Gram's Place

Fortune cookies from two weeks ago: Tina's: Traveling to the south will bring you unexpected happiness. Shawn's: Modify your thinking to handle new situations. This week, I started a new job and I drive 25 minutes (yes you guessed it south) each morning. My man is having a difficult time with this new schedule... maybe he just needs to modify his thinking. ;)

Chrysanthemama is having a fun contest and I hope I win! I love Starbucks coffee... you should check it out on her site here. I commented about how much I love fall on her site.... so I thought I'd say a bit more. I love fall. Love it. Love Love Love it. I love the sights of fall: one of the things I am most excited about this year is my awesome pumpkins from our garden. We have about a dozen of them all over the place.. and they are so. cute. I also love fall food: I can't wait for my first opportunity to settle in for a cool evening with hot soup and some hard crusted bread, followed up by a pan of pumpkin bars oozing with cream cheese frosting and hot coffee with vanilla caramel creamer. mmm mmm good. And the smell... the cool crisp breeze and fresh air in fall. I love it. Looking forward to a couple months of my favorite season of all.

Shawn and I took the day off today from everything and went for a drive. The seasons are changing and the midwest landscape is starting to show it. It was a beautiful day. A great time with a great guy.

Linda, over at 2nd Cup of Coffee , made up a meme. Good job Linda! Here are my answers: 1. Which is worse: a long, boring meeting or standing in a return/exchange line after Christmas? I have to go with the line. A long boring meeting can always be made fun, especially if the long, boring meeting allows you to "take notes" on your laptop. ;) 2. Except for maybe Rosie O'Donnell or Ann Coulter, nobody likes confrontation, yet we all have to deal with it. When you feel cornered and defensive, do you "bite back" or become passive aggressive? It depends on who is doing the confronting. Some people I will "bite back". Others, I will become passive agressive. I deal with friction from various sources differently. However, on all matters of things I love (like coffee, sunflower seeds, my kids,... I will most likely rip you to shreds in defensiveness). 3. Do you know anything about your genealogical background? (What country, culture, ties to prominent historic...

"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory"

No, silly, we're not moving.  That would require loads and loads of work.  And I'm not doing that. It's crazy.  This week, 3 of my friends are moving. Yes, 3. All at one time.  We committed to helping the first one that announced so we're on for that one.  The others get our sympathy and support... but not our physical presence. Mary and Paul are moving into a new home.  They've rented for a long long time and we're super excited for them to be homeowners.  This week we've spent some long hours getting the new place ready for tomorrows moving day.  Bill and Natalie are moving to Arkansas.  There is something about Arkansas that keeps drawing our friends there. God is doing great things in their lives and we're excited for them to move to their next steps with Christ. Tom and Patti are moving to Kentucky. They can't believe it either.  And when I sang "We're going to Kentucky we're going to the fair..." song to her yeste...

Last night, we went to church and before we went home we hit Taco Bell for a free one of these. I know... it says "Valid only in the Greater Phoenix Area". Now. But, yesterday, it didn't. And yesterday was the day I printed mine! So, we got them. mmmmm hmmmmm. we did. If you really want to get in on some good deals, I highly recommend subscribing to slickdeals.net on your bloglines. You'll get the daily updates for all the great deals. It's worth it.

Been having some strange dreams lately. Last night, I dreamt that all my tomatoes were ripe, so I picked them until the plants were bare. Then, in my dream, I experienced a strange sadness... because I didn't have any tomatoes to look forward to any longer. I was thinking this morning maybe I should go out and check those tomatoes just to make sure they are not ripe yet. Instead, I sat and watched the cat play with a strange caterpillar that had found its way into the house ... for about a half hour. Just enjoying the simple things in life. It really doesn't get any less complicated than this.

Today is September 1. I just can hardly believe it. It doesn't seem like it should be September already. I thought I'd better make a list of things I have to get done in the garden before September gives way to October. 1. weed. - yes, I'm still doing that. 2. cut back all the perennials that are finished blooming - not many here yet. We're starting though! 3. get those tomatoes to ripen! Do you suppose I could do a cheer for them? Soon enough I will resort to ripening inside. 4. turn the compost 5. plant spring bulbs 6. plant garlic (this can actually wait until next month) 7. begin saving and drying zinnia and marigold seeds 8. watch for frost! BRR!! I just can't bear to think of it!

Just thought I'd put a plug in for my daughter's worship band who just released their first CD. Check it out at http://www.anthemworship.com/ and buy the CD! It's only 10 bucks! What a deal!