 or 25 in school zones. This is all with good road conditions. I do not have a lead foot in the rain, snow, or sleet! I slow way down.

2.  You are home alone on a rainy/snowy Sunday afternoon.  What Christmas movie will you watch?
Home Alone or Miracle on 34th Street depending on my mood.
3.  What is something you have tried that you will never try again?
Liver and Onions. I only tried it because I was served it and out of appreciation to our hostess I ate it all trying not to gag.
4.  Today is National French Toast Day!!  Will you have some?  Do you like French Toast?
I do like French Toast but will probably wait to have it for a weekend breakfast sometime.

PM1908

5.  The Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center will be lighted today, as will the one at the White House in Washington, D.C.  Do you have your tree up and is it lighted?  Have you ever been in New York City or Washington, D.C. to see the trees all lit up during the holidays?
I’ve only been to one Christmas tree lighting ever and that was in Seattle several years ago. No tree at our house yet. We will probably cut one down at our son’s or in a National Forest later this month.
6.  Tell us something random about this week of yours.
I have started Christmas decorating pulling out all the Christmas bins. It’s been interesting and fun finding new spots for old things at our Country Bungalow. Some things have been moved a few times to find the best location. We are still in the midst of painting so some decorating will have to wait. When our EWK (Eastern Washington Kids) were here last Friday Addy and I opened up her Little People nativity set for her to play with at Baba and Gramps’ house until Christmas.
Linking up with Terri in Florida for Wednesday Medley.

Thanksgiving Medley

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?

I like a full beige plate with a touch of orange and gravy on top of the turkey, stuffing and potatoes. It’s the combination that I enjoy. If I was going to single out one item it would be the candied yams with marshmallows on top. Bottom left photo.

What’s the happiest Thanksgiving memory of your childhood?

I have no memories of Thanksgiving in my childhood. It took my mom a while to catch on to the holiday after immigrating from Persia. In my teens and college years there was always a Russian Baptist Church conference held on Thanksgiving weekend and the conference rotated from the Russian Baptist church in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Sacramento. There was a full church meal for Thanksgiving during the conference. I’m thinking we had a few Thanksgivings at my sister Vera’s house. Our very first Thanksgiving as a married couple everyone was out of town and we had no where to go so we went to a restaurant. That was weird. We had a few Thanksgivings at Dear’s parents’ home. The first turkey I helped prepare was when I was pregnant with our first son and we were in Arrowhead at Dear’s brother and sister-in-law’s home. That broke the ice and we eventually hosted Thanksgiving consistently at our house. When we moved to Washington State we had a couple members of my family fly up every Thanksgiving weekend to spend with us.

Who is the most consistently grateful person you know?

I would have to say our daughter-in-law, Laura.

If you could thank one person today—near or far, living or dead—for their influence on your life, who would that person be?

I’m going to say my little babushka Vera. All my personal memories of her are positive. She lived with one hand and never let that hinder her and she prayed consistently for all of us. She embroidered with only one hand and I treasure the things she made for me. She would tell us not to go out at night because nothing good happens in the dark. Ha! I’ve used that admonition more then once.

Who’s one person you’ve never thanked for their contribution to your life, but would like to?

Mrs. Nicolaus, my 1st and 2nd grade teacher. She was someone who believed in me and was kind and encouraging. She also recommended I skip a grade which I did. I think it was 2nd grade that I skipped but maybe it was 3rd grade since I have no memory of my third grade teacher. Top photo ellen b. is on the top row on the right. In the bottom photo I’m the second from the left with the curly hairdo.

Tell us something random about your Thanksgiving week.

I was on the phone yesterday for my Medicare supplement plan that seems to have fallen through the cracks and I noticed that the deductions were not being taken out of our checking account. For some reason I was dropped as of November 1st. Oops, no Bueno. I think we got it straightened out now and I’ll have coverage again on December 1st. Yikes.

Thank you to Terri for Wednesday Medley.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends!

Weekend Roundup~T

It’s time for the Weekend Roundup hosted by Tom the Backroads Traveller. This weeks prompts are…

1. Starts with “T.”
2. A Favorite.
3. “T”all.

Starts with “T”: Thanksgiving Table

A Favorite:

The trees in our front yard in the morning sunshine.

“T”all:

Tall trees on the trail loop.

Parting shot:

Perched a’Top the tall tree hanging on with it’s talons.

So we are soon entering Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Lot’s of T’s associated with a Traditional Thanksgiving meal with Turkey and trimmings. We had an early Thanksgiving with family back in October and this time around we will have a small gathering and try a deep fried turkey on Friday since our son has to work on Thanksgiving. I have a fresh turkey ordered to pick up on Wednesday. No out of town guests are coming this year. What are your plans? Are you cooking or are you invited out?

Thank you Tom for hosting and travelling to show us so many cool sites!

 

Wednesday Medley

1.  With the holidays coming, what is your most essential appliance to help you prepare for the celebrations?

I have to go with oven but I won’t be using this pink one.

2.  What is your favorite (clean) word? 

Lately my favorite word is abide. I’ve been listening to some of my favorite Cd’s and a song by Matt Redman called Abide with Me speaks to me. The chorus: “Abide with me, abide with me, don’t let me fall, and don’t let go, Walk with me and never leave, ever close, God, abide with me.”

3.  Are you a good judge of character? 

 

Yes. I’m going to say one of my best good judge of character moments resulted in dating and marrying Dear. He’s a giant of a guy with lots of integrity.

4. What is the last thing you took a picture of? 

I took pictures of a couple books that I’d recommend to parents or grandparents with young children. I’ll start with this excellent book on prayer. An adult can learn a lot from it, too. (Leonard, if you are reading this post, Lana is bringing one to you and Mandy for the kids!)

5. Tomorrow, November 15, is Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.  How do you intend to celebrate?

We’ve only been here a couple of months so the refrigerator is pretty clean. I will try to use up the perishables I already have in there and then go out to eat on Friday instead of filling it up with more perishables.

6. Tell us something random about your week!

My Hp computer that I got in 2008 is showing me the blue screen of death every couple of days and it died again today so I’m scrambling to get used to the new laptop we bought knowing my old one was dying. Right now my biggest challenge is where to store photos and how to access them easily to my WordPress blog. This isn’t my forte. My old computer has Windows 7. Oye!

Linking up with Your Friend From Florida, Terri, for Wednesday Medley.

If you are new here, click on comments below in the shaded area to open up the comments page. Thank you!

Wednesday Medley

Joining Terri, Your Friend From Florida, for Wednesday Medley. She provides questions for us to answer on our blogs and then we can visit other blogs that answered the same questions.

Here are the questions for this Wednesday:

What is your claim to fame?

My claim to fame is that I am one of the ten Mennonite Girls Can Cook. We met because of Lovella’s blog and eventually Lovella started a recipe blog called Mennonite Girls Can Cook. She invited me and other gals to join the blog and provide recipes. The contributors were capped at the ten of us current gals and the rest is history. We’ve co-authored three books, had a play named after us, and provided cooking demonstrations/classes and a few of our gals even made it onto Global TV. All of our royalty money has been contributed to helping children, orphans and widows. I am the one American in the group and I’m also the one non-Mennonite. They adopted me because of my Russian heritage and our similar cooking heritage.

What is something you like to do the old-fashioned way?

I like to hold and read a book and turn the pages.

What did you think you would grow out of but haven’t?

Haha, there are a lot of things I’ve grown out of, like all my clothes from a decade ago. Oye. Something I haven’t grown out of and would like to is being concerned about what other people think of me. I’m less concerned then in my youth but it still nags at me.

What is the dumbest thing you’ve done that actually turned out pretty well?

I gave a ride to two criminals to get them away from my house and was able to drive into a driveway down the hill from us where a sheriff vehicle had pulled in looking for them. I jumped out of the car ran over to the policeman and said the guys you are looking for are in my car. He was dumbfounded and within a minute about 6 other police vehicles pulled up. They all told me I shouldn’t have done that. No duh! My husband was really upset with me for doing it, too. The two young thugs were, as the police detective put it, really bad guys. I had to go to a disposition hearing but did not have to go to trial. The two thugs had robbed a couple houses down the hill from us. I knew they didn’t belong on our hill and they cornered me in our driveway asking for a ride. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to get into our house with them right there and our daughter was in the house so I chose to give them a ride away from our house. I talked to them the whole time they were in my car letting them know I had to get home quickly because my sons would be coming home from school, etc. I even asked them if they were a couple of bad boys and they said, “no maam, no maam, as they slid down in their seats when they saw the police vehicle ahead of us on the road. The two thugs were shocked that I did that and were stuck to their seats instead of jumping out of the car and trying to get away. My angel was on overtime!!

If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

Hmm…I’m going to choose Grace because I’m grateful for God’s amazing grace in my life.

What is something random you can tell us about this week?

It’s getting colder and colder here in our northeast corner of Washington State. I’m going to have to consider my wardrobe and add some cold weather items.