Love In His Eyes

I saw true love personified tonight.

It didn’t have the exact image I thought it would. Oh yeah, it appeared to be male, too.

He took me by surprise. He was about 65 and a bit weathered looking. He definitely looked a little tired. Of course, it was almost midnight. He had a plastic cup of beer in one hand and a Marlboro in the other. He spoke in plain, straight forward language and he didn’t care who knew he loved his wife with all he’s got - and then some. While he chatted, it dawned on me, he was beautiful. I hope she knows how he feels. What’s more, I hope she appreciates what she’s got.

Seriously, we were at our local casino and I’d reached my limit for the night and was somewhat tired. My man begged for another half hour to play and I advised I’d be waiting in the smoking lounge. I don’t smoke but there are fairly comfortable seats and tables there and you don’t need to be playing a slot just to sit and kill time in the lounge.

Since it was late, there weren’t many of us killing time there. Another woman about my age and this gentleman were the only folks there when I entered. It’s funny, we each staked out a seat in opposite corners but it is a small area and conversation began easily among us. The other lady soon finished her smoke and reentered the casino. My ale friend and I were left to chat among ourselves.

Like me, he was waiting for his spouse. He’d lost all he wanted but did not want to rush her as she was “having a good time.” He said he loves to see her enjoy herself and she really does deserve a good evening out as she’s “a good woman.” He went on to describe how hard she works and all she does for the family without complaint. While he has already retired, she’s still going off to a job each day. He claims to keep the house tidy and says he does a little cooking, too. She has recently lost a fair amount of weight and he has dutifully helped by keeping her supplied with the foods she needed for her diet. Though he loved her in her larger form, he is truly proud of her accomplishment in taking off the weight. (She’s lost about 45 pounds.)
He punctuated every other thought or two with the words, “I love her dearly.” Confessions that he knows he hasn’t always been the easiest person to live with and the fact that they have definitely faced disagreements (mostly over the kids) came up in the conversation, but were quickly seasoned with statements of “but nobody could ask for a better woman.”

His pride glowed as he spoke of her. He described her as a great beauty and exclaimed he wasn’t sure what he’d ever done to deserve her. I was beginning to picture a youthful, perky “trophy wife.” Then, he boasted they were quickly approaching their 44th anniversary and he wished he’d hit the lottery so he could give her the country mansion she deserved. Alas, he figured they’d have to make due with a “nice dinner out.”

About that time, his “fine lady” came out to check on him. She was a cheerful lady with a neat appearance and a twinkle in her eye. She admitted she’d gone through her allotted cash and at that point would have to call it a night. He admitted to having a few more bucks stashed in a pocket and gave it to her to go back and play with. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried back to the machines. He smiled proudly and said, “See what I mean?”

You know, I did see it.

My husband appeared about that time and a we rose to go, my new friend lit another cigarette and mused he should have held back enough money for another beer but then said, “She’s enjoying it more than I would.”

I felt good having had such a chat and seen such a happy pair. I think it made me appreciate my man a little more, too. I hope we’re that happy when we reach 44 years together. As we headed for our car, I reached over and held his hand. I think we were happy. I know I love him.

May we all see that type of love in our mate's eyes.

We were hostages in our own home, today!

We decided yesterday we'd have a date night tonight with dinner and a movie, something we hadn't done in a while.

Well, things went along fairly well until mid-day when we noticed a lot of police activity in the apartment complex across the street from us. It was hard to tell what was happening but there were a lot of police cars, unmarked cars and dozens of uniformed officers just standing around one of the buildings and parking lot. We hid inside and watched from behind our curtains.

After several hours, the SWAT team and other tactical units came on the scene. Dozens more police vehicles filled our street and blocked all access in and out of the community. We couldn't get out at all. Time for us to head off to dinner came and went and we were still blocked from leaving the community. Neighbors that had gone out early in this action were now stuck on the outside. Some parked several blocks away and walked in to their homes when they came home from work.

Finally, the officers came out of the building, congregated in our court and began taking off their armor. Someone finally gave us a hint of what was happening. It seems they thought a suspect from a murder in a neighboring community on Sunday was holed up in that building. Turns out, he wasn't. Kind of makes you wonder why it took at least 6 1/2 hours to figure that out!


We finally set off for dinner over 2 1/2 hours later than originally planned. We ended up waiting for 40 minutes for our table! (When we arrive before 6 there's almost never a wait.) We had a great meal and then waddled our full bellies across the street to the movies. At that point, we had to settle for whatever movie was starting near that time, not necessarily what we set out for. So, for our romantic date night, we saw Karate Kid!! (When you've been together as long as us, just being out together qualifies as romantic.)

It's a good movie but, like the other Karate Kid movies, there is a lot of violence (Hey, it is "karate".) Although I am a Jackie Chan fan, I'm still partial to the original with Pat Morito. Jaden Smith (Will and Jada's son) does do a fantastic job as the kid and shows the great depth of acting talent he has at such a young age. He's also adorable!! That kid'll certainly break some hearts along the way! While it won't be in the running for an Oscar, I do recommend it. I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars!!!

Hope you had a little calmer afternoon than I did!!

A Perfect July Day !!!!

Music!! Music!! Music!! Summertime heat and fantastic food at a terrific venue = Great Day!!We headed for Westminster, Maryland today to the Summertime Festival at the Carroll County Farm Museum. This use to be known as the Surf & Turf Festival and featured lots of seafood, beef and other tantalizing treats. Last year, they decided to expand the image a bit and changed the name to encourage more family participation.

In addition to great food, the event is known for some of the best music in the region. Today was no exception. They featured three bands, all of which gave super performances.

Big Cam and the Lifters, the first on today's lineup has been around this end of the world for over 30 years and we've followed them for about the last 22 years. They're known for everything from Doo Wop up through 60's rock and roll with a few 70s thrown in. Their lead singer (a man who helped form the original Del Vikings but was shipped overseas just weeks before their first recording session thanks to the draft), passed away in September. They are still extremely good but just not quite what they were in the past. I believe they're experiencing some adjustment pains and I see them regaining their edge in the near future.


Poison Whiskey followed them giving a rocking, driving performance of solid rock hits from the 70s and 80s. This is, in my opinion, one of the best the Mid-Atlantic has to offer and we've heard most. All we could say was "Wow!!" They made you forget you were sitting outdoors in 95+ heat.




Bringing up the rear was Never Never, yet another of the best bands in the Baltimore area. They're known for their Led Zeppelin covers and they do them almost better than Zeppelin! We stayed through to the last note and enjoyed every minute of it. (Originally, we'd planned to leave early to catch up with some family and friends at another music event being held at one of the local wineries this evening but we were just enjoying this one way too much to leave!)






Along with the terrific entertainment and tasty food choices, this is a beautiful venue. Easy close parking , real bathrooms, lots of shade trees and picnic tables and so much more. The event featured lots of activities for the kids, a small craft sale area, a huge classic car show, a burger grilling contest, corn cannons, a politicians' crab picking contest and lots more. We just sat back and enjoyed the music, some food and a fantastic breeze under the trees.



***Oh, yeah, one more fashion rule based on another day of observing festival folks. If the top of your tube top is only about an inch or so above your elbow joint and you are NOT baring more of your breasts than is generally acceptable, you're a bit too old and droopy for a braless tube top, no matter how good the rest of your figure is !! Also, if you're wearing a tube top and dancing vigorously, you should check it's positioning occasionally! Just sayin'.



What a fantastic summer day!!!

It's a computer miracle!!!

It's been a tough week!! We had internet connection problems again!!

After four days of dealing with Tech Assistance at Verizon and finally giving up in frustration, I spent most of yesterday pricing out other providers. Then, this afternoon, the system completely fixed itself!! Magically, without human intervention on our end!! It's a miracle!!!

Tech Assistance insisted in the end the other day that we had hardware problems. My husband is an Instrument Technician, though not trained on small home computer systems, he has some knowledge in the field. Even I, untechnically trained as I am, felt their answers made no sense and did not jive with what the problem appeared to be.

We insisted it had to be something Verizon was doing on their end - basically a coding problem. We could access the internet but we could only access Verizon websites and e-mail. All other sites brought up a message stating access was being denied by verizon.online. Another term used was "walled garden". Everything indicated they were intentionally blocking access to other sites. The techs (Yes, we went through several.) stated that was not possible.

First they were convinced our modem had died and overnighted us a new one. Apparently, when they don't have any other answer they replace your modem. The new one arrived but does not work at all. We reinstalled the old "outdated" one. Our original is so old, they simply advised us to pitch it as opposed to turning it in. Their third (or 4th, 5th or whatever) guess was that our browser had stopped working and was denying access. (Funny, it worked for Verizon owned sites.) Since we have multiple browsers installed, we switched to a different one.

After Verizon gave up on us and advised we needed to contact their "advanced" tech support department where we would be charged for assistance, The Big Guy took a breather and debated about simply switching carriers. I began playing around, blindly changing some settings within the control panel. In an earlier two-hour phone session, one of the techs had talked me through changes on just about every setting. (I already admitted I'm not technical.) I did something right as I got our Firefox system up and running, although it had a few limitations. It would work for a bit and then the Verizon blocked access image would appear and require rebooting the computer to get around it.

Suddenly, today, it began working perfectly again. In fact, the other browser works well, too. Our service is actually better and faster than it has been in months. We're still using the old modem and we made no hardware changes since yesterday. Apparently, whatever the problem with Verizon's access codes was there, has been fixed.

It's a computer miracle!!!

Back on line and finally cooling off!

Well, I'm finally back on line. At least for the moment. I approach the computer with caution each day as our internet service has been extremely fickle. I think I was going through withdrawal today!! Late this evening, we finally got connected again. Service went out part way through me working on this post on Sunday night and, while we regained pieces of service, I could not access Blogger at all dince then. Keep your fingers crossed for us, that we'll stay connected from here on in.

I hope y'all have had a good week. For numerous reasons, I just haven't been able to post quite as often as I want to lately. Life keeps getting in the way and it has been really frustrating. This is a new week and I hope to get back on my old schedule of about 5 posts a week. Please wish me luck!

The Big Guy has found some unique ways of keeping cool!
(That's the freezer pack from a cooler.)

We've all just been trying to stay cool lately. The heat here has finally broken some. We're still hotter than normal but at least we're down below 100 on a daily basis although the humidity has been very high so it's still somewhat oppressive outside. Our temps are still running about 10 degrees above normal and this has gone on for over three weeks now. I wonder if we ever will get used to this sort of weather.

While holed up inside, I've done some creating.

This is one of my newest designs and has already proven to be a popular shower gift!! In fact, I've even had a tween request a special design based on this for herself. I'm calling it the "Babe of the Month" and it can be ordered for any month. It's in my Etsy shop now.





I've actually been producing quite a bit of merchandise for the last week or so. Some were for specific orders, some were gifts I needed and there's been lots of leftover pieces that have found their way into my etsy shop. I had neglected the shop for a few weeks and it seems
happy to get some attention. I've still got quite a few to add in the next few days, too. Won't be too long and it will be time to get busy adding holiday merchandise. Christmas is, actually, just a little over 5 months away!!


The hot weather did prove inspirational and gave me a few ideas for some summery outfits. This onesie is now in my Etsy shop. (You'll have to come up with your own bottoms, though. these are just plain red shorts.)




We've got a new addition to the family coming soon and she's already being called a priness so I designed a special outfit for her. The pants are plain in front but have the word "princess" across the bum!



I showed it to a few folks who liked it so much, I've also added this item to the shop.





This onesie has been in my shop for a while, but a customer wanted to expand on the theme for a more complete shower gift, so i added a matching hat and some socks to complete the look. I'm always open to such ideas and concepts. Many folks have requested extras to match a particular item. The onesie is still available in the shop.





This is just a small sampling of all the new items I've been working on. there are still more that are now in the shop and more to be added each day. Please stop by and see what's new!

Hot !!! Hot !!! Hot !!!

They say ladies don't sweat they glow. Well my glow is rather drippy today!Baby, it's hot out there. Not just HOT, but really HOT. I mean, really really HOT !!!!

It's just too warm to do much of anything but loll around in front of the air conditioner vents and drink cold beverages. Not lucky enough to have AC? Find the coolest shady spot you can. Pray for a breeze and slurp something cold.
I'd try splashing some water on me, but then I'm haunted by images of the Wicked Witch of the East crying, "I'm melting!!!" Besides, I'm already pretty damp.

Yep! That's about how I felt after venturing out on an errand today - like a wet spot on the floor!

This heat wave began Sunday and hasn't let up yet. Night time temps have only dropped into the 80s so there really hasn't been much cooling at night.(It's almost midnight and we are still at 91 degrees!) Tonight they're hoping we will actually dive into the 70s and may only reach a high in the mid-90s tomorrow. One can only hope.

I fully expected to post here on Sunday night after a busy, very full weekend, but I dealt with the sweltering temps that day with frozen margaritas consumed at an 8-hour long party. I wasn't much into writing that evening! (I wasn't really noticing the heat so much though!)

Monday was another full day of celebrating and by then the heat was really getting to us. I really haven't done much. The heat has simply zapped all of my energy even indoors.

We're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow. I'd love to be able to cook for dinner again. It's just been too hot to generate any heat in the kitchen and waaay too hot to bother with the grill outside. Even when we do get the meal prepared, it's simply too hot to eat.

Here's hoping y'all are staying cool!!!

Bring back my old Woolworth's - PLEASE!!

I'm quite bummed, today.
Yep, I went shopping again and I really miss my old stores. You know, those treasure troves like Woolworth's, Murphy's, Kresgee's, and especially a little local joint known as the "Dixie 5 and 10".

Oh, I realize things would be more like $10 and $20 these days but, maybe, just maybe, they'd actually have what I went for. Oh, and maybe the item would even be easy to find within the store and, if not, there'd be a smiling clerk who'd be glad to show you where to find it. Heck, I'd even settle for an old Ames or Murphy Mart, even with their slow check outs and grumpy help!

Once again, I was forced to visit Walmart in search of a few items that just aren't easy to get elsewhere. Surprise! Surprise! They didn't have three out of the five items! (Yes, I AM being sarcastic.) In their effort to be all things to all people, they have greatly cut back in a number of areas in order to expand in others. I know they were revamping their product line to accommodate those who had "stepped down" to the Walmart level due to the economy but some of those folks have either recovered and gone back to Macy's or simply accepted their current lot in life. They're learning to be satisfied with the same mediocrity that us regular Walmart shoppers are used to.

They no longer carry the individual dose packs of natural tears I used to buy. I liked their brand but they now only have the name brands. Those cost twice as much. I'll have to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for the store brands. They've cut their "new" craft department yet again so they also didn't have the ribbon I needed. (They had it last week.) Nor did they have the thread I needed. The clerk told me they are eliminating the fabric department completely within the next week or two and will then only carry 12 colors of sewing thread in the craft section. This is a Super Walmart. In the last year or so, they eliminated all the fabric departments in the regular Wlamarts here but had left them in the Supers. So much for that! On the up side, all of the notions they did have were 50% off today!

This has been one of those weeks. I went to my AC Moore on Tuesday as they were carrying Hanes onesies with the T-shirts for painting and other adornment. They've discontinued that practice. They've also stopped carrying the fabric paints I use. Another wasted trip! The Michaels around the corner only carries Gerbers and my customer had specifically requested I NOT use Gerbers! Okay, so I'd go to Target and pick up a Circo brand. No problem.

That Target recently remodeled to become a Target Greatland (these fall between regular Targets and Super Targets). It's the first time I've been in since the remodel was finished. I hate the new store!! They've tried to go more upscale and it just doesn't look like it works. They've squeezed way too much into way too little space. You can't pass another shopper in an aisle. What's worse is what they've done to the baby department! They've eliminated most of the Circo baby items and switched to, you guessed it, Gerbers! (I could get them at Walmart!) I was soooo depressed. I've always loved the unique designs and color combinations they offered in onesies, sleepers, gowns, etc. for babies. Again, on the upside - what Circo items they had left were greatly discounted and I bought a few things for an upcoming arrival in the family!

They've eliminated their old snack bar, too. Now there's a Pizza Hut Express and a Starbucks in its place. Guess I won't be grabbing lunch there anymore. (Walmart is down to just a Dunkin' Donuts!) I just can't believe, the neighborhood can support four Starbucks in two neighboring shopping centers!! Two of them are less than 500 yards apart!

We no longer have any K-marts in our area. Shopko doesn't exist East of the Mississippi and we've never had Hobby Lobbys in the Mid-Atlantic. I finally found the clothing I was looking for at Kohl's. It was on sale, so I got it for a Walmart type price.

I still miss my all-purpose dime-stores or discount markets. Dollar Tree just doesn't cut it!

Please, Mr. Merchant, stop making "improvements." I loved you just the way you were.

Note to Mr. Walton: Let's not even discuss what you've done to "remodel" the parking lots!! I know you figure if the store is a maze, folks'll buy more as they wander around looking for the check out. Personally, if the parking lot is a maze, I simply go out the first exit I come to and don't buy anything!