This weather is getting old

Chessie looking out the window on  a rainy day 

This terrible weather is getting old.  Windy, rainy, grey, depressing.  Just when you think the sun will come out, it is gone again and more rain, wind, cold.  I am starting to get a little depressed about winter hanging on and on.   All I want to do is eat and play Bubble Town on the computer.  Not good.  At least I have begun my workouts again (after Windy and Steffi's visit -- about which I will write later).  But I have not been changing out of my workout clothes and droop around the house all day looking out the window and petting Chessie.   No makeup, no hair arrangement.  In spite of the exercise, feeling stiff and sore and cranky as hell.

I have made it through February and into March on just my retirement checks, but this month I am running short and think I will need to tap my deferred comp soon.  I sent for the paperwork and it arrived, but somewhere during the chaos of the last couple of weeks with Germans here, it has gotten lost.  I'll have to ask for it to be sent again.   I did spend the first few months of retirement buying clothes(workout clothes, skinny jeans, outfits for the wedding) gadgets (my little portable CD player, and DVD player for my yoga and pilates DVDs), and silly stuff like new art supplies and stuff to make kitty toys to sell at the Christmas crafts fair.  I have actually completed a krunchie tin from the popcorn factory tin I got Rod for Valentine's day.  I just need to spray the lacquer finish on it .  I hope I can get up the gumption to start on the kitty beds, gloves, tiger tails, collars, catnip toys, and rolling toys from spools soon.   Almost every day I made a trip to WalMart, 99 Cent only, Michael's, Ross, or DD Discount for some new thing.  But now I am getting down to $300 and the end of the month is still a week away!!!   Can't even shop for food -- luckily have a well stocked freezer and pantry and I can get creative.  But one still needs milk, eggs, and fresh veggies.  Today bought $5 worth of lottery tickets for the megamillions -- hahaha -- as if!!!

Here's what I would do if I won all that money:   pay off our mortgage, redo the back yard and put up a big fence so I could have a deer-proof vegetable garden and a chicken house with chickens.  Recarpet the bedroom and buy new bedroom furniture.  Buy a house for Aaron and Marta, and a condo for Amy. Go to the Greek Islands for a month.  Send money to Best Friends, NEWS, Planned Parenthood. and Habitat for Humanity.  Hire a personal trainer. Pay off Ann and Ray's mortgage.  Set up college funds for all of the grandkids.  Buy  a new jacuzzi. Fund a cat sanctuary no kill wing at Napa Humane.   And I still would have plenty left over so Rod could have some fun, too.

I called Judy and Christina today and had to leave messages -- I wonder if they are still going to walk with me in September on the 3 Day?   Mary Burdick and Amy Van Doren have both backed out, and Carol might have to have surgery on her foot.  Only Mary Steinert is left.   I really want to do this,and I hope I won't have to do it alone.  I am only $455 from my fund raising goal!!!

Have discovered that if I drink a glass of tonic water before I go to bed, I get NO LEG AND FOOT CRAMPS at night!!!    You would think this means I am sleeping better, but no -- still wake at least two and sometimes up to four times a night to pee or just because I have to carefully turn over so as not to crush Bailey.  I would love a good night's sleep!!!!

Maybe tonight ...........

Too Busy to Blog - February Car Show, valentine's day, and Goddesses

I can't believe how long it has been since I visited my own blog to add something.  On February 11 we departed for Palm Springs towing a car trailer and the '58 Impala. We spent the weekend at the Dr. George car show and I cannot believe I don't have one photo!!   It was hot and I got a sunburn on my forehead and neck/chest.  A very long drive, but we had plenty of cds so that helped a lot.  I was great to see Dennis and Carol and all of the cool cars at the show.

When we got back to Napa, it was Valentine's day the very next day, and we went to Domain Chandon for a (very pricey) dinner at L'Etoile.   It was drizzly and rainy and it is  long walk from the car to the restaurant doorway, across a little bridge.  I wore my fox jacket and it was wet when we got to the door.  the dinner wasn't that great, and we remarked again how our tried and true favorites never disappoint yet when we try something new it is rarely as good.

In all the commotion, I forgot about my mammogram appointment the very next day.  The rest of the week was spent getting ready for the gathering of the goddesses on the 19th.  I cleaned things that have not been cleaned in a year (patio furniture for example) and then I cooked -- green peppercorn pate, shrimp spread, crab spread, goddess parfaits (fresh fruit, vanilla yogurt, topped with granola and garnished with a pirouette cookie), fresh squeezed orange juice for mimosas, and coffee.

 http://www.wix.com/warmquilts/goddesses2011

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!    Thanks to Esther, we have a great album of pictures to browse (see above).  Although it started out a wet and cold drizzly day, with brunch on the patio being kept warm in the BBQ, and
Mary Burdick in the garage because of cat allergies.   Thanks to our consorts -- Rod (my consort), Scott (Esther's consort), Peter (Mary Steinert's consort) and Virgil (Linda Patterson's consort), we had chauffeurs for the whole trip in the '54 Cadillac, Willys, T-Bird and '63 Cadillac.

                                                Brunch with Goddess Parfaits

                                                      Cadillac arriving at Villa Spankadellik

Villa Spankadellik was so great.  Kristi and Ed were such gracious hosts and had such wonderful art to share with us.  We even had wine and tea if we desired.   How terrific to live in your studio and be surrounded by your own and other people's inspiring art every day.

                                                     Wine cellar gallery at Villa Spankadellik

After this venue, it was off to Hendry Winery for an afternoon of wine tasting and wine education.  Our tables were set with place mats of the vineyards and the different varietals grown in each region, wine glasses, napkins, and "spit cups" (which NOBODY used!!!).  I brought out the veggie and ranch dip trays, crab and shrimp spread, green peppercorn pate,  baguettes, cheeses, and crackers I had brought up  the day before.

 
                                                       Wine Tasting at Hendry Ranch

We tasted every wine they made, beginning with the whites, then on to a really good rose, then the reds. Almost everyone then bought some wine!!!

Many of the goddesses left after the wine tasting,  but Judy, Dee, Ann, Mary Steinart, Linda and I headed for the Calistoga Spa and hot mineral pools for a relaxing soak in the giant jacuzzi.  Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
And lastly, we all (including the three consorts who stayed)  had dinner and Brannan's .  Linda and Virgil, and Mary and Peter stayed the night too.  It was a wonderful day

A Sad Day - Goodbye Annie

For the past few days, Annie, our old cat (see December blog about her) has been having difficulty getting into and out of her litter box, has developed diarrhea, and was requiring more food preparation.  Everything had to be watered down and stirred into thin gruel before she could eat it.   Her robust howling was getting weaker and weaker and she stood on her bed sometimes for a half hour trying to figure out what she was doing.

Yesterday, after she left a trail of diarrhea across the bedroom rug getting to her litter box, we decided it was probably time and beyond time for this old cat to go.   What kind of life could she possibly have in so much pain and confusion, so little ability to even go outside and enjoy the sunshine (I left the door to our balcony open all day Sunday to encourage her to go out into the warm day to no avail).   We kept hoping that we would wake up one day and find that she had died in her sleep.   But no such luck for her or for us.

But just because you know it is the right thing to do doesn't make it any easier.  I called the vet, Rod got her burying place ready, and I put her favorite bedding in a laundry basket along with a fleece baby blanket.   When we got to the vet, we got to talk to her and pet her for awhile.  But we didn't hear the purring that usually occurs when we talk to her or brush her.   When Dr. Lung came in, we took her out of th basket and laid her on her side.  Dr. Lung shaved a spot on her back leg. But when the needle went in, she cried and struggled, obviously scared.  That really did it for me.  I so much wanted her to have a peaceful death.  Rod and I both sobbed to see her in distress, if only for a moment before it was over.

I am crying right now as I write this because not only is it hard to lose her, but it brings up all of the old feelings about every loss that has ever been -- every pet, every friend, every loved one.   Some people would say -- "That's it! No more attachments for me!  It hurts too much!"  but all it does for me is to make me so grateful for the wonderful relationships I had, and the wonderful memories I will keep.

Rest in peace, Annie and I hope that over the rainbow bridge you are a youngster again, frolicking in the warm sunshine chasing butterflies, pain free and happy.

And if there is a heaven, I'd better be able to see and hug all my cats there, or I'm not going.

February in California and Gratitude

I just had to post the remarkable weather we had over this past weekend.  All kinds of records were broken, and it was 81 degrees in Napa on Sunday.  A staggering, hypnotically beautiful day indeed. Normally February is the wettest and grayest month but not this year.   Everywhere I look there is something getting green or colorful -- the hillsides, the fields of mustard, the forsythia, the flowering quince, and narcissus popping up everywhere.   So on Sunday, I headed out with the camera determined to record a little slice of this heaven I am so grateful to call home.  

Especially with friends who are toughing out the cold of Wisconsin (hi Edna and Gary), I am doubly thankful for the fate that brought me here, first to San Jose, then to Guerneville, on to Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and finally Napa.   Growing up, I dreamed about a life like this, and I still can't believe my luck in ending up here.

On my Sunday drive (everyone else on earth was watching the Super Bowl), I headed up Coombsville Road until it turned into Wild Horse Valley Road  and snapped the views on the flatter side, and then across the valley as I climbed higher.

As I turned onto Shady Oak Lane,  I encountered a flock of wild turkeys -- maybe 15 or so -- casually ambling across the road .  They took me by surprise and I tried hard to get a picture, but they were so illusive, and my picture came out kinda fuzzy.   But this is just one example of the amazing kinds of things that happen around here pretty much all the time.

So this was a day filled with smiles, peace, gratitude, warmth, joy and turkeys.  How could I ever want more?

Grocery Shopping, Food, and Obsession

I am obsessive/compulsive about grocery shopping.  Always have been. Plus I am cheap.

So this is why when the grocery store ads come out with the Tuesday paper, I sit down and make out my list.  There are three major chains in Napa -- Safeway, Lucky and Raley/Nob Hill.  As luck would have it, they are all pretty close together, so I can do a swoop through them all.  Rarely is more than $30 spent at any one store.  Then I look through my coupons, which I keep in a big envelope in my purse with a list of what coupons are in the envelope written on the outside.  I add any store coupons, pick up my canvas bags and off I go.  Today I bought enough chicken thighs for five meals and two boxes of Splenda on sale --- buy one, get one free, plus a $1 off coupon.  Major coup.

The only times I ever buy groceries without a list are at WalMart (where mostly I buy milk because they carry the Hood lo carb dairy product we like), the Grocery Outlet, and 99 Cent only.  At these places, you kind of have to go with the flow of  what's there, and can't depend on anything being there for long or repeatedly.  Like the sugar free decaffeinated International Delight French vanilla instant latte mix, which I should have bought ALL of them. Last time Rod and I were lo carbing, and had a bread machine, we bought dozens of boxes of the low carb bread mix for a dollar each -- and that's when we knew they would soon be unavailable forever.  But because of the cheap produce at 99 Cent only,  I am loathe to pay more for things at the supermarket once I have bought them there.  Amazing things like asparagus and portobello mushrooms.  Yukon Gold potatoes and shallots.  Cans of tiny shrimp that I use in a shrimp spread recipe I make for parties and appetizers (they have been out of these for a while now, and I am running low in the pantry!).  Red, green, orange and yellow bell peppers -- who cares if they are misshapen when you cut them up anyway? So this is where I get produce and many canned goods.  The Grocery Outlet is another surprise place.  Last time we were there they had V-8 light, with way fewer carbs than regular V-8 (Rod likes this, me not so much), package cubed ham which is hard to find at our supermarkets but which is great to have on hand for omelets,salads, soups, and fritattas, and a really nice soft plush kitty bed for only $4.99.  It has become Mamie's favorite place, leaving Rod's lap freer in his office for work on the computer.

Here's how pedestrian our lives are:  A major outing on a weekend is to go to the Pet Club to stock up on cat food, to Costco (where I always eat the only hot dogs I EVER eat), and to 99 Cent Only.  Sometimes we stop at Chevy's for lunch!!!!!!   This is the big date of the week.

And when I whip out my canvas bags, the clerks are always kinds surprised, even though I have been bringing my own bags to the grocery store since the 70's.

Earlier this summer, I spent two days cleaning out the pantry because we had an infestation of pantry moths.  Total gross out.  I threw so much stuff away, and then gave alot more away because we were starting our low carb eating plan.  Now I have moth traps in there and so far so good.  Plus everything is sealed up tight in jars or ziplock bags once it is opened.

On Friday, I cleaned out the refrigerator.  This is another major job that includes washing all of the shelves and bins, and putting in new liners in the vegetable bins, throwing away all of the stuff in the bins that has turned into unidentifiable green slime, the plastic containers of fuzzy leftovers, and combining the three partially consumed jars of peanut butter into one jar.  And I also took everything out of the freezer, made a list of what was in the freezer, and threw out a few things.  Now I have a list posted on the door so that when I take something out of there, I cross is off, and when I put something in there, I add it to the list.  I wonder how many times I have bought some kind of meat for a special dish when I already had it in the freezer, buried under the meatballs, frozen corn, and tamales?  So no more of THAT!!!!!   I think that takes care of the resolution I made about cleaning out one drawer or cupboard a day for the next two MONTHS!!!

All this writing about food is making me hungry.  I think I'll gp downstairs and get a bowl of nuts and a piece of string cheese (my low carb snack of choice) and a big glass of diet cherry Pepsi.

Mirror, mirror AAAAAUUUGH !!!!!!!

It's no secret that after the age of about 45 you need reading glasses.  If you re a super visual person like me with a desk job, maybe earlier.  Like an idiot, I bought my first pair from the optometrist, until I discovered the drugstore ones.  Even better when I discovered the dollar store glasses.  Now I have reading glasses all over the house (I am counting five plus the pair I have on now next to the computer) , and in my car, and in my purse.  And then you also need a magnifying mirror to help with the makeup, right?

I had this little stand mirror with about a 3x magnification that I used for makeup, and a little portable one with a suction cup on the back for travel (how many times have I left this thing on hotel bathroom mirrors?).

So when I saw a fancy brushed steel light up double stand mirror at Costco for only $20, having seen one just like it in the Brookstone catalog fir $149, I jumped at the chance. Finally, a good mirror so my eyeliner would go on straight the first time.

Then I plugged the thing in and looked into it.  At first, everything was just a big blur until I realized I had to get real close for everything to be visible.  

And boy, was it ever!!!!!!   Every broken vein, enlarged pore, bump, lump, and straggly eyebrow hair was standing out in sharp focus.  ACK!    And as if that wasn't bad enough, there under my chin were HAIRS.  LONG ONES!  SOME WERE WHITE!   WHISKERS!     AAAAUUUUUUGH!   How long they had been there, I don't know because I never saw them before.  Oh, I had seen an occasional stray hair that I plucked as soon as I felt it, but never in this much profusion.

Here's the irony if growing older:   You get hair where you never had it before, and where you once had hair, it thins out . Like under my arms and on my legs., etc.  I find myself shaving there much less often than I used to.  Thank GOD I have seen no hairs in my ears and nose!!!!!  (but this might be a guy thing -- I don't know).

Anyhow, once I got over my initial shock, I plucked like mad and check every single day for new miscreants.

And I must say I don't think my eyebrows have ever looked better.

A New Year and a look back at Christmases

This year we almost missed the New Year altogether watching a Netflix movie.  We tuned on ABC at the last minute to watch the ball drop in Times Square and have a big kiss and a snuggle.  No hats, not horns, no champagne.

 In the 70's (maybe 1971or '72)  , I got the flu on New Year's Eve and didn't wake up until  January 2nd, sick as a dog in a bed (my pull out sofa)  that was drenched from my sweat.  

And one New Year (1974 maybe?) when Ellen and I went out to the coast with my little dog Yoni and drank champagne in the blustery sunshine.  And another when I went to San Jose to stay with my aunt Carol and we went out new year's eve to a club.  She got carded, and I didn't.  DEVASTATING since carol is five years older than me!!!

So now it is 2011.  I remember when I was a teenager thinking about the year 2000 and wondering what life would be like when I was (for God Sake) 53 years old.  Ancient at the time.  Would there be space ships? Clothing made of aluminum foil?  Would we all have antennae coming out of our heads?  Well, no such luck, although we now DO have cell phones sticking out of our ears (except for me -- I have hardly turned on my new cell phone since I replaced my work phone with a private one), wear "body art" (and I shudder to think what THAT will look like when these kids are in their 60's and 70's), and are increasingly turning to hybrid and  even electric cars (let's see how long THAT lasts -- I read in the paper today that sales of the new Chevy Volt and Honda Leaf have been disappointing).

So THIS year my resolutions will be mild.  I have tackled my hard ones without a new year (unless you can call retirement a new year) to motivate me -- quit smoking (6 months TODAY), began exercising (at least 5 days per week for a half hour or more each time), and losing weight (25 down and 25 more to go).  In 2011, I want to:
     1. Write in my blog at least twice a week
     2. Volunteer or contribute at least once per month
     3. Clean out one drawer/shelf per day throughout the house until I have done them all
     4. Remember everyone's birthday and special days (anniversary, etc) this year
     5. Host at least one party (not counting the gathering of the goddesses).

I think I can pull these off.

About Christmas:  It's funny that I can remember almost nothing about my childhood Christmases except for the Christmas I had the flu -- I  must have been about six or seven -- and th Christmas I got my big rubber doll, Sandy -- when I was about four, I think.  I also remember going to midnight mass with Grandma Haebig and the smell of the incense in church and the mystery of it all.  In my house growing up, holidays meant drinking and drinking meant stress and bad behavior. On New Year's Eve, mom and dad went out and brought home all of the party hats and horns for us to play with the next day until they fell apart. Somewhere I have a picture of us with those hats and horns, and our neighbors the Cappelinas sitting on the couch. I was wearing checkered overalls (which we called "harryhalls") and was maybe five or six.

This is the Christmas I had the flu - Age 5 or 6 

This is the Christmas we got the merry go round 

No child safety laws then!  I was maybe 3 years old in this one. That merry go round stayed

out in our backyard for at least five years after that Christmas.  

I remember Christmas in 1974 when I went home to Wisconsin.  I had my rabbit fur jacket and my hair permed into an afro (what was I thinking?) and I took everyone (my Mom, sisters and their two kids both under the age of six) to see the Nutcracker in Chicago.  The kids got restless after about 15 minutes  but I didn't mind. That was the Christmas I visited with some of my high school friends including Judy Looker and Sharon Naydihor.  And I got my Fry boots (at Goldblatt's in Racine). That was a Christmas when I was single.   Then there was the Christmas (1970?) when Loren Thornton and I drove down to LA in our  1957 Volvo to visit Loren's sister, who was mucho pregnant. Her water broke while we were there at her house in Malibu!  And her husband had this long powder blue Cadillac convertible. When we drove back, the Volvo conked out in Paso Robles and we hitchhiked home with our luggage, Christmas presents, and our little dog Yoni.  We road most of the way in a VW van that smelled heavily of patchouli mixed with pot.    And I remember another Christmas when I was single on the Russian River and had the blues SO BAD.  I had this tiny plastic tree I plugged in that looked so forlorn.  And another Christmas on the River when I bought a little tree and decorated it with red glass hearts trimmed in gold glitter, determined to celebrate in spite of my loneliness. 

Any how, welcome to 2011 and I look forward to an exciting, entertaining, educational, exhilarating  year!!!!