My daughter's room

My daughter doesn't live at home, but there is a room in our house that we refer to as her room. 

My daughter lives on the east coast.  I live "somewhere in the middle" in Indiana.  From the very beginning, it was very important to me that we have a lovely guest room for my daughter when she comes to visit.  The guest room was Doug's son's room before I moved in.  It was white and stark and had old, yucky carpet in it.  Doug pulled up the carpet and revealed lovely pine flooring beneath.  He stripped it and put on four coats of polyurethane.  The paint in my bedroom, in the house I lived in two hours north, was called pine needle and was a soothing, dark pine.  Doug liked it a lot and so it was his choice that we use something very similar for the guest room.  The guest room is nice but still needs a few finishing touches.  I love having a guest room, ready and waiting and very often am inviting people to come and stay with us.  We have housed a lot of family and most of my friends from up north in the guest room. 

When I first moved here, after so many years of living alone, Doug's "quiet" was often too loud for me at night and I would retreat to the guest room.  On nights I am tossing and turning, I will go there to sleep so as not to bother Doug. I always know when I'm keeping him awake when he says "are you having trouble sleeping?"  The guest room is one of my favorite places for a Sunday afternoon nap.

  

 Items to the left once hung in my Grandma's house.
The child's rocker was mine and it will go to my first grand-child.

 The old bentwood rocker was what I rocked and nursed my babies in. 

 My daughter cut her teeth on this chair. 

 Note:  Milo in the window.

 Vanity drawer holds extra toothbrushes, soaps, lotions.

  I like to have treats for my guests and fun magazines to read.

Note:  "door-doggie" to the right. 

 I've had him as long as I can remember and that is what we called him.

Here on the farm our guests sleep well.  Crickets and cicadas sing a lullaby.  (My daughter said they don't hear bugs on the east coast, just cars.)  How sad.  Here, you might hear an owl or a coyote or the trill of a bird or frog.

Doug is the king of short-order breakfasts from "kitchen sink" omelets (with everything), pancakes or french toast.  You name it and he will whip it up in no time flat.  Or, if you prefer to eat breakfast out, we'll head into town and take in one of many of the wonderful local spots to get delicious breakfast fare.

This room has not only been my daughter's, but Kathy's, Lori's, Ivy's, Becky's, Donna's, Michele's (and Skye), we offered it to Laura and Isabelle, but they chose to sleep on the pull-out in front of the fire in the keeping room, on a cold New Year's eve.  I'm certain there have been others, that I'm not remembering right this moment.  Now that you've seen our guest room and heard all about it, I'm certain you want to join the list of those who have been our guests.  Just give me a head's up, o.k.?  The guest room is always clean, ready and waiting.  I can't always say that about the rest of the house.

**I tried to post on Monday evening (it had been a week since my last post) but Blogger gave me such a fit, I couldn't even upload my photos.  Usually, I am a late night person.  In the summer, I garden, walk, workout, I've been doing boot camp.  It has been busy.  But, I still want to post and stay in touch.  I've been so frustrated with Blogger.  I want to stay here on this site, but how long will this continue?

Gym rat

I am, once again, becoming a gym rat.  For most of my life, I've been an obsessive person.  Either I'm in the zone and exercising, or not. I'm in the zone right now. 
I remember when my children were young how they learned that when mommy was grouchy, she needed to go work out.  One night I came through the door after working out and my daughter said "do you want to go back to the Y, mommy?"
I started boot camp last Sunday.  Eight week program, weigh-in every other week.  On weigh-in day, we get a "cheat day."  On the off week that we don't weigh in, we get a "cheat meal."  This past weekend, we didn't get either. 
I'm eating my weight in vegetables. 
This is where I'm going.  I've never done a program that is as effective.  The class are tough.  Everyone works hard.  Adam is strict but affirmative.  We are his children.  He walks around saying "nice" and "good job."  I swear I work harder just hoping he will give me a little tid-bit of praise.  He has this big deep voice.  Like a drill sergeant he will say "all right, listen up." 
We have fun sayings like "chatter makes you fatter." Which means, if you are talking in class, you aren't working out hard enough. I have never worked out so hard, ever.  I am shocked that at my age, my body is responding.  I was in a class yesterday where we had partners and worked around stations in the room.  My partner told me that I was going to be stronger than I've ever been, before.
I wrote here about my first class experience with Next Generation.  That class was called "burn fusion."  One of my friends later told me that she thought I was talking about an art class.  I've been sore, the diet is strict, it isn't "fun," but it is amazing. 
My dad is a type 2 diabetic, age 70 and is in great shape.  I guess it has always been a fear of mine that one day I too would be a diabetic.  I know I was dealing with  a serious sugar addiction.  About 3.5 months ago, I went to the Dr. and weighed more than I have ever weighed.  I started doing self-imposed "no sugar, no flour," the very next day.  Now this.
O.k., enough about me, I'm off to the gym.

A TRAP!

Doug bought his 1989 Voyager van from our elderly neighbor.  All in all, it serves us well.  It is "Doug's world.  Doug is a slob messy person and I am immaculate.  So after a certain amount of time, we I decided that we would stay out of one another's vehicles.  Chelsea is the only other person in this family allowed in my car on a regular basis.  We use my '03 Honda Civic EX if we are going out somewhere and are dressed up.  We use Doug's van for camping, canoeing, hiking, trips to the northern end of the state, grocery.  Last weekend, Doug went into Taco Bell and I had to wait a long time, so I got bored inventive.  So, I set a trap for Doug.  What you cannot see is that at the end of the rope going out of the window, was his water bottle.  The rope also wrapped around the rear-view mirror.  It had a toggle hook on the end of that, so I hooked that to his key ring.

I could hear him laughing before he got to the van saying "what have you done, now?"

"I didn't do anything."
Nothin' at all.

I wanted to take her paw and finger spell w-a-t-e-r

huh?

The dog daze of summer are certainly upon us!  It is so hot that we got out the "hot tub." Sometimes we sit in the hot tub but recently we got it out for Chelsea.

hey...what is this?

hey...that's my football!

um...

almost..

finally!

Chelsea doesn't have the cognitive skills to realize that the water that is in the hot tub and the water that is in the bathtub and the water that comes out of the hose is the same thing that is in her water dish.  She drinks from the hot tub and goes all the way around it, taking one sip at a time.  This evening I was watering flowers and held the hose out to her.  I need to get a video of what she does.  She seems to think the stream of water is an object.  She paws at the ground where the water strikes, she bites at the stream of water.  I just wanted to take her paw and finger spell w-a-t-e-r.

This made me smile

 I try to have my camera with me all the time.  I find if I don't have it with me, I miss a great shot and then I find myself wishing that I had my camera.  I went to farmer's market on Saturday and when I walked by one of the city's e-vehicles, I smiled.  There he was...

Bob the builder.

Cats on chairs

This is what the cats do when it is hot and the overhead fan is on in the kitchen.

Milo

Tree

Post post #2: "FIRE!"

 Last Friday evening, we had our first fire of the summer.  We had so much rain earlier in the spring and early summer.  My colleague and friend, Miss Jennifer came out to the farm to join us.

I have friends of all ages and Jennifer is one of my "daughter-friends" because she is about the same age as my daughter.  Technically, Miss Jennifer is turning twenty-nine and my daughter just turned 28.  We like to tease Jennifer saying that she is "almost 30."

Isn't she lovely?

Jennifer is a wonderful friend.  Crazy, caring, kind, dramatic, hopeless romantic.  I adore her. 

(Mamas, if your son is looking for a wonderful woman- here she is.)

See how crazy she is?

Can't you just hear her sweet voice say "It's all right, now."

What you must know is that she didn't dress to come out to the farm.  We went out in town first and then drove out to the farm.  Jennifer is one of those crazy girls who wears four inch heels and it was quite a sight to see her tending the fire in those heels. 

She looks just like Daisy-Mae, doesn't she?

Whosyergurl (Cheryl) & Bess Wess (Jennifer)

 Jennifer blogs, too.  If you haven't ever visited her, go over and see her.  Here is her account (and photos) of that evening.

Mr. Duggles feeling amorous.

We had a lot of fun and we were sorry that Ali had to leave before the fire started.  All in all it was a fine summer's evening for a first fire.

"Ah."

WHAT is wrong with Blogger?  I cannot tell you how many problems I had with this post...it took me FOREVER!

What is luckier than 7? 7/7!

Twenty-eight years ago today my beautiful daughter was born.
Twenty-eight years ago.
Where do the years go?   
I was almost twenty-five when I had her. 
I wanted a girl so bad I couldn't stand it.  In the end, it seemed like I was carrying a basketball and I thought
"o.k., just give me a baby."
And it was a girl.
She was my little doll.
I played with her.
Dressed her.
She went everywhere with me from the time she was born.
She went to my exercise class with me and sat there, watching us, exercise.
In her "punkin" seat.

From the time she was twelve, she knew she wanted to be a lawyer. 
Her class had a "kangaroo court" in the local courthouse.
(I wasn't there.)
In excitement and anticipation, she threw-up on the courthouse steps.

"Laura, do you want to go in?"
"Do you want to proceed?"
She gulped and nodded.
(Her teacher told me, later.)
I wasn't there, but I was told that you would have thought she was a real prosecuting attorney that day.

When it came time to complete her under-grad, she was so driven that she did it in three years.  Many students take five years these days. 
Despite a Lilly Scholarship, she pushed and finished as fast as possible.  She still had three years of law school ahead of her.
When she took the bar, it was insane.  It made history.  In the first time of the electronic bar, results were lost.  We were told there was back-up upon back-up, but it was beyond un-nerving. 
She passed.

Today, she is a powerful attorney in Washington, D.C. 
To say I am proud of her is beyond description.

I like to say
"my daughter, the lawyer."
in my best Jewish mama imitation voice. 
I make jokes that someday I'll have a bumper-sticker across the back of my bumper on my car that reads
"don't even think about hitting me-my daughter is a high-power attorney and we will sue you beyond anything in your wildest imagination."

The first thing she did when she went to work was to buy me a set of dishes.
She has taken me to the Kennedy Center and to a fancy french restaurant.
Complete with a ride in a fancy limo.

For this Hoosier Mama, it was something out of a fairy-tale. 

She is my girl. 
She was born on 7/7 and that makes her double-lucky.
And double loved.

Post post: Holiday dinner on the deck

I was so tired last night when I posted that I spaced uploading these pics.  For our holiday dinner with John & Kathy, we had fresh corn on the cob that Doug bought at the farmer's market.  Doug bought these massively huge butterfly chops that he marinated in sesame-ginger and cooked on the grill.  The chops were about an inch and a quarter high and just melt in your mouth delicious.  I tore lettuce, chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, celery and carrots and we had feta cheese and raspberry vinaigrette.

Kathy, John & Doug on the deck.
Check out my honkin' huge salad!

 I've been doing no sugar, no flour for three months now and this is the first cake I've had.  It was "fairly healthy,"  a yellow cake that I iced with fat free cool whip and mixed in crushed pineapple, then topped with berries.  When I served it I sang "God Bless America," Kate Smith style.

Holiday cake

We were all so full after dinner that we had to wait a couple of hours until we ate our cake.  I did a lot of yard work and we hiked on Sunday.  This a.m., I was up two pounds and not too disappointed by that.  Believe me folks, it could have been worse!

POP!

Technically, we celebrated the 4th last weekend and this weekend.  Doug secured a couple of table seats for us at the Picnic with the Pops last Saturday night.  For years, my children and I attended Symphony on the Prairie, but this was my first time to attend the pops  here in Bloomington. It was a great show.

"Color guard present!"

overhead

The gal on the right has a voice just like Diana Ross!

I.U. Hoosier Singers

Is there anything more lovely than an illuminated concert shell?

 Friday night after work I went out with a few of the gals from work to celebrate one of our student interns getting a job (not only getting a job, but one in her field)!  Then a couple of them came back to the house  and we had a campfire.
Saturday, Doug and I worked all day in the yard.  My son stopped by and said "you are dirty."  I was filthy.  We made plans to meet at a local brew pub at eight o'clock.  It was a welcome relief.  Doug and I each had salads and we shared a sandwich and fries. 
On Sunday, our friends, John and Kathy, from my hometown came down to visit.  We hiked the bluffs, Doug made some amazing pork chops on the grill.  We also had corn and salads and I made a celebratory cake (forgot to upload the photo, will try to do that...) and then we saw some fireworks. 
This morning Doug made fritatta for breakfast and John and Kathy headed north.  Doug went to work for a couple of hours, I took a little nap and then I did a some chores and yard work.  Just dead-heading flowers and watering everything is relaxing, to me.
Chelsea must have gotten too much attention this weekend because she was very needy this evening. 
How did you spend your 4th?  I sure hope it was a bang-up time!
**Am I the only one who is having a frustrating time with blogger this evening?  Painfully slow to do anything and I can't get it to pull out extra space.**