Little Things Can Go A Long Way

There are times unexpected occurences happen that can give you a boost when you most need it.

Being a woman who has worked for going on almost 40 years, its been a challenge to maintain my sense of self-worth and confidence during my unemployment.  It's made me understand that a career is not my whole life and does not fully make me up. However, it can be rough to apply for jobs and only receive rejection, which can chisel away at a person's sense of self-worth.  This week acing the job test and being scheduled for an interview has given me a little boost. Yeah, I still got it!

In addition, over the past couple of weeks I've received several compliments from strangers on my hair - the color and the style. Today a lady said she loved my "look" - my outfit, my makeup, and my hair. Such a nice compliment and it put a little kick in my step! 

Here's to keeping my head on straight and maintaining a positive outlook on life!  And especially being grateful for those unexpected events in life.

Quilt and Quiz

Been working on some Christmas crafts using my sewing machine. Ended up with some leftover fabric so decided to make a quilt. Once done, I decided to gift it to the baby son of one of Sam's friends, Cody.

Cody stopped by tonight to pick it up. He seemed pretty happy with it so I hope his son Aiden enjoys it.

Finished off a couple rocks tonight.  Already dropped off the larger stack I had to be hidden so my new ones will have to be patient.

Went in this afternoon for the job math test.  There were about 10 people taking the test. Piece of cake!! Only took 25 minutes which allowed me to go over it twice. 

Once done, they scored the tests then took participants out one at a time to let them know how they did.  Pretty soon there were just three of us left and we all received packets and told we would be interviewed next week. You must have crossed your fingers for me as I'm on to the next step!

Hello 4am......Ugh

Spent the weekend crafting, painting, sewing, and creating. Last night finished up a pile of rocks. Must have been overly stimulated as couldn't fall asleep until midnight. Then, woke up at 4am!  What the heck!!!  Got up this morning and sealed the rocks so they will be ready to hide today.

Turned in some more DVD's for credit on Saturday. Grabbed a variety of older movies including For Whom the Bell Tolls. Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper so figured it would be great.

Well not so much. Long, slow and I just couldn't get through it. Gary Cooper aka Mr. Deeds playing a guerilla fighter and Swedish Ingrid playing a Spanish  revolutionary.  C'mon.  At one point thought it was coming to an end then the Intermission screen comes up. At that point it was time for a new movie!

Here's to making it a good week.  I actually have a test for a job this coming Wednesday. Think positive!!

Haul Out the Holly!

Welcomed in the holiday season by hauling in the Christmas tree this morning.  Easy task as it's already decorated - just had to remove the cling wrap.

Brought in a few wreaths, Christmas quilts, and snowmen. Still need to lug my huge porch snowman in from the garage. Also hung up my holiday shoe from sis Eilene and Santa Baby created by sis Erin, which means the yuletide has begun!!

Watched Miracle on 34th Street this morning and now I'm starting Starman. Love them both!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone!

Put the turkey in at 10am and it was done about 12:30. We ended up eating at 1:30 and the food was yummy. So nice when the turkey turned out juicy - nothing worse than dry turkey breast!

Was able to enjoy the dinner with Steve, Sam, Jordan and Candy, and Jimmy. Nice to catch up with everyone!

Steve hit the road about 4pm to enjoy another meal at his sister's house. It's the first holiday without his mom so I knew he wanted to be with his dad. Holidays can be so hard when you've experienced a loss, especially of your mother.

Now it's evening and all are gone so I'm watching Pride and Prejudice.  Is it too soon for a turkey sandwich? 😆

Frustrations of Pie

Made a peach pie this summer; fruit was too ripe so turned out mushy and promptly went into the trash. Last month tried to make a huckleberry pie. Taste seemed off to me so that one was also round filed. This morning just put an apple pie in the oven for Thanksgiving. I have high hopes that this one will turn out just right. Cross your fingers for me!!

A Waste of Time

Sis Julie gave me a Pampered Chef cookie press a few years ago that she didn't care to use. It's been hanging around and I finally tested it out tonight and understand her point completely!

The shooting press works but it doesn't cling to the cookie sheet. Granted, I was using a Silpat pad not an untreated sheet so perhaps the dough wasn't gripping correctly. Reading through the materials, it referenced using their stone baking wear, which has much more grip.

I gave up and hand formed the cookies. I'll tackle the press another day but have to agree that for tonight I'm with Julie's thoughts on the press as she so eloquently wrote on the instructions.

From Hepburn to Pasta

Been watching a lot of Katherine Hepburn movies, including a set that includes Spencer Tracy. She was quite the interesting character. Looked up her biography - she came from a very liberal background with educated parents and a mother who was an early feminist. In her youth she kept her hair short and asked to be called Jimmy.  So enlightening to be able to easily find background data on everything as I'm watching these classic movies.

Along with rocks, I've been playing around with driftwood painting.  Wandering Willow Grove, some of the driftwood just screams out to me what it needs to become.  Found this piece that looked like a stack of books so that's what it has become.

Made a nice pasta salad today. Pasta salads are one of the easiest dishes to create and you can use just about anything in them.  Today I made a bacon ranch shell salad. Didn't have ranch dressing on hand so found an Ina Garten recipe on line for it as shown below. Threw in peas, cheese, celery, and olives along with crispy bacon. My little Stubbs stayed underfoot hoping to snag a wayward piece of pork.

Tomorrow I begin preparing for Thanksgiving by whipping up an apple pie. I'm going to try and get as much done the day before so it will make the day easy. 

Lazy Thursday

Oh it was an out and out lazy day today!  Just didn't feel like doing a darn thing!

Although I'm not a night owl, have been staying up later. Went to bed at 1am, woke at 7 am and crawled out of bed about 8:30. Made my way downstairs for coffee then vegged on the couch watching classic movies. All. Day. Long.

Okay, I did get up to paint rocks, lacquer driftwood, and begin creating a mermaid. And this evening I actually cleaned the kitchen. Other than that, I hung out in last night's pajamas all day.

They say it's good to take a break now and then from life so that was my Thursday. 😊

From DVD's to Cheeseburgers

Went through my hoard of DVDs yesterday and picked out a ton I no longer watch or have no interest in watching. Lugged them over to Classics & Oddities and wound up with $100 in credit. Yee haw! They have a good supply of classics so came home with a bunch of keepers, including Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and a rockin Frank Capra collection.

If the dvd includes it, I always like watching the special features. One of them included Ups and Downs, a short that included a very young, very blond June Allyson.  Have always seen her with red hair so it was weird to see her ala Jean Harlow.

After the dvd excursion, met up with Jordan and Candy for pizza. Went to the former Pietros, now called Pie@trios, which has been around forever but where I hadn't been in years. Still good chow!

Today I followed Jordan and Candy over to Rainier to visit the Columbia Mermaid, a store with all things mermaid and beach themed. It's also a stones, oil, soap, decor, and local artist mecca.  Bought a few amethyst stones for a driftwood project. The owner allows people to sell their wares so I'm thinking of selling my beach related items there.

This afternoon I found myself craving a thick, juicy hamburger.  Came home and cooked up some awesome bacon cheeseburgers, including lettuce, tomato, sautéed mushrooms, and special sauce. Sam swung by and had a burger as well. Really hit the spot!!

Over the weekend I painted a rock for Lexington Hardware, the store that Sam works in occassionally. I included all the worker's faces on the rocks and dropped it off on Sunday. Today one of the bosses put the following on the Cowlitz County Rocks Facebook, which was cool.

I shared my Chelsea story on Facebook and yesterday she responded with the following, which was so sweet.

Thank you for all of the years of fun and love!   You are such an influence on the person I am today; “goodwill hunting” is still a favorite pass time to date, sewing is one of my passions,  crafting is part of my profession and of course there is the fact that I know how to apply makeup without looking like a clown.  Thank you so much for showing me how much fun it is to be a girl!  Thank you for all that you did when I was young to ensure I stayed on the right path!  I love you...thanks for always being an amazing mother💋

Feeling the love!

Memories of a Daughter

Back in the day, I used to have a daughter - an actual girl on my side to balance out all the boys in the house. She was actually a stepdaughter, Chelsea, and I had a great time doing all sorts of girly things with her. Shopping, chatting, makeup, and I even sewed her a formal dance dress.

Time goes by, divorce happens, and kids grow up. We are now mainly Facebook friends so I was happily surprised when she showed up on my doorstep last night.

She was in town visiting her brother and decided to stop by.  Wonderful surprise and we spent two hours catching up. The girl is almost 30 believe it or not! No longer the teenager who insisted on a wardrobe of black for her school clothes.  No longer the girl who pierced her own belly button and hid it from us for a year.  Still the gorgeous girl, now a woman, that I remembered. She's obtained two degrees, traveled the world, and has a million projects on her plate.  Funny, intelligent, and beautiful, it was so nice to see this person for whom I had a small part in raising.

She may no longer be my stepdaughter but I'm happy that she will always be my friend. Thank you Chels for thinking of me and stopping by to connect!

Sunday at the Grove

This morning I awoke, had my coffee, then took a nice long shower. Did my hair curly today - it has lots of wave on its own but needs a nudge with the curling iron to give it some definition.  Threw on my overalls and I was ready for the day!

Bundled up Stubbs and we headed over to the Mickey Mouse bridge on the Toutle River to shore up my rock supplies. Was sprinkling some but it didn't take long to fill a bag.

On to Willow Grove, one of our favorite spots. Pup and I wandered the shore in search of driftwood for me and new places to pee for him.  Found an exceptional piece of wood that will make an outstanding planter once I'm through with it.

My hair? That river wind gusted and tormented my curls! It was quite the site when we were back in the car!  That oomph turned into matted crow's nest!!  In addition, got something in my right eye so it began weeping and turning red.  Rubbed it until was left with one eye all glam and the other absent of makeup and bloodshot. Arrived home and promptly shoved a clip in to get hair out of my face and properly washed my eyes!

Rinsed the rocks and while they are drying cooked up a batch of breadcrumb topped homemade mac and cheese, which is now in the oven.  Methinks it's time for an old movie and perhaps a nap. Hey, that's what Sundays are for after all!! 😉

Advice 5 Cents

I shoulda gotten a paycheck today!

Today I was inundated with friends who needed my HR advice.  Two were previous co-workers and the third was a close friend since junior high. Questions about unemployment, hearings, discrimination, harassment, and so on.  And of course I love giving advice especially when it's using my HR knowledge.  Made me feel good to help out friends in need.

Marking That One Off the List!

Thursday night returned to basics and painted about ten rocks, most with a hunting or fishing theme.  The gang over at Lexington Hardware have been asking for more to hide so figured I'd whip some up.  Dropped them off to hide Friday morning.

Spent the rest of Friday running around town with Sam, helping him to get errands done. He treated me at Izzy's for lunch and it was fun catching up.

This morning after coffee and cleaning the kitchen, I began the task of cleaning the back room.  Tossed out about 5 bags of assorted trash then moved a large bookshelf from the room to the stairway landing.  Well, Sam stopped by and was kind enough to help his poor mother take out the garbage and move the bookcase.

Then proceeded to move and organize all my DVDs to the bookcase.  My experience working in a library and knowing the Dewey Decimal system came in handy as I alphabetized all those titles.  However, such a lengthy process - once it hit 4pm I said "screw this" and just tossed the rest of the movies on to the shelf! 

Finally finished cleaning and organizing about 5pm and boy am I beat!  Been a long day working to mark off another item from my to-do list but happy it's done!

Loving the Lines of Driftwood

Found a piece of awesome driftwood at Willow Grove over the weekend.  Great curves with weathered details. 

Brought it home and lathered it with Liquid Gold then lacquered it.  Turned out beautiful but needed one more piece of oomph. Tried seaglass, crab ornament, candleholder - nothing was working.  Finally found a bronzed glass ball that seemed to do the trick. 

Now, where to put it on display???

Halloween Hangover

Halloween has came and went.  Had 400 visitors to the house; had to turn off the porch light when we ran out of candy.  We still had about four more knocks on the door, even after shutting the drapes and turning off most of the lights in the living room.  Some people's children!

Best costumes of the night!

Driving home yesterday we passed four deer just hanging out in a yard.  Had to stop and take pictures as they were almost tame.

Happy birthday to my mom today.  Been about 21 years she's been gone and I miss her every day.  Not sure if it's me missing her, my menopausal hormones, or a sugar hangover but I'm having an emotional day.  Thinking I may just crawl back into bed and binge on classic movies!!