You're Not In Kansas Right Now, Oz Girl...

I can't remember the last time I dropped off the face of the earth and had so many days in between blog posts... it's been a CRAZY few weeks.


I'm back in Ohio, helping to settle my grandmother's estate/house. Seems there's just enough minutes in the day to get everything done that needs done.... I've literally fallen into bed the last few nights, exhausted.


Grandmother is in the nursing home; she has her days, some good, some not so good. Dementia is beginning to rear its ugly head. I hate it. There is nothing sadder than to see a feisty, stubborn and headstrong woman become someone you no longer know. Oh sure, there have been times over the course of all our lifetimes that we've wanted to rip her head off in frustration and sheer aggravation at how difficult she could make everyone's life, especially after grandfather died.


But you know what? When it comes right down to it, for all her sarcasm and tartness and loose lips and yes, occasionally her meanness, she's family. I mean, c'mon, there's not one of us who's perfect. We all have our faults and defects, our little quirks that irritate other family members to the nth degree! But my gramma is OLD family...93 years of history, 93 years of knowledge, 93 years of laughter and tears, of happiness and sadness. The last standing member of a generation soon to be lost forever.


How hard it is to clear out all the kitty and dog figurines, all the silly flower pillows and bird pillows, all the movies and CDs, family photos, her clothes and beloved jewelry, her furniture, the donkey statue in the backyard that us kids "rode" when we were just toddlers.... so many memories and what can you do with all those concrete pieces of memory? One person just can't feasibly hang onto the entire contents of another family member's house, especially 62 years worth.


And so it is with sad hearts that many things are relinquished - to be sold, to be donated, to be *gasp* trashed.


Imagine. Someday. It happens to all of us.  Our treasures are usually only OUR treasures. Our treasures become someone else's headache.


Just another reminder that it's all STUFF.  A reminder to make the most of everyday, to hug those you love.. especially your dogs!  *grin*

{I must apologize for the lack of photos here.... I neglected to bring my card reader.  Duh.}

A Few of My Favorite Things... and the City "Stuff" I Miss

Hands down, the top thing I miss is my Panera hazelnut coffee with half 'n half!!! I would stop at Panera's on my way to work and get my fix of hazelnut coffee with an asiago bagel (toasted) and lo-fat cream cheese. These days, the closest Panera is an hour away in Wichita. So needless to say, a trip to Wichita demands a stop at Panera for coffee, no matter what time of day it is!

On a side note, I do NOT miss my job, which is what necessitated my stop at Panera. That cup of coffee helped me look forward to my morning, before I got to work. Let's just say that my job was not the most positive environment and I wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemy.... wait a minute, maybe I would. It would be the perfect hell for my worst enemy...

Ok, on to some of my other favorite things, the things I miss since I've moved to the land of rural-ness....

My son and his wife, who are still in Ohio with their beagle "kids", Remy and Max. I miss going out to eat with them (and my mom), hanging out on the outside deck at the winery in the summertime, and playing board games (at the winery and at home). We had sooooo much fun at the winery, often laughing til we cried. Wine seems to heighten the funnyness of everything!

This is the hardest thing about moving to another state -- leaving your kids behind! :-(

Oh, and they are neck and neck with the Panera coffee, vying for first place in the "things I miss"... Josh will most likely NOT find it amusing that he's competing with a cup of coffee...


Luigi's Restaurant in downtown Akron; I think it's been there since the 50s. To-die-for salads just mounded with mozzarella cheese and the house dressing. The absolutely best pizza and baked spaghetti. I also miss Pancho's Southwestern Grille in Greensburg. I would go there on Sunday afternoon in the summertime, sit on the patio with a good magazine and a margarita. My downtime, by myself. It was my "thing", and I looked forward to it.

I miss all my girlfriends, and meeting them for lunch, or dinner, or a drink at the local watering hole while we listened to various Ohio local bands and danced; Gretchen, Denise, Diana, and all the other wonderful friends I met through them.

Slightly grainy cell phone image of Denise, Gretchen and I (above) when we went to see Joan Jett in Cleveland, Ohio a few years ago. We had a ball, and stopped at this little dive restaurant afterwards to get gyros that were deeelishus!

Denise was ALWAYS having picnics at her house, and inviting tons of people. Yeah, she's one of those social butterflies and I just tagged along with her, getting the small doses of social-ness that I need only occasionally. Here's all the girls (above) two summers ago at one of Denise's picnics; I'm in the middle in the blue flowery top. Let's see, that was about 20, maybe even 30 lbs ago (gasp!)

(digressing again) I'm aspiring to get back down to that weight one more time before I officially get OLD.... you know, the big 5-0. I just know this time is going to be the hardest... my start date for serious aerobics and weight bench work is next week. I'm going to have to dust the ole weight bench off, it's collected a lot of Kansas dust since I moved it here.

Now, my mom is probably stunned that she has not made my list.... BUT I talk to her every few days and I see her more than anyone else, since she has visited me here twice now. I've been back to Ohio twice to visit everyone, and I was in Arizona two weekends ago to spend time with mom and my sister, and my sister's BFF from Ohio. So, in a strange way, I don't really miss my mom, because we still get our "dose" of each other.

One last favorite thing, and this one is easy to get via the internet. Anthropologie's Capri Blue Jar Candle, in the Volcano scent. It's a bit pricey for me, as far as candles go, but I smelled this particular candle in the Carmel dressing room when my sister and I were shopping, and fell in love with it! You will love this candle, and if you want to try a smaller version, try the Capri Blue Candle Tin at only $12. Mmmm, a small indulgence yet so wonderful!

So these are just some of the things I miss from my city life, BUT I will honestly say that my new life here in Kansas more than makes up for the things I miss. And I will save that for a future post.... the things I love about my new home in the country!

Ohio-Land

Ok, so I'm back in Kansas now but I'm SICK. Can you believe my body had the nerve to get sick while in Ohio, when I'm supposed to be helping my mom?? I haven't been sick since, well, I'm not sure when. April '07 I think. It's just a lousy cold this time, but it's done a pretty good one-two on me and I'm not liking it! I have too much in my brain that I want to be doing rather than taking it easy.

Enough about my sad little cold. The reason I was in Ohio was to spend time with family and help my mom through some surgery that I think she was morally against.... of course, not one of us really looks forward to something like that, so she just wanted to get it over with and move on with her ridiculously active life. She's a busy, busy woman, a dynamo, and it seems there's never enough hours in any given day for her to do all the things she wants to do. The surgery went very well according to the doctor, but the hardest part for my mom has been dealing with the pain and laying around the house. After about two days, she's crying because she wants to DO things and she can't. I understand where she's coming from, just this little cold has me crying... I'm such a sissy. But I digress yet again....

So here's a pic of mom "relaxing" (she's going to eliminate me from her will when she sees this, I just know it)..... remember as you look at this picture, RELAXING is very hard for her to do.

I know it looks like she is smiling, but I think that was a grimace from the pain. The vicodin helped for the first few days, but it caused issues of its own, so she switched to ibuprofen; she said she's eating more now, so that's a good thing.

Here's a pic of my sister Stacie and my daughter-in-law Kristin watching a movie. They will probably demand I remove this photo immediately, as they generally do not like to have their photo taken. I told them I was just taking sample shots with my new camera and they BELIEVED me. You can see my sister is knitting; she has become a knitter extraordinaire. I am truly blown away by her talent and how good she has become!


Last but not least, my lovely son Josh. When he sees a camera pointed in his direction, he absolutely, positively cannot keep a straight face. He feels a strange compulsion to distort his face and scrunch up his body into strange shapes, so we have very few photos of him in a normal state. Kristin truly has her hands full with him.

Josh is also a part-time prankster, in addition to his full-time job as beagle dad (they have two of the little monsters). So now that I've posted these photos of him on my blog, I can be sure that he has added me to his list of forthcoming pranks to be doled out. Yes, I can be sure that I will receive something lovely in return for posting these pics.


Regretfully, I did not get any outdoor photos while in Ohio, due to getting sick Sunday evening. The desire was there, but this old, sick body said NO. So my apologies there are no 6 foot snow drift photos; hey, it all melted while I was there anyway.

I think this about covers my Ohio visit. My apologies to all my friends in Ohio, there just wasn't time to visit many of you. Next time, I promise, I will try to stay longer. In the meantime, thanks for reading my blog, and for staying in touch with me via email... I miss all of you! :-)

Visiting Ohio

I need to apologize for the lack of posts this week ~ I'm in Ohio right now visiting friends and family, and did not bring what I need to upload any pics. I promise when I get back home to Kansas next week, I will create new posts and upload some Ohio pics!

I am very, very lucky, as Ohio is having a "warm snap" while I am here; the temp hit 48 yesterday, which is a heat wave for most Ohioans... roll down the car windows, whip out the cut-offs and tank tops and have a lemonade, woo-hoo!

Today my sister and I will visit my gramma, who turns 92 this month, and is still very active and independent for her age. She still lives in the same house she has lived in since her and my grampa were first married. She can be a bit blunt with everyone, but hey, when you reach 92, perhaps you've deserved that right. Hmm, then again, I believe she's always been a bit blunt and pissy with everyone... oh well.

Stay tuned to future posts! I intend to run some contests wherein you can win my original photography themed products - note cards, postcards, magnets, mugs, etc.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, whichever lovely state you happen to live in.

Still Stuck in Ohio

May 2008

Ok, this ridiculous housing market is keeping me in OH land when I want to be in OZ land. I guess the difference between the letter "H" and the letter "Z" hasn't been noted by any powers-that-be. I'm sure my house will eventually sell, and hopefully to my neighbors so her mom can live next door to them. But of course she's trying to sell her house too, hence the problem. I feel like my future life is "on hold". I'm still stuck at the same dreadful job with the same evil boss (caught him trying to set-up spy controls on mine and a co-worker's email today). I feel like I've had one foot out the door at work for the past few months, but with no concrete move date in sight my foot could be dangling for a few more months!!

Tom was here the weekend before last and we had a wonderful time with family and friends, but it was all too fast and short. I'm going there June 7 thru June 10, which I'm excited about.

So at this point in time, this explains why this particular blog doesn't have very many entries. I haven't moved to OZ Land .... yet!!!

On Moving to Oz Land

Soon-to-be-gone-forever Ohio house

Here I am, a life-long Ohio girl, ready to move to Kansas and start my new life! I'm getting married next week (March 14) and my house is in the process of being sold to my neighbors for their mother in Kentucky, so it's just a matter of time before I move to Kansas permanently!!!

Adventures and fun are sure to follow. With 3 horses, 1 dog and 3 cats already on the premises, plus MY 2 dogs and cat, we've got mucho animal responsibility right off the bat! But with 27 acres, there's plenty of room for more, and I'm sure more will find their way to us.

With nothing but blue sky above and wheat fields and pastureland for miles around us, I'm hungry for the country quiet, and the chance to remove myself from the city chaos. I'm excited to have this opportunity to live in a rural paradise, and even more excited to eventually share our humble dirt road with friends and family who come to visit.

I'll be updating my blog often, to give everyone a taste of the country life -- both when it's a bowl of cherries and when I trip over a horse pie.

Our sliver of paradise in Kansas