A Ghost Story…

Central Illinois which is my home now has one of the most fascinating ghost stories you will ever read.  This ghost’s name was A. Bookbinder, called Old Book by the staff and residents of the old insane asylum at Bartonville, Illinois.  I remember when I was growing up in Western Illinois we were threatened as kids that if we were not good we would end up in Bartonville.  That would put the fear of God in me as a small child.  But, this is not about me, this is about Old Book.  This ghost story dates back 100 years.  Check http://www.prairieghosts.com/barton.html and http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1673647856/Luciano-Old-Book-has-a-new-marker-and-admirers.  The story by Phil Luciano in today’s Journal Star is so fascinating.  I won’t go into details here but if you like a good ghost story be sure to check these links, especially the last one.

Be sure also to check out “The Pumpkin House” in Kenova West Virginia, the city where my sister lives.  This house and grounds are decorated with thousands of lit pumpkins.  I have never been there at the time of this event.  My sis says she likes to get over there to buy a funnel cake.    By the way, in case you don’t know this, the city where my sis lives  was named after 3 states.  Ken (Kentucky) ,o (Ohio) va (West Virginia).  You can stand in Kenova and put one arm in Ohio and the other arm in Kentucky.  Lots of fun to go shopping in 3 states in just a matter of minutes.

I am looking forward to my niece bringing my great niece over to trick or treat tonight.  I am also hoping my SIL’s niece will bring her little girl by.  I love to look at the costumes.  I think my great niece is dressing as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and is carrying a basket with Toto (a stuffed dog) in it.  I hope to get some pictures.

Have a wonderful day.

  Beth

It’s 2010…

soon to be 2011.

The world is a different place than it was the year you were born.  What path have you taken?  These are excerpts from a link sent to me by a friend in WV.   http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/.  Boy did this bring back memories for me, many of them from my childhood.  I think you will enjoy this, also try other years to see what was happening when you were a certain age.  Thank you Pat!

It is not quite so cold here this morning.  Hovering at 39 right now up to the lower 60s by late afternoon.  I am trying to decide what to do with my day.  There is a huge dollar general store here that I love to look around in as it has everything in there you can imagine.  There is also a Big Lots store here too that I like but  it is clear out at the edge of town heading east though so it is not convenient for me to go to.

My daughter and SIL took me to eat at the buffet at the boat last night.  What a selection, rib eyes, roast beef, ham, chicken, shrimp, fish, lobster,etc. and more than a dozen desserts.  Needless to say I stuffed myself.  I imagine the buffet on Thanksgiving will have turkey and dressing too.

Well, I have done talked myself into heading out for the dollar store, although I will say that it is rare to find anything there for a dollar anymore. 

I am all set for the trick or treaters.  I broke down and bought the Baby Ruth and Butterfinger.  When the guy came yesterday to finish my hallway he told me that there would be a lot of trick or treaters in this area.  I have set my time from 5 – 7 PM as I have to get in place for The Desperate Housewives.  That show is really crazy this year.

I hope you all have a good weekend.  Stay safe and be happy!

  Beth

Friday…

~ copyright – Julie Larson ~

How many of you will admit to doing this?  I plead guilty.  I do have a big bowl of candy all ready for the trick or treaters.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Milky Way, etc.  My favorites are Butterfingers and Baby Ruth. I haven’t purchased them yet but I still have plenty of time.   

I wasn’t up quite so early today.  I do have a load of laundry done and I still have another load to do.  I will wait a day or two for that one.  It is very cold today, winter coat weather.  It is 37 right now but the temp was 26 when I got up this morning. 

Have a great weekend.  It is important that you make every effort to be happy.  You are the one in charge of your well being.

  Beth

Are you as tired…

of this as I am?  The negative political ads are just flooding the air waves.  It is nothing to see 6 or 8  of them on each commercial break.  I have never seen such mean spiritedness in all of my voting lifetime.  I always make it a point to vote, otherwise how could I have the right to complain if I don’t?  I know none of these people that are running for office in this area except for the governor’s race.  They are so busy badmouthing each other that neither one speaks about the issues troubling Illinois.  Like the fact that we are bankrupt and our unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation.  Then there is the senate race to fill our prez’s old seat.  Burris turned around and ran from that one.  (Can’t say that I blame him) Each one trashing the other, one ad after another.  Kirk allegedly lied about his military record and supposed medals that he won in Iraq and Giannoulias is shown arm in arm with Blagojevich shouting from the rooftops, raise taxes, raise taxes.  What is a poor old gal to do??

My doctor visit went very well.  He was as sweet as pie to me and shook my hand 4 different times.  I think somehow in the last two months he has had an attitude adjustment.  Anyway, I won’t be seeing him anymore as my primary doctor will handle it from now on. 

It is very windy and cold here today at 43 degrees right now.  A hard freeze in the mid to upper 20s is expected for tonight.  I have grocery shopped today so I am in good shape to just stay home tomorrow.  I probably won’t do that though as I tend to get antsy if I am stuck in the house all day.

I hope you are all geared up for a great weekend.  Stay safe and be happy.

  Beth

Life has a way…

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.’

This was part of an email that was sent to me by my sister a day or so ago.  I had received the same email many times in the last few years.  For some reason the above lines shouted out to me.  I thought of all of the things I have wanted to do in my life, what I had accomplished and what I have to look forward too.  First, I have to face the truth.  I am a procrastinator, if I don’t want to do something I find a reason not to do it.  I am going to try and change that attitude.

I began the day by waking up at 5:30 AM.  Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep I actually got up.  After 30 minutes exercise, a 15 minute rest to read the morning paper, and breakfast I cleaned the bathroom.  This is something I hate to do.  Even though I only have a small bathroom as opposed to two bathrooms before, one of which was very large.  So I am feeling pretty proud of myself since I didn’t put it off till tomorrow. Next on my list is running the vacuum in the living room and dusting the furniture.  Well, maybe I will get around to that in a day or two. 

I have an appointment in the morning with the doctor who thinks he is God.  I didn’t want to see him again but since he is my only choice for heart specialist here in town I have to see him as a follow-up to my hospital stay.  Not looking forward to that.

My daughter is stopping by to have lunch with me today so I should start to think about that.  This is Wednesday and the week is half over, so don’t waste a minute of the day.

  Beth

At Day’s End

~ John Hall ~

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?

Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?

The day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;

Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?

Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,

That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?

Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;

Does the man whose hopes were fading, now with courage look ahead?

Did you waste the day, or lose it?  Was it well or sorely spent?

Did you leave a trail of kindness, or a scar of discontent?

As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think that God will say,

"You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?"

I posted this on my main blog on Windows Live Spaces in 2008.  I found this poem on a piece of paper in some things that my mom had given me when Jim and I were first married.  I recently moved those posts to Word Press.  Imagine my surprise when I got notification yesterday of a comment on this post.

 

“1. Paul Lockhart
Oct 24, 2010 @ 14:45:57

Beth,

Thank you for posting this poem. I’m in Iraq on my fourth deployment and I just got off the phone with my mother in NC. I asked her to locate this poem for me in the remnants of some Boy Scout material that had belonged to my father, my scoutmaster.
I am 43. He died when I was 16, at the age of 48. Going through his old desk one night about 12 years ago, I found this poem photocopied on a few sheets of paper. He’d read it to us many years earlier at some scouting event, so it sounded familiar.
With such as common sort of name, it is hard to tell if online searches point to the correct ‘John Hall.’ I wish I had new information and I’m sorry to ramble, but I can’t THANK YOU enough for posting it.
Being away from home again, you making it available to me online is a blessing.
Also, the “master mason” site mentioned above shows a version of the poem that IS NOT true to the original. Thank you also for keeping it pure.
God Bless you.

Paul Lockhart
US Army Reserve”

I have done some research on this young man without much luck.  To the best of my knowledge he is a pilot.  If by any small chance he is reading this I would like to tell him that I am so grateful for the sacrifice that he and our other military troops are making in their effort to keep America free.  I want him to know that they will all be in my daily prayers.

  Beth

Monday…

which is the day following Sunday which was a very nice day despite the rain.  My daughter and I went to a fellowship supper at the church.  The food was delicious.  There is nothing like homemade cooking made by church ladies.  Afterwards was the Harvest Music Fest.  This was wonderful.  The prelude was the Grace Brass band made up of the trumpet, trombone, two on the French horns and one playing the tuba.  They opened up with My Country Tis of Thee and closed the program with the same song.  In between were songs by the Cherub Carolers (very small children), the Junior Carolers and the adult choir.  There were two different groups that had lead guitar players/vocalists.  I am enclosing a photo I took of the screen in the church that scrolled the words to the songs that were being sung.  All in all I had a very enjoyable evening.  I am very pleased with this church.

We received more rain last night with thunderstorms to come and becoming very windy and much colder  Tuesday night.  Today, however it is sunny, windy and way too warm for this time of year.

I have finally done it.  Again, I have made an appointment for Comcast to come and set up my DVD player  so I can use it.  I have tried everything, even going so far as to chat with Comcast online with no success at all.  I made an appointment with them last month and they failed to show up.  I am not very happy with this cable company as my internet and telephone go out once or twice a month.  Finally there is a new cable system setting up in town that I have been looking at.  The worst thing is going through the telephone and email change.

I have been busy this morning and I need to finish cleaning this afternoon.  No rest for the weary.  lol  Oh wait, I forgot, nobody’s gonna care 100 years from now.  I hope you all have a good week.

  Beth

We asked for rain…

and we got rain.  It rained Friday night, Saturday morning, stopped for a bit in the afternoon, then started up again last night.  It was still raining when I got up this morning.  It has cleared off a bit right now but is to start raining again this afternoon.  I now have a clean car.  Hooray!!  This is the first rain except for sprinkles that we have had for several weeks.

Yesterday morning I made my way out in the pouring rain to Bergners where I purchased some new sweatshirts for winter.  My clothes are all way to big for me and I have started cleaning out my closet and taking things to Good Will.  While at Bergners I made a donation to the county humane society.  My daughter smiles at me because I give to all of the local causes.  Just a couple of weeks ago I paid $15 for a tiny can of popcorn to benefit the Boy Scouts.  She is forgetting that when she and her brother were young how many times we went door to door selling stuff for school or scouting benefits.  I was a den mother for my daughter when she was in scouts and I remember how hard it was to get anyone to give a donation.

My chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans was a hit with my daughter and SIL as they came over and ate with me.  My daughter’s friend had given her a sack of apples from her tree and I made a raw apple cake too.  Everything was really good.  Like an early Thanksgiving meal minus the pumpkin pie.  Speaking of Thanksgiving, the river boat a few miles up the road from me is having a Thanksgiving buffet.  If my son is able to come for Thanksgiving we will all go there for the noon meal.

Hey, while I have been typing this, the sun has come out for a little while and it looks so pretty and bright outside after the rain cleaned everything off.

I hope you are all having a great day.  We have all been given another day so let’s make the most of it.

  Beth

Finally Friday, again..

and man does it come around fast.  I see my life just flying by and I haven’t even begun to do the things I want to in this life, so I guess I better get busy.    But not today, ‘cause I have already been busy.  We had a new food store open this morning.  It used to be the county market and now it is called Food Depot.  Amazing buys this morning, large can mandarin oranges @ 49 cents, Campbell’s chicken noodle or tomato soup @ 3 for $1, etc.  But my best buy was a 6 lb hen that I have in the oven right now for 65 cents a lb.  I am foregoing eating out with the kids tonight and I am fixing stuffing and potatoes and gravy to go with that.  OOPS, I forgot the large can of Grand’s biscuits for 72 cents.
Then I headed out to Bergners.  I was informed that they opened at 9 today, but lo and behold, when I got there I saw that they didn’t open till 10.  This did ruffle my feathers a bit because I had called them yesterday and I was told they were opening at 9.  There were a couple of things on sale that I really wanted.  I guess I will have to go back this afternoon or in the morning.  Not life threatening, just something I thought I wanted.
It got downright chilly last night at 35 degrees,  I had a lot of frost to scrape this morning and I am not liking that too much.  I am getting used to it though.  One thing for sure, I don’t need a new car to sit out in the weather all night.
Wow, this has turned into a rant and I didn’t mean for it to be.  As I have said before, I really am quite content with this move. 
I hope you all have a very special weekend.  Be nice and smile a lot today.  Stay safe and be happy!!
  Beth

Wednesday…

over the hill day, rant day, whatever you want to call it the week is half over.  I was up this morning at 5 after a restless night.  My niece came and picked me up and we went to the hospital for me to have lab.  I am getting tired of that and I hope that is it for awhile.  Afterwards we went to Bob Evans for breakfast.  It is a bright sunny chilly morning but it was still very dark when I first went out this morning.  It will soon be the time to change back to standard time.  I do wish they would leave it one way or the other.
My brother and sis in law went on a cruise last month that left out of Los Angeles to Mexico.  I received a DVD yesterday from them.  The following pictures were taken through the port in a submarine (1/2) about 10 or so feet down.


They will be leaving again soon for a cruise to the Cayman Islands.  I am not the least bit envious, no I am not. 
I have started another load of laundry that I need to go check on.  Catch ‘ya all later.
  Beth

Tuesday…

and  a great day to be alive.  The sun is just rising good and the temp is 37 to get up to lower 60s today.  Absolutely perfect fall weather.  The rain never did materialize yesterday and we really do need it.  I guess the farmers are happy though as they are getting the harvesting done in record time compared to the wet cold fall we had last year.
I was up at 5:30 this morning and have exercised, breakfasted and have a load of laundry in the dryer.  As soon as the clothes are dry I am going over to Kroger to check out the bargains.  Tomorrow I have to go for followup lab work so that means fasting beginning this evening.  My niece is going with me in the morning and we will eat breakfast at Bob Evans afterwards.  I am really coming to like living close to family and not having to depend on myself for everything.  That is very stressful.  Just think, now at home I would be out in the yard raking and picking up beans, mowing the lawn and getting everything ready for winter.  No snow shoveling this winter.  Actually, I enjoy doing all of those things except cleaning up the beans.    Which I hope gives the new owners much joy.
The fall foliage is at its peak here right now and the colors are gorgeous.
The dryer is finished so I am heading off to the store.  I hope you all have a good day.  Stay safe and be happy!!
  Beth

Update..

Home from the doctor with good news.  Everything is OK.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers,  I really appreciate the love and friendship that you share with me.
Hugs,
Beth

Sunday, nice day..

but I am all knackered out.  Thanks to Mike in England for that word.  I googled it and found it to be a British word meaning tired and worn out which is exactly how I feel today. 
The weather today is gorgeous, hanging in there at 70 degrees; to be much colder tomorrow with rain.  Wouldn’t you know it the day I have to get out in it. I need to wrap my mind around Christmas shopping but I don’t find that appealing at all.  I think I will hit Kohl’s and Bergners and buy clothes and stick some money in the pocket.  That would work wouldn’t it?  I keep asking my daughter what they want for Christmas and so far no input yet.  I just was talking to my WV sis and she reminded me that I won’t have to make a lot of goodies as I have in the past.  Money for the paper carrier and goodies for the mail carrier.  That should do it.  No old people on my list or nursing home.  I failed to get the last name of the lady that was in the hospital at the same time I was.  I have thought about her a lot and pray she is improving.
Not much news today.  I will have an update tomorrow when I get home from my doctor visit.  I hope you are all having a nice day and I hope the week ahead is a good one.
  Beth

Flying colors..

at least the EKG part anyway.  The doctor told me that I passed the EKG stress test with perfect results.  Now I have  to wait for the results of the dye imaging camera pictures.  That is the hardest part of the test.  You lie flat for 20 minutes while the imaging machine is taking the pictures.  You have to lie perfectly still with both arms raised above your head.  This really made my shoulders and back hurt as I have arthritis and bone spurs in my neck and shoulders.  Then you walk on the treadmill for 20 minute with increased speeds and going up hill.  This part was not difficult for me at all as I am used to working out each day.  Then back to lie down with arms raised above my head for another 20 minutes.  I will find out the results of the imaging when I see my primary doctor on Monday.  Thank you all so much for the kind thoughts and prayers.  I had a couple of guys from Upstairs holding my hands so I knew it would be OK.  Thank you Carole for reminding me.
I am off to do some visiting.
  Beth

I did it…

For safekeeping I have moved my WLS to word press.  I probably will rarely post there.  They did move everything in the blogs, including comments.  http://bethmariesmainblog.wordpress.com/
Tomorrow is growing ever closer and I am getting more nervous about the test.  I had the same thing done in March 2006 so I know what to expect which is why I am nervous. 
Anyway, hopefully I will get caught up with everyone tomorrow afternoon.
Beth

Wednesday morning…

The rain hasn’t started yet although it is still in the forecast.  It actually is rather dry here as the temps have been in the 80s for the last week or so with no rain. 
I am expecting my daughter for lunch today.  Lasagna I think, Stouffer’s frozen.  I do love homemade lasagna but it is not worth my effort anymore.  If it wasn’t for TV dinners I don’t think I would eat anything.    I used to be a good cook, at least Jim always told me so.  That was quite an accomplishment for me since I couldn’t cook when we were first married.  My Betty Crocker cookbook which was a wedding gift was my teacher.  I still have that cookbook all bound together with masking tape and missing a few pages.  In the beginning I cooked everything from scratch including pies which I got to be halfway decent at.  My kids always loved the chocolate pudding cake recipe from the cookbook.  I haven’t made that for a long time and it is such an easy recipe.
I have things I should do around here but this week I am living by my motto of 100 years from now.  I did get my laundry done and that is something as there was a lot of it.

I hope you are all having a good week.  Enjoy each day as you never know what tomorrow will bring.
  Beth

Tuesday morning…

and rain is on its way.  After a good nights sleep I was up this morning at 6AM.  I headed to the grocery store after breakfast for a couple of things.  The trees I saw on the way are gorgeous.



The leaves are falling quickly.  Oh no, snow will be here before I turn around good.

A tree behind my daughter and son in law’s house.  I will keep an eye on it so that I can get a picture when all of the leaves have turned.
Nothing much on my schedule today except thinking about the test on Friday.  I had this same stress test done a few years ago which led to a heart cath.  Which is one reason I am thinking about it.  Because I know what to expect.  Then I see my primary care doctor on Monday afternoon and that doctor that thought that he was sent from heaven on the 28th.  Then I hope to be done.  Oh wait, I forgot, I am having my teeth cleaned on Nov. 9.  Not looking forward to that either.     I am very thankful that I am here to complain.
Hey, I kind of like the new features of live writer 11.  If you haven’t updated yet, you should.  Thank you Kerrie for telling me about it.  It still will not accept my word press blogs for some reason.
I hope you are all having a good week.  Stay safe and above all, be happy!
Beth

Monday…

and I slept really good in my own bed last night.  Hospital beds are not made for sleeping, they are made for torture in between the blood pressure readings, the pill giving and the blood taking.  I am glad to be home.  I have the stress test scheduled for early Friday morning.
I wanted to tell you a little bit about my roommate in the hospital.  Her name is Joan and she resides in one of the nursing homes here.  She was admitted about 10PM Saturday night.  She has congestive heart failure and many other things wrong with her and yet she is a very brave, gutsy lady.  The curtain was drawn between us so I couldn’t  see her family when she first came in.  I did hear them talking and I heard them leaving.  Each one told Joan “I love you” as they were leaving.  One of the family even came back a few minutes later to tell Joan again that they loved her.  Me, I was just laying there in my bed with tears in my eyes, it moved me so much.  I then proceeded to say a prayer for Joan.  Sunday morning I did meet her and she told me about her family, her youngest son being 40 years old.  I met some of them before I was discharged after lunch.  They are a loving family and they know that Joan is very ill.  I think that this all was a lesson for me and believe me I took it very seriously.
My daughter took me to the hospital Saturday and stayed with me in the emergency room for about 6 hours until I was finally admitted.  I am so thankful for her and for my son in law.  They have been so good to me since I moved here.
The weather here is gorgeous again today, 61 degrees right now and to be in the 80s again.  Watch out for November.  Last year the snow started in November and didn’t stop until well in to spring.
I have done a few things here this morning but I am planning to not do too much until after I have that test on Friday.  Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers.  Most of you have been my friends for almost 6 years now and I am ever grateful for that.
Beth

Sunday, a better day…

I am just home from the hospital this afternoon.  I was admitted after chest pains yesterday morning.  The EKG was a bit abnormal but three consecutive blood tests 8 hours apart showed the enzymes were normal with no sign of a heart attack..Because of the EKG I will be having a nuclear stress test this week and a follow-up visit to my primary care doctor a week later.  I am so glad to be home.  A big thank to Lady Pen who called clear across the ocean to see how I was.  It was so lovely to hear her voice.  Thank you Pen.
Rae, did a first for her and she posted a comment to my blog saying that I was in the hospital.  I am pretty tired now.  I will post tomorrow and tell you all about my roommate, a lovely lady of 80.
Thank you all for kind thoughts.
Hugs,
Beth

Thursday all day long I guess…

It is a lovely day here.  The sun is shining brightly and the temp right now is 52 degrees to get up to mid 70s today.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  I have already been out today in the sunshine to the pharmacy.  Do not go to Walgreens when they have Russell Stover dark chocolate marshmallow covered pumpkins on sale for 29cents, limit 6.  I can’t resist those even though I know I shouldn’t and then I happened to purchase something that gave me a $5 store credit.  Guess what, I went back and spent that 5 bucks on some more marshmallow pumpkins and a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups.  You may all come trick or treating as I have a big bowl of candy now, all hid away except for 1 marshmallow pumpkin covered in dark chocolate. Ramblin’ I will trade you one of those for one of the cutie pies.
My niece is on vacation this week and she is coming over for lunch and to watch Y&R with me today.  Just sandwiches, so you all are probably not interested in that.  I asked my daughter to come over too but she doesn’t like Y&R as she is hooked on Days.  Ham and cheese sandwich anyone???
I have been working on my recipe space on word press and another one that I had transferred over.  I didn’t think I would ever say this but there are actually some features that I like at word press.  If you can figure out how to get over the blahness (made up word) you can fix it up where it is not half bad.  I tried and tried but I could not get live writer to accept either one of them.  However, it is not too bad as it is easy enough to make the post from your blog and thanks to Pen and Jude I am learning a few things.  It is also fairly easy to insert a pic.  One thing I do like is it is easy to go back to an old post and insert a pic in it.
http://bethmarie8457.wordpress.com/ is my other word press blog.
Well, enough jabbering on for today.  I have sandwiches to make.
Beth

YAHOO!!

the back door is finished and it looks great.  I just need to shorten my curtain for it and it will be all done.  And, he used lots of permanent weatherstripping.  I do have the stuff I bought at Menards and I am going to see if there are any little places that need winterproofing on the front door and the windows. 
I have been over to my daughter’s this morning for a cup of tea, then on the way home I stopped by Kroger and brought Halloween candy @ $2 a bag.  Doggone it, it is all good stuff so I hid it away until the time for the ghosts and goblins. 
My next door neighbor has decorated outdoors for the fall.  It looks beautiful.  Below are pictures.



I thought this was so pretty that I took it from all angles.
We had a huge frost last night.  When I looked at the stretch of ground separating me from the cemetery it was all white with frost.  Supposed to warm up to above 80 on Friday and Saturday.  Put away the jeans and dig out the shorts for a couple of days.
You know what, this is a really nice day and I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of it.  I hope you all are too.
Footnote for Paul:  Stool also referred to as commode where my sis lives in WV, potty by the kiddies and toilet for the rest.  What is it called in Boston?  ;-)

Monday again…

and I am up an at ‘em basking in the warm glow of my furnace set at 70 degrees.  The end of the week is to be warmer here, warming up to 80 degrees.  Off with the furnace and on with the fan.
Now to get caught up with the weekend.  I went to the Texas Roadhouse in East Peoria Friday night with my daughter and son in law.  They have the best homemade rolls there that are served with honey butter.  Yummmmm!  The kids had steaks and I had chicken with enough to bring home to eat on Saturday as I was making the pies.
New crisis here at my place.  The stool in the bathroom is leaking a small amount around the base on the floor.  When I called maintenance this morning they hurried and sent someone over.  It will probably be flooded in  there when he gets done as it is the same guy who has been working on my back door for over 2 weeks.  Which isn’t nearly finished yet. 
Boston Boy asked if I had taken the picture at the top of my blog.  Yes, the picture was taken at my old home in the fall last year.  I always called them painted daisies although that is just the common name for them.  Carole has published a photo of this flower on her flickr page that is awesome!!  She can also tell us the proper name for them.  I do miss my flowers at home as I had lots of perennials that came up every year.  I do have photos of them all so I can look at then in a slide show and it is almost as good.
Well, the kid (22 years old) has left my bathroom with a promise to come back this afternoon and finish the back door.  I just took a look in the bathroom.  No water on the floor now, he said he tightened some bolts.  As for coming back this afternoon to finish the door, I will not be holding my breath as that is detrimental to ones health.
Now to put all of those negative thoughts behind me and focus on the positive.  That is the only way to deal with life, along with a daily talk with The Man Upstairs.  Remember that old song with that title sung by Kay Starr?  I do remember it and if I was posting this to spaces I could post it for you all to hear.  I haven’t figured out how to get music on blog spot yet.  If any of you know please be kind and pass that knowledge along.
Thank you to the ones, especially Lady Jude, who gave me tips on how to make my blah wordpress recipe blog look better.  I really appreciate all of you and I think we will get through this blog moving stuff and end up with our blog family still strong.  I do like my blog spot a LOT better than the  wordpress ones though.
OK time to go as I see my daughter coming to the door.
Have a good week and above all be happy.
Beth

Saturday news from the heart of Illinois…

and to begin with it is downright chilly here today even though the sun is shining.  It has topped out at 57 degrees and is to get down to mid 30s tonight with a frost warning in effect.  Since I have no flowers outside that doesn’t bother me too much.  I had lots of beautiful flowers at home but there are many things here in my new place that do help to even that out.  Having to scrape frost off my car will not be fun though.
I did get the coconut cream pies made.  They are yummy as I had a big piece of one.  The filling and the meringue are homemade but I am lazy anymore and use the frozen crust.  The reason I made two is so that all of you can have a piece.  This is my son in law’s favorite so you had better hurry a little bit.  :-)


I moved my recipe space to Word Press,  http://bethmariesrecipes.wordpress.com/  To be fair to Word Press it did move every one of my recipes, however my old family photos were not moved.  Those, along with my memories have been downloaded to my hard drive.  Also Rod Stewart singing Forever Young is a thing of the past too.   I know that some of you visited my recipe space now and then.  I will be posting new recipes now that I have moved it.  I would be pleased if you continue to visit.
I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and that you are happy.
Beth

October is here…

and I am sad to see the last of September which is my favorite month of the year, especially since I have stopped counting birthdays.  Today is an unusually gorgeous day with bright sunshine and a temperature topping out at 72 degrees.  Watch out for Saturday and Sunday night as the temps are to fall to mid 30s and the first frost of the season is predicted.
I am still waiting for the yobo to come and finish my back door.  He called yesterday and said he would be here this morning but here it is 3PM and I haven’t seen anything of him yet.  Disgusting!!!  I did buy spackling and weather stripping at Menards yesterday and if he doesn’t get on the ball I will finish up the door myself.  At least then I would know that all of the cracks and holes are sealed.  I have helped Jim with many a project of this kind so this ain’t my first rodeo.
I am going out for supper tonight with  my daughter and son in law.  Not sure where we are going but I am sure I will like it as I am hungry because I just had a tiny bite for lunch.
My niece came over today and watched Y & R with me.  I am not liking the pace of that show much any more and I was thoroughly aggravated that they didn’t renew Chance’s contract.  I am liking The Big Bang Theory.  Those guys are awesome, pure nerdism (made up word) at its very finest.  I think I am watching too much television and it is probably time for me to start cleaning out closets and dresser drawers again.
I intend to make a coconut cream pie tomorrow.  I assembled everything I needed to make one while my sis was here but somehow I didn’t find the time to do it.  Sorry Rae.
I hope you all have a sunny happy weekend.
Beth