Fall

Lake Almanor is gorgeous in the fall with all the different colored leaves.  These are just a couple at my home.

 

Paper Dolls

In my organizing efforts I sorted out all my paper dolls and I have 54 uncut sets in different categories!!!!  Melissa asked me if I was putting names on them for the grandchildren.  I said, "No, but they can probably sell them on E-bay when I am gone!"  Probably the one that would be worth the most is "Gone with the Wind".  It was made for the 50th Anniversary of the movie and I am so appreciative of Jennifer for getting them for me.


 

Why do I love paper dolls so much?  It was one of my most favorite past times as a child.  The hundreds of hours we spent in playing the imaginary lives of our paper dolls I cannot even assess.  It was a lot!!!  We loved changing their clothes and having countless scenarios of interplay. The Bride and Groom sets were a special favorite because they had so many characters in them.  Especially the time I spent with Donna S at paper dolls in her lovely double size bedroom with her Mom always serving us hot fudge sundaes and ice box cookies--everything homemade, yum.  We would have the dolls spread all around but took excellent care of them.   I wonder why her big sister who shared her room never complained?

In my preschool days it was the Seven Dwarfs and Snow White dolls I would have around my living room while the other children were at school.  I have never found any paperdolls to replace them.  Another favorite I had which I have never found is "Baby Sandy".  It was a big baby paperdoll with lots of fun clothes.

Done!!!

My project to put each of my dolls in a sturdy box is done!!!  And they are stored on the top of the bookcases in my bedroom, rather than the garage or one of the other bedrooms (which had no room for them).

They all have labels on them as to what doll is inside and someone's name if someone has requested it.  I suppose they could always sell them on EBay.  They are all in good condition and the Shirley Temple dolls all have Certificates.


 

Health Care

I was interested in reading about the problems with the Obomacare computer program and it is much more than a glitch and will need an overhaul.  We had the same problems with a loan computer program that came out while I was working for SBA.  They had put so many millions in to it that they had to use it so had to fix it and I am afraid this is the same situation.

But also the idea that because of the problems all ready popping up (which honestly we all knew would, didn't we--I did anyway) that the premiums to the consumer are going to be so high that the healthy young are going to opt out and pay the penalty and insurance companies will be stuck with all the less desirable and more problems for them.  The problems are so obvious it appears the program will eventually fail so why fight about it--move on to another problem.

At least that is the word this morning,  for the wise, anyway.

Nicholas Evans, a Favorite Author

Nicholas Evans is an amazing author but he has only written five books, all of which take place, at least in part, in Montana, though he is an Englishman.  Interesting about his life on his website and the poisonous mushrooms.   The five books are The Horse Whisperer, The Loop, The Smoke Jumpers, The Divide and The Brave.  My favorite is The Loop, about the wolves.

I am actually listening  for the second time to The Brave.  I had forgotten I had already read it but I am actually enjoying it more the second time because it is a complicated book and it is good to have a little background. 

It is kind of a dark book in that there are so many issues of different people but I really like his writing--in depth, but clear and like you are there living it.  You can become quite emotional about the problems the characters have.

Anyway I really enjoy using my Samsung Tablet for listening to books while I am doing a project such as cooking, cleaning, and decoupage.  I will finish my last doll box today and then all my dolls have boxes to store them in.  I just don't put them out anymore.

Unfortunately I am feeling the repercussions from my intense workout cleaning the debris last week.  My legs and back are really aching and I hate to take the pills because of the damage they can do.  I have a Dr apt Friday and the last time something was too high because of the Ibuprofen I had been taking. 

Mitch

I talked to Mitch last night, occasionally he calls for recipes.   I told him I had cleaned the yard and loaded all the wood by myself.  He said if I could wait till November he would back.  That is nice to hear but I told him I was already making fires so it needed to be done.  Maybe he can help me straighten up the garage and get rid of a few more things.  Glad I have the blower though, in a few days I will  blow the debris in front again--surely saves a lot of time.  Oh, yes, my legs are surely aching and so is my back, is it the bending or what?

Sadie--the Halloween Dog

Today as I saw Sadie run across the street and down the hill I thought, "ok, no more roaming privileges for you."  She does love to run so I have been letting her out in the morning and late afternnon without a leash and she loves it.  Yesterday she chased a deer and there are not many cars around this time of year.  And then I thought, "What about when we were young, the dogs all ran free and we didn't worry about the cars, what is so different now?" 

I don't know but I do think the dogs need to learn some things by themselves.  And just as I thought that I looked out back and there was Sadie sitting on her bed.  She did not run away, she did know her way home and she was ok. 

She shows her feminine character occasionally.  She will not step on the piddle pad I keep in her cage.  She does not want to walk on it even it is clean.  She hems and haws until I pick it up and then she will go in to eat or out to play.

But she is still a puppy and cannot be trusted.  Today as I was sitting at my computer and I could hear her on the bed behind me, I thought, "oh, well, there is nothing there interesting for her to chew."

Wrong!!!  A minute later I noticed a lipstick was missing.  I had visions of red all over my new white carpet.

But she was playing with it on the blue towel I keep in front of the stove when I am making fires.  Luckily she hadn't been able to get the lipstick up, just chewed it closed...

Halloween she will be one year old.

Also I am wondering what to do about those 2 inch longer hairs that the other hair that stick up all over.  Should they be trimmed off or not?  Her hair is thin.  It dries very fast, very different than Bandido and it does shed a little but supposedly does not grow as Bandido's did.

Football by the Fire

Sadie enjoys the fire as much as I do.  So glad I had it all checked out and fixed after the earthquake.
I have really been enjoying BYU football this fall, too.  Love this time of year.

Geraniums

One thing I remember particularly seeing in the countryside of Norway was red geraniums looking out from their windows.  I loved that.  I brought in two of mine and put them in the only really sunny window all winter.  I will see if I can keep the alive.

I Did It!

I didn't think I could but I did.  I did the fall cleaning of debris and gathered branches for firewood all by myself.   It only took me 4 1/2 days to do what Matt does in a morning but it is done.


I also stacked the wood--surely miss the boys for this.  Wonder what those spots on my camera are?

And I found a new place for more wood--yea, it is not fun trekking through the snow to the woodshed.

Sadie has loved me being outside all week with her and letting her run loose.  And what a dog's life, all she does is sit or run around looking pretty in Bandido's hand me downs.

 

 

What a Night!!

Wednesday night  I was feeling very badly about something but I finally got to sleep but woke up around 1:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to look at the package I had received of a gadget that would let me make my old VHS cassettes into movies to upload to You Tube.  The gadget cost  about $95 bucks or so.  I took it out and was reading the directions and put it on the bed with some other stuff and I would work on it tomorrow.  In the meantime I still could not sleep.  So I decided to print some things off I needed.  

The printer jammed so I unjammed it and put it back together, in fact I did that about 5 times and it still didn’t work so I got out the book and disk and couldn’t find the help I needed so I went online and found some more help and worked for a long time on it but Sadie was crying so I stopped and let her out and she was antsy so I finally was going to let her outside but it was too late she had gone pooh by the door.  I carry the pooh back to the bathroom and flush the toilet and the toilet almost overflows so I take the lid off and hold it a bit and then go find my hanger to unclog it and flush it to work.  Finally get that to working.   I thought I had closed my bedroom door so Sadie could not get in there while I was in the office.  That is important as she cannot be trusted--she is still a puppy who likes to chew. 

Then it is back to the printer to work on,  I am already thinking I will need to take it to Chico but how am I ever going to lift it to take it down the stairs???  Then I spy one more little piece of paper stuck in the roller.  After many tries I use a tweezers to get it out.  I put the printer all back together but I need more paper to see if it works. I keep it under the bed but it is so far back I can’t reach it so I go to get a broom.  And that is when I see Sadie.  She has gotten into my bedroom after all and out of all the things on my bed she chose the new gadget to chew on and ruin and there is $95 gone!!!! 

After scolding her and putting her back in her cage and cleaning up her mess I finally get the paper out from under the bed and yea the printer works!

 

I have fixed the refrigerator, the dish washer and the disposal and now the printer by going on line and finding some instructions.  How did we ever live without the internet to tell us how to do everything?  Anyway it is now 3:45 in the morning.  Two hours of work and frustration...just one thing after another.  I finally got to sleep and slept in...luckily Sadie likes to sleep in, too.

The You Tube Project

One thing Maria taught me while she was here was how to upload to You Tube.  It has totally consumed me as I have uploaded my photo albums.  I find it a much more practical way of looking at your pictures and saves putting them in albums, etc. etc.  Great for the memory of an old lady like me.  Then I found our old home movies and I figured out how to put most of them on You Tube.  That was a fun thing to share and now we have John's clever surf movies forever.  I also enjoyed looking at my Mom and Dad, Stan, Rod, Sherry, Laurie and especially Richard and John in living color, that is a treasure.

Now Linda is uploading her movies and her kids are so clever and funny.  Most of them I have never seen, so what a joy--not so fun to see bad pictures of yourself though.  Anyway I am a You Tube fan-thank you, Maria.

This week I have also had to clean up the yard for fall and Matt is not here.  It has taken me literally 4 days to do what he would do in a few hours!!  I have to work awhile, then rest awhile, then nap and fortunately my muscles which ached so much the first day do not feel so badly anymore--so it is good for me I keep telling myself, even though I think I am going to have a heart attack any minute. 

Tomorrow I must load the rest of the wood up on the deck.  I have already had my first fall wood fires and it really warms up the house, love it.  This morning is was 40 degrees so it must be cooler at night.

2 Timothy 3:7

Sunday morning I was listening to the BYU channel and I heard this story that I have not been able to get out of my head.

During WWII in Europe a man needed to get his wife and child to a safer place with family and he had to stay at his post.  He put them on a train.  When the conductor took their tickets, he told them they would get off at the first Stop.  The mother dozed a little and so when the train stopped a passenger nearby woke her up and told her this was her stop.  The mother and child got off the train.

Later the conductor came back and asked where the mother and child were as their Stop was coming up.  The passenger said he had awakened her when the train made the first stop and told her that was where she should get off and so they did.  The conductor said, "That was not the first Stop, that was just where we took on water."

Although help was sent from the next town to go back and look for the mother and child, help was too late, they had already succumbed to exposure from the severe weather.

Question--Did the passenger have good intentions?  Yes  Did the passenger think he was telling the truth?  Yes  Did the passenger have authority and real knowledge?  No

It reminded me of two things.  One was the day in Seminary in 1978 when we studied  "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1 and then it listed all about conditions of the last days.  I had made a special chart of headlines from newspapers and articles as examples of "important things to know" and when we came to verse 7 I held up the chart as we read "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."  And we talked about what we would need to do to be able to recognize truth and not be fooled by false claims of truth.

I had put into my daily prayers the plea to "help me to have a clear mind and be able to recognize the truth" from that day and it is still a part of my prayers and now we are so in the last days and we see all of the conditions in 2 Timothy 3 coming to pass and there are so many "experts" out there telling us how to live and think and be and so many of the old values have been cast away for the new and better way to live and where is truth--who has it, which messenger has the truth.  Do they all have good intentions?  Mostly  Do they think they know?  Probably  Do they all have authority and truth?  No

It also reminded me of the trip I took in 2000 to Scandinavia.  James had set me up with someone I did not know and paid for my ticket as her daughter could not go and he knew I wanted to go to Sweden.  It was a great trip and she was a lovely lady and we had a great time.  There was one problem though, she was one of these people who loved to "help" and whenever people would ask for directions, she would assertively give them and I thought she knew what she was talking about but I soon learned she did not.  Did she have good intentions?  Yes  Did she think she knew?  Probably  But did she have authority and accurate knowledge?  No she did not.

So the question is, where is truth, how do you recognize it, what do you believe, what do you choose to live, who do you listen to?  That is the challenge for everyone on the earth today.  What "Voice" do you listen to and accept as Truth?  How do you know?

The Addled Brain

One of the problems I have noticed most with my aging brain is my spelling.  I used to be able to spot a misspelled word immediately and I rarely ever got a word wrong when I wrote.  Now I find I think I have written something correctly only to go back later and find many errors.

I also can't remember the correct way to spell things anymore.  Every time I write about Silver Gate, Montana, a place I have frequented since I was a child I have to ask myself--is it Silver Gate or Silvergate?  I just can't remember.  And it is the same with names, when I write about Keira, I have to stop and think, is it Keira or Kiera?  She is almost three years old, you think I would have learned it by now.  And even when I think I have written it right, I go back later I find I wrote it wrong.

It is vey humbling to have your brain pull tricks on you, especially when it leads you to believe you have done a good job, only to find you left something in, you intended to have out or vice versa.

I have been making videos of my pictures and putting them on You Tube--a good game would be to go through them and count all the mistakes...but I doubt anyone will even watch them, let alone be interested in seeking for errors.  But to me, it is very humbling and makes me realize I had better put a speed up on all the projects I have left to do, before my brain completely turns to mush.

Sadie and the Toilet Paper

I brought a package of toilet paper up from the garage and had taken one out and left the rest on the bed.  I had a letter to address and mail so I went into the office and then outside to the postbox.  I was busy for 6-8 minutes max.


I was schocked to find paper strewn throughout the house when I returned.  How she did all this into so many small pieces in such a short time is nothing more than amazing to me.

 

 

Of course, she got a real scolding, I was so upset with her.

Yet, the next day in a careless moment I left the tp on the bathroom rug instead of putting it in the holder and she did it all over again.....so fast.

Bad dog...bad Janet, pay attention to what you are doing, you have a beast in the house!

The Ultimate Comfort Food

When I read "Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever" as a title for the recipe, I really doubted that could be but I decided to try them because they did not have any flour in them--yea, gluten free!!!  They are also butter free... and unbelievably simple.

2 cups peanut butter. 2 cups sugar,  2 eggs, 2 t baking soda, 1 pinch salt, 1 t vanilla--roll into 1 inch balls and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes after making fork criss crosses on the cookies.

Oh, my gosh, for the first time in years I sat and dunked cookies in milk until I was stuffed, I did not want to stop--of course, I was needing a lot of comfort and these have just the perfect crunch and taste for soothing any sadness you can come up with.

Kelsi the Cheerleader

Looks like Kelsi has a good start at posing as a Cheerleader!  She looks so cute.

Fun Weekend

I picked Maria up in Reno and we drove to Matt's place in Tahoe.


Maria had a choice reunion with Bruce, as well as Matt.

 

We had wonderful Mexican food at the Castinita (I think)--so good!

Checked out Matt's Pad.

and Bruce remembers the treat lady--me.

 

Fuqua Birthday Party

Three Fuqua birthdays celebrated in August--the twinnies Raina and Sage


and Fin--looks like Grandma bought the right present for him and Steph made beautiful doll cakes for the twinnies.

 

 

Len's brother Rob was visiting.

and finally a cute picture of Carole and her lifelong friend Alyce, aren't they a cute 70 something?

 

Family Fridge Magnet

Stephanie sent a Fridge Magnet with Maria for me.  It is of my family in 1961 and I love it.

 

The Expats

It is always fun to find a book that really holds your attention.  "The Expats" is a first book by Chris Pavone and what a thriller.  I read till 3 AM and then finished it the next day.  It was that good.  I am glad he also referenced 10 other good books about Expats of which I have only read three so that will be fun to find also.

I need to get the next "Emigrants" book--Moberg really makes you feel like you are there.  I am so glad my ancesters did the emigrating and I was born in America, how blessed we are.

Keeping Up with High Tech

I broke down and got myself a Tablet--I decided in today's world it is just part of the scene and probably more necessary than a microwave oven.  The Church is encouraging everyone to have their own digital manuals and scriptures and I can see why.  I got the Samsung Galaxy 3--10 inch.  Really like it so far except for the games I accidentally added in some foreign language, not sure how that happened.

Once I made my decision, I ordered it at 10:30 AM on Thursday and it was shipped that night and arrived on my front deck late morning on Friday--from Arkansas.  How do they do that?  When I ordered it, they said it would be delivered on Monday, which seemed reasonable to me.  But free overnight delivery?  Wow.

Anyway I still like my Kindle Paperwhite strictly for my reading books.  It is so easy to hold for late night reading which is getting to be more and more when I read my books.  Currently I am reading "Secret Daughter" by Gowda.  It is such a revelation to me reading about India and the diverse conditions that abound in that country.  I think this is a first book for this author...excellent.

Hardy Update

Really nice picture of the Hardy Family!!

Good Things

Yesterday I received six discs of good music from a high school friend, Joanie, who I probably haven't seen since college days.  She has a collection of around 9000 pieces on digital and sent me what I asked for which was about 100 or so.   So nice of her!!!  I love it.

So I have it all on my Itunes and Ipod and can now listen to three versions of "Paper Doll", the Mill Brothers, Big Bands like Benny Goodman, Harry James, Ink Spots, Ames Brothers, and lots more of Vic Damone and Jerry Vale.  Most of the music is from  the 40's and 50's.

I did make an interesting playlist called Chris and Harry though and it is alternate pieces of Chris Botti and Harry James on their trumpets.  Interesting to see the different music between today and 60 years ago.  Both terrific.

So much of the music from those days is considered classics that I have the same songs sung by several different artists spanning 60 years.  Very nice, love it.  Sometime during all my moves all my old  record collection was lost so I really love this.

Today I let Sadie out for one of her 'runs' and when she is free like that I am never sure how much coaxing I am going to have to do to get her to come home.  I started out toward the back looking for her and immediately tripped on a root and fell flat on my face.  Kudos to Sadie she immediately came running to see if I was hurt.  I wasn't.

I also had a good day making a box for one of my Shirley Temple dolls.  I thought it turned out lovely and I watched some videos on the Mormon Channel on Roku while doing it, it was a big box and took lots of paper. 

I also finally started my Yoga yesterday, it looked so easy and slow but the stretching is so new for my old body it is aching so much I can hardly walk...not good.

Two Fav Granddaughters

 

Now that grandaughters Lea (on left) and Sarah (middle) are living near each other they get to spend some fun time together.  They are in different grades and different schools but that just makes more to talk about, right?

OK, girls, keep Grandma in the scoop about things, you are living one of the most interesting times of your life, enjoy!

Eric's New Pad

This is the interesting home that Carole's son Eric is buying in Glendive, Mt, my home town.  It was built to look like it belongs at Cape Cod or someplace like that.  It even has the Widows Walk where women looked for their husbands coming in from Sea.  I think it looks charming.  It is evidently a home he has loved from his youth.  And it looks out over the mighty Yellowstone River.  Hope it all turns out well!!

Where Are All the Good Men?

"The Helen Morgan Story" was a favorite of mine.  I just watched the  movie version with Ann Blythe and Paul Newman last week, however, the TV version with Polly Bergen was my favorite.

Helen Morgan was a fantastic blues and pop singer who was exploited by men and she became an alcoholic.  Old story as it happens so often.

The article in Meridian Magazine reminded me of it.  The article was specifically asking where all the men were in the life of Miley Cyrus who should have been giving her good advice and protecting her from her tawdry exhibition this past week. 

The problem is that too often it is the men who are doing the exploiting and the damage,  greed is a very dangerous tool used by Satan.

I guess the real question is Where are all the Good men?  Which takes me to the movie "Lydia" where she passed up the good man Joseph Cotton and had undying love for the scoundrel.  Why is that so often the case???  What is attractive about the lying charmer that Paul Newman was in The Helen Morgan Story.  Why do we want to believe those kind of guys?

What made Miley Cyrus think that shocking exhibition sells--because of Madonna, Lady Gaga???  Somehow those ladies always manage to look classy even in their skimpies, why is that? and Miley only looked vulgar??

So many questions, so many choices, I guess the best advice is the WWJD question, that usually settles any quandary fairly fast.

I thought it was interesting that the lady miz are having so many people want them to come and give them a message.  There is a lot of people out there hurting and seeking answers...these are the last days for sure...

Update on the Hardy Family

Camber just sent me this pix to update the Hardys.  Darling Pix.



 Last night James sent me a movie of Lea as a cheerleader!!  8th grade and a cheerleader, so cute.  And Jacob is in high school and a lineman on the Torrey Pines Junior Varsity and even Kelsi, who is in 2nd grade, was a cheerleader, as she has been going to Cheerleading Camp, and Jimmy is already in 6th grade and also playing football!!  Yikes, where have all the years gone.

I have so many memories of taking care of babies and toddlers and now they are all "slipping through our fingers" and moving on...Jacob has really developed muscles, must be all that surfing!!

Oh course, I still have very negative feelings about teens and younger playing football, too many head injuries.  Supposedly football rules have changed so no more leading with the head and it is supposed to make it safer.  However, 4500 former NFL were just paid millions of dollars due to head injuries and thousands of head injuries to high school footballers are reported every year.  Is it really going to be safer because of a new rule about tackling?  We shall see.  I hope they are aggressive about dropping those yellow flags if anyone does do the head butting.  It might change the game.

Another doctor just came on TV this morning and said when young people come to him, he tells them to choose another sport rather than football.  I guess I was ahead of my time.  I did not let my boys play Pop Warner--did they suffer because of it??  

Unfortunately NFL is my favorite sport to watch--now isn't that hypocritical????  And of course, we adored our football players in high school...  

Nothing Improves with Age but the Past

"Lydia" is a movie from 1941 staring Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotton.  It is about a spinster reminiscing her past (40 years later) with three rejected suitors.  She has contributed so much to the world by way of a Home for the Blind but she is trying to  tell them why she never married.  She tells the three that they never knew the real Lydia, that she was born when she started this month long affair and the real Lydia died when he left her, never to return.

This fourth suitor does show up as he was curious to what he was invited but he doesn't even remember her and he is the one she accepted a proposal from but he was a rover and playboy who had an affair with her and strung her on and kept her waiting at the altar.  All these years she remembered him as her great love and it was just another score for him.

It is true that we remember the past as we choose to and it may be far from reality and it is true that an encounter to one person can mean everything while at the same time not much to the other person.

In the end, she says they all loved an illusion of her, the blind pianist loved a blonde, blue eyed person because a child had described her doll Lydia to him and he thought she was describing the real Lydia who actually was dark haired with green eyes.  She told the older suitor he was in love with an angel, which she was not, she had actually sinned and never told him.  The football player suitor was in love with a young "idiot" which she was not.  And Richard, the man she had loved all these years only loved himself.

She said there was no real Lydia, there were dozens (as every woman knows).  She was "wise and foolish, clever and absurd, good and bad" as are all women.

I think you would have to be an old person to appreciate this movie but it surely rang true with me, it was especially interesting as she described her first ball and how it looked and then it showed how it actually looked--yes, 'nothing improves with age but the past' is soooo true.

Happiness

Happiness today was,,,

• freshly washed sheets--will sleep well tonight
• more Chris Botti music downloaded--love that trumpet sound
• finishing a long overdue sewing task and it looks good
• spaghetti--haven't had that for a long time
• a call from Maria--always love hearing from my children or grandchildren
• visitors--Terri and the lady miz
• watching Keira sing Happy Birthday again
• watching Michelle's newest video about Johnny
• a sweet memory of Richard
• another perfect day of sunshine and slight breeze
• a call from Carole--love hearing from my sisters
• viewing Eric's new house in Glendive--so unique!!!