I'm As Happy As A Pig In Slop!

(Dancing Pig Wall Decal by WilsonGraphics)

       I'm getting old and I'm starting to scare myself! I find myself quoting my grandmother almost every day now! O_0 Do any of you do that?! Please say: "Yes!"...Anyway, the title of my post today was something my grandmother used to say all the time if anything good happened to her or someone she knew.

     When I got through opening my Giveaway gift package the other day, and I was sitting there on the bed with all of my goodies laying around me, that's what I said out loud: "I'm as happy as a pig in slop!!" ^_^

     After I got through explaining the expression to my Massachusetts born and bred husband...^_^...I put all of my things away and sat there with a silly grin on my face. And as I'm going through the pictures of it all to show you today, that's the same silly grin I have now! ^_^

    Speaking of pigs in slop though, before I show you the pretty jewelry I got, let me show you the ugly mess I made yesterday when I finally cut into one of the chocolate candy apples I got!!!...

       Is this sad or what?! I took the chocolate and nut apple out of the fridge and didn't know where to start to eat it!! ^_^ If I was a young kid, like I used to be!...and if I was running through the carnival Fair grounds holding a candy apple on a stick in my hands, like I've done a few times in my life!...I would have leaned my head sideways, took a huge bite out of it, and walked around chewing with a messy pig sloppy face! ^_^

       But I'm an old lady now! :-) So, I got out a plate to put it on, got a knife to cut it with, and tried to cut it slow enough so as not to have nuts flying all over the floor, and not slice the thumb off of my 'fool' hand!

       It took me a little bit longer than necessary because...*shaking my head*...I didn't cut it in the middle and the wooden skewer stopped me cold!! LOL I was sawing and sawing...and putting my glasses back on...and sawing and sawing....! Then it dawned on me that I probably should've gotten through the 'fool' apple by now!!...Oh boy! ^_^

       You haven't seen ugly...or pathetic...until you've seen an old lady with her glasses cocked sideways so she can only see out of one eye, a chocolate candy apple cut in pieces on a plate in front of her, and her eating it with a knife and fork, slurping the bits of nuts and chocolate off of the side in slow motion so that she doesn't get any of it on the floor where the dog or cat could get to it and die!...*shaking my head* What's even more pathetic is that I don't have a dog or a cat!! ^_^

   I am here to report though...with all ten fingers intact, and no dead animals laying around me!...that it was gooooooooood!!!...{Well worth me recommending you to take a  little 'look-see' around the shop of Nicole's Homemade Treats!}...Okay, on with the show! :-)

       This little colorful shiny box was also on top, in the back, of the pile when I opened my package...

        It was taped up so good that I had to use scissors to get into it! But 'get-into-it' I did!!...

      I got past the packaging...

       ...and found this beautiful ceramic green heart made by PotterybyJolene...

     Front and back...so cute! :-) I may make a crocheted brooch to put under it. You know me! :-) ...I went over to check out the rest of her shop too. I found this beauty there...

(White Crackle Raku Vase by PotterybyJolene)

      She has some other ceramic heart pins there too, if you're interested. :-)

      The next gift I opened was this...

        It came from an Etsy shop called dorana...

       Aren't they pretty?!! :-) I can't wait to wear these! This 'piggie' is gonna be looking 'puuuuuuurdy!' ^_^ 

       dorana has all kinds of other pretty jewelry too...like this Breakfast at Tiffany's Sterling SilverFlower Weave Cuff Bracelet...

         
    Last, but not least,...jewelry-wise...was this gorgeous necklace...

       I couldn't find the tag for the maker. Maybe I'll be able to tell you later. But isn't it gorgeous?!!

       I'm a sucker for a flower anyway!! :-)) But this one is so pretty! :-) ...No! You can't have mine! But I did a search on Etsy and I found one sorta like it. It may be by the same designer. If I find out I'll let you know who it is. :-) ......{UPDATE: I found out that the necklace is from thecuriouscupcake! YAY!!}

      So, I'm off to work on either a new scarf or a hat today. My little 'secret' project I was working on is all done. Since I have some other things to show you tomorrow from this Giveaway gift package, I'll show you my little project tomorrow too. :-) Suspense! Can you feel it?! LOL...Don't get that excited. ^_^

      As my grandmother would have said: 'That's all y'all!"...But as the cartoon  'Porky Pig' would have said: "Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That's all, folks!" ^_^ Have a good day! See you tomorrow!

     
In The Mirror, I See Me

The lines of history are there,
just like a book upon the shelf;
And they are written so that you see
that I'm no longer just myself.

I did not see it before now-
my mother's hair and brother's teeth,
my sister's honey-colored skin-
have stolen time, just like a thief.

The mirror's image always was
of me alone-just here and now;
But as I age, and years go by,
I see granddaddy's furrowed brow.

I see my auntie's pug, round nose;
and my uncle's sun-bleached spots.
It is amazing -one-by-one,
the way it all connects the dots.

They have written on the pages
of the book of life I see;
When I look into the mirror
I no longer just see me.

It is a thing I must accept,
instead of fighting who to be.
I will accept my life's reflection,
and I'll smile at what I see,
when, in the mirror, I see me.

Who Are These Old People In The Mirror?

    It's official...We're old! And the only thing we can do about it now is laugh! How did this happen to two spry, lively, young chickadees like ourselves?!...We decided that for our anniversary yesterday we would just take the day off and sleep. Well...that's what we did! And we loved it!...That is until this morning!

    I woke up with every bone in my body aching (It's gonna rain!), and had to use the bathroom IMMEDIATELY!!  Hubby...couldn't move! He had slept on one side too long and his hip had locked in place! And he had to use the bathroom REALLY BAD too!! LOL It was like a bad Laurel and Hardy routine!! I was yelling "Ooo! Oooo! Ooo!" and he was hobbling around the bed in slow motion, limping on one toe so he could keep his hip level!!

    Yep! Just have to laugh about it,...and take our pills,...

    ...Put on our glasses so we can see which pills we're suppose to be taking!...

    (The glasses with the sun shades clipped to them because the glare of the sunlight through the window this morning is too bright!)...Get my cane...

   ...Grab the remote control with my grabber...

     ...so I can turn on the T.V. and get the weather, to see how much rain we're suppose to get today!...Wait a minute! I still can't see! Better put some...

    ...drops in my eyes.

    UGH! Guess we better just go back to bed. We obviously need some more rest...or something!! Wait a minute!! My toenail is catching the sheet...and my eyebrow hair keeps falling in my eye!! Where's my tweezers and nail clipper?!!!

   *Sigh!* ...  It's finally happened. We've gone from COOL and HIP!...to cold, because of a lack of circulation, and can't move our 'hip'! LOL...Yep! We are officially OLD!! Good thing we've got each other! Nobody else is gonna want nothing to do with all of this!!! Ha! Ha!

(Another repeat of this poem is in order!)

In The Mirror, I See Me

The lines of history are there,

just like a book upon the shelf;

And they are written so that you see

that I'm no longer just myself.

I did not see it before now-

my mother's hair and brother's teeth,

my sister's honey-colored skin-

have stolen time, just like a thief.

The mirror's image always was

of me alone-just here and now;

But as I age, and years go by,

I see granddaddy's furrowed brow.

I see my auntie's pug, round nose;

and my uncle's sun-bleached spots.

It is amazing -one-by-one,

the way it all connects the dots.

They have written on the pages

of the book of life I see;

When I look into the mirror

I no longer just see me.

It is a thing I must accept,

instead of fighting who to be.

I will accept my life's reflection,

and I'll smile at what I see,

when, in the mirror, I see me.      

Reader!

My mother had some issues when I was growing up, but to her credit she sure did teach us kids a love for books and reading! She read everything in sight! Sometimes she even passed her books on to us for us to read.

 And read...we did!!! In fact, it's not unusual for my sisters to call, even now, just to share with me what they're reading! I guess, considering all the bad stuff my mom passed on to us, it's a good thing she passed on something really valuable and positive too!...I have wonderful memories of rainy days with all of us piled up in my mother's big bed. There was the sound of the rain pitter pattering down on the tin roof, the smell of my mother's crisp clean sheets all scented with  soap and flowers, and the sound of her voice softly reading some story or the other while we were all huddled up together. *sigh!* That was a wonderful time. (By the way, this custom silhouette is entitled "...Two children Reading Back To Back(not a print)" http://www.etsy.com/listing/34853629/custom-silhouette-of-two-children It's from SilhouettesByCarolin on ETSY http://www.etsy.com/shop/silhouettesbycarolin I love this shop! Check it out too!)
  I have that same love of reading today, although WHAT I read has changed. It used to be mostly the comics section of the Newspaper, Laura Ingall's Little House on the Prairie series, and Erma Bombeck's books. (FYI, if you want some fun reading...just about one woman's life...you HAVE to read her books!!!) I could read any of her books, any time, still!!!
   But anybody that knows me knows that what I love to read most now are my Bible,

 my Awake and Watchtower magazines (this one on stress...GOOD!),

 and my medical reference books. Both of these are books with symptoms of just about everything you can imagine listed in the back indexes. You can look up your symptom and then go to the page that tells you what it could be, and what you should do about it!

Over the years these books have been invaluable! They've saved me some trips to the doctor for things I could fix at home, and saved me some panic about unfamiliar things that turned out to be nothing to worry about. I think every family...especially with kids...should have some of these books in your house at your fingertips!
  Another one, along the lines of health, that's helped me a lot is this one:

 It's another one of those 'look it up' type of books, but this one instead of listing just symptoms, it lists the ailments themselves (bronchitis, lupus, cancer, etc) and gives you details on how they will affect you, but also the natural way you could choose to treat them. It also lists the names of herbs and so forth, and gives you the info on what they are, their pros and cons,  and what's the best way to use them.

 I have practically read these books to death! LOL You can tell from looking at them!...But I've also done some other, more casual, reading. In fact, I read this book.

It was my one and only book I read from Oprah's suggested book club reads. I'm sure other people loved it, but it didn't hold my attention very well. I like stories with lots of different story lines, and a love story...of course! Not a sex story, but a love story. I don't like explicit stuff or vulgar language. I like my mind to be thoroughly engaged in how the end turns out, to somehow be able to see myself in the story...Years ago, before the movie came out, hubby and I used to sit and read this book to each other after dinner.

  Talk about keeping your attention!!! We had fun reading that book! It was funny how just as we were at the end of reading it...the T.V. movie trailers starting coming on advertising this epic mini-series that was about to come on. I have to say, they certainly did a great job bringing that book to life! Although, as with all movies  based on books probably, there were some things left out. Actually a lot of things left out with this book! It was a good read...of course this was over 25 years ago that I read it!!!
  Oh yeah, I have a favorite poet I love to read too! Maya Angelou. She's written other things besides poetry that I've read, like her book "I know why the Caged Bird sings". But this was the last book of her poems I read. It was given to me as a gift by someone who said that her poem entitled "phenomenal Woman" reminded them of something that I would write! That, to me, was the ultimate complement!

  Between Erma Bombeck and Maya Angelou, style-wise, is ME!!! :-)) And I'll leave you with ME...for today.


In The Mirror, I See Me

The lines of history are there,
just like a book upon the shelf;
And they are written so that you see
that I'm no longer just myself.

I did not see it before now-
my mother's hair and brother's teeth,
my sister's honey-colored skin-
have stolen time, just like a thief.

The mirror's image always was
of me alone-just here and now;
But as I age, and years go by,
I see granddaddy's furrowed brow.

I see my auntie's pug, round nose;
and my uncle's sun-bleached spots.
It is amazing -one-by-one,
the way it all connects the dots.

They have written on the pages
of the book of life I see;
When I look into the mirror
I no longer just see me.

It is a thing I must accept,
instead of fighting who to be.
I will accept my life's reflection,
and I'll smile at what I see,
when, in the mirror, I see me.