T Tuesday: twofer post

We’re having a collision of posts today. T stands for Tuesday and  Second on the 2nd.

Last week was very emotional for me… mom was doing very poorly, had fallen 3 times in less than 2 days and basically could no longer be left alone. I found a care center for her to move into but had to wait for all the paperwork to go through. I became mom’s nursing assistant in the interim. Now she is settled into her new place. Currently, I am working on cleaning out her apartment. Mini-me helped me box up her teacup collection. You’ll be seeing more of those as the weeks move along. I was inspired to dig up a post about some teacups mom’s gifted to me long ago.

Take a look….

1/25/2011

My mom surprised me with a small box of “orphaned” cups and saucers last week. (ah…who is it that used that term on their blog!!!)

She said…” Don’t know what you’ll do with these but I’m sure you’ll find something. Or else sell them.”

This one was in instant favorite for me. It looks like a mug but is very small in size.

I know this cup is very old. I’m hanging onto this one as is. It will find a home in my lawyers cabinet when I’m not using it.

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That’s it for today. As I mentioned before, I’ll be busy emptying mom’s apartment today. Then *gulp* a meeting after school with J and an army recruiter. I’m not certain that is the route he wants to pursue but it doesn’t hurt to get the info.

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: New York and more edition

The past week has been a whirlwind. Even more so than I had imagined. After my last post I was busy getting ready for the garage sale.

It turned out really well even though Thursday was very cold with a heavy mist most of the day. The neighbor and I got rid of the vast majority of the things that “had to go”.  We were making deals and giving high fives when the people left.

Wednesday Mr. G brought home a lovely bouquet of flowers for our anniversary.

Really poor photo of them but what can I say…it was raining.

Friday I had to leave the garage sale for most of the day to get mom set up with hospice care. It was time for a little more help than I can provide without moving her to a care facility.

Saturday morning….really early….Mr. G and I took J to the airport to begin his New York adventure.

They did so many fun things along with preparing for their concert at Carnegie Hall.

They saw The Waitress on Broadway and look who came out to give some autographs…

the star of the show herself…Sara Bareilles.

(FYI…the photos without my watermark were taken by various members of school staff chaperones and posted on various social media)

Of course, the purpose of the trip was a performance at Carnegie Hall.

What a fun group!

They were part of a larger group…this was them on stage during the sound check. I saw a short video clip of them during the sound check and they sound amazing!

For their hard work they were rewarded with an exclusive party at Planet Hollywood in Times Square.

The party was rockin’ until 1am. Those are going to be some tired kids we pick up from the airport tonight!! And guess what…regular school and exams tomorrow. Sleep fast kids!

Since I’m pretty much “on-call” with mom now, I have to learn to be more flexible with my plans. I seriously need to get to the grocery store today though. That must happen or we’ll have nothing fresh to eat.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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T Tuesday: this and that edition

Once again I have one of these posts that I’m all over the place both mentally and physically.

Tomorrow is our 23rd wedding anniversary. With it being mid-week, we are planning to do basically nothing until Saturday. Then we’ll be having sushi!

I thought this was clever. My neighbor gave me a few of these quite a while ago. Funny the things you find when digging out for a garage sale!

You wouldn’t believe the piles of stuff I have sitting around waiting to be priced and brought to the neighbors on Thursday morning!! Mr. G has a ton of stuff from the garage too. Hopefully the vast majority will sell…not really wanting that stuff to come back into the house.  Garage sales are a lot of work but when doing it with others it can be fun and having the bonus of getting rid of stuff while making a little cash is a super bonus.

I transplanted my seedlings into larger containers yesterday.

They are doing so well. I also planted zucchini and summer squash in pots on the side of the garage.  I’ve read that they can be grown in pots so might as well give it a try since my in-laws aren’t having a garden this year.

I snipped the end off my mint plant and put it in water a few days ago…look at the crazy roots it grew in such a short time.

If I get a chance I want to make a wreath for our new front door. I really shouldn’t be worrying about that right now since I still have to get it painted, I just need to do something crafty every so often or I get cranky.

Speaking of crafty….look at this dessert I made for Easter!

It was so decadent and sweet. Almost too rich and sweet if there was such a thing.

The rest of the week will be a whirlwind. Appointments, garage sale, anniversary and J heading to NYC on Saturday. It’s likely a really good thing that I am insanely busy until then because I think I’d be making myself sick with worry if not.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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Hey that’s me!

So I opened an email blast from Stampington today and was scrolling when I saw my name!

How fun to see that! Doing a little happy dance while cleaning the house.

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T Tuesday: a decade of blogging edition

Today for T stands for Tuesday I’d like you to help me celebrate a real milestone…an entire decade of blogging!!!

I am so incredibly shocked that I have been at the keyboard sharing my work with the world for 10 years now! I started the blog on a whim and wasn’t sure if I’d even had any readers but was thinking of it as a digital diary of sorts. I hadn’t ever had success a paper diary or journal so who knew I’d still be at it all these years later.

Take a peek at my very first post…

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The blog itself has went through many changes over the years, but though it all the content has remained the same. The visual presentation and the platform have changed. I was on Blogger for the first 5 yrs then purchased my own domain and moved over to WordPress.

Blogging helped me learn to identify myself as an artist…something that was very difficult to say out loud for the first time. Of course, part of that is likely due to growing up in the upper mid-west, raised in a conservative Lutheran church.  We cannot take a complement. No seriously…it’s a sickness. If someone says, “OH I love that new blouse!”  Instead of just saying “thank you” like a normal person, people like me will try our best to avoid accepting the complement by down playing everything… “Oh gosh, you wouldn’t believe the great deal I found on it at blah blah store…I’m sure it would look even better on you…” totally avoiding the acknowledgement of the compliment because that would be to “full of yourself”.

Ok not sure where that tangent came from but hey…it’s my anniversary…I can get off track if I want.

I’ve “met” so many wonderful like minded people through blogging from all over the world. I shared my art, crafts and photography. Gardening, travels and kitchen experiments. My failures and celebrations. Blogging has become an integral part of my self-expression.

I have noticed a tendency lately for people to use more social networking than blogging. I have found myself falling into that trap as well. I post something on Instagram so I don’t bother creating a post about it.  Such as this…

A painting in progress. I was commenting that I wasn’t sure where I was going with it or even if it looked best in this direction. This quick superficial post without a followup on the blog is what I want to stop myself from doing…mainly because it’s a little lazy. It’s tendency I’d like to break myself of quickly.

So have you had enough deep, introspective thoughts from me yet today? It’s been that kind of day. Having an introductory meeting with hospice will do that to a person.

We do have some exciting things on the horizon though…a wedding anniversary and a choir trip. Truth be told, I’m only going in spirit on that trip, but I can’t wait to see and hear all about it! More on that at a later date.

So what’s on tap for me…an appt for mom and a parent meeting about the trip to NY.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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T Tuesday: highs and lows edition

This week has been filled with a roller coaster ride of emotions and events…frankly, I’m exhausted. I wasn’t even sure I was going to play along with T stands for Tuesday but I’m here and will share the highs and lows with you.

Let’s just get the low over with so we can move on to brighter things. My mom has Stage 4 Melanoma so her time left with us is limited. Exactly how limited, we don’t know. Now my absences from blogland both in posting and visiting make a bit more sense. Anyway…mom is determined to live what life she has left on her own terms which I highly praise her for.

She has a good friend in her building that has taken a big sister role in her life. She is such a sweet lady and I am so grateful for their friendship. I wanted to show some appreciation to her and put my nervous energy to a creative use.

(Note the wine glass as my beverage for T stands for Tuesday)

 I think it turned out pretty well and when I delivered it to her apartment I learned that yellow is her favorite color! I love it when things work out that way.

I also got my plants started…well some of them. I still want to start a few more.

I used old kid cups that were just going to hit the recycle bin as my planters. I literally had them in hand over the bin when I realized they could be used for my seedlings. I just drilled a couple holes in the bottom for drainage and ta-da…mini pots.

You may also notice the markers in each pot. I cut down container lids and wrote on them with sharpie marker. Since it’s April (Earth month) I thought I’d point out those little recycling tips.

Now just about a week later I have this! 

Do not adjust your screens….that is the full spectrum UV light you see in action. The different color LED’s all combine to cast a pinkish purple light and obviously the plants love it!

On Thursday last week the kids and I drove to Fargo, ND. We spent the night in a hotel before taking a tour of NDSU in the next morning. J said he thought it was a little too big for his taste but is still planning to apply since they have really good guaranteed scholarships for students with high GPA and ACT scores. Fingers crossed that he does well on the ACT this month. Mini-me said she didn’t like NDSU at all. Ok…check that one off the list for potential schools for her.  I, myself, spent a brief time at NDSU as a freshman. The campus has certainly changed since then.

I also did some work on this painting.

I am letting it sit for a few days to decide if its done or not. I’m thinking it is…what do you think?

Today has a repairman coming out for my stove. Luckily I called in just days before the warranty was to expire. Also lots of phone calls and emails to take care of since I pretty much took yesterday off. I really needed a breather day after last week.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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T Tuesday: spring break edition

So the kids are on spring break and the sun finally came out…so what do we do…go to the biggest indoor mall in the USA. Hmmm…something a bit off about that decision. 

This is the amusement park in the center of the mall.  Before noon on a Monday it definitely wasn’t too crowded. We decided we needed to explore some of the shops to work up an appetite.

Since we love board games the first store we set foot in was Games by James.

This book had me cracking up…I just had to snap a photo.

Eventually we got hungry enough for lunch. The Hard Rock Cafe had no wait so we went for it. The food was ok. We were seated right next to the kitchen and a speaker blaring music. Not so great for conversation.

After lunch we wandered around a bit more. Mini-me was in search of a special drink she’d heard about.

We finally found it after circling the another level of the mall…or maybe that was when we were trying to find our way out. Anyway…her drink was, bubble tea which is some sort of chai tea flavored milk with these strange dark gelatin balls in it. Very shocking when you suck one up through the straw. It was tasty but weird at the same time.

My mom’s surgery went well…taking her to the oncologist this week with the results of her biopsy and potential treatment plan if needed. There is also another college visit scheduled this week. Never a dull moment around here.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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