No title...

I have no title for this post because I don't know what I want to say. I will start by numbering the one hundred million crazy thoughts I have in my head. We will go to ten as fast as I can.

1. The leaves in my yard are up to my ankles. I have raked until my back aches. Wow my fat ass is really out of shape. I have 15 bags of leaves and that's just the front yard. I like to do the work though. I guess that's the joy of being a home owner. This is one of the times that I wish a I had big strong strapping man to help out. Well, it's not the only time. There are lots more and none pertain to the house. That's not the case and I'm left to do it all by myself.

2. On the stove right now is some homemade chicken noodle soup that I made a couple of weeks ago. No it's not been in the fridge this whole time, I froze some. I even made the stock from scratch. I know for all you foodies reading this you are saying "big effing deal". Well, for me it was a big deal. The Pioneer Woman I am not....yet.

3. I'm am just finishing my first Crown Royal and ginger ale. Not my first ever, but my first one of the night. YUM!

4. A friend brought back some delicious dark chocolate from Italy and I am TRYING to not eat it all at one time. Thanks, Jason!

5. After raking I came in and cleaned out the refrigerator and washed all the little plastic dishes that contained just a couple of scoops of something wondering that I had made weeks...months ago. Why the hell do we do that? Why don't we just throw it away instead of saving it and saying to ourselves "no, I'll eat that this week." Whatever.

6. I'm a little concerned about my job.

7. I'm a lot concerned about my job.

8. I love my kitties. Mostly because they love me. I love to feel their little warm bodies tucked in tight next to me in bed. It's very reassuring.

9. I'm really glad that I took my knitting class again. I love my teacher Barb and I really did have a brain fart. I don't think that I could have even cast on by myself.

and finally,

10. I went to the Farmers Market today to buy some bread. A couple of weeks ago, I was there and found a woman that I know, but now really well. She makes the best breads. When I shared with her my fear of making bread, she said just "try it. It's just bread" When she answered me what she didn't know is that I didn't mean just breads. I have a stack of recipes half why up to my knees that I want to "try". Everyday I pour over my favorite blogs for recipes. I print them, sigh and say...I'm going to make this and then I don't. I don't want to have a ton of desserts or sweets around the house (see #1 and the big fat ass reference), and it's hard to cook for just one person. I want to have people over for dinner but can only seat two people at my table at a time. The simplest words, "just try it" have taken a great weight off my shoulders. Thanks, Karen. I'm going to....

Talk to you all later. Time for a fresh cocktail and the Real Housewives of DC reunion.

Fall Ball

Good morning, all.

Now don't be so surprised that I'm up this early and that I'm blogging so soon after my last post. I told you, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf,

I actually just wanted to send out a cosmic "Good Luck" to my MN Twins. Playing ball in the fall is a dream every year for ball players. Hopefully, we will be playing into November.

I get to watch the game live today for the first time in our new stadium. I have my "uniform" all picked out.

Now to work before I get fired.....

Memories vs. Reality

I'm starting this post without naming it, because, quite frankly, I don't know what direction it will take. I see that it's been a month since my last post. I know that I promised last time that I wouldn't wait so long in between. I have however been somewhat busy. Also, they blocked blogs at work so unless it has a dot com at the end I can't get it. Which is good, because I'm supposed to be ummm working. It's is at work that I get ideas for blogs. Since they haven't taken away my pen and paper, I'll have to start jotting notes the old fashioned way.

I drove through the country the other day where I grew up. While it is only probably 45 minutes away, I haven't been back there in several years. It was a cold, rainy day and the fall colors were at their peak. As I drove past houses and farms I was struck by how much things had changed. Some homes were only slight different but some were...for lack of a better word, just sad. For example, growing up I rode the school bus for 1 hour on the way to school. Along the bus route was a large cattle farm. This family had several different farms, including one big operation where the "main house" was. The grandparents rambler was there as were two small rentals. One was the home of my best friend. I loved to go there. It reminded me of the farms you saw on TV. All the buildings on all of their farms were painted the same color, a goldish yellow. You knew whose property you were on just by the color. Everything was well groomed and prestigious. I was sort of envious. Fast forward 25 years. I was shocked to see the condition of the buildings. All were in desperate need of paint. There were no cattle present. It made me sad and I wished that I hadn't driven past. I liked my memories better then reality.

As I continued down this country road, I drove by the cemetery where my mom is buried. Our family headstone is one of the closest to the road and you can read our name quite clearly. I didn't stop as I was on some one else's time schedule. I haven't been to visit her grave for many years and I felt guilty.

I continued up the road about 1 mile and saw the house that I grew up in. It was sold to a member of our family and I was very pleased to see that they had taken great care of it. I didn't stop there either.

I wondered if this little visit would have been lost on me if I went back more often? Would I have been hit with such guilt and nostalgia?