Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 2:53 pm on October 13, 2021 Permalink  

  Quiet 

  I am having a quiet day, pretty well pulled into myself in the studio.  Yesterday with my visit to my friend’s home has given me much to think about.

  Though Judy is blind, she is still hoping that in the second bedroom of their town home, she can have her Bernina sewing machine table set up.  It would be available for when her daughter-in-law and her daughter have an idea to sew and she could be swept up in that sewing atmosphere.  Judy commented that just having it set up would give her a lift and feel as if there were a balance in what her surroundings allow.  I would have to agree with her.

  The immediate time after I had had a stroke, it gave oh so much solace to come down to the studio and be with and around what I had enjoyed, not knowing if anything would ever come into fruition for me again.  I didn’t even need much for lights.  Just sitting in my sewing chair and twirling back and forth felt good. Though Judy’s and my situation is worlds apart, I can understand her mindset.  

  The ability to enjoy my studio is far beyond what I thought I could achieve.  Thanks be to my God.  What I have come to realize today is that paring down is needed in regard to paper stuff I have squirreled away.  Yes . . . that pattern has been quilted, I will never repeat it.  No . . .  that quilting book that had been handed down to me needs to hit the recycling bin.  I know my stitching friends well enough to know they each have their own niche in their interests.

  I am on a roll.  I have a want list to continue with my organization.  What I want, my hometown does not stock.  Dennis said just last night, if I wanted to go somewhere . . . to just let him know.  I need a trip to OfficeMax.  In the meantime, my church tables still have room for some stacks of sorting items.

  Today worked out great as I had gotten the gentle hint to stay out of the kitchen while Dennis was working on an oven dish for supper.  KNUJ radio was put on loud enough in the studio that I was not privy to what the clattering going on in the kitchen could mean. 

  We did have a 1/2 inch of rain by eight this morning.  Well deserved.

   
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  Noreen 3:32 pm on October 12, 2021 Permalink  

  Friends 

  Friends are enduring.  Being privy to a long-time friend’s life can be quite sad.

  I paid a visit to my friend Judy’s home today.  They have been in a rental town house since the first of September.  Their rural home may either be rented or sold.  No decision as yet.  Judy is totally blind from Macular.  Judy and her husband are the same age as I am . . . 77.

  The sad part of my visit was that her husband should go on a hunting expedition and not come home.  As I mentioned they moved into the townhouse September 1st.  The home was filthy.  Every flat surface had dirty dishes on it.  Styrofoam cartons on the floor near Wayne’s chair with food remaining.  Empty water and pop bottles on the floor.  Fruit flies everywhere.  Judy’s only daughter has been asked by Judy’s husband to stay away until she can quit telling him what to do.  Oh so sad.  Judy may not be able to see but she knew she needed to apologize to me for what she knew was about in her home.  They knew I was coming, the least Wayne could have done was help Judy to have her shirt right side out.

  I got home and gave Dennis a peck on the cheek and a hug.   How grateful to come home and have the few dishes that were in the sink, washed and put away.  Sweet!

  No matter . . . I can still be astonished.

   
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  Noreen 1:52 pm on October 11, 2021 Permalink  

  A Topic 

  Today is a wonderful Monday.  After I got back from my morning walk a topic ensued in regard to “What’s up for supper?”  I remained quiet.  After giving Dennis’s comment a pause, I put it right back to him as to what he anticipated for supper.  His idea was a pork roast, boiled potatoes, gravy and some dessert.  I urged him to begin so it would be done by supper.

  I am Lena’s daughter.  I am not Lena in regard to putting out a three to four course meal seven days out of seven for a supper.  Hmm.  I could hear Dennis rummage in the refrigerator.  Next the freezer was opened and I could hear some items being moved about.  Down to the basement pantry was his next move.  “Do we need one small can of Dinty Moore stew or two cans.”  I assured him one can would work.  It’s not my first choice coming out of a can, but I will enjoy Dennis’ preparation of our supper.  Never look a gift horse in the mouth.  That phrase came about when a horse was given as a gift.  When the receiver immediately looked into the mouth of the horse to look at the horse’s teeth and determine the age of the horse . . . thus the value of the given gift.  Little known fact.  Tee Hee! 

  Meals can be highly exaggerated when our day of activity is slime to none.  It might be a good idea to have several pizzas in the freezer for the next time Dennis trolls through the options.  It might just trip the old trigger.

  According to the tractors each pulling several grain trailers heaped with shell corn, the harvest is going great guns.  Surprisingly many farmers have their own 18 wheelers.

  In between time, I am in the studio going through folders seeking and searching a particular one that holds photos of a time when Megan and Nicholas were small tots.  I can envision it here in the studio.  Three walls of shelves from top to bottom to keep me busy . . . thus comes in the sifting and organization I mentioned yesterday.  No one to blame but myself.  How long could it have taken to label it!

  Enjoy the week of temps that feel oh so good.

   
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  Noreen 3:04 pm on October 10, 2021 Permalink  

  Great Temps 

  Walking this morning in my kind of weather of 60 degrees . . . does the heart good.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  Dennis on the other hand has polar fleece and gloves on.  The wind is brisk today.  The weather for the entire coming week tends to be on the cooler side.  I like that. 

  I am persevering in the studio.  Never a bad time for some sorting and organizing.  No one but me has been down there.  By not returning every single thing to where it belongs once used . . . makes for hunting for it the next time.

  Dennis baked out items for his breakfasts . . . scones.  His frosting skills for the top of them is getting better.  I don’t eat carbs to that degree for my first meal of the day.  To each his own.

  The slicer worked great last night for raw fried potatoes.  We have just moved up in tricking out our kitchen.  We may not use it often.  It will be there when it is needed.  After all, it’s not the type of slicer that I would need eating pizza three times a week . . . I wish.  The ole cowboy has won that round . . . along with green veggies and fruit . . . or so he believes.  Life is too short to dig in my slipper’s heel.

  Not much excitement here today.  I have my limits . . . dang.  I am the first and only one of me, and more than two of me . . . the world could not handle.

   
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  Noreen 1:14 pm on October 9, 2021 Permalink  

  Endurance 

  We have become a “throwaway” world.  Everything from water softeners to furniture to floor coverings.  Don’t get your hopes up for endurance.

  I recall that in times past Raymond and Lena would get the cattle chores done so they and dad’s brother and his wife, Lester and Hazel, could take in the Minnesota State Fair.  The men spent the day on Machinery Hill while the women took in exhibits under the grandstand.  The latest in all gadgetry would be on display.

  When Lena came home with the smallest of a box in a bag, it didn’t look as if she had purchased much for a full day of looking.  The contents of that box changed everything from canning to everyday cooking for our farm kitchen.  It was a small slicer that could easily fit over the edge of a bowl or a kettle.  Just slide the food item up to the blade and it was easy peasy.  Speed depended upon the user.  The slicer had adjustment from thin sliced onions to chunky carrot rounds.  I was still in high school and learned early on to reach for the slicer to make some chores easy.

  When Mom moved out of her apartment when she was in her early nineties, I beat Elvera to nabbing the slicer.  That gem came home with me.  Dennis has sharpened the blade several times.  The indents in the metal legs were worn smooth.  They no longer had the ability to hold the thickness of each slice consistently.  One hand had to hold the adjustment while pushing the food product through with the other hand.  In truth, the cutting edge just couldn’t hold up to anymore sharpening.  Dennis said it was time to buy a new slicer.

  I went online and there were countless choices.  It had to be compact as we don’t have the cupboard storage nor the counter space for much more than what is already on hand.

  Today the new slicer came.  For a whopping $19.99, plus shipping we are back in business.  It came from a company in Ohio that sells a lot of what had been and is still used in homes.  I could not believe that the trustee slicer of 60 plus years of service was still deemed a viable tool.  Dennis is going to try it out for supper as he has been waiting for thinly sliced potatoes for raw fried potatoes.  I am in charge of sautéing onions. 

  The slicer on the left is Lena’s vintage and on the right is Dennis’ new one with some nice grippers on the feet. 

  Whether it is a slicer, or two retirees, endurance just can’t be beat.

   
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  Noreen 1:32 pm on October 8, 2021 Permalink  

  It’s Different 

  In the past, I enjoyed remembering young and some not so young with a favor from my studio.  This year will be a bit different.  This year my mobility is a bit different.

  Today made that difference feel less . . . by quite a bit.  Today the mail person brought a package from the Christian Book site.  I had ordered a variety of cards by the box.  I will again be able to remember those that I have in the past with pop-up cards.  Receiving something in the mail at Christmas time that is addressed to little ones can be quite exciting.  I know this first hand from the parents of those that have been recipients.  All that is required of me is to keep them in the studio until such time to pop them in the mail.  I am not one of those that will be sweating it that there are cargo ships not able to unload Christmas cargo.

  After the first floor items are taken care of, I head for the studio.  I have some dish towels that are being made up.  The embroidery hoop needs to be clipped onto the embroidery module before the sewing machine will do “stitch one.”  I can say that working with embroidery has physical therapy benefits.  For the hoop to engage, two clips need to be pulled together to slip over the module’s hub.  For myself, the thumb and forefinger need that strengthening.  After the stroke those fingers were happy to be left alone and not engage in any activity.  On a good day the forefinger can depress the button on an aerosol can.  A nail clipper operation is still in the works. 

  There isn’t any yard work for me.  My biggest workout is to get in and out of the house without letting in bugs.  Dennis checked, the Boxelder trees are two blocks east of us.  Have bug will travel.

  The fellows are doing coffee this afternoon and that would include a road trip to check on the farmers in the surrounding area.  I am getting a dose of farming by listening to KNUJ and their farm forum. 

  The weekend is upon us.  May everyone have a chance to write some of their own agenda.  Everyone’s idea of a good weekend is quite different.

   
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  Noreen 2:37 pm on October 7, 2021 Permalink  

  Thoughts 

  Dennis and I have been doing some thinking in regard to our forever home here on Stauffer.  

  Yes, we are in the waiting mode for some new front steps.  Yes, we are in the waiting mode for our plumbers to put in a step-in shower.  The good news is that the back order of their supplies are now in Fargo.  Burke came by yesterday and did a double check on the measurement needed.  We may be on track once the supplies hit Mankato and then St. James.  Sweet.  We will be able to take one cane and one walker out from the bathroom.  The chair stays.  The front steps are not of importance as in the safety with the shower. 

  It’s been a cloudy day and the leaves are tumbling.  The pull-behind sweeper that Dennis bought for the rider mower will come in very handy this fall.

  Our schedule is quite light for the next week.  I am planning on a trip to Mankato next week to see a friend, Judy.  Judy was the county assessor for Brown County.  An additional friend, Doreen, was the county assessor for Nicollet County.  We all retired about the same time and spent countless hours together during the working years.  Shortly after retirement, Judy suffered a strain of macular degeneration and her site could not be saved.  Doreen was diagnosed with cancer shortly after she had retired and she has since passed away.  How could I not keep up with Judy.

  Supper is Shore Land chicken noodle soup with a fried egg sandwich.  Neither of us have had a very trying day.

   
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  Noreen 3:08 pm on October 6, 2021 Permalink  

  Full Day 

  This morning a bathroom call got me up at 6:15 and then I was wide awake.  I took in the dark morning and the stillness of our home.  I could hear Dennis’ even breathing.  I hit the button for the coffee pot and soon the aroma of the Folgers coffee wafted through the home.

  I made sure I was as quiet as could be and enjoyed the first cup of the morning, followed by the second cup.  I enjoyed my favorite breakfast.  No . . . Dennis would not feel he had missed out.  Dennis doesn’t do fruit or the yogurt and flax meal under the berries.  A breakfast of my guilty pleasure.

  Dennis slept until a bit after eight.  Mornings that we can each wake at our own pace make for a good day coming.  By ten we were ready to roll.  Our first stop was Lewis Drug for Dennis’ refills.  A five dollar bill covered both prescriptions.  Sweet.  Down the highway west to Windom.  Frank’s shoe shop had not been visited for a quite a few years.  It remains a mainstay for quality durable work shoes, Redwing being only one of several brands carried by this third generation shop keeper.  Dennis is sporting a new pair of boots and house slippers.  The ‘Happy Birthday” has had its last day.  Only 361 days until the next one.

  A stop at our local grocer’s before heading home.  A few items here and there on sale will soon fill the basement pantry for the coming cooler months.  Stocking up comes from decades of Lena setting a good example.  It is by no means the shiny jars of pint and quart fruit jars lining the shelves . . . it comes in as a close second.

  When Mom and I would work the sweetcorn pack in Glencoe for Green Giant decades ago, there was a perk long after the season of work.  In the early winter, all workers showing their employee pass could visit the warehouses in Glencoe.  Any and all Green Giant products that were canned and bore the Green Giant label could be bought in case lots for pennies on the dollar.  Many of the items were not canned at the Glencoe site, but were fair game.  Believe me our pantry shelves in the basement of our Boon Lake farm benefitted. 

  So it is that my level of comfort is having more food in the basement on the shelves than a week’s worth.

  Leaving Dennis to break in his new boots, I went to visit June this afternoon.  Spending time with June is rewarding.  June is an 80-year-old cheerful person. . . non stop.  Her only hobby is reading and she has never driven a car or had a driver’s license.  She has two sons that both work for the city and visit her often in her apartment just as always since selling her home this spring.

  We are having an easy supper for me to wrestle up.  Mac and Cheese with diced up leftover spam from a breakfast we had over the weekend.  I personally would not walk across the street for a meal of Mac and Cheese.  To each their own.  Gotta love the differences that make us “one.”

   
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  Noreen 4:39 pm on October 5, 2021 Permalink  

  I’m Home 

  It is suppertime and I am home after a great day with the stitchers.  Seven of us met at Baker’s Square for lunch that turned into a mid afternoon gathering. 

  I also did several errands before lunch.  I have come home spent.  It was a long day, but by golly, I am up for it again next month.

  Catch you all tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 2:15 pm on October 4, 2021 Permalink  

  Good News 

  If we say our prayers and wait long enough there can be good news.

  Ever since a surgeon did me wrong by tacking up my bladder at a time that I needed a hysterectomy. . . life was never the same.  That surgery was then followed by many other well meaning surgeons, trying to undo the damage, as I could hold no urine . . . at all.  It was a challenge going to work every day packing depends and extra clothing.  Surgeon Deb Lightner preformed the last surgery that worked at Mayo in Rochester.  My bladder was removed during a procedure called a bladder augmentation.  I have been full time self-cathing patient ever since . . . several decades now. 

  The prescription allowed for a minimal amount of latex catheters to be used each month.  The solution was to boil them so as to reuse them.  Not much choice other than restrict the amount of my fluid intake each day.  That doesn’t play well for a healthy day.  When I would think to put the kettle on, it was not the same as when Lena put the kettle on for a cup of instant coffee.

  I digress.  Yesterday via the UPS, a huge box was delivered, and I mean huge.  My wonderful family doctor got an approval for a prescription that I may use as many catheters each day as needed.  The best part is that the wording included “Not to be reused.”  The kettle is being retired.  I have a three month supply with a card allowing me to know, all I have to do is go online for reorders.  The box was huge, the relief inside of me is huge.  The smaller boxes inside the large box each hold 30 catheters.  In my day-to-day life . . . each small box may last five days, not as the previous needing to last 30 days.  Prayers and patience do work to our good.  The best part was at the bottom of the invoice, it stated “Patient Portion: “None.”

  When I had visited my doctor within these months he said he was working on this, as he felt I had been through enough.  This may not seem like an earth shattering event, but . . . in my world . . . it rocks.  Dennis was just as excited as I was.  Over the decades, that dang kettle boiled dry several times with nothing good to follow.

  Yup, keep older ones around, they can be awesome!