Two month resolution check

Two month resolution check. I grade from 1-10 with 10 being the highest. Remember, this is early in the year so don't expect too much too soon.

1. To get into a routine with my physical therapy exercises and to have massages - I have not had a massage and so that has thrown me. Is this a two part resolution? Do I grade all together or separate? If I did one, but not the other how do I grade that? Hmmmm...I have yet to establish a daily routine, but I have done my exercises. Just not every day which I know I meant when I made the resolution so I'll have to downgrade on this one. Grade: 4
2. To be serious about getting healthy; lose weight, exercise regularly, swim - I have started that today actually. Seriously. I mean, really truly. Today. Can you believe I forgot the past two months? I blame our "cold" weather. Grade: 0
3. To celebrate people's birthdays via my blog - YES! YES! I have done this in spades and even gone beyond what I suggested. Boom Baby! Grade: 10
4. To scan all my photos and organize them on the computer - Here again is another ambiguous statement. ALL? I suppose ALL means by the end of the year so I'm treating this as a chore like all the rest of my resolutions. An ongoing project accumulating in the finished byproduct of ALL by the end of the year. So, YES! I have scanned pictures almost every day and I've worked so hard on them that I dream of these damn pictures most nights. Grade: 10
5. To work on myself mentally - I forgot that this one was on here, BUT I have sought out spiritual guidance and have worked hard at thinking positively and having faith in the good in life. Grade: 6

Total Score: 30 out of 50 - Well, I did better then I thought. I still need to work on the first two, but as I said before I started working on that today. I went to the gym, did my physical therapy exercises afterwards on their tables, grocery shopped for healthy food items, and am currently drinking a homemade smoothie made out of yogurt, almond milk, and strawberries. Go girl!

Keepsakes - Housekeeping Business

My new couches, my Birthday-Christmas-Valentine-Present, are here! Not here here, but here in Ft. Meyers which made me wonder why the sales lady would call Tom and say, "You're couches are here!" I mean, I don't live in Ft. Myers. But this is all beside the point and my post for tomorrow.

Today's post is a keepsake memory that I found when rearranging and cleaning the Steelers room in preparation for the old couches which will be moved into there when the new couches arrive. I spent all of Saturday and half of Sunday clearing and cleaning out closets, boxes, trunks, furniture, etc. Somewhere in all of that cleaning I found this piece of paper folded up between pictures. I almost threw it out, but something stopped me, thank goodness, and I opened it up to find this handwritten note:

***

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for purchasing the Basic Touch-up Package from the American Society of House Fairies. This package included:

• Vacuuming of the entire house
• Sweeping and mopping of non-carpeted floors
• Dusting of all furniture and reachable knick knacks.
• Cleaning of all picture frames, glass, and glass doors
• General bathroom cleaning
• General kitchen cleaning

As part of our valued customer appreciation program for all new clients, we performed some extra duties not included in the Basic Touch-up Package. These duties were performed free of charge and included:

• Aesthetic and symmetrical arrangement of knick-knacks.
• Minor repair of master bathroom toilet.
• Organization of messaging center including wall mounting of telephone.

We hope you have enjoyed the services of our house fairies. For information on all our packages including our Super Duper You Can Eat Off The Floor Package please contact our customer service department at 800-976-DUST. Mention "Mother's appreciation of daughter and friend's efforts" and receive a free household ceiling fan cleaning upgrade on your next package of $59.50 or more.

Once again we appreciate your business and Welcome Home.

Sincerely,

Dawn Swiffer

President ASHF

***

And then at the bottom was this beautiful drawing with an * that read *Your house fairies for this package were Cara and Kelly. Tipping Welcomed.

Apparently this was something we did for my mom when she returned from her summer in Indiana maybe? I laughed and then I threw it on my desk saying out loud something Kelly's mother told us after we entertained her with one of our great adventure stories, "You two wasted your talent."

Knitting = Better Health

Before Christmas I decided that my weight gain was due to menopause, heredity, and night time eating. I figured it was 50/30/20 percent respectively and since I couldn't do much about the menopause or the heredity I should work on the last. (Of course, I know that there is WAY more involved such as lack of exercise and nutrition, but buzz off this is my blog and I'm going for humor, okay?) My solution to my binge junk food consumption was knitting.

The idea came to me while I was checking out my daughters in the orthodontist office. The three girls that work the payment/appointment counter love me and expect me to come in to entertain them. It is a lot of pressure, but I love them back and try to always rise to the task. One of the topics that day was new year's resolutions, and I explained my family's traditions in respect to that topic. One of the questions asked me was whether or not we made the same resolutions each year. I told them that in going back through them each year we noticed a recurring theme and for me that one was losing weight and curbing my language. Oh, and getting out birthday cards on time which they found hilarious. I suggested that maybe this year I should work on all my past resolutions and from that conversation I came around to my needing to keep my hands busy to keep from eating. That's when I made the announcement that I would take up knitting.

Madison: "Knitting? You don't know how to knit."
Me: "Well, for your information I use to knit in my younger days. My mother taught us and made us all knit hats for winter."
Madison: "Do you remember how to knit?"
Me: "No. But I can learn. Maybe it will be like riding a bike. It will all come back to me."
Darcy: "Yeah, well, don't knit me a winter hat because I live in Florida and don't need one."

I admit I was stymied on that one until I remembered that Madison lived north where it was chilly enough for winter hats and that one of the dental girls was pregnant. I announced that I would knit a baby blanket, and then told the girls that a knitting kit was a gift they could get me for Christmas. Madison did just that.

I started learning on Christmas. While everyone else was outside enjoying the hot weather and pool I was sitting on the couch trying to bring back knitting to mind. I read the instruction manual from front to back and then read casting on stitches three more times as I tried to follow the directions. I finally got the bright idea of turning to YouTube and before I knew it I was casting on. From there I watched videos on beginning knitting, purl stitching, and casting off. After a week of going back and forth with the kit I decided I was ready to knit my baby blanket.

I went to JoAnn's Fabrics and spent $40 some money on a better pair of needles and some soft, baby yarn. That night I worked diligently on getting my baby blanket started. The next day I spent more time researching various beginners patterns for baby blankets. I realized the yarn I had purchased was too big and bulky for beginners and so I traveled to Michael's and spent another $40 more money on different needles and different yarn. I found a YouTube video with an easy pattern, discarded my other attempts, and started knitting my blanket. The pattern called for 96 cast on stitches and I had trouble keeping them on the needles. That is when I learned about "circular needles" and back to Michael's I went to pick up a pair.

Tom: "What is all this yarn stuff in the garbage?"
Me: "I've made a few mistakes. Don't worry about it."
Tom: "What? Then undo it and reuse it. Why would you throw it out? That seems a waste of money."

I made some mistakes. No matter how hard I knitted I kept having holes in my blanket. I researched that and found that I was "dropping stitches". I started over once again and started burying my discarded projects deep in the trash. Eventually I finished my first blanket.

There were a few holes and some bunching up of fabric and it was small. So I went back to the drawing board. When I found I had dropped a stitch I followed the instructions and went back to fix it. At one point the needles came out and I had to spend an hour just trying to get them back in after fixing my mistake. When it happened again late at night I gave up.

I went to Walmart this time and made a few more purchases of yarn, needles, and a crochet needle for fixing up messes. I took a picture of a pattern I thought looked easy for a scarf. My friend had been wanting me to make her an arm knitted scarf for a few weeks and I thought it would be nicer if I knitted her one instead. She wanted gray yarn, but I found this really soft multi-colored yarn instead and went home to see how I fared with it. In two days I had actually finished a project that I could be proud of.

The pattern was a change between knit stitches and purl stitches and so I'm now working on the baby blanket using that pattern instead of the You Tube pattern. I've had to take out stitches twice and I think I need a lesson in recognizing stitches when I put them back on the needles, but for the most part the pattern hides major mistakes. I really enjoy knitting. Not only is it something to keep my hands busy, but it also calms me, and I found that I am more attentive to conversation around me.

An article from the New York Times titled, The Health Benefits of Knitting, by Jane E. Brody agrees with my assessment. She writes that the repetitiveness of knitting is a lot like mediation or yoga and the benefits include lowering blood pressure, lowering the heart rate, lowering stress levels, maintaining weight control, and in children calming them and improving their math skills. Madison reminded me that she and Darcy actually learned to knit in grade school for those exact benefits too. Who knew that an idea popping into my head in a dental office would set me on a course to improve my health?

Now if only I could get that damn blanket finished...

Out of the mouths of strangers

Sitting in a car wash waiting for the car to be detailed, I was sitting next to this lady who was on the phone with AAA trying to get her car towed. 

Woman: "Honey, please, stop asking me those questions. The answers are no. Yes, I understand that you have to ask these questions, that you have a job to do, but I just need you to send someone out to tow my car. No. No. No. All of the answers are no. Honey, I'm not asking you to perform surgery. I just need my car towed. No. No. No. Fine. Fine. If that's how you have to do it. Fine. Of course. Thank you." Hangs up.

Me: "My goodness. That seemed complicated."

Woman: "I just want AAA to tow my car to my son's repair shop, but she wants to send out a diagnostic man to determine if the battery is dead. I said, "Honey, the battery isn't dead. I don't need a diagnostic test." But she kept insisting they check this and that on the car. I said, "The car is dead." And then because she obviously wasn't very bright I spelled it for her, "DED Dead! The car is dead!"

Birthday Shout Out #6

When I made the resolution on the birthday shout outs I was referring to the people that I normally exchange birthday greetings with, but as I hobble along with this resolution I realize that I remember a lot of people's birthdays even if we don't exchange cards. Facebook birthday postings have made that easier, but I still have a few friends and neighbors whose birthdays I remember and so I'm shouting out to those whose birthdays I have celebrated in the past. Plus, they read my blog and I'm so very grateful for their support!

Happy Birthday Steph! Yours is always a birthday I remember. Mostly because for the longest time it was the only birthday I remember celebrating in the month of February.

I hope your day was a good one. Sending birthday hugs your way.

I prefer my snakes outside thank you

I have declared Wednesday's as my relaxing day to catch up on things like blogging and laundry. That's my excuse for not going to the gym. This Wednesday I got up and walked the dog a bit. I had a leisurely breakfast and then took my coffee into the Steelers room to do some blogging. The dog immediately starts whining now when I enter the Steelers room because he wants to go out on the pool deck. Actually he wants me to open that door and then open the door to the outside so he can run around the pool screen while I run up and down inside the pool screen. This is his game and he begs me to do this 100,987 fifty times a day.

I figure I get some exercise this way and so because I knew it would be better to get it over with before I sat down to blog I opened the door and we both went out on to the pool deck. To the left about two steps from the house door is the screen door that leads to the outside yard. I got one step toward the door, my arm reaching out to open the door, when I saw a large, skinny, black racer snake in the corner between the screen and the cabinet we have on the deck. I remember doing this:

Me: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

And then I ran right back into the house screaming at the top of my lungs as if the snake was following behind me with a knife. My dog stood outside the house door looking up at me as if I had lost my mind as I begged him to get into the house. He of course did not come in. He, by golly, wanted to run outside like I had promised him and so I had to promise him a million treats just to get him inside. Which I totally forgot to give him once he came inside because I was too busy locking the door, peering out the window at the snake, and thinking what the hell I was going to do. The snake, meanwhile was banging its head against the screen desperate to get out probably thinking that he was going to be injured by the crazy, screaming woman.

Once upon a time I would have called my husband for my help. Back in those early days when Maddy was tiny he would have come at lunch time and taken care of the snake despite the fact that he doesn't like those critters anymore than I do. We have them living under my neighbor's hedge that sits between our two houses and every once in awhile we see them sunning in the yard. I've only had them in my pool deck about five times; one was killed by my husband, one my mother got out with the pool net, one I chased out, and one my husband got out. I did not hesitate this time. I pulled out my phone and called my friend Jim.

Jim lives about a mile or so down the street from us. His daughter and my youngest have been friends since they were three years old. Jim was the SAHD among all of us SAHM in those early years. If we needed a man we called him. Jim is also in the fossil business. He has traveled all over the world digging for and buying and selling fossils. He has an entire museum behind his house full of various animal fossils and other odds and ends and schools bring their kids through his museum. He spent most of his childhood here in Florida and is full of information especially about the native critters. This isn't my first call to him.

Once I hung a Halloween witch on my house by rolling duct tape so that one end went on the witch and the other end went on the house. At some point the tape came off of the house and a lizard got stuck in the tape, all four paws. I kept checking all day to see if he could get off of the tape, but every time he was still there. It made me sad, but I was too squeamish to touch him. I did bring him a bowl of water to drink from and then at the end of the day I called Jim. He came immediately and slowly and gently pried the little lizard off of the tape without ripping any appendages. The poor little thing's heart was pumping like crazy and he ran as fast as he could when Jim released him.

Another time I found a baby snake in my garage. It had this red ring around its neck and so I called Jim. He came over, got the snake, and gave us an education about the type of snake and what it ate. I could have cared less. The fact that it was in my garage was enough. This one in my pool deck? I called Jim.

Jim: "I'll be right over, kid."

He was there in less than five minutes. He used a towel and got to its head and when he picked the snake up it peed on him and then completely relaxed in his hold. I took a picture through the screen because as sweet as Jim is about coming to people's rescue he also is a lot like my dad and doesn't mind tormenting people with the animal.

Jim: "Come outside and get a good picture of it."
Me: "I'm getting one right here."
Jim: "But I want to be in the picture."
Me: "I assure you, you are in the picture."

I did have to come out and open the door to the outside for him, but I refused to come out unless Jim was on the other side of the pool deck. He complied, I opened the door, and he released the snake in my neighbor's yard in the hedge. Jim washed his hands and we agreed I owed him lunch next week. Then off he went to finish his Wednesday, and as I waved to him I realized that my heart had beat fast enough to consider this morning's activity as a cardio workout. Now I deserved the rest of the day off.

Old pictures - Indiana Theme

I was born in Indiana, but then we moved to various states as my Dad's job demanded eventually ending back in Indiana where we stayed. I count my childhood as a Hoosier one despite several years in Pennsylvania. When my mother in her later years would bemoan her lack of mothering skills and voice regrets I assured her that we had a great childhood. And we did. I've enjoyed reliving a lot of it through these old pictures and today's theme will be photos from my childhood growing up in Indiana. (I may have posted some of these before..it's hard to remember)

I really don't remember what this was all about except it was obviously some theme for school or Girl Scouts. I think my neighbor must have made the outfit as my mother's sewing abilities were VERY limited and this picture is taken outside my neighbor's house. The hat is one of the souvenirs my parents brought back from Nassau. I kept the outfit for years in my box of handmade keepsakes.

I suppose this doesn't fall under the "happy childhood" memory, but I thought it hilarious. First, because my mother was SO not the girly, girl type yet she insisted on twisting my hair at night into little curls that she held in place with bobby pins and then tied the scarf around to keep it all together. Secondly, because my dad loved taking photos of you when you didn't want him to.

And this would be one of those "didn't want you to take a picture" pictures. We have a lot of photos taken while we were sitting at this kitchen table. Usually in the morning when we were still sleepy, in our pajamas, and with our hair every which way.

I still have this cat and for a time I had my brother's Humpty, but I think I gave it up when I moved here to Florida. I also still have the twin blanket that went with the pink one that is on this bed. It belonged to my grandmother and has her initials embroidered on it. It is on Madison's bed now and I use it when I nap in her room.

These two with my brother and me are my neighbors from across the street, minus their sister. We took these two to our farm for fishing and fun in 1972. Their sister got her own trip later and I remember her time at the farm more then I remember this one.

And that's apparently because I was napping through most of it.

The first pool we joined was Old State Country Club and this picture is from there with our old neighbors visiting from Pennsylvania. Our mothers were so chic in those bikinis! My brother does this peace sign in a lot of photos from back in the day and it is very fitting because his daughter does that nonsense in a lot of photos I have of her!

I scanned this picture backwards I see, but it cracks me up. This is a first day of school picture. What is in that bag I'm carrying? My lunch? My school books? I don't know the date of this one, but has to be the seventies by looking at our pants and belts.

This picture goes with the first one I think since we are in the same pajamas. I apparently was happier at first. I like the picture because it shows our playroom downstairs and all of my treasures. The horse ended up here in Florida and both my girls rode it until it got too rusted and my husband threw it out. I still have the rocking chair and many little kids have used that. The table and chairs I saved, but they got lost in the flood we had years later. That record player I got on my first birthday and I used that thing forever along with the record case that I can still remember how it smelled when opened. I think these were lost in the damn flood too. Once my record player stopped working and my dad opened it up to fix it. Inside was a screwdriver and a flashlight he had left in there from the previous repair job. I still have all of my records and those read along books. Rusty's toy box and that other box also were lost in the flood. Good stuff back in the day. I'm glad to have salvaged some of it.

My civic duty

Yesterday I was determined to stay on schedule. Since my mother died and one child went to college and the other got her license my job duties as a SAHM have been reduced. I have started mapping out my days so that I don't just sit idle watching soaps and eating bon bons. Tuesday was mapped out accordingly:

• Strip beds, laundry
• Wash comforter at the cleaners
• Grocery
• Clean bedrooms and bathrooms
• Blog
• Work on picture project
• Pick up charge #1
• Guitar Lessons
• Pick up charge #2
• Make dinner

I felt it was a full day and one that would keep me very busy. I got through the first two quickly and was feeling pumped. In the middle of the grocery while looking for chicken breasts I received a text from daughter #2:

Darcy: "Hey mom will you call the doctor bc I'm having trouble breathing not like I can't breather it's sort of like my body is telling me to sleep a deep breath but I'm not able to get that breath and then I start breathing a lot of short breaths and I don't know what's wrong it's been going on for a couple of days and I just can't take it anymore. Plus I have other issues so kill multiple birds with one stone."

I got hung up on the first part of "I'm having trouble breathing" and suddenly I was having trouble breathing while holding packages of chicken breasts in one hand and the phone in the other. I took a deep breath and continued reading. Then I read it again. And again. Trying to decipher teen text language isn't easy, but I got the gist of the message. It wasn't anything new for Darcy who has experienced this once before in 2012. She had a chest x-ray and when all came back normal that was the end of it. I assured her I would call the doctor and she texted back a schedule of when an appointment would work for her which calmed me as it obviously wasn't an emergency.

I finished shopping, loaded the groceries in the car, and then called the doctor's office from the front seat. The man next to me was loading his groceries into his trunk and talking on a cell phone, and I was watching him as I spoke to the receptionist. Suddenly a loud BOOM shook the atmosphere like a huge explosion and both the man and I looked at each other and then turned toward the noise. Across the parking lot, behind the laundry mat I had been in earlier, an electric pole had something dangling in its wires. The object immediately exploded again and caught on fire in a ball of flames that I was sure would set the trees behind it on fire. We watched as the ball grew in flames and then as suddenly as it started it was out as if someone had doused it with water. 

I was still speaking to the doctor's office, and I turned back to my parking lot neighbor where we each mouthed to the other, "Holy Cow" or some such words. He got into his car and left and I finished my conversation after making an appointment for later in the day. I noticed that a few grocery store employees had come out of the store to see what had happened, but I also saw that the power appeared to still be on. From my vantage point it looked like a small drone airplane was dangling in the wires, and because it was interesting I decided to drive over to it to get a better look.

When I got to the pole I saw that it wasn't a plane, but the top of the pole. It was as if the top of the wooden pole had rotted and just fell over into the wires setting off an explosion. The pole itself was smoking from the top and I wondered if that was a concern. I needed to go to the Walmart grocery store across the street and I thought about the pole as I made my way there. I could still see it from the Walmart parking lot, and because I had recently put in Duke Energy's Outage number into my phone I called it.

Pedro: "Thank you for calling Duke Energy's Emergency number, how can I help you?"

Me: "Hello Pedro. I was just at the Publix grocery at (insert address) and south of that, behind the laundry mat and spa one of your electric poles exploded. The top of the pole fell and is dangling in the wires and it caught on fire when it fell, but the fire immediately went out. I'm not sure if anyone else reported this or not, but I drove by it and it is smoking."

Pedro: "Oh, my! And you said this is where again? The address?"

Me: "The Publix at (insert address). The pole is south of the grocery behind the nail spa."

Pedro: "And you say something is dangling in the wires?"

Me: "Yes, the top of the pole is dangling in the wires. It is as if the wood rotted and the top just fell off into the wires."

Pedro: "And there was a fire."

Me: "Oh, yes there was a fire. An explosion, a boom, a fire, and then it was all out and over. But there is smoke still coming from the pole. I'm not sure if businesses lost power or not, but I thought you needed to know about it."

Pedro: "May I have your name and number in case the technician would need to ask you questions once he gets on site?"

I really wanted to make a comment when he said that. "Absolutely, Pedro, have the technician call me if he needs helps repairing the damage. I'm an expert in repair jobs. Better yet, I shall get on my black, repair, bangled shirt, look up some repair advice on the Internet, and I can even meet the technician in the parking lot." I didn't though. Instead I gave him my name and number.

Pedro: "I want to thank you Cara, very much for taking the time out of your day to report this. I shall have a truck and technician out there shortly. You have done a great service. You are a queen in my book. You have saved the world!"

Well, he said the first part of that, but the rest of it I added when I told the story the rest of the day. By the time I got out of Walmart there was a fire engine and a Duke truck at the pole taking care of business. I decided to rubber neck and headed back across into the parking lot when I remembered that I really did need to go to the bank in the same plaza. I parked and headed inside, but was stopped by a lady coming out of the bank.

Lady: "Nope. Closed. They have no power. The whole plaza is out of power. I live in the condos behind here and we have no power. I haven't a clue why, but suddenly we lost power."

Me: "Well, I can tell you what happened because I saw the whole thing and was the one who reported it to Duke Energy."

Lady: "Really? Well, tell me! Tell me!"

The thing about these snow birds is that they love to be in the know and to take that information back to the rest of the group. So I filled her in, pointing and acting out the boom and the explosion, and ending with my heroism. She was dutifully impressed and could hardly wait to get back to the condos to report the news and as she hurried off she kept telling everyone else who pulled into the lot or tried to walk into the bank to talk to me. Suddenly I was holding court outside the bank telling everyone who listened the story of the exploding pole and my part in the rescue of the smoking pole. I eventually was saved by my friend who drove up, yelling out the window, "Hey Cara! I know you're responsible for this electric outage, what the hell did you do?"

And in that moment I realized that when one door closes, another one opens, and I told him not to worry that the technician and I would have this thing fixed in no time and then I would return to my SAHM job and get my non breathing kid to the doctor schedule be damned!

I'm now going to re-think my P.I. dream

Last Saturday was cold and rainy here. My cousin and his wife who are traveling Florida in their camper/trailer came by to help Tom fix our pool pump that is kaput. My cousin Darrell called me earlier in the week to ask if I had any work for him to do at The Condo because vacationing was making him restless and he needed some projects. I mentioned the pool pump instead, not because I didn't have maintenance issues at The Condo, but because I wasn't too sure of my husband's repairing abilities whereas I knew Darrell would know what the hell he was doing.

He and Kathy arrived with the rain in the morning. He and Tom worked a few hours in the wetness until Tom decided it was too cold and too rainy. He suggested that the two of them head to The Condo to work indoors, and Kathy and I went along to keep an eye on them for the ride. I had told Kathy earlier that morning about the attic and our story that went along with that discovery. Tom had told Darrell. So armed this time with proper equipment, i.e. ladder, drill, we drove up to The Condo and the men went to work on investigating the mystery of the master bedroom switch that bothered Tom. The first thing they did was go into the attic which meant they retrieved the two remaining boxes that Tom had seen in there previously but could not reach.

The first box was the exact replica of the box Tom and I had found full of clothes. This box had a sticky note on the top that was readable. It said, "Chris' Maternity Clothes" and was full of outdated clothing and yellowed pantyhose. Kathy and I were disappointed in this discovery, and after sifting through the musty smelling clothes we tossed it aside.

Darrell: "Want me to bring down the gold treasure chest next?" (A reference to my thinking there would be money and treasure in the attic.)
Me: "Smart Ass"

A few minutes later Tom came out with the second box, and it was much more exciting. It was a huge box, a bit aged from years in the attic, but all sealed and on it is said, "Bridal Chest". There was a cleaner's receipt stapled to the outside of the box from a local cleaners and while the writing on it was faded we could make out some of it. There was a phone number clearly visible and it stated that the job was to clean, preserve and store a wedding dress. The date was May 1987. There was a name written in the top corner of the receipt, but all I could make out was the last three letters as the first letter was too faded.

We wondered aloud if we should open it, and then because we had nothing else too do and we were nosy, we set about to open it. It was not easy. The cleaners had done a terrific job of packing and wrapping and sealing. The box opened easily enough to reveal another box wrapped and sealed in a blue, heavy, plastic bag. We took that off and found a gold box which we made sure to shove in Darrell's nose because it really did look like a gold treasure box.

That box was very hard to open. It was sealed on three sides and while we got the front opened the other two proved to be very difficult. I cut my finger on one side and eventually Kathy got a knife and we spent several minutes working the tabs out. At this point we both commented on whether we should continue with the unveiling, but again, we were too curious. With the knife and our fingers pushing and pulling, we finally opened the gold box to find another box with a see through lid that revealed the wedding dress.

It was nicely folded with tissue paper so that the front of the dress was displayed in the box. We, of course, opened the box. The dress was nicely preserved. It was still white (the above photo was my shadow hovering) and quite lovely with the beading still intact. It was a size 12. We decided not to take the dress out of the box. Kathy and I sat down and talked about the owner instead.

Me: "It's almost 30 years old. How old do you think the owner would be now?"

Kathy: "I don't know."

Me: "Well, if she got married in her 20's that would put her in her 50's now."

Kathy: "Or older if she got married later."

Me: "I feel like we should try to find her. Should we try to find her?"

Kathy: "Would she even want this? Why didn't she take it with her?"

Me: "Maybe her mother was storing it? But why wouldn't they remember the attic when they moved?"

Kathy: "Maybe the mother died and they didn't know the stuff was up there just like you."

Me: "That could be true."

We got back up and examined the cleaners receipt some more. There was a ticket taped to the bottom corner, and I could see that the last two letters matched those in the corner above which made me think the rest of the name was under the ticket. I couldn't get the ticket off without ripping the receipt so Kathy did it. She had way more patience then I did and she carefully picked and peeled until the ticket and tape came up and we saw the complete name.

Me: "Okay, so should I call this number on here?"

Kathy: "It can't hurt."

Me: (I dialed and heard the beep, beep, and a voice telling me the number was no longer in service) "The number is out of service. Do you think the cleaners would still have records that far back?"

Kathy: "Probably not. Legally you have to keep papers and records for tax purposes for only seven years. I doubt they kept thirty years worth of information. Especially not if they weren't computerized then."

Me: "We're making it sound like thirty years was so far back. It's making me feel old."

Kathy: "We're not old."

Me: "Well, I guess she had kids if those are her maternity clothes. Although Chris with a "C" is a guy's name."

Kathy: "Not necessarily. It could be short for Christine. And "C"'s were a more popular spelling in the old days like my name with Cathy instead of Kathy."

Me: "Christine is a possibility. I have the paperwork at home of when my mom purchased the house and the seller's name on it. I could look there and see if it is a Christine or Chris. I think it was a woman."

We sat some more and speculated, and then I got the idea of looking up the information on the property appraiser's website. I spent some time plowing through the various pages on the website until I found that the condo had been sold four times over the years since it was first built. The first owner was not a Chris or a Christine. I couldn't get the second or third owner information to download, and the fourth wasn't working either so I opened another page to look up Christine using the last name on the cleaner's receipt on Google. Of course I got several people with that name so I tried narrowing it down with Florida and the cities around The Condo. Eventually I went back to the first page and discovered that the information had downloaded.

My mother had purchased her Florida home from a single woman whose name appeared along with a Christine with the same last name as the one on the receipt plus her married name and her husband. All three were listed as sellers. Now I had her married name and that of her husband. I tried him first thinking he would be easier to locate. He was a bust. No one by that name was anywhere on the Internet. I went on to Facebook and tried to find Christine. No one by that name popped up.

Me: "Who in their 50's doesn't have Facebook?"

Kathy: "I didn't get Facebook until recently."

Me: "And look how you love it. If we find this woman I'm going to tell her that."

I kept trying the Internet putting in variations of her name. The only hit I got was from a site that wanted me to send them $1 for all Christine' s information including arrests and court appearances. The only helpful thing the site gave me was a local city and her age of 54 so I went to the Whitepages app and put in her name and the city and VIOLA I got an address and a phone number.

Me: "Do you think that's it? Could it really be that simple?"

Kathy: "Call and see."

So I did. I got a machine and so I started leaving a message with my name and the fact that I had inherited this condo and had found a wedding dress in the attic and had put two and two together and was looking for Christine. Before I could leave my number a male voice came on.

Male: "Hold on! Hold on! Hold on a minute."

Me: "Okay."

Female: "Hello? Cara?"

Me: "Christine?"

It was her. She couldn't believe I had found her wedding dress let alone her. I couldn't believe it had been that simple. I've seen enough stories via the Internet of people who search for years to return personal items they have found. Christine kept thanking me for tracking her down. She wanted to hear the story so I told it to her. She wanted to know what else I found and that stopped me for a moment since I had chucked the previous attic finds the week before. I told her we had her maternity clothes. She gave me directions to her house, and I told her we would drop the dress off on our way to grab a bite to eat. Kathy and I closed up the wedding dress box and put it into the other box and that one into the other box. We used the blue, plastic bag to put the box with the maternity clothes in it. By that time the men were finished and we all set off to meet Christine.

We found her house with no problem. She met us outside very excited, although a tad apprehensive. She told us after she hung up she worried about strangers and identity theft, but our showing up with a wedding dress I think reassured her. We handed it over.

Christine: "I can't believe you would go to all of this trouble. I can't believe you found me so easily. That's a little scary."

Me: "Well, in this world of social media I don't think anyone can stay hidden for long."

Christine: "I know, but I'm not on social media. I mean, I've never ever BEEN on Facebook."

Me: "Yeah I did discover that. What woman in her fifties isn't on Facebook?"

Christine: "Me."

Me: "Girl, you're missing out. And just so you know I'm a blogger and this certainly is going to be going on my site. I hope that's okay with you."

Christine: "Oh. Sure. Thank you SO much. I only have a son so I'm not sure what I'll do with this dress, but it is SO exciting. Thank you."

She kept thanking me and then the rain started again so I bid her good-bye. I really wanted to take her picture with the dress for my blog, but she still seemed apprehensive and so I didn't. We left her in her garage with a man, who may have been or may not have been her husband, the two of them bending over the box laughing in wonderment.

We left and toasted our success with beers at dinner, although Kathy had coffee. And then we all had another round to toast our success again with the dress, The Condo, the pool pump, and with family togetherness.

Old pictures - Random Theme

This whole birthday shout out thing, along with my New Year's Resolution to scan my photos, has taken me back in time. The cool thing about finding these little gems is the fact that I've reconnected with several of the people in these photos via social media. At some point when I have everything organized I'll have to post them for all to see. In the meantime, those that read my blog and support me by doing so will get first peek!

This is my brother and I with our next door neighbors from Pennsylvania. I have 1973 on the back of the picture, but have absolutely no idea where we are or what we are doing although it appears we are hiking in some woods. I love my striped tunic shirt with the belt. That shirt is coming back by the way.

This is 1974 (I know because my dad wrote that on it) and my brother and I are in a tree at my Aunt Helen's farm. I vaguely remember this time and only because it went along with trying to get me on a horse too. I think my dad had to help me get into the tree and most likely manipulated me to do so since tree climbing and heights was not my forte.

When I did the birthday shout out to my cousin Maya I was looking for a certain photo of her first trip to our house. It was not with my pictures, but yesterday I found them in an old photo book boxed away. This was 1980 I think.

This goofball is my SIL at Don Mattingly's bar in our hometown. I think this may have been her rehearsal dinner? Not sure about that.

I have tons of birthday party pictures. I'll have to have that a theme next time. This was my brother's birthday in 1979 with the neighbor kids. Love those glasses I'm wearing.

Monday morning NFL recap - Super Bowl

First, I want to say that I ended up making Sunday dinner because Tom went to work at The Condo with my cousin who is in town. Normally Tom makes Sunday meals, but my cousin Darrell is a man, just like my dad, who gets bored on vacation and needs projects. So when he called Tom and offered his help at The Condo Tom and I knew we had to jump. Tom had planned on wings so I got a crockpot recipe for those. I wanted macaroni and cheese and so I found a recipe for that. Then just for good measure I researched Super Bowl recipes and found one for Cheesy Burgers. All three dishes turned out to be a MAJOR HIT. I am now the Super Bowl Meal Queen.

Secondly, because I was busy cooking I had to pause the beginning of the game, and thus when we sat down with our plates I forgot all about the commercials as I fast forwarded through from play to play. So I can't really comment about those this year except for the second half.

Lastly...

PEYTON MANNING! PEYTON MANNING! PEYTON MANNING!

YAY PEYTON MANNING!!!!

• First thing as Peyton took the field at the start of the game was the "oldest quarterback" comment that gets my blood boiling. Really? Are we so caught up with the obvious that we can't come up with something better? We've had a week of Super Bowl hype and questions and comments and guess what? We all know the quarterback age difference guys.
• Denver's offense and defense came out smokin' while the Panthers offense looked nervous and off kilter. Neither lasted long in those roles.
• The Bronco's Aqib Talib seemed to forget where he was in the first half. No one had to be knowledgeable about football when the flags were thrown. No matter the infraction we knew it was on "#21" as he made 1, 2, and 3 penalties that pretty much allowed the Panthers to put their first 7 points on the board. This is where I felt Coach Kubiak needed to step in and rein him in instead of worrying about calling Manning's offensive plays.
• And speaking of that...I really felt Kubiak needed to step back and let Manning do what he does best. Have you not listened to Terry Bradshaw? He called his own plays and has four Super Bowl rings to show for it. Kubiak's plays didn't get anywhere near the end zone and the Bronco's had to kick time after time after time.
• I'm not a big fan of the halftime entertainment and this 50th anniversary celebration didn't do anything to change my mind. If Bruno Mars hadn't rocked his hips and showed us his fancy footwork I would have gone to sleep.
• Defense vs Defense ruling the entire game. Who knew?
• Anyone else think Cam Newton came unhinged? Not going after the loose ball was really not Newton. Odd. But I'm telling you it is better to lose a few games during the season so you don't get to feeling too cocky. Ask Manning about that when he was last here after a stellar season. In fact all five teams who won 15 games lost the big one.
• As I've said before I am not a fan of the CBS team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. But really when they started tooting their own horn in Oh-we-picked-the-Broncos-with-their-great-defense-at-the-beginning-of-the-season it made me dislike them even more.
• Peyton wanted to go for two, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that he threw the damn ball and got into the end zone for the extra points.
• I know that Carolina fans wanted this win, but did they really? Heck, I think the entire US was pulling for Peyton Manning. He should retire and then run for President.
• Now we just need him to do the right thing and retire. Go out on a high. Leave with a win. End the fairytale the way Disney does fairytales. Thanks for the memories Manning. You're the best in my book. Class act all the way.
• Blah on the commercials. Other than the weird "Super Bowl Babies" through the years I really can't remember one of them.
• The best 50th anniversary celebration the NFL did was the MVP's of past years carrying the trophy to the podium. Although they could only get three? Who was in charge of this debacle?
• Annabel Bowlen, wife of the Bronco's owner, on stage again? Oh, boy. At least she kept it short and sweet this time.
• I thought it odd no one mentioned Brock Osweiler in interviews. Really without him the Broncos might not have even been here.
• Was that booing when Coach Kubiak took the stage? Hmmm....
• Okay, I wasn't happy with Peyton's Budweiser plugging. Too many kids watching and he referenced too much about drinking a lot of beer.
• I sure hope FOX has the Super Bowl next year because that trophy presentation and postgame sucked. I had to switch over to the NFL Network and ESPN for anything noteworthy.
• Wow. How disappointing was Cam Newton's postgame press conference? He sat there like he was Marshawn Lynch giving one word and one sentence answers like a little kid and then he stood up and walked off. Dude, watch back on Peyton Manning's postgame interviews after losing. I get losing, but this is part of the game. You dropped down in my eyes with that. Shameful.
• Oh, yeah, one last thing. Suck it Jim Irsay!

Happy Birthday Shout out #5

Wow. Two birthdays in a row. This is getting crazy!

Happy Birthday Maya

Maya is my first cousin, my mother's niece, whom I first met when she was a tiny toddler. I won't discuss my first memory of her because I was seven years old, and it might embarrass her, and it is her birthday. But she grew up in what my mother referred to as the "backwoods of California" in a one-room log cabin house. Which, of course, made her the coolest kid in my eyes because she was living what I pictured as a Little House on the Prairie life. 

She was shy and very quiet as a youngster. She was home-schooled by her mom, and that was SO fascinating to us public school kids. Her mom would send us some of her stories and poems made into little books complete with pictures that would make me jealous because she was published, and I wasn't. Maya would make us small nature gifts from acorns, woods, and berries, and we thought her life so mysterious and worried it might be a bit pitiful since she didn't have crayons or paints. Of course, we had no clue, and it wasn't until their visits to us became more frequent that we discovered her life wasn't much different from ours. 

It was cool to have a cousin who loved to read and write as much as I did. I always felt a connection because of that despite being older. Pretty soon, having her and her mother each Christmas was something we counted on and looked forward to, and we still do to this day.

 

When I got married, I worried because I had so little family next to my husband's large contingent. One by one, my family representation grew to nothing as people could not travel or were off living their own lives. When Maya said she was coming, I cried. I am so grateful for her presence on my big day.

Since then, I've seen her get married, we've vacationed together, and watched one another become mothers. She's grown from the shy, quiet, stay in the background kid into a beautiful, funny, caring, and capable woman.

 

We might be cousins, but I like to think we are also friends. 

Happy Birthday, Cousin Maya. I hope your day is quiet with a nice glass of wine. I love you dearly!