vacations of yesteryear

vacations of yesteryear

My family actually took vacations in my youth. Not camping at the lake or short trips to the zoo, but real vacations. Oh yes, real vacations to visit dead Presidents. My Momma will not be impressed to learn that the only one I can remember is Andrew Jackson. I do remember touring some jail and getting locked up for a photo, but that won’t count in her book.

Motion sickness.

As a kid, my motion sickness was a real issue for our family. The joke always was that we could leave our home in Indiana at daybreak and not get out of the state by nightfall because they had to stop so many times for me to throw up. And… there were times they didn’t stop soon enough and clean up cut down on travel time. 😉

Then, they discovered the wonders of Dramamine! I was drugged to the point of drooling and was fast asleep for most of the travel time just so we could reach the home of yet another dead president. Imagine my surprise to find there’s a new way to treat motion sickness! My Mom would’ve totally had me sporting a pair of these:

Back when my brother and I were kids, most families didn’t get to take vacations like we did — unlike today when most families go somewhere every year. And back then, if people did travel it was to visit relatives… ones still alive.

And then, at some point, I simply grew out of it.

I no longer get motion sickness when traveling. I don’t get air sick and I’m pretty sure I don’t get car sick anymore either. I’m not 100% sure on that since I’m never in the back seat — I’m either driving or riding shotgun.

I may only remember one dead president, but I do remember how good it felt coming back home. I still feel that way. 🙂

Now you know:  The Hermitage is the home of President Andrew Jackson and is in Nashville, Tennessee. You can still experience the historical mansion, museum and grounds — and they even have a ghost tour in October but it’s sold out. Learn more at: https://thehermitage.com/


ritz or townhouse – do you like crumbs?

ritz or townhouse – do you like crumbs?

I made a snack last night that was a hit! I will absolutely make it again — quick and easy with no mess — but I will change one thing.

Pizza bites… crackers transformed.

INGREDIENTS:
Crackers, pizza sauce (I used Cortina brand), mozzarella cheese, & pepperonis
DIRECTIONS:
Squirt pizza sauce on crackers, cover with mozzarella cheese, and put one pepperoni on each cracker. Heat oven to 350° and bake for around 5 minutes — long enough to melt the cheese.

TADA!

pizza bites

Experience has taught me that Town House crackers are broken up a whole lot more than Ritz crackers. I opened one package in my family pack of Town House crackers to find about a third of them were broken. While it made the puppies happy, it didn’t have the same effect on me. I will use Ritz crackers next time.

The only other thing I’d like to try — because my favorite pizza comes from Pizza King (said to have been rated as Indiana’s favorite pizza) — is to make the copycat recipe of their sauce to use instead of the squirt bottle of sauce for this experiment. Pizza King’s sauce is supposed to be nothing more than equal parts of Red Gold tomato paste and water. Heck, I can do that!

TIL (Today I Learned): Worcestershire sauce was created by accident when a less than desirable sauce was forgotten and left to ferment in a cellar.


decluttering and nearing the finish line

decluttering and nearing the finish line

Today is closet day and that means it won’t be long until the wall-less room is complete with walls. Woot!!

I’m not sure why this room looks so small in photos — it’s 540 square feet — it’s a great size actually. Maybe it’s because there’s no furniture in place? The windows are trimmed and the staining/sealing of the wood is not quite 1/3 complete.

home improvement photo of wood walls in barndo

Today is closet day!

I’m having a small closet built where the garage door came out and Mr. Contractor said it would be built today. It’s a 4’x8′ with one door in the middle of the longest part — leaving about 2.5′ x 4′ on the left and right. Its purpose is merely a place for my sweeper, steamer mop, and shampooer… plus shelves to store cleaning supplies.

I read an article today on Homes and Garden about decluttering. It’s something the majority of us should do but few of us dive in to get it done. I don’t know about you, but every single time I declutter, the items I throw away are always things I wish I’d have kept. This challenge even has a name — “declutter regret.”

I plan to go through a few things once I’m able to put everything back in place (I can barely get to the treadmill because of the storage boxes), but am not totally committed to the process. If you are, they offer a ton of suggestions within several articles.

Is it winter already??

We had a frost warning last night. If it’s not bad enough that my office is currently in the dining room, plants had to come inside too.

outside flowers inside because of frost warning

With morning temps near 70 degrees last week, this morning’s low 30’s feels like we’ve fast forwarded into winter skipping summer altogether. Welcome to Indiana!

outdoor seating area in rural Indiana

TIL (Today I Learned): Designers of a 59-story New York skyscraper, Citicorp Center, failed to account for quartering winds and power loss, leaving a 6.25% chance it would fall in any given year.


let’s talk about the fat man

let’s talk about the fat man

I’m guessing a few of you are waiting to be called out as the topic today… but NO! The other fat man.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Good thing Santa wasn’t rolling into town last night because we had some dense fog hanging low to the ground. He’d have missed our place for sure. Of course, I want snow for the holidays so I was pretty depressed after looking at the graphic below. Over an hour south of Indy and even their chances of a white Christmas are poor.

history of snow in Indy

Ornaments and decor…

I have some ornaments that make it onto the tree every year no matter how ragged they’re getting. I have a dated ornament for every year since 1979. So many collected at this point they don’t all still make it to a branch, but some do.

1979 ornament

This special one always make the cut too.

1982 ornament

The ornament Ben made in grade school with Nanny’s photo inserted never stays in a box, and the one purchased by Jerilyn after the death of my Dad is also a constant.

And finally, the fat man is always there. The Santa in the photo below was gifted to me by my sister-in-law, Sheri, that passed away in 2005.

Santa ornament

I look at beautifully decorated trees of friends that are all matching and have a theme and think that’s what I’ll do next year too. But next year, I’ll probably pull out that one box of ornament memories unable to let them rest through the holidays.

What about you? Do you have at least 5 special ornaments that always have a place on your Christmas tree year after year?

TIL (Today I Learned): The top 10% of drinkers in America consume an average of 74 drinks per week. (woah!!) About 30% of Americans never drink at all and another 30% only drink on special occasions, at most once every couple of weeks.


diet modifications incoming

diet modifications incoming

Yesterday I said weigh-in for our “fat girls diet group” would be today. I got ahead of myself — it’s tomorrow. Monday is weigh-in day. I did take a peek yesterday and after almost 6 days of eating shit I hate, I’d gained .4 pounds.

Yes, seriously.

The first week is the time you’re supposed to see the biggest weight loss. Right? Not me… not this time. Jerilyn and Katie weighed mid-week and both were down almost 5 pounds. Not me… not this time. So I’m mixing things up starting tomorrow after weigh-in.

More rain.

More rain here today after storms last night. The overnight storms were so fierce they woke me up, tree limbs are all over the yard and I don’t have trees, and most of my plants were blown over. Only ONE of my tribe is a fan of rain.

Dharma loves rain.

That’s right! Dharma LOVES water of any kind — especially rain. Merida… not so much. 🙂

TIL (Today I Learned): Michael Jackson wore white tape on his fingers so that audience members further away could see the fingers and follow the moves he made with his hands while dancing. He wore white socks so they could similarly follow his feet.