Karen

A Simple Pleasure!

We left the trailer behind this weekend to go visit the family in our hometown. It was a 200 mile drive, mostly through the countryside in Alabama. Back in the days when I still ate a gluten filled diet, when we traveled I would make a picnic lunch so we could eat in the truck. Egg sandwiches, with potato chips, and maybe some fruit. But since we stopped eating gluten, we haven’t had that simple pleasure. But guess what? since I have all that Udi’s bread in the freezer, I surprised FabGrandpa with egg sandwiches:

Now that might not look like such a treat to anyone else, but to us, it was wonderful! It just seems like such an intimate thing, for me to make a sandwich for my sweetheart on a trip out of town.

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More Thoughts On Christmas…

Karen · 12 Comments

I wrote yesterday that we don’t buy gifts for each other, but I wanted to expand on that thought. I am his third wife, he, my fourth husband. We didn’t meet until I was 39 and he was 42. We had both been down some pretty rocky roads, and had more than our share of sorrow and pain. That we have made it 18 years together is a wonderful gift in and of itself. That he can make me happy, and I him, another.

The gifts I want and need the most are not tangible. One hour with my mother without criticism. A visit with my brother without sarcasm. Acceptance for who I am, forgiveness for what I am not and can never be. A gathering of family at any time without pettiness and jealousy, without bigotry, without prejudice. So to all who pray and wish for world peace, try starting with your own small world. Give a truce with that Wii; a hug and a held tongue with that chocolate Santa; a smile and a genuine heart with that Christmas ham. Make a step towards making Christmas mean something more than “it costs less at XXX-XXXX.”

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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like…

Karen · 9 Comments

Christmas. Ah, that time of year when we all go out and buy things we can’t afford for people we don’t see the rest of the year. And when we are bombarded by crass commercials on TV and radio. Now before you all start thinking that I am anti-Christmas, let me tell you that I certainly am not. I am for the true meaning and reason for this season. What I am “anti” is about how commercial it has gotten, to the point where stores are putting up Christmas decorations before Labor Day. How did we ever get to that place?

I guess I am just so fed up with it this year because a popular store’s ad campaign actually says “Christmas costs less at XXX-XXXX.” Does anyone besides me find that offensive? Does anyone else think that is so far off from the idea of Christmas as to make you want to vomit?

I don’t decorate my house, because I don’t feel the need to do so. I used to do it when my children were younger, and even after they grew up I did it while I still had a house. Now that I live in my RV, I just don’t, because I have no desire to do so. And that doesn’t make me a scrooge, it just makes me a person who doesn’t want to.

FabGrandpa and I don’t buy gifts for each other, either, because we don’t feel like we need to. We have everything we want, and if we do want something, we go buy it. But that is NOT limited to just Christmas. We don’t buy birthday or valentines, or Easter gifts for each other, either. We never have. And that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other. It just means we don’t buy gifts.

And while I am on the subject of gifts, let just say that when you buy a gift for someone that is what you can afford, then find out later that the gift was ridiculed when you were not around, how would that make you feel about giving that particular person another gift? And if you made something, and found out the person you made it for didn’t appreciate the gift because it was “home-made”, how would that make you feel? Either way, the gift was from the heart, and was rejected.

What ever happened to “it’s the thought that counts?” As in, “I thought of you and wanted to give you something, but this is all I could afford to do, so you should feel honored that I didn’t buy that chicken for my dinner next week and got you this small gift instead.” So, instead of thinking “that’s a crappy, cheap gift” you should be thinking, “gee, she was willing to do without dinner to do this for me.”

Luckily for me, we are past that poverty stage of life, but I have never forgotten how it feels to be that poor. One of the reasons I DON’T spend a lot of money at Christmas time is so that the people I love who ARE still in their lean years won’t feel so bad when they can not reciprocate. What I truly want for Christmas is for my family to love each other and enjoy each other’s company, without the pressure of feeling like they have to do without dinner for the next week. It’s not about the gifts and glitter, it’s about the hugs and kisses.

If people around the world treated everyone with love and kindness year-round, with a “Christmas” kind of attitude, I wouldn’t mind having Christmas all year. And if the gifts I gave were accepted in the spirit in which they were given, I would give them year round. But it seems to me like we only get “Christmas” for one day out of each year, and that makes me sad. I want people to love each other and be happy and loving every day.

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Remember Whensday

Karen · 10 Comments

Something I saw this week made me think about this furniture. I bought it in (I think) 1978, as a Valentine gift for myself. The set came with a sofa, two chairs, a coffee table, two end tables, and two lamps. All made out of heavy pine boards, and all had matching brown plaid cushions. It was not very pretty, and not really very comfortable, but it was cheap and sturdy. I think I paid about $300 for the whole shebang!

I figured that with three kids, who were about 6, 4, and 3 years old, that it would be indestructible. I was right. That furniture went through a lot of spend the night parties, a lot of “Friday night everyone sleep in the living room so we can wake up and watch cartoons in the morning” and lots of teenager pizza parties.

This photo was taken in 1984, the day I moved into the last house I owned. We had that furniture until 1993, when I finally bought a new set. We took the pieces apart, and had a bonfire in the back yard.

For more Remember Whensday posts, click here

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How To Tell You Are In The Country:

Karen · 4 Comments

When the menu includes neckbones, rutabagas, and fried okra.

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Scenic Sunday

Karen · 7 Comments

Fog on Payne Lake in the Talledega National Forest, Alabama, United States.

For more Scenic Sunday posts, click here.

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Pet Peeve Of The Week

Karen · 12 Comments

I have had this wire shelf for almost 10 years. We bought it in August of 2000, when we moved into our first RV. It is just the right size to hold a box of quart sized zip lock bags, a box of gallon sized zip lock bags, a roll of plastic wrap, and a roll of aluminum foil. Well, at least it was until the last time I bought a box of the quart sized bags.

I usually leave the empty box in the shelf as a space holder so the rest of boxes don’t fall over, until I can get a new box of whatever I am out of. So, when I brought home the last new box of quart sized bags, it wouldn’t fit. The manufacturer had changed the size of the box. I had to take the new bags out and put them in the old box that I just happened to have kept, because it is my habit to do so.

I am so pissed that they did that. Why do manufacturers think they have to keep changing things?

So, what is your pet peeve this week?

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I’m Turning Into A Bag Lady

Karen · 5 Comments

My fabric shopping trip last week included some heavy-weight interacing so I could make some tote bags for my daughters. That stuff is expensive! But, I got enough to make four bags. I have two of them finished already:

Greens, blues, and browns for Becca.

Pinks, greens, and beige for Emily.

The pattern I used makes three sizes. These are the medium sized ones. That large bag would hold a Volkswagen, I think.

And I have yellow and black sitting there waiting to be sewn, for Becky. I don’t have fabric yet for Sarah’s, but will have it next week. OOooo, I get to go fabric shopping again!

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