- Good food, good company, good advice from Grandma

I Never Claimed To Be A Fashionista

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In the ongoing Blog Carnival hosted by Trisha of Momdot, this weeks instructions were to go through your closet and show the 5 worst fashion blunders that you own. I have to confess, that I wear three out of five of these regularly. There is one piece of clothing in my closet, though, that I never wear, but just can not bring myself to get rid of.

girl scout patch jacket — My patch jacket.

I was a Girl Scout Leader for 8 years, from 1983until 1991. I got this patch jacket the first year. I have patches from every place our Girl Scout Troop went during that time.

girl scout jacket — Troop 147 was so much fun!

I have added pins and buttons to it since then, souvenirs of the places I have traveled. The dang thing clicks when I walk if I ever wear it, which is every once in a while to just try it on.

Thanks Badge girl scouts — I was awarded the Outstanding Leader Award and the Thanks Badge. I was also a delegate to the 1990 Girl Scout Convention in Miami.

This jacket represents so many memories that even though it is 29 years old, I can not toss it out. I will probably still have it when I go to my grave.

Collectors pins girl scouts — Pins from every state I have been to are on this jacket

Next up is a beaded vest that I have owned since about 1985. It is one of the things I wear sometimes and just can’t bring myself to get rid of. It might look tacky to some, but it is me. Yeah, I claimed it.

beaded vest circa 1985 — Yep, I do wear it.

I wear this with a pair of black slacks and brown sweater. It looks decent, but yeah, it’s 1985.

beaded vest — See the beads? I love the sparkly things.

I bought this purple rhinestone studded vest in March when I went to a quilt show with my sister-in-law. It may not be so fashionable, but hey, it has RHINESTONES, and I LOVE me some rhinestones.

purple rhinestone vest — Rhinestones, my favorite accessories.

And in case you can’t see them, here is a close up:

Next up, the skort. I wear it, well at least I did pre-surgery. It doesn’t feel comfortable now, but I’m keeping it until it does.

And last, this awful tie dyed shirt from Wal-Mart. What was I thinking?

tie die shirt from wal-mart--attrocious! — Just NO!

And here is the whole outfit, modeled for you:

my unfashionable outfit--what was I thinking? — Ouch!

So, what are you hiding in your closet?

Out And About Today At The Grand Canyon

Karen · 4 Comments

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This morning I went out to breakfast again with my friend, Gaelyn. She brought along Chuck and Geri from Phunny Pharm. I had not met them before, but they are really nice. We had a nice breakfast and conversation, and afterwards we went out on the veranda at the back of the lodge.

north rim grand canyon — What a gorgeous view!

It was a really nice, sunny day, with a great view of the Grand Canyon. The rains we have been having here clear the dust out of the air and that makes for a better view.

grand canyon north rim — Looking down into the canyon from the veranda.

I know I must have hundreds of photos of this same view, but I still need more.

Next week I will go back to work, so I have to get my visiting done now. I have to go home and try on my uniforms to make sure they will fit. I think though, that they may be a little big on me.

There are lots of places to sit on the veranda.

There are lots of chairs to relax in and just soak in the view, but most of the visitors were waiting in another location for a ranger talk to start.

chuck and gaelyn with me at the north rim — Chuck from Phunny Pharm, Gaelyn from Geogypsy Traveler, and me at the North Rim

This is Chuck from Phunny Pharm , Gaelyn from Geogypsy Traveler, and me. We really had a nice visit.

After a picture taking session on the veranda, we visited the Native American Heritage Days exhibits and talked with some of the people who were there demonstrating how to make glassware, basket weaving, and other traditional crafts. However, I did not get any photos there.

ground squirrel — This little guy kept following me around. Maybe he thought I was going to share the fruit I had left over from breakfast.

Boys & Girls Clubs Of America

Karen · 4 Comments

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Back what seems like a hundred years ago (but really only 30 or so) when my son was a little boy, he went to the Boys Club instead of going to daycare with my daughters. That arrangement worked out well for him. He was my oldest child, and as a single mother it was difficult to afford daycare for three kids.

1983 09 seth rebecca emily — My son and daughters in 1983, about the time he was going to the Boys Club

The Boys Club was one block away from my workplace, so I dropped him off there on my way to work. He walked the one block to my office at lunch time and we ate lunch together every day. My boss had him call her every day when he got back to the Boys Club so we all knew he was safely back.

There was no charge for Seth to go to the Boys Club. He had lots of friends there, and had a wonderful time there. They even took him camping for a week, where he had his first time out on a lake in a canoe, he caught fish, and learned how to use a bow and arrow.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BCGA) were such a positive influence on my son, that I now want to give back to them by telling you all about their new partnerships with Disney and JC Penney.

BCGA has partnered with Disney to launch the Tools for Back to School Initiative. This initiative features a pop-quiz type of game, where supplies are donated to BCGA for every correct answer you score. What an easy way to give to a wonderful organization for children!You can join in the fun and help BCGA get supplies for back to school by playing here

With the JC Penney partnership with BGCA, you can round up your purchase at the register through JCP Shares . The money collected through the rounded up purchases benefits BGCA. You can learn more about how this works here.

To help get your children ready for back to school, BGCA has several educational and tip sheets you can download for free, about topics such as Time Management and Helping Children Set Goals. You can find them by clicking here.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Boys and Girls Club. I received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Get To Know How…

Karen · 20 Comments

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I eat. The Blog Carnival posed by Trisha at Momdot asked us to take photos of our refridgerator and panty, with no cleaning up or out, to show the world how our food is stored. Well, I have to admit, that when the requirements were posted for this one, I was gone to Flagstaff for Fabgrandpa’s appointment at the VA, and we buy groceries when we are in town. And when we are getting ready for a grocery shopping trip, I always clean out the refridgerator and straighten the panty, because I “shop the pantry first” when I make my grocery list. So, now that we are home and everything is put away, here is how they look:

my refridgerator — Hmmm, not much in there to have just been to the store.

I didn’t buy a whole lot of stuff at the grocery store this time, because we are 9 weeks away from traveling back to Georgia. We try to “eat down” the food in the house before we get on the road. So, I “shopped the pantry first” and only bought the few things we need to make meals for a week until we go shopping again. It looks kind of bare in that fridge, especially when you consider that is a small RV fridge.

And yes, that IS a flashlight in there with my food. Just in case.

5 Things You Would Learn About Me

Karen · 38 Comments

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…if you walked through my house. Ok, so the very first thing you would learn is that I am very messy–and that I like to keep a craft project of some kind close at hand. You can see my bag of yarn for my current crochet project here on the dinette seat where I sit most of the time:

5 things about me — Yes, I am messy. I admit it. But I need everything that is there to be there.

If you turned around from that messy dinette seat, you would find the biggest honking coffee maker that we could find. Even though we live in a less than 400 square foot home, we have a huge Krups coffee maker that also makes espresso. Gotta have coffee, you know.

coffee maker krups II duomo — Bigger than a breadbox, but it is still making coffee 8 years later.

As you step away from the coffee maker, you will see that we have two refrigerators. That wooden door is the main fridge, and that black dorm size one, well, it holds the beer and wine.

two refridgerators — One for eggs, butter and veggies–one for beer and wine.

In the bedroom, you will see that my bed is made up every day. I can not stand to get into a bed that has not been made. Also, I am afraid that spiders will get in my bed if it is not made up. You will also see that I went a little wild with the green and brown makeover of the bedroom. I like it though.

my bedroom — I made the quilt, the pillows, the curtains, and recovered the cornice board.

And, if God forbid you open my closet, you will find it to be packed with too much stuff in it. But you will also see my uniforms hanging there, ready for me to wear when I go back to work. I love working at the Grand Canyon, and I love wearing that uniform. Go green and gray!

What? How To Tell When You Need A Hearing Aid

Karen · Leave a Comment

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More than thirty years ago, my now deceased father was diagnosed with severe hearing loss, and was prescribed a hearing aid. Daddy went through the process of finding hearing aid clinics, and eventually was fitted with a fine set of hearing aids. He brought them home, then he promptly put them in a drawer.

It was a family joke to come into a room where Daddy was sitting, and move our mouths as if we were speaking to him. Every time we did this, Daddy would say “What?” and then the rest of us would start laughing. I know now that it was probably a mean thing to do, but after a couple of months of that, he started wearing his hearing aids.

A couple of years ago, Fabgrandpa’s Dad decided it was time to get hearing aids for himself. He is a retired military man, so he had to go to the VA Medical Center closest to him to get his hearing loss diagnosed. The clinic was about 150 miles from his home, and he had to make the trip three times to get everything done. Because of his advanced age, he couldn’t make the drive himself, so one of Fabgrandpa’s brothers drove him there and back. On the last trip home, after they picked up the hearing aids, they were involved in a head-on collision. Neither of them were hurt, but my brother-in-law’s car was totaled. And now that my father-in-law has those hearing aids? They sit in a drawer.

Now that I am getting older (I AM sixty, you know!) I find myself doing the “What?” thing more and more often. I also have a constant ringing in my ears, that tends to drive me crazy much of the time, especially when I am at home by myself. I have been doing some research about tinnitus, and I think that may be part of my problem. My husband, Fabgrandpa, is starting to get irritated with me for asking him to repeat just about everything he says. It might just be time for me to go and see an ear doctor, so I can get my hearing aid to throw in a drawer.

After The Storm

Karen · 5 Comments

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Friday night we had a wild thunderstorm here at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The wind howled through the Ponderosa Pines. Thunder rumbled across the canyon, sounding like it would never end. Rain poured in buckets. It seemed like we had moved to a rainforest! On Saturday afternoon, it was all over, with the sun shining and a calm breeze. I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood.

thunderstorm at the north rim — What luck!

That aspen tree fell right between those two trucks! I couldn’t tell if there was a car parked there when the tree fell or not. All the vehicles that I know are usually parked in that area were all accounted for, so hopefully no one’s car got smashed. What luck!

aspen felled by high winds at the north rim — From another viewpoint.

Those winds were blowing really hard to make that tree fall down. I am so glad that none of the Ponderosa’s fell where our trailer is parked.

storm 03 — I love the trees up here–so different than those in Georgia

These aspens and fir trees are growing along the road to the fee office. I love the trees up here–they are so different from the ones in Georgia.

wildflowers at the north rim — The monsoon rains have been good for the wildflowers.

The monsoon rains started around the first of July. It has rained almost every day since then. Most days, we have thunderstorms, but not bad ones. The rain has been very good for the wildflowers this year. I think next week I’m going to take a drive and get some more pics of the flowers out in the meadows.

The blue sky peeking through the aspens.

When it is not raining, there are big puffy white clouds in a blue blue sky.

There is my home sweet home. We’re parked in the employee housing area amidst huge ponderosa pines.

our trailer at the north rim employee housing area — That is my home sweet home at the North Rim

Across the street is a great view of the Transept Canyon, one of the side canyons at the North Rim.

trail to the transept canyon — This is the trail to the Transept Canyon across the street from my trailer.

I walked on past our trailer, across the street to the trail that goes to the edge of the Transept Canyon.

After a good rain, all the dust is washed out of the air so you get a much better view of the canyon. This is the Transept Canyon with the Grand Canyon beyond.

I love how the sunlight plays on the canyon walls, and provides a different look throughout the day.

storm brewing again — Those clouds look like another storm brewing.

While I was sitting out there enjoying the view, the clouds started forming again, and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. I decided it was time to go home.

storm 11 — But not before I got a few more pics!

But I had to take a few more photos before I walked back up the path. This is a closer up view of the Transept Canyon wall across the way.

storm 12 — Yep, dark clouds were gathering quickly.

And as I headed back home, those dark clouds were gathering quickly, making me pick up my walk to a little bit faster pace. I made it home before the first raindrops fell, but I was more afraid of the lightening that comes with the storms.

Home Health Care Helps Seniors Stay In Their Own Homes Longer

Karen · 11 Comments

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home health care — That’s me and my mother-in-law.

As I am still recovering from my hospital stay and surgery, I tend to be thinking more and more of the “what ifs” I know I am very lucky that my daughter, Becca, and step-daughter, Becky, were able to drop everything and come to stay with me and take care of me. But “what if” they couldn’t? What if there was no one who could have come to help with my daily tasks?

During the first month or so of being home, I couldn’t dress myself, I couldn’t bathe myself, and I couldn’t cook meals to feed myself. I often think about what I would have done if there had been no one who could help me. Just what do people do who are in that position?

Then I thought about my mother-in-law and father-in-law. They live in a small town in the north Georgia mountains, about a hundred miles away from any of their children. Fabgrandpa and I live two thousand miles away. While his brothers and sisters-in-law, and adult nephews and nieces can make the trip up to check in on my mother and father-in-law on the weekends, that leaves them on their own during the week when everyone has to work.

When my mother-in-law fell and broke her hip, she spent some time in a rehabilitation facility. When she was able to go home, they were referred to a home health care company that provides personalized home care service for an hourly fee. The company sent out a very nice woman who makes sure that they are taking their medications, which is very important. Donna also helps my mother-in-law with bathing, cleans the house, makes meals for them. She takes my mother-in-law to her doctors appointments, to the hair salon, and shopping. Having this home health care assistant has given my mother-in-law freedom to stay in her own home, and has taken some of the load off of my father-in-law, who has health issues of his own.

So, I think if I get to the point where I can’t do things for myself, such as driving or taking a bath or fixing my own hair, then getting a home health care assistant would be the thing to do, instead of going into an expensive nursing home or assisted living facility. Fabgrandpa and I could stay together longer, and be happier, with less expense. I think that would be a good solution for us.