Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever written a love letter? Have you written one recently? Had one written to you? Did you keep it?

Mr BC and I were long distance sweethearts just before we were married, and we wrote many letters of love to each other.  Yes we have them still and one day the girls will find them and know we were once young.

2. What's a movie that ends in a way you especially love?

I especially liked the way Harry Potter ended, where we knew how they ended up.  I also love the way the Big Chill, my favorite movie, ended.

3. Something that makes your heart sing? And for those of you who are parents, I mean something besides your children that makes your heart sing? 

I would have to exclude the grandsons and dogs as well, as they rank up there as kids too. My heart sings when Mr BC and I start out on a travel adventure, any vacation like travel adventure. 

4. What's the last event you had to attend, phone call you had to make, routine task you needed to complete, or meal you had to prepare, that you did do, but only half-heartedly?

Any time I have to cook dinner, I do it half heartedly.  I don't really like to cook anymore. 

5. Tuna fish salad-yay or blech? If you said yay, how do you like your tuna salad prepared? Hey, this is the Hodgepodge, right?

I love tuna fish salad sandwiches with onions and hard boiled eggs. My mom made tuna fish with hard boiled eggs and Lipton Onion Soup mix many years ago. We quit fixing it that way because it had too much salt in it. 

6. What's something you 'know by heart'? 

Mississippi, The beginning paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, from 8th grade Constitution course, my blog address, and many songs.

7. In the spirit of Valentine's Day, what two or three word phrase would you write on a conversation heart for someone you love? That someone could be a spouse, child, parent, cousin, bestie...anyone at all whom you love.
Grandma Loves You Best.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  
Mr BC said today that I am nicer since I started mall walking....I think it is because I feel better and I get a chance to have coffee every day with some folks.

Good Morning Sunday

This morning's Sunrise cast an amber glow on everything brown in our yard.  I am ready for green again!

Friday Fragments-Mall Walking

I started Mall walking this week, so far, I have gone 3 times this week.  I had decided this was something I would start in 2015, and it has taken until February to remember.  I am hoping that if I start going regularly, Mr BC will come with me. Maggie and Jiggs have been doing it for years and it has been nice to have a cup of coffee with them, during the week.  The tour we will be making in September of London, Paris and Rome, will have lots of walking involved and I want to be able to keep up.

We will get her back to her trim self.

We have Gwennie and Caspar on a diet.  They are both overweight and under exercised. Caspar is hungry all the time and developed a bit of a tummy and he is already slimming. I started walking the mall because, the walks I take with the dogs are much slower and and shorter.  I have made a promise to work the dogs out along with feeding them better.  I wish I could take them on the mall.  Since that is not possible I have taken them, sometimes with Mr BC around several blocks here in town.  It is time for us to all get fit.

We have been experiencing typical Missouri weather....If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes.  I has been warm and sunny some days and cold and freezing the next.  We even had some snow this week. I am ready for Spring.

This is a good mommy!

My weekend Plans

Linking with Mrs 4444 at Half Past Kissing Time for Friday Fragments

Throwback Thursday-Soldier, Dad, Grandpa

A couple of weeks ago I posted a pic of my mom and dad and Mr BC's mom, I have been fooling around with the scanner again with some pictures of Mr BC's  dad in the Army, the three of them together, and Grandpa and DD2.  The 40's to the 70's.

Memory Monday-My School Years

I am joining Retired Not Tired for Memory Monday

I went to the same schools all through my early years. My elementary school was right at the end of my street.  In those days the buildings housed K to 8th grade and I started in the first Kindergarten, the first year the school had opened.  The school was renamed and re-purposed to a middle school in the 90's.  

James Madison Elementary School

Since it was so close to home, it seemed we were always on the playground. I still have friends from school, as we all graduated and went on to the same high school.  As I worked on this post yesterday I found a few more on Facebook.

My mom was very active with the school and was often on campus when a room mother was needed. Which was somewhat problematic, if we wanted to fly under the radar.

We were the first graduating class that went through all the grades at the school.  That week of graduation, many of us got sick with the measles (no immunization in those days).  I had come in second in the graduation speech competition and had to be ready to step in, I was so scared that I would have to get up in front of everyone and speak, but I dutifully practiced, just in case.  Thankfully, Tommy H. was well enough to give the speech and I was reprieved.  We were both sick with the measles the next morning, so our summer vacation started by feeling poorly.   

The teachers through the years, were good but I the one I had that year, was truly dreadful, many of my insecurities began here.  I wrote about it before, that it was a defining moment in my life.

"However, if one counts the teachers who had a negative impact on me, it would be my 8th grade teacher, Mr. Ginsberg, I even remember his name after all these years.  I was on the chubby side when I was 12 or 13, I also was developing my breasts and was self conscious.  I tended to stand around with my arms crossed over my chest.  He called me Buddha, all the time,  and I was hugely embarrassed.  I guess I could have objected now, but at the time, the late 50's, there was no political correctness or anti harassment. It was bullying pure and simple. I guess he thought he was being funny....Not!  He was a terrible person and should not have been a teacher." 

When we moved back to California from Michigan, the kids were still in elementary school. We stayed with my folks for many months while we looked for a house, so DD1, went to 4th grade at the school. It was a few years after that, when the rebuilding and re-naming happened.  Mom and Dad had nothing but traffic and parking problems as the school grew. More memories of these years here and here.

I went to High School at SGHS and have written about it several times. They were not my best years, only OK.  I wouldn't go back to high school again for a million dollars.

The Nosy Meme-Sunday Stealing

Nosy Meme 

Stolen from: FYeah Surveys

Average hours of sleep: 

Usually I sleep about 7 hours a nite.  I go to sleep ok, I just can't seem to stay asleep.

Last thing I googled: 

Doggie gates from Amazon

One place that makes me happy: 

Santa Barbara with my Grandsons, at the beach or playground or even Costco.

How many blankets I sleep under.

We are currently sleeping under 2 blankets and a set of flannel sheets, with our dogs, we are very toasty.

 What are you wearing right now: 

Jeans and a t-shirt and I am feeling a little cold.  Need to put on a sweater. I think I'll go get the new one I bought at TJ Maxx.

 Last book you read:

I am still reading the Princess Bride, the last book I finished was As You Wish, by the Dread Pirate Roberts, Cary Elwys. I should read my Kindle Fire, but I find myself playing games.

Favorite fictional character:

Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet or Louisa May Alcott's Jo March. 

Last movie I watched in the cinema: 
We watch most of our movies On Demand, so I think it was the Lego Movie with grandson Лука, it was a actually a pretty good movie. 

Dream vacation: 
Well I am taking Mr BC to London, Paris and Rome in September. But I think my dream vacation would be an around the world cruise or living in England for 6 mos in a cottage.

Dream wedding: 
I have been married for 47 years and I had the wedding I wanted at the time. A destination wedding anniversary would be nice.

Dream pet: 

One who will eat perfectly.  I have two on a veterinary diet to lose weight. And one who is a picky eater.

Dream job: 

One that involves travel and relaxing. It would be the only way I would leave retirement.

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? 

Probably 40.  Those were good years.

Which is worse, failing or never trying? 

Never trying keeps you from failing, but life would not be very interesting.

If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? 

It's called responsibility and I must admit that as I grow older and have less responsibilities....I do more things that I like.

Papa Loves Mama-Saturday 9

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Then try this. It's not very good quality, and it may have been pulled by the time you get over to it, because Garth doesn't like YouTube videos. Sorry.

1) This song is about a trucking "accident" that was covered extensively in the local paper. What's the big news story in your neighborhood? 

Our consolidated high school has built a new sports center. A grand opening celebration is slated for next week, and the public will have a chance to tour the structure, which is capable of withstanding an EF-5 tornado, or 250 mph winds, and can hold about 3,000 people.

2) The action centers around a motel. When is the last time you stayed in a hotel or motel? 

DD2 and I spent a weekend in Kansas City last spring to go to Trader Joes.  We stayed in a nice hotel right next door to a Cost Plus World Market. Shopping heaven!

3) In the song, Papa wants to surprise Mama with a bottle of wine. Do you prefer white or red?
I prefer white but now that I know about the benefits of red, I might order it instead.  I don't drink a lot of wine. Many doctors agree that something in red wine appears to help your heart. It's possible that antioxidants, such as flavonoids or a substance called resveratrol, have heart-healthy benefits.

4) This week's featured artist, Garth Brooks, has said that the late Chris LeDoux -- singer, sculptor and rodeo champion -- is his hero. If you had to single out someone this morning as your hero, who would it be?
I am very partial to dog hero stories!

5) Before he was able to support himself as a singer, Brooks was a bouncer at a bar. Have you ever had an encounter with a bouncer (either that he threw you out or came to your aid)? 

No! I have never been anywhere that had a bouncer.  Bars were not my scene.

6) According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), Garth surpassed The Beatles as the top selling artist of the last 25 years. Whose music do you listen to more -- Garth Brooks or the The Beatles? 
The Beatles....I do like Garth too. But don't listen to him often. I admire that he retired for a decade to raise his kids.

7) While 1992 was a banner year for Garth Brooks, it was a bad one for another country legend, Willie Nelson. Willie ended up paying the IRS more than $9,000,000. When you file your taxes, will you qualify for a refund? Or will you owe money?I

It is always hard to say, we took some money from our retirement annuity this year. 

8) When this song was popular in 1992, Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York, was in all the papers and magazines for her controversial conduct -- including being photographed sunbathing topless with a man not her husband. Today no one seems to care much about what Sarah Ferguson does. Can you think of someone else whose fame was fleeting? 

Carmen Electra, some of the Spice Girls. Just last week I wondered where Selma Hayek went.  I wish the Kardashians would go the way of Paris Hilton.

9) This is Super Bowl weekend. Where will you be watching The Big Game?No.   I will be shopping, unless it snows.