Goin' Bowling

LET IT SNOW

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:48:00 +0000

It has been trying to snow here the past day or so, but to no avail. We get snow sometimes, but it usually melts off by the next day. I've been talking to my kids and grandkids about living in an area that got lots of snow in the wintertime when I was a kid. We lived in Omaha, Nebraska until I was about 14. I remember one winter it had not only snowed, but I guess the snow had changed to rain or sleet and we had a thick coating of ice all over. School must have been delayed an hour or so, because we were already up and dressed and waiting anxiously to hear if they were going to cancel school for the day. Someone rang our doorbell and told us they had heard that school was cancelled and some of the neighborhood kids were across the street at Johnny and Eddie's house ice skating in their driveway! Their side of the street was in the shade, so they had gotten more ice than our driveway. I hurriedly got dressed and grabbed my skates. While we were skating Mom yelled out to us that school had indeed been cancelled. We had so much fun ice skating in their driveway that morning.
Getting ready to go outside to play in the snow was quite an ordeal. But if you were smart, you took your time and did it right and then you could stay outdoors longer because you would be warmer. Well, you could at least stay outside as long as your bladder could hold out. :0) I can remember putting on tights, then knee socks over that. Then if we were going ice skating, maybe even another short pair of socks over that. Then pants, and if you were lucky you had snow pants. If not, then maybe even another pair of pants. Then 2 shirts, a sweater and then your coat. Don't forget a hat or wool scarf for your head and 2 pair of gloves - one to put on and one to put in your pocket for when your gloves got wet from the snow - unless you had waterproof gloves. You might even tie a scarf around your neck. By this time of course, you were sweating profusely and couldn't wait to get outside. You were also walking a little stiffly.
I loved to play outside in the snow! I remember many times making snow forts for snowball fights. You could either use an old cardboard box and pack snow in it to make snow bricks, which could then be used to make the fort, or you could find a nice snow drift and hollow out a snow cave. The snow brick fort seemed to be more stable to hide behind when a snowball fight was going on. I remember we used to tell our opponents that they had to "fight fair" and not put rocks in the snowballs, or dip the snowballs in water and set aside until they hardened and then put more snow on the outside to hide the "iceball". If you got hit in the head with one of those it really hurt! After we got our fort built, then we would proceed to make a big pile of snowballs for our "ammo supply". I think it was more fun preparing for a snowball fight than actually having the fight. :0)
Sledding was also great fun. At the bottom of our dead-end street was a big hill. On top of the hill was the Junior High School. The 2 hills by the football field were perfect sledding hills. Kids would bring sleds, toboggans, snow saucers, cardboard boxes, garbage can lids, pieces of metal - literally anything that they thought would slide down the hill on the snow. You couldn't just slide down anywhere. You had to slide down the few paths that others had already started. Those were the slickest. If you tried to just start a new path, your sled or saucer wouldn't slide down as fast. So there were 3 or 4 paths that everyone used. This meant waiting in line on days when there were lots of kids there, but that was okay. It took several minutes just to pull your sled back up the long hill. We didn't have to worry about trees or bushes or anything in the way, because the hill was completely clear, and at the bottom was the football field. If the path was good and slick and you got a pretty good cast off at the top, you could not only slide all the way down the hill, but pretty far out onto the football field before your sled stopped. Everyone always watched to see who could go the farthest out onto the football field. That was a good ride!
Ice skating was also my one of my favorite winter pasttimes. But we only got to ice skate on Johnny and Eddie's driveway that one year and the rest of the time we had to go down to Fontnelle Park. I used to be so envious of the really good ice skaters. You would see them down there skating backwards and forwards and doing axels, etc. I remember one time Mom had dropped Inklings and I off at the skating rink. I don't know how long we were there, but I remember when she came to pick us up, we walked over to the edge of the rink and sat down on the park bench to take our skates off. When we went to stand up to walk to the car we couldn't walk. At least I couldn't. I had skated too long and my ankles were so weak they wouldn't support me. I remember crawling on my hands and knees to the car. So humiliating. :0+ I can also remember Inklings and I going up to the lodge to have steaming hot cocoa to warm us up. Mmmmmm! I remember one time we were skating and I noticed sawhorses on the ice. They had sort of a skating "lifeguard" who skated around watching out for people. He was skating by the saw horse asnd telling people not to skate over there because the ice was thin. I looked down at the ice and saw that the ice where I was actually had water on top. Needless to say, I skated away till I found firmer ice!
I loved to walk to school whether it was snowing, raining, or sunny. I had snow boots that were fur-lined and my mom had made me a "shoe bag" to put my school shoes in. I would carry the shoe bag and change my shoes after I got to school. Sometimes I wouldn't wear my snowboots, because I knew that the sidewalks had been shoveled the day before. I would walk down to the dead-end and through a short part of grass till I got to the sidewalk. There was a loooong sidewalk that went from the dead-end all the way to the top of the hill where the Junior High was. I would walk around on the sidewalks and go another block to the Elementary school. Sometimes I would be running late and didn't want to walk all the way around the sidewalks, so I would think that I could "cut" across the lawns. Only in the wintertime the lawns had snow on them. But if the snow had been there several days and it had been cold, I could walk carefully across on the top of the snow in my school shoes and would not even break the snow. But then every once in awhile I would either find a softer patch or I would step too hard and down would go my foot into a foot or two of snow. Then I would have to climb up and get back on top of the snow. Sometimes I knew I had made the wrong choice because after getting towards the middle a ways, the snow would be too soft so then I would just run fast through the snow vowing to walk on the sidewalk the next time. Sometimes the sidewalk down the hill to the dead-end wouldn't be shovelled. It would be so slick with ice and snow that I would have to actually walk beside the sidewalk in the snow that wasn't so slick.
Sometimes I miss the snow. But then I remember the times that I stayed outside way too long and would come in half-frozen. I would have big welts on my face, legs, arms and butt. They would hurt and itch as I thawed out. Then I think that maybe I have the best of both worlds. It doesn't snow here that much, but I can look up at the mountain and see it coverend in snow many times through the winter. Snow is just really nice to look at...from a distance. :0)

THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:46:00 +0000

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:56:00 +0000

DALLAS COWBOY PAJAMA PANTS (only they look a little different than these)

RECORDABLE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS BOOK (records your voice reading it)

HARRY POTTER 3 SOUNDTRACK CD

WII FIT PLUS GAME

UP DVD

PERSUASION DVD

IPOD CLASSIC

180'S EARMUFFS WITH IPOD CONNECTION

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR IPOD

I also got a special poem written all about me by my granddaughter - and framed in a beautiful frame, and several more DVDS as presents for me and my husband together.

EDWARD OR JACOB?

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:47:00 +0000

I went to see NEW MOON with my daughter and granddaughter last night. Today my granddaughter came over and showed me this video on YouTube. I thought it was pretty funny so here it is:

MORE SNOWMEN

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:44:00 +0000

SNOWMEN

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:07:00 +0000

LOST & FOUND

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:35:00 +0000

I lost my purse today. I took a lady to lunch today that I had worked with when I was RS president. We went to Applebees and when we left the resturaunt I was thinking to myself that I would put my purse on the armrest on top of the kleenex box in my jeep instead of under my feet (like I had done on the way there.) After I dropped her off at her apartment, I started to drive away and noticed that the kleenex box was sliding around so I picked it up off of the armrest and threw it on the passenger seat. Then it hit me - WHERE WAS MY PURSE? I quickly looked around and didn't find it, so did a u-turn and went back to her apartment. I asked her if she had mistakenly picked up my purse as she got out of the car, but she insisted that she hadn't. I drove back to the resturaunt and asked them if they had seen it. They hadn't. I drove back to her apartment, and she was gone. I went home for awhile and called my husband (who is still in Ireland). About an hour later, I went back to her apartment again. She was still gone. I waited for about 30 minutes until she got back, then asked her if I could come in and look around her apartment, just in case. I sort of felt bad doing this, but she is almost 80 and a "little" eccentric (a little?). :0) It wasn't there. She also told me that when she left, SHE had gone back to Applebees. I cringed to hear this, because she has no qualms about yelling at people. :0+ (eccentric?) I left and went back to Applebees and asked them if I could leave my name and phone number. I also went to check their bathroom and my waiter went to check the men's room (just in case someone had picked it up to steal it and went to the bathroom to empty out what they wanted). It wasn't in either place. Then I went out to my car, totally depressed. As I went to get in my jeep, I leaned over and peered in the side back window - - and saw A BLACK STRAP AND A GOLD BUCKLE! I immediately opened the back of the jeep, and folded the back seat out (to put it back up), then went to the front seat and scooted the driver's seat forward so I could reach in the back seat - AND PULL OUT MY PURSE!!! I couldn't believe it! It had obviously fallen between the front and back seat. I didn't think it could even fit back there, because the back seat had been folded up and was smack up against the front seats. But obviously it could! You don't know how relieved I was! I came home and called my husband back and cried for 20 minutes to him. :0) The whole time I had thought that I didn't care about anything else in my purse, if I could just get back my passport, my Irish registration card, and my Temple recommend. :0) Now I have to ask myself - who's more eccentric - me or my friend?

I GUESS THE 80'S REALLY WERE THAT BAD

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:53:00 +0000

My 12 year old granddaughter shared this with me:

She and her 5 year old sister were riding in the car with their mom. An "oldies" song came on the radio.

5 year old to 12 year old: "Be careful, this one's from the 80's"

FLOWER OF THE WILDWOOD

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:42:00 +0000

My husband used to play his guitar and sing this to me when we were dating. :0) This guy doesn't sing it exactly the same, but it's close.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:05:00 +0000

After traveling for almost 24 hours - including an 8 hour layover in Atlanta (delayed 4 of those hours by weather) it's good to be home!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK ALOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

THANK GOODNESS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:57:00 +0000

Ok, now that my "serious" gratitude list has been written, here is my "not so serious" gratitude list. Here are some things I say, "Thank goodness" for:

1) A comfortable king-size bed with a down comforter - Since I first discovered down comforters (and actually mine is down-alternative), I will never be without one. A comfortable, roomy bed makes all the difference in the world for a good-nights sleep.

2) Chocolate - I like dark chocolate the best, but I love it all - milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate, with nuts or without, and even the creamy centers!

3) Harry Potter CDs - both the books on CD and the movie soundtracks - It may sound juvenile to you, but these are my "stress-relievers". I listen to one or the other every day.

4) A sense of humor - both mine and in anyone else. We need a little humor in this world.

5) The Internet - email, blogging, sending IM's, family chat, online shopping, Google (I've decided that you can google ANYTHING).

6) IPods - Haven't got one yet, but I'm getting one for Christmas - Portable music and audio books to carry wherever you go.

7) Ice - I have learned to appreciate this more living in a country who doesn't believe in serving it in your drinks. :0)

8) US Airport Security - You can say all you want, they're a little more lax in other countries, which is a little scary!

9) Jackets - probably my most favorite article of clothing. You can't have too many.
I wish I could wear them year round.

10) Books - I probably read a book a week, unless it's really thick. I read everyday for an hour while I eat my lunch.

GRATITUDE

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the States. I went out to lunch with 3 friends and we talked about it a bit. Mostly worrying about our kids and hoping they all had a place to go for dinner. One of my friends found out one of her boys didn't have anywhere to go and she was a little upset that he would be spending Thanksgiving alone. We both shed a shared tear over it. :0) We are having 11 people over for a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night. We had to do it Saturday since the guys had to work Thursday and the kids had school. We have to do it Saturday night because the teenagers (4) have sports during the day. So since it hasn't been Thanksgiving for us yet, I have been thinking about gratitude and so I've decided to post 10 things that I am thankful for:

1) My husband - we will have been married for 40 years in June. Even though I miss my family terribly I have been grateful to be able to be here in Ireland where we really don't do much during the week except just be with each other. It has brought a sweet peaceful tender feeling to our relationship. I'm glad that I can spend more time with him here than I would have if we had stayed in the States and I'm happy to find out that we do enjoy being around each other even more.
2) My Children - I'm thankful to have such loving, caring children who are trying to be responsible adults. I'm grateful for the person that they have become and who they are striving to be. I am thankful that they are loving parents to their own children. I'm extremely grateful for the fact that all but one of them have lived close by me after they were married. I don't know how long they will be able to do that, but I know that if they were to move away I would miss them terribly, just like I miss our oldest who is not able to live by us. I miss them so much and will be so glad when we can finally come home.
3) My Grandchildren - I'm thankful that I can have fun with my grandchildren. I'm so happy that they live close by (we won't be in Ireland forever) and that they love to come and visit us. I'm thankful that they are such good children and that they are healthy. I'm so thankful for the love that they show to me. I also miss them so very much.
4) Our Parents - I'm grateful for honest, loving parents who raised me in the gospel. I'm thankful for all their care and advice to me and for raising me to be who I am. I'm grateful for a mother-in-law who I love to sit and talk to and who loves her son so deeply. I'm grateful that the Lord has allowed all of our parents to live as long as they have.
5) The Gospel of Jesus Christ - and the fact that Christ died for us so that we have the opportunity to repent of our sins and be resurrected. I'm thankful that we have a living prophet who leads and guides our church. I'm thankful for the saving ordinances that allow us the opportunity to live with Him again. I'm thankful for a church that involves it's members and for all the knowlege and talents I have gained by serving in the church.
6) Friends - I'm grateful for the friends I have at home and who I miss. I think of lots of people and it's funny that sometimes I will see someone on the street here or in a store that reminds me of someone I know. I think of that moment as a "tender mercy" that the Lord has given me to help me rememember the friendships I have. I am grateful for the friends I have here in Ireland who help me make it through the weeks here.
7) My Health - I'm thankful for my health and especially for my 3 yr old knees. I'm so thankful that I can walk again without pain and don't have to act like an 80 year old person anymore. I'm thankful for a doctor listened to me and did the operation even though he originally wanted me to wait 5 more years.
8) My Country, the Good Old USA - I'm so grateful to have a country that is so abundant in everything. You never realize how much more we have in the US until you go to another country. I'm thankful for the big wide streets, the wonderful freeways that make it so easy to travel around the US. I'm thankful for the grocery stores with their many, many choices and different brands. I'm thankful for the cleaning supplies, believe it or not. :0) I''m thankful for the different scenery the US offers - deserts, mountains, plains, hills and valleys.
9) My Home - I'm so thankful for my home, my house and my yard. I love the view out of my back patio. I'm thankful for being able to have such a wonderful home and for the fun that my husband and I have had in remodeling it.
10) I'm thankful for me and who I am. I'm thankful for all the influences in my life - husband,parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, enemies, the gospel, teachers, trials, successes, failures, and talents. I'm thankful for who've I've become, and even though I know that I'm not perfect, I'm thankful that I can still strive to be a better person.

QUESTION

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:32:00 +0000

I found something out lately. Even though I am a follower of several blogs, my "following" doesn't seem to be working correctly. I was looking at the list of peoples blogs I follow and wondered why this person or that person hadn't blogged in awhile. I decided to click on their blogs and saw that they indeed HAD blogged. Why didn't it show up on my dashboard in my "following section"? It made me realize that maybe for people who don't blog that often it may not work. As soon as I clicked on their blogs, then went back to my dashboard, their posts (in some cases there were multiple posts) magically appeared in my following section. Weird. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do about this?

NEITHER COLD NOR RAIN NOR GALE FORCE WINDS....

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Today was my weekly lunch with some of the other US wives that are here. We meet every Thursday. We really can't go out of town for lunch, because one lady has kids in 3 schools here, so we always just eat in our town. Today we went to the Bagel Shop. This town has very little parking, and even at those places you usually have to walk a couple blocks or more to get to the restaurant, so I usually just walk from my house. Yesterday we started having terrible weather. It has rained practically non-stop and the wind has blown just about as hard as it can. I heard the rain beating on my sky-light all night long and I don't think the wind ever stopped blowing. Since I knew it would be useless to carry an umbrella, I just put on my trusty raincoat (wishing that I had ordered the longer one from Travel Smith). I have this really cool rain scarf. Well at least it looks like it would be really cool, and it would be but not if the wind is blowing. If the wind blows, it catches the front and blows it back off of your head. So that was out. I have another rain scarf that snaps under my chin. You know those ones that fold into a tiny packet and fit in your purse. Like your grandma used to carry? But it looks plastered to my head and my husband hates it. I vascillated between that one and just the hood of my raincoat and finally went with the latter. I had to take my glasses off because it does no good to wear them in the rain. (Where's Hermione when you need her?) So off I went to walk the 4 blocks to the Bagel Shop. I was not prepared for the gale force winds! Holy Cow! At times I even had to hold onto the front of my hood, but I could see other people doing the same. Some silly people had brought umbrellas. I just stepped around them as they stopped to try to turn their umbrellas back right-side out. I could hear people complaining about the weather, but secretly I thought it was great fun! I must either have a sick sense of humor or be incredibly bored (Or both). :0) In fact, I thought it was such fun that after my 2 hour lunch, I decided to walk another block to the mall! Neither the rain nor the winds ever let up. My husband told me that he heard that Ireland has had a record for rainfall this year.

DAMNED IF I DO, DAMNED IF I DON'T

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:55:00 +0000

I've been trying to walk more lately. Not only to lose a few pounds, but mostly to just get my heart healthier and build up my stamina more. Now I've developed a bone spur on my heel. I've had these before. One time I went to the doctor about it. He said you can do surgery but it will just come right back, so it's better to figure out what is causing it and fix the problem. Back then I quit wearing high heels and started buying sturdier shoes and it worked. Ok, so I already have sturdy and quite comfortable shoes, so now what? I bought a pair of gel shoe inserts for my tennis shoes and a couple of different heel cushions for some other shoes. Nothing. I stopped walking. Nothing. So now I said to heck with it and have started walking again. I guess I'll do it until I can hardly walk across the floor. Wait, I'm to that point now unless I put my shoes on. Oh well, too bad. But if I stop walking then I'll just gain weight and I'm 100% sure that won't help at all. So I'll just keep walking and trying to lose weight. I know I've posted these cartoons before, but I just think they are funny!

GOOD MORNING MR. ZIP ZIP ZIP

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Here's another song my mom used to sing to us, only when she sang it to us girls, it was "Mrs Zip Zip Zip. She only sang the first line though and then would improvise with a second line of "What makes you wake so soon?" I think she intertwined this song and the nursery rhyme "A Dillar, A Dollar, A Ten O'clock Scholar". I found several versions of this song, but this is the version that the sheet music is written in. YouTube had a third version of this also. I decided to post this video of the Lawrence Welk Show because he just mostly sings the chorus. I can remember watching the Lawrence Welk Show every week. I think my parents liked it, so us kids just watched it too. I posted the words to the sheet music version below the video.

We come from ev'ry quarter,
From North, South, East and West,
To clear the way to freedom
For the land we love the best.
We've left our occupations
and home, so far and dear,
But when the going's rather rough,
We raise this song in cheer:

[chorus: repeat twice]
Good morning, Mister Zip-Zip-Zip,
With your hair cut just as short as mine,
Good morning, Mister Zip-Zip-Zip,
You're surely looking fine!
Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust,
If the Camels don't get you,
The Fatimas must,
Good morning, Mister Zip-Zip-Zip,
With your hair cut just as short as,
your hair cut just as short as,
your hair cut just as short as mine.

You see them on the highway,
You meet them down the pike,
In olive drab and khaki
Are soldiers on the hike;
And as the column passes,
The word goes down the line,
Good morning, Mister Zip-Zip-Zip,
You're surely looking fine.

[repeat chorus twice]

The reference to "Camels" and "Fatimas" (fa-tee'-mas) are references to popular brands cigarettes of the time.

PUT YOUR SHOES ON LUCY

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:59:00 +0000

My mom used to sing this song to me starting when I was a little girl, all the way up into my teens, because I used to go barefoot all the time. As I was driving to church today, I heard this exact recording on the radio. I have never heard the entire song. Mom sang to us all the time, but only snippets of songs, never the whole thing. Anyway, it's got some cute lyrics in it, so I posted the lyrics below the video. He doesn't sing the first part in this recording, but I included them in the lyrics below anyway.

Put Your Shoes On Lucy
Got an invitation to visit Manhattan
With my highfalutin' kin
Sent off to the catalog to get some clothes
Felt so stylish from my head to my toes

Seen all the sights and I even did some flirtin'
I was doin' alright till my feet started hurtin'
So I kicked off my shoes when I thought they couldn't see
But they must have, 'cos this is what they all said to me

Put your shoes on, Lucy, don't you know you're in the city
Put your shoes on, Lucy, it's really such a pity
That Lucy can't go barefoot wherever she goes
'Cause she loves to feel the wiggle of her toes

Put your shoes on Lucy 'cause you're here in old New York
You'll get by alrighty if you let 'em hear you talk
All the city slickers love that southern drawl
So give 'em that "Honey chile" and "Hi, y'all"

Lucy, let the good things happen
Lucy, won't you stop that gapin'
How you act will be the death of me
Don't they have skyscrapers down in Tennessee

Put your shoes on, Lucy, even though they kinda pinch
Stop baulkin', you gotta do some walkin', it's a cinch
Use your party manners, you'll need them and how
Put your shoes on Lucy, you're a big girl now

IS THAT ALL THERE IS?

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:37:00 +0000

For some reason, this song popped into my head today. No, I'm not feeling down or depressed. This is an old song and Peggy Lee did it years and years ago. The Youtube videos of her doing it weren't very good, so I found Bette Midler singing it. I couldn't remember the verses, only the chorus. As I listened to Bette singing, I felt sorry for people who don't have the Gospel in their life. Maybe they are disappointed that "that is all there is" to life. I also felt very thankful for the Gospel in my life. I am thankful that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and that He died for us so that we could repent and live again after this life. I am thankful that this life is NOT all there is. And I am so very thankful that I will be with my husband and my family in the next life. Listen to Bette's song. How does it make you feel?

POSSESSIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:45:00 +0000

When we moved to Ireland a year ago, we took very little with us. Mostly clothes, a few dishes, fewer books and possessions. Now that I have lived without most of my possessions for that long, I realize how really unimportant they really are. I think the biggest thing (of possessions) that I have missed here is my piano. In fact, I have missed my piano so much, that I wish I had a baby grand piano instead of my upright one. So see, I really haven't missed MY piano, just pianos in general. I have realized that the most important things are family and friends. I have the Gospel here, so I don't miss that, although I do miss being in a place where the gospel is stronger.
Realizing that I don't miss my possessions makes me wonder - when I go back home to visit - why do I have so much stuff? It makes me want to go through my closets and throw stuff out, which is probably what I will do when I get home. I have this disorder (for lack of a better word) that I think I must have inherited from my mother or my grandmother. I keep "stuff" around because I think I or someone else might need it. I get a lot of pleasure by being able to give someone something I don't need, that they do need.
I have a storage closet that I love! It used to actually be a sauna, but when we bought this house, we ripped it out. I loved the cedar boards on the walls and BEGGED my husband to keep them. He couldn't understand why I wanted to. He told me he would put "nice" sheetrock up and then I could paint it. I liked the cedar boards and for once could not win this argument with my husband. I don't know if I just got tired and gave up, or what, because I really did like those boards. And besides, you can hardly see the walls, because I put up 3 huge metal shelf units in there. I'm talking the heavy duty kind that will hold 300 pounds on each shelf. They have a white coating on them and I think they look nice, and there is 3 shelves on each unit. Originally I thought I would use it for food storage, with maybe one shelf for crafts. I think right now it is about 2/3 crafts and 1/3 food storage - because I have too much stuff. Then my "grandma/mom" side kicks in and says that I NEED all that "stuff" for when the "famine" comes. (A great saying of my mom's.) I know that my craft "stuff" is not food, but after the holocaust or natural disaster, I will still be able to make crafty stuff and my hovel will look so nicely decorated throughout whatever season we are having!

MORE AGNES :0)

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Click on comic strip to make it bigger.

AGNES

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Agnes is my favorite comic strip. I used to read the comics everyday while I ate breakfast, but then I decided to read my scriptures then instead. A worthy cause, and I have not regretted it, but I have really missed reading Agnes. Recently Amber posted an Agnes cartoon on her blog, and that reminded me that I can go online to read Agnes. Yay! So today I went there and when I saw this Agnes strip, it really cracked me up. If you will click on the strip, it will open bigger where you can read it:

FED UP

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:23:00 +0000

The people who live next door to me here in Ireland smoke. At least someone in their family does. It is a man and his wife and they have 2 small children and 2 teenage boys. I guess they don't allow smoking in their house, because they smoke between our houses (on their side of our 6 foot concrete block wall)and then they throw their cigarette butts into my yard. They land around my walkway where I walk to take the trashcan in and out of the backyard. They also land around my front door (this all depending on where they are when they are smoking). For a loooong time I picked them up and threw them away in my trashcan. But as fast as I picked them up, they threw more over. So now I have had it. I thought of several things I could do: 1)Pick them up and take them over to them and complain to them, 2)Complain to my landlord and let him go over, 3)Turn the other cheek and continue to just pick them up and throw them away, 4)Leave them on the ground. I have chosen not to do any of these things and instead have come up with a 5th option: Now I pick them up and throw them back over the fence. I know that is not nice of me. I know I should turn the other cheek. But too bad. I can't believe someone would think that they could just keep throwing stuff over the fence and it will magically disappear. Today I found some new things thrown over the fence. I'll tell you what it is and you tell me what it sounds like: An empty water bottle, a rather large (like 6-8") rubber band, a bottle of cleaner that said it was for "piercings". Should I have thrown those back over the fence too? I didn't. This time.

MY FAVORITE HALLOWEEN MOVIE

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:12:00 +0000

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

noreply@blogger.com (Nene) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:47:00 +0000