MORE EL SALVADOR PICTURES

SAD DAY!!!

I'm taking the boys home today. Lisa will be home around midnight. I will spend the night and take the boys to school in the morning. Lisa is taking the day off. The week flew by...I knew it would. We didn't do a lot because it rained the first three days and then it was cold and windy...but we enjoyed home time. I hope I am making some good memories for them. Now they are looking forward to school being over so we can do it all over again.

El Salvador Food.....

Don't ask me what this is, but I know it is good. Lisa says their maid (Carmen) is a wonderful cook.

El Salvador.....

El Salvador is mountain country. This looks like coffee beans growing on the hill. They grow in the shade so they are planted under big trees.

Where Lisa stayed at Donaldo's brothers house. I like the painting on the wall.

Beautiful bed at the same house.

Cousins and brothers.

More Pictures made in El Salvador....

Lisa in the pink top and Donaldo standing directly behind her.

Another food plate....Yummy!!!!

Two happy people. Donaldo and his brother.

An egg plant dish.

Pictures from Lisa in El Salvador....

Donaldo's brother Luis' family.....
Breakfast food.....
Orchids......
Luis Diego....

El Salvador, Central America

Donaldo at his brother's house....

Lisa with a cup of tea.

Plant growing in back yard.

Lisa's Pictures from El Salvador, Central america.

From the plane window.....
Some of their fruit.
Flowers in bloom the year round.
A neighborhood....

LISA AND HER FAMILY.....

I made a trip to Lisa's yesterday to get the grandboys. They will be here a week with me while their Mom and Dad go to Central America. Aren't Spring breaks wonderful? This picture was made in their kitchen. Ryan is almost as tall as his Mom and Lucas weighs more than Ryan. They are 23 and 14. My heart runneth over!

~~~~~ON THE LIGHTER SIDE~~~~~

SPRING CLEANING TIPS.....

First of all...housework can't kill you, but why take the chance?

Dust bunnies just run behind curtains and under shelves until you put the broom away and then they scoot right back again. I have better things to do than play hide and seek with dust bunnies.

General Cleaning: Mix one quart cup pine scented house-hold cleaner with four cups of water in a spray bottle. Mist the air lightly. Smells like you have been cleaning all day.

Leave dampened rags in conspicuous locations. Develop an exhausted look, throw yourself on the couch and sigh, "I clean and I clean and I still don't get anywhere."

As a last resort, turn on the oven, throw a teaspoon of cinnamon in a pie pan, turn off the oven and explain that you have been baking cookies for a bake sale for a favorite charity and haven't had time to clean....works every time!

OLD PHONE....

If this phone could talk, I know it could tell many good stories. We bought two of them when we first got married 52 years ago. The other one was at my Mothers house (next door) and we had them hooked up so we could talk. I don't know what happened to the one she had. Mine now hangs on my den wall. It could use a good cleaning, but I like it just the same. It's a good conversation piece if nothing else. What do you think? Do you want to give me a ring? One long and two shorts!

The cutting of the trees.....

My son-in-law came today and cut down some trees for me. Some of them were dead and some were half dead. Now it will be a lot easier to mow come Spring. Here are a few pictures I made after he finished. The next thing is to have a brush fire. Oh Boy! I can't wait for that!

I enjoyed cooking for them today. I had fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes baked in the oven, a big salad and a Sultana cake. Ryan and Lucas were happy to be here and I was happy to see them. It didn't last long enough!

My Friend Carolyn's Family.....

My friend Carolyn came to visit today and we finished up the "detail work" on her critters. The Red Hat snow lady is my favorite. The other three are "old timers" but still wanted to make their picture all together. All of these were made by Carolyn. Now we are both starting on an afghan. These little fella's and the afghans will be going to the fair come fall!

Snow ....Again

This is my yard this morning. It snowed about two inches and the temperture is 26 degrees. Wind chill factor is probably about 18. My tulips, daffodils and crocus are up. We need the snow to help raise the water level. So, I will be happy and dream of Summertime. Hope all of you are having a good Sunday!

AMERICAN IDOL......

Did anyone watch American Idol last night? The last boy that sang was my favorite.....Danny Gokey. He blew the rest of them away as far as I'm concerned. Titianna did a little better. She didn't act so silly. She really has a beautiful voice. I also like the boy from Chappel Hill NC. Tonight we will get to see the three that recieved the most votes from the group that preformed last night. I think Danny Gokey will be one of them.

Day Lily... Picture Made With A Scanner

Ken Mac from http://greenwichvillagenydailyphoto.blogspot.com/ posted this on http://leavesgrass.blogspot.com/

HOW TO DO:
First you put the flower over the scanner's glass. the flower must be face down. Next you arrange the flower as you like. then cover the flower gently with a black fabric, very dense, (all the scanner's superficies.) Don't shut the scanner's cover...if you do this, you may crumple the flower. Then turn on the scanner. Next you can save the image in some file you choose. The interesting thing in this process is the unexpected: we don't know exactly how the flowers will show up. It's an amazing surprise!

I think leaves of grass is on a blogging break, (she lives in Brazil) but go there and look at some of the flowers that have been scanned. They are amazing. You will have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the first page that comes up and on your way down, look at some of her pictures. I wish she would start blogging again.

I haven't tried the scanning flowers yet because my scanner is not working properly, but as soon as I can, I'm going to try it.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!!

Here's a crocheted square I sent out this month. It goes to Kelly in IA. I wish everyone a Happy Valentine Day!!!!!

THE MEANING OF TRUE LOVE.....
It is sharing and caring,
Giving and forgiving,
Loving and being loved,
Walking hand in hand
Talking heart to heart,
Seeing through each other's eyes,
Laughing together,
Praying together,
And always trusting
And believing
And thanking God
For each other......
For love that is shared
is a beautiful thing.....
It enriches the soul
and makes the heart sing!!!!
Helen Steiner Rice

Snowman Purse for little girls......

I made this today. It is crocheted. I will put it in my "Christmas Box" for a gift this coming Christmas. I have to get some grograin ribbon (black with white polka dots) and tie a bow on one of the handles. It was fun to make.

ICY ICICLES.....

Ryan sent me this picture. He wanted me to put it on my blog. They are hanging from his front porch.

SNOW DAY..AND ANIMALS..Will you make a CAPTION?...Please

This is some of Lisa's animals. The schools here turned out two hours early today. The school where she teaches turned out early also. I think everyone was happy to go home early. She must have grabbed her camera as soon as she got home. I got this one in an e-mail. It reminds me of a lion and a lamb! It is Clint and Gracie.

My Herceptin Treatment....

I was looking through my pictures and ran across this one. It's me getting my Herceptin treatment. I go every three weeks and have five more to go. That will be a total of eighteen. I finish up sometime in May. I haven't had any side effects. My sister-in-law- Loretta has taken me every time except one and she was sick that day. I'm looking forward to the day when I'm through. Last year was like a lost year to me. I hope to make up for lost time come Spring!!!!

They are feeling better!!!!

Here's an update on the boys. I took them to the Doctor and they both had a virus and a sinus infection. The Doctor wrote an excuse for Lucas to be out of school until Monday. (His birthday) Ryan is O.K. with work. They are both feeling better. The cough medicine really did the trick. It should have tasted a little like gold. It was 45.00. But I would have paid much more to have them better. We have had a lazy week. We haven't over exerted ourself...taking naps, eating, looking at magazines, and reading stories. Tomorrow, I will take them home. Hopefull they will continue to get well. I want SPRING!!!!!

WHAT I'M DOING TODAY........

Ryan and Lucas are sick. I'm going there to take them to the Doctor and then bring them home with me. Lucas has been coughing all winter it seems. And Ryan gets sick every day or two. It is raining and cold this morning. I dread the trip. Lisa could not take off from work because she had visitors coming to her room. Gary is staying at home with Bill so that is one less thing I have to worry about. I will post again tomorrow. Good Day!!!!!

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING.....(in my spare time)

I'm still in the Christmas Mode for some reason. But that is normal for me. Every year after Christmas, I still want to make things and keep the spirit alive. My friend Carolyn and I have been crocheting these cute little critters. We are making them for gifts come next year. I made the picture with my phone camera....so it is not very sharp, but maybe you can tell how cute they are.

Global Warming.......

FIRST DATE AND COLD WEATHER......

This is funny but a little "naughty." Forgive me for the "naughtiness", but I had to share this.

Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The woman described her worst experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!

She said it was mid winter, snowing and quite cold, and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before.

The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte.

They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car.

They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her behind rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation.

However, upon finishing, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her back side firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the exteme cold.

Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a reply that indeed , she was "freezing her butt off" and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma.

Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free.

So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her backside off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show Prize hands down. Or perhaps the should be "pants down." And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment: "This gives a whole new meaning to being p'd off. "Oh, and how did the first date turn out? He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

A TEA MAKER.....

This is the neatest thing. Lisa received it for Christmas. It came with a "tea ball," and a cup for brewing your tea. On the stove you bring a cup of water to a boil, and then pour it into the cup over the tea ball. Let it simmer until the right strength. But here is the strange part. The tea ball opens up into a beautiful flower. Look at the picture closely. You can watch as it opens up. The tea tasted wonderful. I think that was one of Lisa's favorite gifts.

I found their web site. If you want to read more about it. They are rather expensive.... I think Lisa's came from Belk Dept. Store. in Johnson City, TN
www.primulaproducts.com

Jury Duty???? I don't think so!

I was summoned for Jury Service. I was ready to go get an excuse from my Doctor because of my Chemo treatments. I happened to look on the back of the summons and there is a number you can call if you have a problem serving. I called the number and there is a long list of reasons you cannot serve. The first one is...if you are over seventy....I fit into that category....then, if you are a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or if you have served within the last two years. (and a lot more I can't remember) I had to leave a message telling them my excuse. Here is the message I left.... My name is Clara Melvin, I live at S------ G------ R-, Bluff City, TN. I have an excuse for not appearing for jury service....in fact, I have more than ONE excuse. 1..I am over seventy. 2..I am taking chemo for breast cancer. 3.. My husband is an invalid. 4..My son has a broken leg. 5..I have served within the last two years. If you need any more excuses, please call me at this number. Thank You, Have a good day!
I bet I won't have to go.....what do you think?

NORMAL??????

What is NORMAL?????? The only thing NORMAL around here is a setting on the DRYER. LOL So, it's January 2nd. About a week before Christmas Bill and I had an appointment to have our blood work done. It was SOOOOOcold that morning, I called and canceled. (It gives Bill angina if he gets out in really cold weather) Our appointment for the three months check up was Dec. 23....so she told me to have our blood work done that day when we came in at 8:15 AM for our appointments. I said that would be fine. Then, the Dr's office called and rescheduled that appointment for Jan 2nd...(today) at 1:15 PM. That was fine, but what about our blood work? Bill cannot go that long up into the day without eating. I probably could, but I wouldn't like it. Sooooo, I called the Dr's office and asked what to do about the situation. She said to come on in for our check-up and then make another appointment for our blood work for a later date. GEEEEZZZZ. I think I will go start my dryer on the NORMAL setting!!!!