a neat christmas gift!

Not long ago, a friend gave me a jar of sea salt scrub.  I procrastinated about trying it, but when I finally did - YEAH!  It's excellent!  And now it's running low...so I researched the brand and price on the net.  It's a bit more expensive than I'm willing to pay, but the search also netted recipes.

I decided to experiment with the most simple one - 1/2 cup fine sea salt and 1/2 cup of olive oil (but you can substitute sweet almond oil) and 10 drops of essential oil, your choice of scent.

My experiment sat on the counter for a week before I decided to try it, and it is JUST as excellent as the $30 jar!  I'm making a boatload of the stuff and giving it for Christmas gifts!

IRS.gov

Just a quick note this morning. 

Yesterday, I caught the tail-end of a news report concerning an email scam.  If you receive mail from IRS.gov, you can be certain something phishy is going on. 

Sure enough, there's a letter from IRS.gov in my email this morning.

If you should receive that email, don't open any of the links or download attachements out of curiosits because it  leaves you very vulnerable and open to identity theft. Just delete  it! 

 

 

I have been remiss

in posting journal entries and replying.  My only defense (not an excuse!!) is - work. Family. George and Lacy.  Playing referee - or however you spell it.

I am hoping that this weekend will have a few spare moments in it and I can get around to visit all of you.

Today, my daughter called me - on business.  She works in preregistration for a hospital, and it was her day to confirm DOC authorization numbers, and we were on the list.  It seemed strange giving out information to my daughter! But it was nice.  We both got a taste of each others' jobs on a direct level.

Other than that, I've been buried.  Lacy has eaten my couch and I am looking into getting a kennel for the back yard.  She not only ate my couch, she managed to get a bag of black beans and a bag of rice from the kitchen closet (bet I don't forget to close THAT anymore), and she ate those.  Raw.  She ate my hairbrush.  I have gotten wise and have hidden my shoes.

And NOW - since my sister was kind enough to lend me the second season of Twin Peaks (remember that series?  I used to watch it all the time and the only thing I can remember is Bob and new shoes) the plan is to kick back in front of the television and watch until I fall asleep.

Have a good night and a great rest of the week.

A Lifetime.

When I was small, I was fascinated by my mother's engagement ring.  It was called "Starfire" back then, and it glittered and sparkled on her finger like the Promise it was.  She told us stories about how she and dad eloped to South Carolina, and how he sang to her in that rich baritone on the way to get married.

All through that marriage, she never asked for much, but a few months ago, she  told me how she wants to live to see the 50th anniversary of that day - September 1, 2007 - and how she wanted the anniversary party to end all parties.  Trust and believe, she deserves it.  Life with Marshall, the Silver Bullet, was a hard row to hoe, but on the plus side, she concedes it was never boring.

She has tried to wheedle out of us - Do you have plans?  Have you ordered a cake?  But we have been very tight-lipped about it, and shrugged her questions away - we wanted to surprise her.

More recently, as her health has failed more, mom has told me she isn't sure she'll see that day.  And so I told her - Yes, you will.  We have this party planned, and you have to be there!

Her eyes lit up, and then she got serious and said, I just want my children and grandchildren to come.  I don't think I can handle a big crowd.  Two days later, she handed me a guest list. 

It had only 6 names - but my brother and I added 2 more.

We're having it catered.  We're ordering a gorgeous cake. The grandchildren are putting together a CD of the music popular in 1957 and they're also working on a collage of pictures - a sort of This Is Your Life album.

And the extra guests are our cousin the Preacher and his wife.

Little does she know that on her 50th anniversary, she will be renewing her wedding vows.

I hope she will be pleased.  :-)

end of season airfares

It must be a sign.  Travelocity keeps sending me summer airfare sales ads - selected cities only 103+.  Now who, with two months vacation time saved up, could turn that down?

Not I!  And so I have decided to pack my red necklace and fly the scary skies to Ohio to visit with a friend in Ohio.

It just occurred to me that it has been 30 years since I have flown anywhere.  It was a big adventure, then, with Aunt Doris for a chaperone and western New York to explore, and it was worth saying No to that Camaro my dad tried to bribe me with if I didn't go - although, I do wonder what it would have been like to drive a red one.

There is much to be said for traveling and new fodder for writing, new sights, new voices.  .

Sometimes - especially lately - I feel like my life has just begun.