You Gotta Love Spring in Illinois

Where else can you get pelted by sleet on May 20th while picking a monster radish!  Good old Illinois! LOL

Delicious!

May Days

What has been happening? Lots of stuff really.

I took Mom and Joe over to Streator Unlimited's 50th Anniversary Party. John and his wonderful staff put on a terrific party, with an incredible spread of food. Kay had a beer too! John was hoping for 301 people (to break the attendance of 300 from the 25th anniversary party, and break it they did . . . well over 400 people attended! John was tickled pink and he should be, he and his staff and clients did a wonderful job planning and executing the party. It was a ton of work. Well done!

After the party we stopped at the Marseilles Greenhouse and picked up some tomatoes and peppers. It's fun to think of all the times we went to Marseilles to see Uncle Eddie and Aunt Dorothy and family, and went to that greenhouse to get plants. Way back to when we lived on the old farm on Route 6! We moved to town in '72, so we've been going there a long time.

Mom had some flowers she wanted to put on the Mallaney headstone at the Seneca Cemetery on the way home from Streator, for Mother's Day, but it was super hot that day, and we were tired. I had plans to go to John's house the following weekend, and I would be coming back home on Mother's Day, so I told her I'd go through Seneca and do it then. Well. I don't think she believed me.

Mom's flowers!

From the road, the bridal wreath is beautiful.

In all honesty the cemetery looked a little rough. The grass was super high. I thought, because it had rained, that it would be easy to dig a little hole for my flowers. Wrongo! My little trowel was totally ineffective. But I'm stubborn, and kept digging away, then I remembered I had a hammer in the car (don't ask, I don't know why!), and I took that trowel and hammered it into the ground and and made a hole. Because of my wonky knee and the hill, well, I just sat down while I worked. It wasn't until I got home that I thought of the picture that made to passersby. Oh dear. Had a good laugh over that. Big woman, sitting on hill at the cemetery, hammering away at something, I'm sure with the grass so high and my trowel being so small, people couldn't see it. I'm surprised the police didn't show up! LOL So live and learn. I must take more implements with me next time, like a rake and some clippers! I was definitely not prepared.

While I was sitting there on the hill, I thought of Dad of course. Dad and Mom and Joe used to go to the cemetery regularly, and even in his late 80s Dad would go up that hill from the road. I take the safer route, I walk over to the stairs and up and then go across, but Dad would just scale that hill! Incredible!  Well one day Joe informed me that Dad had fallen at the cemetery and that he wasn't going to let him go up to the headstone anymore. I asked what happened, Seems Dad made it up the hill, fine, as usual, and then he made it down, just fine, but it seemed he was going to show off a little (lol probably because Joe was all after him to be careful), and he tried to jump the ditch! Down he went. Bernie had awful short legs! I wish I had been there to see it! LOL  Dad never got hurt when he fell, thank goodness! LOL

A man called Mom back from the Seneca Cemetery, and Dad's ashes will be buried there, as will Mom's. Dad wanted mom to be with him.

Garden is looking pretty good. Enjoying radishes and had a lovely mixed mesculin salad today. Still have some seeds I want to get in. Irises and lilacs are lovely. Dang lawnmower is in the shop. The kitties are enjoying the high grass and their little house.

Super Midge ruling the roost.

Had a lovely cookout and bonfire out at Marilyn's club in Braidwood last night, and today my favorite 18 year old is graduating from Coal City, as co-salutatorian. His mom and I hauled him around for years to softball tournaments and league games with us. Clearly our intellectual conversations had some effect on him. So I have a celebration to go to later.

I'm tending to my friend's kitty while she is on vacation too. I thought Mom could use a little outing this a.m. so I took her with me. Chris lives over on the way to the area over by Coal City, so it's a very nice ride.  My friends kitty is a little shy. I almost got to pet him yesterday, but he changed his mind and took off down the hallway. I was hoping today he wouldn't be so shy, but I couldn't find him. My friend told me he likes to be under her bed, so off we go. He was under the bed. Mom (pretty spry for 77!) got down on the floor and had a talk with him and he let her pet his face, ears, under his chin, and he seemed very happy. She petted him for quite a while. She got up and I went to have my turn, and I got my fat ass down on the floor and lay down on my belly and reached out to pet him and that cat immediately went over the other side of the bed and peeked out, seemingly looking for mom! LOLOL  Oh well. I'll take the Cat Whisperer with me again I guess.

Have a good week all.

Kay :)

Kitchen

zo

I can't even remember to take my pop can and screwdriver off the table when I decide to take pics! LOL 

And I pick the worst time of day for lighting! The colors are much prettier than they look here. And there are weird little splotches everywhere. Mom is looking for a new kitchen table. This one was $5 at a garage sale.dad used to do puzzles on it. Mom wants one a little bigger than this, but smaller than the old one. Hopefully with yard sale season kicking in we'll find the perfect one.

Mom's new stove, no raz daz for mom. She doesn't like any extras, makes the stove harder to clean, no timers, windows, just the basics.

Yes that is a pantry cabinet!

Before and after. Ok. These are thrift store chairs that came with a table. They been hanging around a while, but have come in handy now. I picked up a $2 piece of fabric at the thrift down the street. Oops. Yes. The bird is upside down! LOL I felt very Trading Spaces with my swingline stapler. But I swear that material just had flowers on it when I started, no upside down bird! Amuses me. But the chairs look a lot better and will do just fine til we find a new (used) table and chairs.

New door!

Dang Kohl's clearance!

Cold Spring

Brrrrr. I went to John's this weekend. He messaged me Thursday night, told me to be prepared, that his house was the warmest it had been all day at 4:45 p.m., and it was 53 degrees! Yikes. I packed up my long underwear and other warm gear. But thanks to a cold, wet work day he spent at a donated house he is rehabbing for work, he got chilled to the bone, and the heat got turned on yesterday! Woo hoo, and the thermostat all the way up to 60!

John's kitties are gorgeous. They are still one-man cats though. They tolerate me. I think.

The sisters, Isis and Hera.

Aunt Carrie's Bon Bon Cake from an old Betty Crocker Cookbook I found at a thrift stores. Alas My fudge icing wouldn't whip up (what the hell is soft ball stage anyway? I guess what I remember from foods class is a little sketchy LOL), so I sliced it up and served the icing as a "sauce"! It was yummy. That white stuff tastes like the middle of a Suzy Q. And I must have hit the soft ball stage with that filling because it was perfect. The fudge icing, no. Maybe next time. Scratch cakes are the best. Wait til you see my 6 layer salted caramel birthday cake John is going to make for me! I'm not sure he knows about that yet. All sorts of razzle dazzle, thanks to Martha Stewart.

Midge, my dainty girl, snooping on one of the strays eating on front porch.

The kitchen is done, I have to get some pics. It's like night and day, so bright and cheery now.

Mom is doing well. She commented the other day that Dad had wanted one more summer and he didn't get it. We both know it wouldn't have been the kind of summer Dad would have wanted. I find myself thinking of him at the store, when I see a White Sox shirt, or in the candy aisle, or in the grocery when I see his favorites.

Streator Unlimited is having their 50th anniversary in a couple of weeks, and I'm taking Mom and Joe over to the celebration. A big to-do, should be fun. Quite the outing for mom and Joe. We'll have to stop and visit the girls too. Plus Mom and Joe can do some ciggies! Priorities!

I planted a few things, but Mother Nature is trying to freeze them! I picked up some Lantana at the nursery, and have had to bring it in a bunch of times.

This will be Midge's flower bed this year. Changing things around. 

Onions, radishes and lettuce. I'll be eating some organic (thanks Midge and Finn!) salads soon. Thanks to Midge I've planted the same onions 5 or 6 times . . . so far.

Had a fun afternoon off with Mar, looking for a new kitchen table. And gosh, those Tempur-Pedic beds are super cool! Take a Tuesday afternoon off, go to Wilmington to a furniture store, and you get the place pretty much to yourself! LOL We had a  yummy lunch too.

And last, but not least, my sweet Finn. I had Finn to the vet for an irritated ear, and he lost a pound! I'm glad someone in the family can lose weight. He is down to 18#! LOL He is feeling kind of frisky out in the yard sometimes, and he tackled my calf the other day, and nearly took me down!

Have a most pleasant week. Or. at the rate I've been posting on this blog, have a most pleasant month!

Kay :)

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I'm tired of this spring/winter weather!? So are my kitties.

I got a funny text from my friend Musito (name has been changed to protect the . . . hmmm the what?) the other day. We were chatting and, in closing she sent me this message:

8:57:08 AM  Okay I'm out of here I'll see you sometime later use your pet penis to your advantage today.

Then boom she was gone, leaving me to wonder (through my tear-filled belly laughter) what in the hell is she talking about!?  Well later when I caught up with her, she was referring to my comment earlier in conversation that I woke up peppy! LOL   So I was to take advantage of my peppiness! Whew!


Work in progress . . . dark paneling is gone! Woo hoo. This color might be the polar opposite of dark paneling! LOL 

Yukon Gold . .  also my favorite tater!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy St. Pats!

Missing Dad today. He loved St. Patrick's Day. He had a lot of Irish t-shirts, and always got a good buzz on at the bar to celebrate his Irish heritage! LOL

Dad's recliner is gone. Before it went to the curb we flipped it over and did some investigating . . . $7 and the long-lost remote control! We had a good giggle over that.

Mom is getting the kitchen redone. Dad was always against it, he thought it was a great kitchen! It needs it badly. But right now it is a disaster. Photos from Day 2 of demo:

All the walls look pretty much like this . . . or worse!

A couple of interesting finds . . .

Newspapers in the walls (insulation?), this one from February 28, 1892, and a phone book from 1972, the year Mom and Dad bought the house.

What a mess! Plumbing needs repair too. It will be good when it is done!

Kay :)

March

Mom and I had a good trip to Social Security on Tuesday. Well, there was one memory lapse and one fall. But for us, that is a good trip! LOL  Our appointment was at 11:00, we got in a little early, and I checked the clock when we got back in the car, 11:10. Very good. Mom forgot her social security number (we are not good under pressure!) when we went to sign in, but she found it in her purse and we got things rolling along after that.

Mom picked the lunch spot, Portillo’s (yum!) and when we got there mom stayed outside to have her ciggy and I went in and got lunch. Found mom at a table, dealt out the burgers and drinks and such, started eating, and noticed some blood on mom’s hands. After some questioning mom admitted that she had fallen outside, she didn’t know what happened, she somehow fell against the building. She said was very close to the building. I asked her if anybody saw her, helped her . . . ? She said a man came over, but by that time she was already up. Pretty snazzy for 77. The getting up part, not the falling part. And the fall did not hurt Mom’s appetite, so all was well.

After lunch we headed over to visit Aunt Kay. We pulled in the driveway. Before mom stopped driving out of town she would drive Dad to his doctor’s appointments at the VA and they would always stop and visit Aunt Jean and Aunt Kay on the way home. Well I headed for the front door, but Mom told me they always used the garage door. Okey dokey. Mom kind of knocked on outside garage door, and went right on in to the garage . . . up to the back screen door going into the house (the whole visit gave me great memories of fun graduation parties at this home, with terrific food and awesome polish sausage, yum), reached up . . . and pushed the garage door opener. We had arrived! LOL  I had the giggles. So did Aunt Kay. LOL  We had a nice visit, Aunt Kay, Uncle Lee, and then Cousin Mike showed up for some coffee. A pleasant time had by all, and we loved seeing Aunt’s Kay’s beautiful kitchen remodel . . . oh that pantry!  I almost clipped the mailbox backing out of the driveway, but whew, missed it! That would have been embarrassing.

Aunt Kay says she falls all the time too. Like Mom, she doesn’t get hurt! Whew!

Later I caught Mom looking in the mirror, she had a nice bump and bruise coming out on the side of her forehead too! Yikes. I said that I still couldn’t quite figure out how she fell . . . and all she said was, “I’m lucky I didn’t break my glasses!” Amen to that . . . or anything else!

My next day off is for a colonoscopy! I’m going to make sure the one after that is for something super fun! LOL

One more thing . . . how come if you buy one orange it is the best orange you have ever eaten, and if you buy a whole bag, they are awful?

I wrote that earlier in the week, now on Sunday . . .

Mom has a horrible bruise on her head, black yellowish, ouch! She said it never did hurt unless she touched it. I asked her if she didn’t notice all the color in the mirror and she said “I try to avoid looking in the mirror.” LOL  I hear you Mom! Last time I looked in the mirror while sort of bent over the sink, brushing my teeth, wow, gave me quite a fright!

Anyway pork shoulder .99 a pound a Jewel, I got one and cooked it off and bagged it up and I have bags and bags of it in the freezer. That is a good thing. Today was Runza II. It was delicious. I made a dijony-horseradishy pork jus to go with (has someone been watching too much Top Chef?), and served it with How Long Have These Been in the Freezer Perogies!? It was delicious. And I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, a real treat, as I have a clear liquid diet to look forward to on Tuesday for my routine colonoscopy on Wednesday. Blech.

Could use some color, but my runza was delicious; cabbage, pork and cheese baked in bread dough. A Midwest classic (according to the internet), that I didn't know about til my friend's niece spent some time in Nebraska!

Nice snowy Sunday to lay around. Ewww and maybe knock down some cobwebs . . . it's bright today!

March already. Mom and Dad’s anniversary on the 9th.  56 years.

Kay :)