Bucket List

Well, with a new year, comes new ideas.  My word for the year is SIMPLIFY.  So, with that in mind, here is my simple bucket list as of 2014:

• Take a trip with the family out west
• Take a trip with the family even further out west to Alaska
• Read all the Newbury Award winner books (see link below)

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal

• See San Francisco with my friends from high school soon
• Be able to grow pumpkins in my garden and harvest them!
• Tour the John Deer factory in Moline, Illinois
• Learn how to play the accordion well enough to give a recital
• Learn how to speak Italian (or least enough phrases to get along)
• Compose a short musical work
• Finish a few scrapbooks before son graduates from high school
• Take a trip to Disney World (or Land)

That's a start.  I don't know where it will go from there.  But it is a start.  Happy New Year!

Save the Date

I am working on setting up a small family reunion for my mother's side of the family.  My grandmother will be turning 95 in 2014.  Instead of having a party for her, I thought it might be better to have cousins, aunts and uncles, etc., come for food and fun at the farm.  Here is what I have so far:

http://www.punchbowl.com/save_the_date/8c0844345c81cd93ac4b

Nothing is in stone (or in the case of family-blood) yet, but just putting it out there for possibilities.  I am planning on getting in touch with Claire to see if this might fly with everyone.

Christmas Card 2013

Finished and ordered the cards today!  It is good to have it off my slate of things to complete before the concert on November 21st!  Lots to do!  Here it is:

Thank goodness for medical professionals!

So this summer I split my great toenail straight down the middle.  Don't know when, how, or why it happened.  Don't remember any trauma.  Had been wearing my boots around the goats or at the barn.  In August, it started showing these growths, nodules, bumps underneath where you actually clip the toenail.  By September, it started aching especially at the end of the day after wearing shoes and standing on my feet all day teaching.  Got an appt with my doctor who referred me to a dermatologist, since it appeared that these growths were warts.  Dermatologist referred me to podiatrist as these warts were so far under the toenail, he couldn't get them all.  Podiatrist couldn't take care of them during the first appt due to them being plantar warts and they were all over under the toenail which needed to be surgically removed.  Last Friday, we had the procedure done and it has been a bear ever since.  Will definitely be happy when the new toenail starts growing and hopefully no warts appear in the future.  I know in the scheme of things it is a small procedure, but boy, am I thankful that we live in the time we do as I couldn't have done this in the ancient days.  Not fun, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  My SILs nursing skills are a fantastic boon to this family!  I am such a wuss, but she does a great job if we need her (and she never complains about doing it for free)!

The living may not always be easy . . .

Here is a short poem, Sing a Song of Summer by Kay Winters, that I came across in the Columbus Dispatch recently:

When crickets sing
their evening song
and
fireflies turn
their lanterns on
and
spiders spin
at early dawn
and weave their cobwebs
on my lawn - 
It's summer.

Although some of our summer has appeared as the poem states, the majority of this summer has been putting out fires.  Fortunately, they haven't been big fires, just inconvenient, minor ones.  Our largest and saddest event was the passing of Darin's grandmother from Alzheimer's.  She lived a long and full life, however, the disease left her as a shell of her true self.  I am very much aware of her presence since Darin purchased her home that we live in, even though I never knew her in it.  Some of her things and memories are still here, but it doesn't bother me that these items haven't found a different home yet.  Someday they will, but until then, I get to browse every once in a while and discover her all over again.

Lots more to tell, including my 30th high school reunion, but it will have to wait until another time.

Pinterest Addict

It has been a new day in social media for me.  I have finally signed up for a Pinterest account and am thrilled with all the ideas, pictures, dreams, and creativity that is out there on the world wide web.  This could get out of hand at some point, but I am still rational at this time.  The weekends are when I seem to be looking, browsing, and pinning.  What fun!

Have a quick March.  The end of the third nine weeks is almost here!  Easter is around the corner and time is flying by so fast.  Hoping to get new glasses, maybe a new prescription as I think my bifocals need to be stronger.  Reading is getting difficult again, but maybe it is because my eyes get tired more often.

Snowy is a great cat, except that he is still learning boundaries.  The car seems to be his favorite place to sleep at night, but maybe once summer comes, he will change his location.  He dutifully waits for us to come home each day on the front porch.  We yell at him driving into the driveway to get the mail and he comes running to the garage!  He is hungry and thirsty and quite glad to see us.  He is a sweet cat, smart, and has already shown his gratitude by catching two mice and a bird.  Hopefully, he will keep our yard rodent free!

A little late . . .

Bugs Bunny Video

A morning for wasting time on the web . . . Here is a short clip celebrating 2013!