Lazy Sunday

Made some stuffed green pepper soup (thanks Jan, for recipe), using meatballs instead of ground beef, and topped it with grated parm and a dollop of sour cream. It was delish and is now in 'THE ROTATION". That's a homemade roll there too, made with no-knead bread dough. Easy and cheap and delish. I love my rummage sale pink bowl. I wish I could find a whole set of those dishes. Super cheap. Like $1.

Finn is still asleep, waiting for Spring. Thankfully, he has stopped molesting my Crazy 8s Lichen chair.

First weekend in May is "Camping Weekend". Shelbyville didn't work out this year, but Mar decided I was punchworthy and invited me to her club. I spent Friday night out there and got a good taste of campfire, yummy food, and good laughs and company. And wind! lol Then a spectacular camping breakfast. One night is plenty for me, and I didn't have to drive 4 hours (one way!) to get it! Woo hoo!

My onions and taters and some flower seeds are coming up. Perennials look good. Lost my burning bush and new Red Bud, darn it! Haven't planted much else yet. John threw some stuff in, but I can't remember what any of it is. It is coming up though. Catnip is going to town. Finn and and Midge are liking that. I'll dry some for them soon, and for my other feline friends.

We are invited to John's house next weekend for Mother's Day Brunch. Yum. He is already cleaning. I'm going to bring dessert, a lemon cake. Can't wait to try it. If it is blogworthy I'll share. Folks like going over there (though Bernie complains that Streator is "too far") to see the kitties and the garden and of course, John

I need new tires and brakes. Last time that happened is when I bought my secret new car! LOL  Not this time people. I'm actually buying brakes and tires. If I was going to get a new car I would have gotten it last weekend when I had to spend THIRTY DOLLARS! ($30!!!) for new wiper blades. For cry eye.

OK. One LAST time, John and I have made a wager with Healthy Wage. (healthywage.com). We have wagered $600 that we will lost 50 pounds in the next year. Yes, Big bucks. The the payoff is big too! $2000 for me, $1600 for John. Good incentive. We have to weigh in once a week until then, if you forget it is a strike, and 3 strikes and you are OUT! If anybody wants a referral,just holler. Come join us for the big fat fun. You can also do the 10% challenge instead of the wager. It is definitely less expensive, and still with a good return on your money. You pay $150 to them, and if you lose 10% of your body weight within 6 months, you double your money. Nice return.

I went on a road trip with my friend and saw some graffiti in the city. Does anyone know what it means . . . "Smore Dont Tater"? 

Went to get my Vitamin D rechecked and, I'll be damned, it went down instead of up! Grrrr. I thought I started feeling better, more pep for a while, then boom, not so much. So now instead of 2000 units a day, now I'm taking 50,000 a week. Yikes! 

Thats all folks. Have a most pleasant week.

Kathleen

Mayday! Mayday! Spring is Missing!

Happy May Day!

Finn, Midge, Hera and Isis

More Funny Mallaneys

The Scene: Kay is at John's house. Kay has a terrible cold (totally not relevant to the scene). Kay and John are watching film noir movies from the 50s. A Joan Crawford movie starts, "Female on the Beach" . . .

Kay: "Wow, Joan looks old. Almost as old as she did in Mommy Dearest!" I was thinking to myself (and this is truly representative of my train of thought), how in the world did she go like 30 years and not age at all! I wonder if that Cindy Crawford melon stuff really works . . . ? Hmmmm, Cindy sure looks good."
John, incredulously (after waiting a minute to see if I was making a funny (I wasn't!): "JOAN CRAWFORD WASN'T IN THE MOVIE! Do you think Joan Crawford would star as herself in a movie where she abuses children and is portrayed as an incredible bitch and yells . . . "
Kay, interrupting, and laughing hard and slightly (ok  . . . very) embarassed: "Oh that's right!"
Then, Kay and John, loudly, in unison:  "NO WIRE HANGERS!!!!!"

Scene 2: Kay and John loading up car for an outing.

Kay: "Don't set anything heavy on that bag. My scale is in it."
Laughter laughter laughter. Yes, I do step on that scale. It is pretty sturdy haha. And what was it doing in the car? Mysteries are good. Just make sure when you buy stuff on Amazon that if you occasionally get things shipped to your office, that when you stock up on TP that you make sure your home address is checked. Just a little advice from Kay.

Scene 3:

Kay: "I wonder what I'll be like when I get dementia."
John: "I'm not sure how I'll know you have it."

So nice that the weather is improving. We even went to a couple of rummage sales last weekend! So nice to find things you need at a great price.

I didn't even know I needed these 'til I saw them! Aren't they pretty!

Bernie is happy to have baseball back, and warmer temperatures.

Happy birthday to my buddies, Midge and Finn, today April 12th. Five years old today.

Sleepyhead Kittens.

Finnegan and Midge.

Sweet wee Midgie. Love that french pedicure!

Finn today. On the same little cat tower. It's smaller than Finn remembers . . .

Big Woman, because you got my camo chair out on this fine 70 degree April day, I will oblige you with one photo . . . 

70 degrees out there. Breezy and lovely. Lots of yard work to be done. As soon as I shake this horrible cough, I'll get right at it!

Kay :)

Spring is in the Air

LOL A new one from Bernie, sort of . . .

Bernie: "I'm not milking in the morning! I can't milk!", said ruefully, while making a gesture of look at me, I'm old! Then he said, "But I can feed the pigs!"

Saw a sign on our ride, "Wanted - Seasonal Landscaping Employees".  Bernie: "I don't think I'm going to work this summer."

Took the fam for a ride over to John's place today. Temps were pushing 60. Much nicer for the smokers than winter temps. John made a spectacular meal, cod, asparagus, cauliflower, all tossed and topped with a cheesy, delicious panko topping. It was spectacular. And homemade focaccia bread. And cake, spice cake, with carrots and pineapple and coconut and stuff. I declare it the BEST MEAL EVER AT JOHN'S HOUSE. That is high praise people. All the chow over there is great! I forgot to take a picture of my plate. Bernie kept saying, "I'm sure glad I don't have to drive!" and we all would say at the same time, "ME TOO!" lol

The Bernardo.

Mom: "I never take a good picture. I said well, don't worry, it's got to be better than the last one of you I put on my blog!"

The veggies were done first and we kept snitching and snitching lol.

A good time was had by all except for maybe wee Isis, who was very scairt. She finally came out and played a little, but she hid in her little house. Hera was quite engaging, as usual.

Saturday I went shopping in Kankakee with Donna, had lunch, made haluski for supper, washed one window (moderation people, moderation!), hung up some Spring-y sun catchers, chauffeured the fam to church; Sunday I went to John's house. Now the weekend is over already! What the heck.

Kathleen

Bernie Tidbits and the (old) New Car

Bernie tidbits . . .

Dad watching “cowboys” on AMC with mom on Saturday . . . and keep in mind Dad watches hours and hours and hours of TV  . . .

Dad: “One thing I never did was watch much TV during the day. When you are a hired man you can’t do that. This movie is kind of sad.”

Mom: “Yes, it is. It’s a very good movie.”

Dad: “I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie at the show.” (Dad has NEVER been to the movies in my memory lol).

Mom, giggling: “Do you want to go?”

Dad: “Yeah, I’d like to see a good cowboy movie.”

Dad: “I don’t have to take a shower today, do I?”

Mom: “Oh yes! We are going to church tonight. And clean clothes too!”

Kay: “You know what they say Bernard!”

Dad: “What?” and then sotto voce to Mom, “She sure has good ears!” Then brushing quite a few crumbs off his belly and lap, and scratching at some other goodies with his fingernail, "I can just wear these clothes. I don't have to change!"

Kay: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Plus you want to be all freshened up for the big anniversary tomorrow, don’t you?”

Poor Dad, muttering/whining: “She hears everything I say! Don’t pick on me! I won’t be around much longer. This is like being in the army, having to take a shower! I just don’t like taking a shower in the winter! I hope I die in the summer . . . “

Mom: “Well you might want to stick around through the fall too. Fall is pretty nice”

Kay: “Yeah Dad, think that over. And what happened in the army Dad? Did they have to like hose you down every few days or something?! And if you think your number is going to be up before church tonight you can skip your shower prolly. Maybe.”

Dad: “I don’t hear you anymore.”

LOLOL

Dad to Mom during the last snow . . .

Dad: “Are  you going to the store? Do you want this $20 bill to go get some round steak for supper?” This is the same $20 bill he got for his birthday from his lovely brother. Who shall STILL remain nameless . . .

Mom: “No, I’m not going out in this weather.”

Kay: “Hand it over Dad, I’ll go get you some beef.”

Dad, putting $20 back in pocket, “I can’t hear you . . . and I won’t get any change back!”

I am very used to being called “Kay Joe John”, and the other night on a ride, Dad said, “I like the ride even though there isn’t much to see in the winter Kay . . . Monica . . . Jean . . . Norene . . . Joan . . . “ LOL   All 5 of his sisters! Then he giggled. LOL

Enough Bernie.

I bought a new car! Well it was in 2010. This is how it went down . . .

Took my old car in for an oil change and other maintenance, ended up that I needed new brakes, new tires, some maintenance, yada yada yada. This was right about the time Toyota was having major difficulties selling cars. I was mulling over my huge potential bill when, all of a sudden, I hear someone  ask, “Do you have any financing specials right now.” It was me! Boom . . . out to showroom. Rejected one salesman because he annoyed me (he smiled too much), lined the rest up, liked one of them. Nice smile. Didn’t talk too much. I named a ridiculously low price for new car. Named a ridiculously high price for my trade-in. Boom. Bought a new car.

Salesman: “And what color do you like?”

Kay: “I love the green!”

Salesman: “So green it is!”

Kay: “Well no, I never buy the color I really want. It would be a lemon for sure! Do you have a red one?”

Salesman: “You mean just like you have now?”

Kay: “Yes.”

I knew I would never hear the end of it from the fam. My family drives cars til they die! I would hear . . . Kay bought a new car when there was nothing wrong with her old one! . . . Kay wastes her money! . . .  I don’t know what will become of her in her old age . . . Can she afford that? What was she thinking . . .  Remember when she bought that bike and rode it once . . .  blah blah blah blah blah yada yada yada. I wasn’t in the mood for that. So I bought a new car and no one knew. Except for maybe the 5 people I told. Bought it, paid in off in a few months, and kept my secret. Except that I knew there was absolutely no way John would NOT notice a new car. There were a few slight differences. Like the upholstery, tail lights, antenna, a button on steering wheel, the remote start in window, just little stuff like that. The smell. The impossibly clean windshield and carpet. And the absence of scrapes, dings, and dents.  So for the next several times John and I went anywhere together, I suggested we take his car.  Just biding my time until some of the newness went away. Thereafter I just kept the odometer on the “trip” setting. I thought he might notice the mileage on the little oil change sticker in the window. But no. Nothing. He made the occasional comment, like “I never noticed that button on your steering wheel before” and “I never noticed that thing (remote start) in the window” . . . stuff like that.  I just responded, “Huh, weird” or something like that. Now we will fast forward to March, 2014.

John and I are in the (now old) new car. John comments that the new model Rav 4 looks a lot different. I laugh and say “Yeah, I won’t be able to get a new car now, the Rav 4 looks totally different.” Oops.  John looks baffled, I laugh, I explain, I laugh. John looks incredulous. He really can’t believe that he didn’t notice that I got a new car. And he is incredulous that I kept a secret for that long! That really is miraculous, honestly! I tell him how many times Mar and I have giggled about him not noticing that I got a new car! LOL  Pretty funny. And I think he is still stunned about it! In fact I’m sure of it!

The end.

Happy Anniversay Mom and Dad!

March 9, 2014. Mom and Dad's 55th Anniversary. I wanted to post a wedding pic so I went into the family photo albums . . .

Oh wait, we don't have any photo albums! We have a box of pictures and newspaper clippings and stuff crammed into the bottom drawer of a file cabinet. I am my mother's daughter, my stuff is the same way! LOL All these fancy stickers and photo albums with captions and fancy shmancy scissor edges things people do these days. I think they are nucked man. Get a shoebox!

John was in charge of dessert. He brought a delicious scratch yellow cake with coconut icing and some blondies with oatmeal, dates and walnuts, all mom's faves, as well as a loaf of cinnamon-walnut -raisin bread for mom to bake off. I made a lasagna and some kick ass garlic bread.

Some more old pics . . .

John. I know it looks like he is wearing a cap in the ring-bearer photo, but it is just his hair! It was blonde on the bottom and black on top! Freaky man! I was on the shit list during the time of the ring bearer photo, because John and I were roughhousing outside and his collarbone got busted and HE HAD TO BE RINGBEARER IN DENNY AND HOLLY'S WEDDING! He managed just fine. LOL And the wedding was on my birthday, June 11th. I remember that.

John with two of my faves, Rusty, my super-duper pooper, and Big Al, THE LOUDEST CAT IN THE WORLD.  When Al went, the gray spot on his head had totally faded into white. He was a great cat, albeit a wee bit loud! LOL

We always had cats. Older bro Joe and me with Samantha, mom's special kitty on the farm.

Mom.

Farm where I grew up. You can see the house, the wash house, the tool shed and the barn. Joe and I were playing in the old blue Pontiac and I put it in drive and we kind rolled into the field from the driveway there by the house.

The happy couple. Dad asked what month it was, and mom replied it was March, March the 9th, their anniversary. Dad asked me how long they had been married and I replied, using hand gestures lol, "Five five." And Dad said "Ok, ten years." LOL 

That got Dad thinking about how old he was, and he likes to think out loud, and I asked him how old I was. He said he didn't know, and I said oh just guess. He said, "Well, It's Me, Jim, Monica, Eddy, Pat, then Norene . . . if I had paper I could figure it all up!" LOL

It was a fun day. Dad got all caught on the Coal City news from John! LOL

Another bizarro thing I found today . . .

 my differential aptitude test scores. How old was I when I took these? I don't know.

97 Numerical Ability
95 Spelling
95 Language Usage
85 Verbal Reasoning
65 in Space Relations and Mechanical Reasoning
50 in Abstract Reasoning

Fifty! What the hell. John said, "Well clearly you can talk. You just don't know what you are talking about!"

I'll spare sharing the photo where John inquired if Leif Garret knew I had stolen his hair . . . sigh.

Kay :)

Catch Up

Misc. Stuff . . .

Lost Aunt Jean last week. I was worried about telling Dad, wasn't even sure we should, but the only good thing about his dementia/Alzheimer's is that the sadness was fleeting. He was shocked at her passing. He said "She is the toughest one in the family!" We skipped the wake, thought two trips to Joliet so close together would be too much for him, and then headed to the church on Saturday for the funeral. For some reason the priest kept referring to Aunt Jean, whose given name was Phyllis Jean Schulke, but always went by Jean,  as "Mrs. Phyllis". I was sort of like . . .what the hell!? Dad whispered to me during the mass that "Mrs. Phyllis has lots of friends!" Indeed she did. We all had a shot of Canadian Club at the funeral dinner in Aunt Jean's honor, a tiny red-haired woman who could really cut a rug with Uncle Gus. She always brought a huge pan of delicious lasagna to the reunion. That pan of lasagna must have weighed nearly as much as Aunt Jean!  The reunion won't be the same. And she never forgot her Canadian Club! A great loving wife, mom, grandmother, sister, aunt, 3 great kids, beautiful grandchildren who spoke wonderfully and did readings at the mass. Sweet and sad all at once. Well done Aunt Jean and Uncle Gus! I think you yolo'ed very well. I wouldn't mind going out like that, with my family and friends sad, but laughing, drinking a beer, toasting my memory, having a shot, sharing memories. It was lovely. I think she would have been very pleased, especially when her son spoke at the end and we all had a shot in Mrs. Phyllis's memory. She would have gotten a kick out of that Mrs. Phyllis thing for sure. I don't like that it was a funeral, but it is always nice to see the fam.

Dad sort of surprised me at the mass. He wouldn't stop talking. Had I behaved like that as a kid he would have done that fake backhand motion to me! He made a comment about the sermon being long and, having previously informed me that his funeral would probably be next, changed his mind and decided that he looked pretty good. Sigh. And  he amused me by streaking up the aisle to communion incredibly quickly while we were debating who should walk behind him. He left us in the dust! And he did not whisper while he was talking nonstop! LOL He didn't recognize Uncle Jim and was shocked by his white hair. I asked him, "Dad, what color do you think your hair is now?" And of course he answered, "RED!", giving me that wow . . .  you really ask weird questions look!

I found a razzle dazzle red walker at the thrift store. We really didn't NEED it, but when I told John about it he said I must get it, because Dad's nickname used to be RED! So I did. Dad asked me how much I paid for that, could I afford it. I told him $6.99, and he said, "Wow! I'd guess something like that would go for at least $10!" 

Did you know that Dad used to be better at Wheel of Fortune than he is now? He even remembers when it used to be on the radio! LOL

Mom and Dad's 55th anniversary is this Sunday. I heard Mom tell Dad it was their 54th, and advised Mom she'd best check her math! John is coming home for a visit and lunch tomorrow. Dad always enjoys a visit from Brother Pat! LOL I walked in the other day at lunchtime, and Dad said "Norene is here!" It's all in the family folks!

Poor Midge and Finn! They went in for teeth cleaning this week. They came home and were Bobble Head cats. They were bobbing and weaving, trying to hold up their heavy heads, occasionally falling gently onto their sides, seemingly in slow motion. Midge was so out of it she let me hold her like a baby on my shoulder for a bit. Believe me, that does not happen! She even purred. Poor Kay. $500 poorer. But she loves her kitties! Sigh.


Kay :)