Charlyn’s Web

I compared the girl’s feet.  The Girls are 18 months apart.  Weigh within a pound of each other, although KJ is taller.

And….

their feet are the same size.

Not the same as shopping with Boo Boo.

My Mom needed a dress for her 50th Wedding Anniversary that is coming up in June. She had been looking through “her” catalogs (I don’t know why she is so possessive about them) and was thinking of looking in Portland soon. I worry about her going into the Big City by herself and she has problems with her balance still. So I thought while they were here visiting we would foray into my small town to see what was available. We went to Jacques Claude’s. Basically the only choice in town. We did manage to find a dress that fit and looked nice. And it was a good price.

I then took the girls upstairs to the children section. We had the girls with us because The Men were going to be doing outside work and I figured they would get more done without the Little Girls “helping”. I was a little concerned about keeping track of them AND helping Mom but the girls did really well.

A side note about our J.C. Penny; it takes pride in being the oldest JCP still in it’s original location. Personally, I’m not sure that is something to take pride in. It’s located on Main Street, in a store front that at one time must have been spacious. Now, it is crowded with clothes and racks so that it is difficult to move around (great for places for kids to hide). It has a loft area (where the kids clothes are) and a basement. The basement is now open again; it was closed for years because it flooded from the river. The selection is limited but, like I said earlier, it’s about the only choice in town (unless you go to an expensive boutique).

So the girls and I were upstairs checking out the clothes. I found a couple of dressed that were cute and reasonable in price. I grabbed a 5 for KJ and a 4 for TG. Then KJ started whining that she wanted to try something on. I thought she didn’t need to because I figured the 5 would fit. But, I knew she had seen Grandma try many dresses on and she probably thought it looked like fun. (Ah, the innocence of youth). So, I let her try on the dress. She went into the dressing room by herself after assuring me she would come out so I could zip up the back. She got it on and we discovered that it was too big! Length was fine but she is such a skinny minny that it was gaping around her chest. I looked for a 4 in that style and there wasn’t one so I picked another that we had looked at but there hadn’t been a 5 in it. That one fit better. So I guess the girls can wear both dresses- Ha! I’ll be hearing screams of “That’s MY dress!”

So now Grandma, the Girls and I have dresses.  When we got home Grandpa said-“So what will I wear to the 50th?”

He is on his own.

We shopped for four (count them- 4!) hours yesterday.  I didn’t whine, nor whimper.  I was a trooper.

Trying on clothes is not for the faint of heart when you don’t have a perfect body.  I do not and it was terrifying.  I prefer baggy to cover the flaws but I am told that is just not how it is done these days.  Of course, when it’s someone else’s body we tend to make allowances and I had to place my trust in my Friend- hoping she wasn’t making me look like a teen wanna-be but a sophisticated stylish 40 somethingish.  What is it with these low cut pants?  She says they are here to stay (for awhile at least).  I wore some and it felt like my pants were falling down all day but they wouldn’t come up any farther when I yanked on them.  Oh, the indignities of fashion.

I don’t have the prerequisite number of shoes but I am way over my money limit so that will mean I will have to go without.  I have TONS of sandals/ heels that she is giving me anyway.  It remains beyond me why one has to have so many but that is a subject for another post.

I made General Toa’s Tofu Stir Fry last night.  It was yummy.  I have not cooked with tofu before or, to my recollection, eaten it before.  So it was a whole new experience.  It was good so I may have to try more of it.  A  must  with this recipe is to double the sauce.  There simply would not be enough of it otherwise.

Today is the pedicure.  I’m looking forward to it.

Boo Boo gave me the day off yesterday.  We went on a five mile walk, ran some errands and took naps.  What a fun day!   Today we are back at it, shopping that is.

I took pictures of the house, inside and out.  As I came in the back door, I noticed the neat door knob and paused to take a shot of it.  A friend who lives here with Boo Boo asked

“Did you just take a photo of the door knob?”

Yes.

“Sweet” he says.  Is that a nice way of saying “you be crazy!”?

Also got some shots of the cats, with seven (yes, 7!) it’s hard to miss them.  I am still trying to get them all straight.  They seem to be o.k. with me being here as none have hissesd at me or peed on my pillow.  Both known happenings.  To be fair the pee-er cat restricts his affection to Boo Boo’s pillow and ear.  One even slept with me last night.

 It sounds like Col. Panic is handling the kids just fine.  It’s been a busy time for him as he has had extra duties at church the first part of the week.  That is over now so things should mellow out.  He even fixed oatmeal for breakfast and thought of making pancakes until he heard there was no mix and he would have to mix them up from scratch.  He thought he might make them up when he has more time and wasn’t hungry.  Good plan.  They are eating well, school is being done, they sound happy…. maybe I’ll just stay here. 😉

Boo Boo and I have decided we would make the perfect wife.  I cook, she cleans.

I made it with very little hassle.  Praise the Lord!  A flight to Dalles-Fort Worth from Seattle never took off.  I was so glad to not be on that flight!

Sunday we hung out here in Boo Boo’s wonderful old house.  Took a walk around town and saw many beautiful older homes.  We went five miles and I was feeling it when we got home but was not sore or stiff the next day.  Which was good as that was the day we started SHOPPING!

I have a whole new “Foundation” now and more clothes then I would have thought I needed.  Although it’s practically a start from scratch endeavor.  I haven’t bought new clothes for me in….. I don’t remember when- at least 10 years (not counting maternity summer clothes when I was pregnant with KJ).

Tuesday we went shopping again.  I must admit a few wimpers escaped my lips but I pressed on.  We also got my hair cut and it looks good.  About 6:30 I had to admit that I was beyond making decisions and had to quit.  Time to eat anyway.

Then we stayed up late discussing old times and laughing.  It was wonderful.

I have to admit; when it comes to shopping Boo Boo is the Energizer Bunny.

I am the other brand.

I am off tomorrow morning but I may pop in with progress reports while on my trip.

I urged Col. Panic to guest blog but he refused.  I thought it would be fun to hear of his adventures with the kids sans Mom.

🙂

I gave TONS of stuff away to a group having a yard sale!

There was a lot already accumulated and sitting in the shop loft.  I hauled it all down this morning- got my exercise there!

I also went through my closets and gave away lots there too!  I have been getting rid of things for the last few years and mostly had favorite stuff left.  But, with many memories, I was brutal in my purging.  The favorite green suit with boxy jacket that I have been told is TOTALLY out of fashion.   The black skirt that is 20 years old but that I really liked.  Couldn’t get in it anymore.  Some nice stuff that I bought with MY OWN MONEY.  Snivel.  Parting is hard to do.  Reality is that I can’t fit in most of them anymore- darn kids!  And that they are not in the current fashion trends.  Sigh.

I even turned down some offered hand me downs the other day.  Ouch.  I am such a mooch, I love hand me downs.

But I plan on filling the nearly empty suit case with clothes- new, not dated clothes that fit while on my trip.  Will wonders never cease.

I am sure it’s over rated.

We went to bed as soon as the kids were in bed- about 9:15.  I was yakking away to The Big Guy (TBG) about really important Wife stuff when I stretched out my legs to the bottom of the bed.  I jerked them back quickly because it felt really cold down there.  Then I realized it was WET!  As in very wet.  Groan!

Last October we realized our old bed that we had bought shortly after getting married 16 years ago was causing our backs to hurt.  Having limited funds and being cheap (did I say that?) we decided that we should give TBG’s Dad’s old water bed a chance.  It was lying around in the shop loft getting dusty so we might as well try it to see if it helps our backs without costing money.  We set it up on a “romantic” night and day without the kids.   It is an old style waterbed with a big “bladder” not one of the waveless ones.  Seems people don’t use waterbeds too much anymore as we had a hard time finding supplies for it.  But it worked, especially after we figured out the right temperature to keep us both happy (not an easy feat).  Our backs feel better.

Yesterday morning I changed the sheets and decided to get the air bubbles out of it as I had noticed it “sloshing”  lately.  I pulled the recessed plug out so I could unscrew the cap and the cap popped off and water came spewing out!  Sigh.   The cork part of the stopper is gone and the screw on cap doesn’t go on too tightly.  When you think you just about got it tight enough it would give way and you have to start over.  I guess I didn’t get it on there as well as I had thought.

The sheet was wet, the comforter was wet, everything.   We got up, stripped the bed and worked on the cap.  We discovered that Brett’s Dad had done a fix on it before as there was part of a yogurt container used as a shim.  (Is that the right word?)  We searched the kitchen for a lid that would work and couldn’t find one.  We searched the kitchen for something that we could use for a new shim.   We finally found a waxed cardboard lid insert in the mayonnaise jar.  I guess the don’t do many of the foam type ones anymore.  After more fiddling Brett got it to work.  We dried off the bed and put on new bedding.  I put a thin blanket under the sheet but it wasn’t enough to keep us from getting cold during the night.  The water filled plastic can be cool even when the water is warmed.  It was after 10:15 before we hit the water again- good thing we started to go to bed early!

So another night of not so good sleep- because we got cold. TBG had a early meeting and so had to get up early for that and unfortunately woke up even before that!  Sigh.

I should have known I wasn’t putting the cap on right as Kirsten told me we should wait for Papa as he was a “good worker” and I was a “crazy worker”.    The voice of wisdom?

At least I can take consolation that I am a “good cooker” and Papa is a “crazy cooker”.  Take that into consideration if you plan on visiting next week while I am gone.

I have always been a deep sleeper.  I remember being worried before I had kids (yes, I have a few memories of those days left in a brain rabidly forgetting everything) that I wouldn’t wake up when they needed me.  I needn’t have worried, mothering instincts took over and I hear every noise.

I woke up about midnight when a rustling sound came into the bedroom and I realized TG was coming through to go to the bathroom.  I’ll have to write about her and these wonderful events sometime.  I had to get up to help her, put her back in to bed and crashed again myself.  Apparently, about three KJ came through the bedroom, closed the bathroom door which made noise, turned on the light which shone through the not all the way closed door and used the facilities.  I heard none of this.   I would speculate that I knew she didn’t need me so my brain ignored her.  Or something noble like that.  But, unfortunately, she woke up The Big Guy.  Who then was unable to get back to sleep.  He got up about 4 and went out to sit in the big chair and read.  He had to close the blind, because even though we live WAY off the Lane at the end of our five acres, the neighbors yard light shines right into the house.  I heard the chair make noise and the light come on…. then a little KJ voice.  What was she doing up?  Then I heard the crib squeak and the door thump open and a little TG voice.   Then I heard the light go off so I knew they were cuddling on their Daddy’s lap and I went back to sleep.

Turns out the girls didn’t go back to sleep for an hour and every time Brett dozed off they would wiggle and wake him up.  At five with them nodding off, he put them back in their beds.  Then he got ready for work.  The girls slept in and are actually napping now.  Brett will be a tired puppy when he gets home.  Seems his workplace frowns on naps.   He may fall asleep while reading to the kids tonight and go to bed early.  Poor Dear.

I have been doing genealogy research instead of updating this or writing personal emails.  Sorry everyone!

It is exciting when I am doing the research and actually FIND information.  I found the ship that my Norwegian ancestors came on, not through Ellis Island but Quebec, Quebec.  Now I have a copy of the ship’s passenger list.

But I keep hitting brick walls with several of my searches.  It doesn’t help that several of the names are exceeding common- think of my maiden name.  Sometimes the first name is unusual and that can help but there is always the common names that every one seems to share.  Some names are not so common, but then they are always spelled wrong.  The “i” before the “e” or the “x” changed to a “r”.  I found a family on the census that had the relatively easy name of “Cooper” but it was miss indexed as “Casper”.  It’s on a census that is just indexed with no images attached so I can’t go look at it but I know it’s the right family- right location, right first names and ages.  Sigh.

Good thing I like research and challenges- as long as those challenges don’t come from my kids!