4:00 AM

I can't sleep again. Big surprise. I finished the computer today and it will be picked up tomorrow. We had jambalaya for supper, I used the fresh thyme that I received yesterday. I'll post the recipe if anyone is interested, just let me know.

Owen and I watched "Nim's Island" together. It was better than I expected. Then we pulled out a DVD of Fraggle Rock and watched a few episodes. Goodness, how I loved that show when I was Owen's age.

I am going to make a peach tart tomorrow. It's actually a recipe from my Paula Deen cookbook. I've never tried it before buy since I love anything peach, I'm sure it will be fine.

I'm currently reading a Nicholas Sparks book. I have all of his books but haven't read them all. I have his newest one and will probably start on that one next.

I listened to my Time Life oldies collection while I was cooking today. It's sad how much music has changed. Now most of the lyrics are so vulgar and horrible. I do still listen to country music (current) and a few contemporary folk singers etc. I suppose it is the rap I am referring to and also I am amazed at what gets Top 40 radio play today. Some pretty racy stuff.

Owen did his bible reading this evening. He was reading from his NIV and then he read the same in his KJV. I am strictly KJV and I know the criticism that surrounds the NIV, but I still allow Owen to read it as an accompaniment to his KJV and it has helped him greatly.

Since it is so late, or early, I am going to go ahead and try to sleep. Goodnight.

Feeling Yukky

Howdy. It's 10:09 PM here and we're watching the All Star game. The score is 1-0 NL. Matt Holiday hit a homer. I am feeling not so good. We ate at Subway and I had a salad and soon afterward I started feeling less than fine. Stomach is cramping and feel like I may hurl. I didn't do much today. Washed the bed clothes and cleaned the kitchen. The UPS came but I didn't feel like working on the computer. I will tackle that tomorrow.

Owen finished a paint by number he had been working on and I think it turned out really well. I'm going to try and post a pic here in a second. I'm on the laptop tonight.

I talked to my dear friend in Illinois and he was pretty emotional over the All Star game ceremonies and Yankee Stadium being torn down. We talked for a while and then I let him go watch the game.

Freda (an older lady who is a long time family friend) stopped by this evening and brought me lots of thyme and sage and parsley from her herb garden. It smelled so wonderful. I am drying some and freezing some. She also brought me 4 strings of dried green beans that she had strung. I think the technical term for them is fodder beans, but everyone here calls them "leatherbritches". I wonder if anyone reading has ever heard of that. Heh.

Well, I suppose that is most of my day. There were a few other little things I didn't mention like: Owen road to the dump with his Pa, he wrecked 2x on his bike and broke his chain guard off (it's a Mongoose and we've had nothing but trouble out of it), a young man here who I have known for many years was found dead in his home and they are unsure what happened, he was 32. Owen found a large snake skin in the yard and brought it inside to show me (joy), and I received my Doubleday book club feature selections postcard in the mail but when I go to their website it will not let me decline them. I hope I don't forget about it before August 11 because I certainly don't want Danielle Steel's "Rogue" sent to me! I may post more later if I feel any better.
PS: The All Star game score is now 2-0 NL, was a sac fly. Grrrrrrrr!!

Early Tuesday

I'm up early. I didn't get to sleep until around 3:30 AM, so I'm still a bit tired. It's 6:15 AM now. Owen is going to go and help his Pa prepare his deck for staining or sealing or some such thing. He is going to be using a palm sander. He gets paid a little and he enjoys work like that. We laid out his working outfit last night along with eye protection. You can't be too careful.

I am going to write a bit while he is doing that and I have UPS coming today with the computer parts I ordered. I will work on the computer and hope to get it finished and ready for pick up this evening.

I'm not cooking today. I think we'll go and grab something at Subway. I like their salads and Owen loves the pizza sub. We don't have many places to eat here in town. Subway is probably the place we eat at the most. We also have a DQ but we don't like any of their hot food. We do occasionally have a blizzard or other ice cream there. We tried the Girl Scout mint cookie blizzard last week and we didn't like it so much.

I finished the scarf for Nan. It turned out really well, I was pleased. I added fringe and it really made a difference. I tried to take pics to post but I am not good at taking pics of scarfs. I will have to figure that out. I started on a beanie now. I'm using a wool blend that is sort of watercolors. I hope it turns out well. Knitting is such fun, I am addicted.

We watched the Home Run Derby last night. Josh Hamilton did well in the 1st round with 28 homers but couldn't win it in the 3rd round. Even though he didn't win the entire thing, they were still calling it his night. They went on and on with lots of cheesy announcing about his having been on drugs. I had never heard of the guy until the last few days when they were talking about expecting him to do well in the derby. The All Star game is on tonight. I am, of course, rooting for the AL to win. I am sure they will, I think they have a much better field.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. I'll post more tonight after the All-Star game, or I may hook up the laptop and post while we're watching it. I really need to make a post telling you a little about my life etc. That will be next on my things to do...blog about the last 32 years of my life..well, more of less, just so those of you who read will know a bit more about me. Until then.......

Can't Sleep

It's 3:03 AM and I am wide awake. I've not been sleeping very well lately. Owen has of course been sleeping for a while. He took his medicines and after a nice shower went right to sleep. He has asthma and takes Singular and other meds daily.

I'm just browsing the internet. I have been using the Mozilla Firefox browser, but since the release of Firefox 3 I have encountered a few bugs that have irritated me a bit so I decided to download Opera just to play around with it a bit (mostly due to insomnia and boredom), and I found that I actually like it. I am still using Firefox as my default, but Opera isn't half bad and it is actually faster for me.

I've been reading random articles on Wikipedia, watched some Australian TV, read lots of baseball history and watched a few episodes of Tom & Jerry on Boomerang. I even went and signed up for a trial of XM and Sirius radio, just to try them both out and see which one I thought was better. A friend of mine from Illinois has been debating on which one to get and I thought I'd check into them both. I found that I much prefer just having my own music and playing what I want when I want. I'm so spoiled with mp3 players and the like that even the all 80s stations nor the all 90s stations nor the Elvis station seemed to make me smile. I am musically jaded. :)

I discovered that I have some horizontal lines running across both of my big toenails and this has caused me some alarm. I read that it could be caused because of a serious illness! Maybe I am a bit of a hypochondriac. It's been said before. Of course, reading about every illness known to man on the internet probably doesn't help any.


I thought about putting in one of my DVDs of TV shows but none of them seemed too appealing. I considered "Leave It To Beaver" and "Green Acres". I watched one episode of "Green Acres" (the one about Molly Turgiss's ghost) and turned it off.

I feel like I am not being very productive and I think that is why I am not sleeping. I want to do something, something that matters. Not just to me but to those around me, something they can benefit from.

Oh well, on to other things, the Home Run Derby is tomorrow and Owen is excited about watching it. He was a little disappointed because Arod isn't going to be in it. He isn't a Yankees fan but he thinks Arod is the best long ball hitter around right now and thinks it's a shame he isn't going to be in it. Then of course the All Star game is coming up. He always enjoys that. I will like it this year since there is an ample supply of Red Sox in the lineup :)

I've also been looking at www.cdnow.com at the new and future cd releases. Nothing looks too promising. I will get Sugarland's new one, I really like them. I suppose I should pre-order it. There is no place in my town that sells CDs. Can you believe that? I actually have to drive 30 miles to purchase a CD. That takes me to the nearest Wal-Mart or record store. In my tiny town we have a Rite-Aid, Family Dollar, Dollar General Store and 2 grocery stores. Of course there is main street with it's little thrift shops and antique shops and family owned businesses, but as for actual retail chain stores, that is all we have.

I order all of my yarn off line as well as all of my music and clothes and Owen's clothes. I do get his play clothes from one of the thrift shops in town. Sometimes it is annoying having to order things, but I actually prefer it to going to the mall or Big Generic Mart. I haven't been to the mall in so long, I think it's been over 3 years! I also order all of my computer parts from the internet, even if I travel the 30 miles to a bigger town, they don't have the parts I need.

Wow, I sound like quite a hermit. I suppose I am in a way. I am pretty quiet and prefer quiet activities and hobbies. I've never got into the whole social scene. Most of my friends drink and get pretty loud and obnoxious and I can't tolerate that long- if at all. I haven't been to a movie theatre in a long time either. Once again, I have to drive 30 miles to see a movie, and then, once there, I find I much prefer watching a movie in the comfort of my own home, where I can pause and rewind as much as I want and I don't have to pay high prices for a drink and a snack. I also don't have to listen to someone else's children screaming etc. I don't sound like much fun to be around do I? :)

Well, I don't know if there is a limit on blog length, if there is I am sure I am coming close. I am going to go and try to sleep once again. I am sure that this post has put anyone to sleep reading it..hmmm, there's an idea, maybe I should go read my blog! Night....again

Sunday Night

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. My neighbor, who is an elderly lady with lung cancer, called me and asked if I would come and help her clean her house. She was having unexpected company and really couldn't get it all done in time. I spent a while yesterday helping her. Then I cleaned my own place a little and spent the rest of the day with Owen. We swam in the pool a while, rode bikes a while, and were getting ready to go fishing when it came a downpour :( He was pretty disappointed and so was I. We planned on going today but it rained ALL DAY!

I made meatloaf, mashed taters, rolls, and carrots for supper. We ate dinner and just lounged around doing nothing most of the day. Owen did put on his rain gear and go out and ride his bike through some puddles. I should have taken some pictures but didn't think about it. I really need to put some pictures up. I promise to do that this week.

I drank a Mt. Dew today and am feeling pretty crappy about it. I hadn't drank a soda in over 4 months and then today I blew it. :( Oh well, I will do better tomorrow.

There were lots of birds that came to the feeder today when the rain would slack off. One of the birds was pretty big and I don't know what type it was. It was black and gray and had a very pointy beak. I will try and find a pic of it online and show it to Owen, he was really curious as to what sort of bird it was.

We watched "Wild Hogs" tonight on DVD and Owen worked on his model boat while we watched it. I continue to knit on the scarf for his Nan. It seems like it is coming along so slow.

I am also a little discouraged because I don't think anyone is reading my blog. I guess I expected that. My life is pretty boring, I didn't figure anyone would want to read about it. I suppose I was just feeling like I wanted to share my daily goings on with someone, to know that someone out there at least knows what goes on in my life. I enjoy being single, but sometimes it is lonely.

I think I am going to start a new book tonight. I had started one about the Salem witch trials, but it hasn't really captured my attention like I thought it would. I have so many books and never know which one to read. I need to get into one of those book sharing programs.

Well folks, more tomorrow. Night Night.

Morning

Good Morning! I'm up early waiting on UPS to bring some computer parts. Owen spent yesterday and all night last night with his Nan and Pa and was I lost without him! I cleaned a little, read a little, watched "The Waltons" and "Bewitched" on DVD (yes, I was bored). Finally I went to bed and fell asleep reading.

I had squash and tomatoes for supper yesterday. I spent most of the day writing and doing research for my current book. I was pleased with what I accomplished. I'll finish building this computer today when the parts come. Then I'll go to town and do my typical daily chores: bank, market etc. I have to drop some books off at the library and will probably take a few minutes and look at the NEW ARRIVALS shelf. Being in such a small town has a few drawbacks, and one of them is that we don't get new books very quickly at the library, and when we do there is only 1 copy and you have to reserve it. That's why I do a lot of my reading in ebook format. I'd like to have one of those Sony Readers but they are $300 and there is always something I need more.

I hope anyone reading has a good day- I will blog more tonight.

Cleanin' Out The Closet

Slept in a little today. I had a computer coming at 9:00 AM and I just wanted to get as much rest as I could prior to working on it. The lady showed up on time and brought in her computer and we talked a while about what she wanted done. She wants to upgrade to Vista (which I tried to talk her out of) and wants more RAM. I told her I would look at it and see if she was able to upgrade to Vista with her current CPU etc. To make a long story short, after looking over her machine and a few phone calls, she decided to stick with XP and get more RAM and a new CPU. I placed the order with newegg.com and the stuff should be here soon.

Then about 1:00 PM I started cleaning house a bit. Folding laundry, cleaning toilets and tubs etc. When I was folding the laundry I realized that some of Owen's clothes are getting too small for him, so I decided to go and take ALL of the clothes out of his dressers and closet and sort through them to see what good clothes he still has for back to school. Yes, I know it's only July, but school starts here the last Monday in August and that will be here before you know it. He needs new glasses also, so I would like to have an idea of how much money I will be spending for back to school needs.
So, we hauled all the stuff to the living room, put one of our favorite DVDs in the DVD player and started trying on clothes. I was surprised how much he has grown! We made a very large pile of clothes to be given to one of my friends children who is smaller than Owen. Previously I have tried selling clothes on Ebay, having yard sales, etc., but I've found out that the simplest thing to do is to just give them to someone who can use them.
When we were about half through with the stacks we realized that we were pretty hungry. So, we ran out to Dairy Queen and had a little treat. Owen had a milkshake and I had a Moolatte. Since we had lots of leftover potato soup from yesterday, I didn't cook.

We came home and watched Baseball Tonight...Red Sox beat the Twins again!!! Then we started packing up Owen's things because he is spending tomorrow night with his Nan and Pa. They called earlier in the day and asked if he could come and spend the night with them. They said they had the cards ready. They love to play rummy with him and watch cartoons. They will stay up until 2:00 AM playing cards and talking and watching old TV shows. For some reason Owen loves it.
To explain about his Nan and Pa, they are not my parents nor his Dad's parents. My best friend, Anne, and I have been friends since we were young. My mom passed away when I was only 6 years old, and her Mom and Dad were like parents to me. So, naturally, now they are like Owen's grandparents. He loves them so much and is very lucky to have them.
We managed to get him all packed up and he went to bed very excited about tomorrow.

I did some more work on the scarf I am knitting (for Owen's Nan). It's looking better all the time. I can't wait until I am finished just to see the end result! I'm just laying here in bed now, on the laptop, all snuggled up in my quilt with my 2 fans on and drinking a nice warm cup of chamomile tea. I'm currently reading a Debbie Macomber book called "The Wyoming Kid". It's not so great, but once I start a book, I try to see it through.

Well, that was my day. I hope that if anyone is reading my little blog that you had a nice day also. Gooodnight!

Tater Soup

Well, I didn't get to work on my blog today. When I woke up this morning I decided to make a nice pot of coffee and watch the morning news. That seemed to energize me so I went out and vacuumed the pool and did a little yard work before the rain came. I did laundry and then went to town to do my chores. I went to the supermarket and can you believe that the cheapest pack of bacon in the store was $3.19? Then I came home and started supper.

My son, Owen, played on the Wii a while. He just got a new game, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and he's been trying to unlock new songs. While I was cooking the wind started blowing pretty bad and the neighbor called to tell me that all of my pool toys and floats were blowing away. I normally keep them tied with bungee cords but when I cleaned it I moved them all out. I had to leave my boiling potatoes and frying bacon to go chase run away pool toys. So, dinner preparation was delayed a bit. When I came back in I didn't turn the stove back on immediately because the lightning was pretty bad. My grandmother was hit by lightning 3 times in her life so I am pretty scared of it. Owen and I went in my room and laid on the bed in front of the window and watched mother nature at work. He read a little in his Bible while we were laying there and when the storm finally slowed down I went back to cooking and he turned on cartoons. Supper was very good. We sat and ate while we watched television (Family Feud and Beverly Hillbillies). Then we put the food away and did dishes and sat some more. Owen got out his microscope and started looking at some slides of various animal hairs.

Then the Red Sox game came on at 7:00pm and since we are all huge baseball fans, we sat and watched the game (of course I knitted while I watched). Red Sox beat the twins 6-5!!!! Yay! The Dodgers and Braves are playing now. I subscribe to the MLB package so we get every game. It's really wonderful getting to see them all. If you are a lover of baseball like we are, I would reccomend it. My Uncle would tell me about when he was a youngster that they only showed 1 game a week on TV and you never knew which teams it would be. That would be horrible and sort of exciting at the same time.

Anyhow, I wish I had gotten around to adding more on my blog today. I did give it some thought and decided that I am just going to discuss basically everything that goes on during my day. Sort of like a reality show via a blog :) I'll add pics when I can. For now I will post the recipe for the potato soup that we had for supper tonight. Goodnight!!!!

Potato Soup (my grandma's recipe)

Ingredients:

Bacon (however much you want, the goal is simply to get the grease from it)
Potatoes (again, however many you want in your soup)
Onion 1 medium
Milk 1 and 1/2 cups
Salt
Pepper
Flour (about 1/2 cup)


Peel and chop potatoes to a little bigger than quarter size and put in water to boil. Let them boil until you can easily stick a fork in them but NOT until they fall apart. When they are done, drain them but reserve the water you boiled them in. In a skillet, fry the bacon and when finished put it on a paper towel to drain. Reserve most of the grease. Add the chopped onion to the grease and let it fry until it becomes transparent. Turn down the heat to Medium and add 1/2 cup of flour. Stir with a fork until there are no lumps and the flour is like a paste consistency. Turn the heat up a tiny bit and start pouring in the milk slowly. Stir as you are pouring it keeping it from scorching. Once you have it to a good gravy like consistency then start adding some of the water that you boiled the potatoes in and stirring. Add as much as you want until it is the soupy consistency you like and makes as much soup as you want. Once you have it the right consistency, add salt and pepper to taste. Then put the soup and potatoes in the crock pot (slow cooker whichever you call it) and let cook for about 1 hour on high.

This makes a really great potato soup. I know it is pretty high in fat, but just this once won't hurt you :) I hope you like it!

Hello!

I am up early working on my new blog! I am so excited to get started, even though I doubt
anyone will want to read about my simple little life. I woke up at 5:00 AM and entered a little information about me. I am going to go back to bed for a while. I am going to stay around the house today. I have planned on making potato soup and cornbread for supper and having fresh green onions from my garden. I am going to make some bacon also because it helps to flavor the soup.

I am also working on a scarf for my best friends mom. She picked out the yarn and I am trying to make it pretty. I am a new new knitter and I wanted to knit a few scarfs just to practice the stitches. I have been a crocheter since I was 12 and have wanted to learn to knit for many years but always had trouble learning and gave up too easily. I finally discovered that I wasn't holding the yarn right and once I remedied that, I was on my way to knitting! I love it! So, I am going to go set the clock for 7:45 AM and hopefully get a little more sleep. I hope to do lots more with my blog today!