Friday, September 28, 2012

Five Question Friday


1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?
When I was in high school my friends called me Maggie Brown, hence the name of this blog.  When I met my husband he had a dog named Maggie, so I went back to Margaret and that has been my name since then, except for Mom and Grandma.  Oh yeah, husband calls me Margy (with a hard g) and family calls me Marg.

2. What is your birth order among your siblings?
I am third of thirteen.

3. In a movie of your life who would play your significant other?
Harrison Ford.

4. What is currently your favorite song?
Somebody I Used to Know

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?
We're saving for an addition to our house, a larger kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  We're actually going to take out a loan because our house will be paid off soon and we are paying too much in taxes.  That's how I talked husband into it.











Wordless Wednesday


Monday, September 24, 2012

The End of Summer

I walked around our yard this weekend and took pictures of the few flowers that are left.  I'm hooking up to Mosaic Monday on "Little Red House":



Friday, September 21, 2012

Five Question Friday





1. What is one grammar issue you cannot let go without correction?


there, their, they're  and it's, its
 

2. What's your favorite thing about fall?


The colors.









3. What's your favorite dish to take to a potluck?

Party Potatoes 

4. When do you start Christmas (Holiday) shopping?


I've already bought a couple of things this year.  I usually start in November but end up having to hustle the last couple of weeks before Christmas.  The grand children are easy....because they are still little and like most things!  We give our own children checks, but I like to have something for them to open, usually something monogrammed.  I like to make some of my gifts, especially for people at work who I give to now.  

5. Did you move homes a lot growing up?


No.  Our family moved from Richmond Heights to Shrewsbury when I was six years old, and they never moved again.   

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wordless Wednesday


Ten on Tuesday

1.  My sister-in-law Gail, who lives in Texas, stayed with us last week.  She took her mother to the dr. and shopping, so that gave RW a break.  She left early Sat. morning, so I really didn't see her much since I worked all week.

2.RW had his other eye operated on last Thursday.  He now can see better out of that eye than the first one he had operated on.  He thinks he still will need his glasses, but I have noticed he has not been wearing them at all the past couple of days.  He goes back to the dr. on Thursday.

3.  Stephanie crawling all over, so they put up new gates.  The biggest problem is their dog, Annie.  Stephanie absolutely loves Annie and makes a bee-line for her every time Annie is in the room.  Poor Annie. 



4.  I made reservations to go to Boston the first weekend in Oct.  I haven't seen the kids since June and they won't be in until Christmas.  Corinne has a feis that weekend so I will get to see her dance in the new dress I made for her.

5.  Dave took Sara to the Rams game this past weekend, and it was moustache day because our new coach, Jeff Fischer, has a moustache.  I think they look pretty good with moustaches, especially Dave.




6.  Speaking of the Rams game, the Hardees commercial is really pissing me off.  Their commercials have always been very suggestive, but now they have two attractive young woman, dressed in bikini tops and cut-off gym shorts with their butt cheeks hanging out, eating burgers and slopping them all over the place.  It is really kind of disgusting the way they objectify women.  I won't eat there, along with Chich Filet.

7.  The mirror on my car is still not fixed.  When I went a couple of weeks ago they had ordered the driver side mirror instead of the passenger side.  He had to order another one, and he called yesterday and said he was still trying to find one.  I'm getting used to driving in the right-hand lane.

8.  I joined Twitter, but I'm not sure what to do with it.  They suggest people I might want to follow, listing movie stars and well-known people.  I really don't care what they are doing, so I probably shouldn't have joined.

9.  Garage sales were pretty good on Saturday.  At the first on I went to I found a umbrella type stroller for baby Stephanie.  Now I have to figure out how to get it to Cincinnati.  I got a bunch of little things, too, and at the last sale I went to (last because I ran out of money, lol), I bought a set of dishes made in England.  They're pretty old, white with blue trim, twelve place settings.  The gal had $50 on them but saw me looking at them and told me to make an offer.  Since I had $40 left I offered $40, and she took it.  I didn't take pictures of the stuff I got, but I'll post some later.

10.  I called the guy last week who we want to do our addition, but he did not call back.  My sister, who recommended him, said you have to call him three of four times.  We're sure we want to do it but a little nervous about such a big investment, so we aren't going at it whole heartedly, if that makes any sense.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Five Question Friday (on Sunday)

Five Question Friday






1. How long did it take for you to find your wedding dress? (Wedding dress pics anyone?)


My mom made my wedding dress!  Can't see it too well in this picture, but it's the only picture I could find.





2. Someone in your general vicinity releases NASTY smelling gas. Do you say anything or blow it off?

Say nothing. Leave the area.


3. What is the scariest thing that happened to you or scared you recently?

Can't think of anything recent--but the last really scary thing was six years ago when I was in Boston when my grandson Jack was born.  We went to the mall when he was only a week old, and he started throwing up yellow bile and choking on it and stopped breathing.  We ran through the mall, and I was holding Jack trying to get him to breathe.  When we got outside we called 911 and they came and took him and Kate to the hospital.  He had started breathing while we were waiting, but he stopped again in the ambulance.  They took him to the South Shore hospital and transferred him to Children's that night.  He stayed in three days and they could not find anything wrong with him.  When he was seven months old he got pneumonia and when they did a chest x-ray they found out his stomach was in his chest--he had a diaphragmal hernia.  They operated right away and he has been fine ever since.

4. Favorite brand and flavor of ice cream.

Moose tracks or any good vanilla ice cream with chocolate chunks at home.  Ted Drews flying dutchman is my favorite it we're going out for ice cream (which we never do).   When my son and his wife come in from Cincinnati they always stop at Ted Drews and bring us ice cream on the way in.

5. Are you able to sleep well in hotels?

  It may take me a while to fall asleep but once I'm out I don't wake up until morning.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

New Kitchen

We're going to put an addition on our house, enlarging our kitchen and adding a master suite on the first floor.  We need a bigger kitchen and have talked about it for years, and we need more sleeping areas and bathrooms for when our kids come in with their families from out of town.  I've been pinning pictures of kitchens on Pinterest.  here are some of my favorites:















Friday, September 14, 2012

Blogland

Since I missed ten on Tuesday and wordless Wednesday, I just decided to write an ordinary post--since I'm supposed to be "musing" here, not just recording events.

Blogland

What's in a blog? I read about twenty to twenty-five  blogs on a daily basis.  I started five or six years ago when I was looking at kids' clothes on E-Bay and found hand made ones with the sellers having their own blogs.  Then I looked at blogs they recommended and on and on.  I can't say I look at only one type of blog.  I like the ones by women my age about decorating.  I always love looking at pretty houses and getting decorating ideas.  I still look at ones where I get ideas for making kids clothing.   One in particular I have been following all along is a really good writer.  She no longer sews or sells stuff on E-Bay, but she knits and has an autistic daughter, and five other children (two adopted from other countries) she writes about.  Hers is one of my favorites, because it is so well written, which is probably why she only posts every couple of weeks.

I also look at a few who are grandparents and have pictures of their grandkids and tell about what they do together.  I get some good ideas from those--one idea is to have a Cousins Camp next summer where I get all of the grandkids together for a week and do crafts and outings everyday.  Hopefully I will be retired by then, and my daughter in Boston will let her two fly to St. Louis.  I'll get t-shirts made and do fun things everyday.

A few of the blogs I follow are people who are in to adopting, mostly from other countries.  Lots of the children are from Ethiopia, but some are also from Peru and China.  I like following their journeys while applying for and waiting for the adoptions to be final.  One just got back from Peru, adopting a girl and a boy and she already adopted a little girl a couple of years ago, plus she has four biological children.  Her sister adopted a little boy from Ethiopia last year and is now adopting a little girl from Ethiopia.  I think they are trying to outdo each other.

Then there are the blogs where the mothers pretend to be writing about and taking pictures of their children, but they have more pictures of themselves than their kids.  A couple have a "what I wore this week" on Fridays and tell every item of clothing, where they got it and pictures of each outfit.  One did a long post on how she fixes her hair and another on what kind of makeup she wears.  And a couple of young mothers are sickening sweet--their children are so precious and darling, and perfect, of course.

I also read a few humorous blogs.  Some of them get a bit raunchy, but that's probably because I am old and think certain things should not be said.  Most of them are pretty funny, but they direct you to other blogs on certain days of the week and that sometimes gets irritating.  Also irritating are the blogs that are overly religious and preachy.  One turns every event into a teachable moment--using bible quotes.  I have nothing against religion, but they need to cool it sometimes and not take themselves so seriously.  Most of the young southern mothers who have blogs are Christians and thank Jesus for everything and love him more than anyone.  And quite a few are Mormons, but they don't get preachy.

I arrange my blogs on my bookmark list according to how often they post and how interesting they are.  The daily ones are at the top, and the ones who post infrequently, like once every month or two, are at the bottom.  I get so irritated with some of them, that after a while I delete them and add new ones.  Then there are ones who always tell you just a little bit about something and say they'll fill you in later, but they never do.  They there are ones where the mother is having a baby, and I follow them through the pregnancy.  One just had a baby last month, her sixth, and she is forty two.  Her daughter was born the day she took her oldest to college, after getting back and fixing dinner for the others.   Another, who has five children and just turned forty, announced she is expecting.  Then the next day she wrote that she is having twins.  And the grandmothers also post about their daughters or daughters-in-law having babies.  It's fun to keep up with those blogs.

Then there are a couple of blogs I follow where the little girl has brain cancer.  I'm not sure how I happened upon those blogs, but I follow them daily and pray for their children.  Both of the ones I'm following now, one a six year old and the other eight, are clear of tumors now.  I wait anxiously when they are having MRI's and cry when they relpase and rejoice when they are clear.They both have been through a lot.  It really makes me thankful for my healthy children and grandchildren.

Obviously, I enjoy reading blogs--probably because I am nosy.  What I find most irritating about blogs, though, is the negative comments people leave.  Why even read a person's blog if you are just reading it to find fault?   I guess I believe in the old saying, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.   No one forces people to read these blogs, and the person blogging is not asking for advice, so I don't understand why people think they have to give unsolicited advice.  One of the funniest blogs I read had an entry this week on "Facebitches."  She writes about people who leave negative comments on Facebook, saying that these people hide behind the anonimity of a user name and would never say such negative things in person.  I don't understand what these commentators are trying to gain--do they feel superior criticizing others?  Do they really think the person is going to change her way of thinking due to a nasty comment?  Don't they realize it just makes them look like jerks--other readers think the ones who leave negative comments are the jerks, not the bloggers.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Five Question Friday







1. What is your favorite fall family tradition?

Thanksgiving.  I love it when all of the family gets together, first my immediate family for dinner at my house
then for dessert at my little sister's.  I also love going to Boston in the fall and driving around with my daughter, looking at the fall colors.  Usually we go to the pumpkin farm which is about an hour away from her house, so we see lots of scenery.

2. If money weren't an issue, how many kids would you have?

Ten.


3. If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you put it?

Hmmm...never given it much thought. If I were going to get a tattoo, I guess I would make it visible....what's the point in having one if you are going to hide it?  No, I don't think I would ever get one.


4. What condiment is a must in your house?

Hershey's chocolate syrup.  When the grand kids come they always want me to make them chocolate milk.  I also put it on vanilla ice cream in the evening.


5. How did your spouse/fiance propose?

In Francis Park in South St. Louis, we decided together to get married, not really a formal proposal.  We've been married for 43 years so I guess it worked.

Wordless Wednesday



Ten on Tuesday on Friday

1.  Wow.  I can't believe it is already Friday and I haven't posted since last Friday.  We did have a busy weekend and I've been really busy at work these past few days. 

2.  John and Chellie were in town with baby Stephanie for four days and we have a wonderful visit.  They came to help Rob clean and paint his house, and I got to watch Stephanie for three days and it was great.  She is adorable.






3.  Amy and Dave had us all over for Imo's on Sunday evening.  All of our family loves Imo's so when anyone comes in town we have to have an Imo's night.









4.  On Monday, Labor Day, we had everyone over to our house for a barbeque.  I barbequed pork steaks and burgers, made potato salad and deviled eggs, baked beans and brownies, and Amy brough a salad.  Our in-town kids and grandkids came, and RW's brother and sister-in-law came too.  They don't have children or grand children so they enjoy seeing ours.








5.  I'm getting my mirror fixed today.  It kind of seems like a miracle that the gal admitted fault and found a place for me to take my car and is paying for it.  Since I didn't get her license plate number or anything but a phone number, I thought she would blow me off.  Sometimes people surprise me.  Update...I went to get it fixed after work and the guy ordered the driver's side mirror instead of the passenger side one.  He'll get it in next week.  He said he'll clean my car inside and out since he screwed up.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

6.  We've been watching the Democratic National Convention this week and it's been really good.  Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton spoke and both gave great speeches.  I kind of wish Michelle or Hillary Clinton would run for president.  They both have so much going for them.

7.  RW's surgery on his left eye went well.  He is able to see more and more every day.  He will have the surgery on the right eye next Thursday.  Hopefully he'll be able to see well enough that he won't need to wear glasses except for reading.  He's really gone down hill since turning sixty--first hearing aids, then a C-pack he has to wear at night for sleep apnea, now cataracts.  

8.  All of the grand kids are now back in school.  Our in-town grands went back three weeks ago, but our Boston grands just went back this week.  Jack started Tuesday and Corinne on Thursday.  Corinne is going to a new school, so I'm hoping she'll like it. 

9.  I've really gotten into Pinterest.  Everytime someone pins something on my boards I get an e-mail.  Now I go to that person's boards and pin like crazy.  Usually I can find plenty to like.  I guess there are worse habits.

10.  Three mornings this week on the way to work this guy passed me in a beige SUV, going about 80 or 90 miles an hour.  This morning I was thinking to myself, why don't people like that get caught.  Just then a police car pulled out and followed him, turning on his lights after a few seconds.  I guess there is some justice after all.