Gin in the morning

Sometimes I open my mouth and my Mother pops out.

I noticed about a year ago a dull ache in my right index finger.....within a few months the dull ache was also felt in my right birdie finger. Not that I'd ever shoot a bird.....

It hit me.
This is what arthritis feels like.
*Oh SNAP*

A vision hit me from the past. Actually, the past day was in November of 2009.
The day my Aunt, Uncle and beloved Mother came for Thanksgiving and with them they brought this strange concoction and placed it in my fridge. 
Gin soaked (golden) raisins.

They swore that eating 9 of those raisins daily helped with arthritis pain.

I gave them strange looks and laughed at their apparent senility.

*OLD PEOPLE and their silliness*

Well, lo and behold I am NOW an old silly person myself. I honestly thought that would come much later, but unlike most of my life, it showed up early.

Hi, my name is Suzanne and I believe that 9 gin soaked raisins a day actually diminishes most of my arthritis pain.

The way I know it helps is that when we've traveled (even for a weekend) and I didn't have them daily, the ache was more than dull. My joints crave the gin soaked  raisins.

I'm neither a fan of gin or raisins, but I'm really NOT a fan of aching joints.

Here is the link if you'd like to try this yourself. And no, I'm not intoxicated now or when I ingest them.....the alcohol content is very low. The magic has something to do with the juniper berries used to make gin mixed with the golden raisins. You can do your own research on the web. For me, I know it works.

Thank you Beverly!!

XO

More peeps in my life and I'm glad I can swim.

Just after Easter we took in a houseguest for an undetermined amount of time.
Well, I thought it might be for a month....and only because we didn't know the depth of the situation.
You know when you come across someone who isn't directly related to you, but you have connections and they desperately need a new start to their life? And you CAN actually help this deserving person have a new start?
Well, then by all means you help that person even if it means taking a few steps back in your 'empty nest'.
It's all good; our nest will become empty again one day and we'll be back to No-pants Thursday and Naked Saturday.
I'm kidding.
Well, except for the no-pants part.
It's super hot here; pants make it worse.

Anyhoo.....we're getting through it. There have been some rough days and some easy days.
I'm praying that the end result will be positive for her and the Coach and I can look back on this as a little bitty blip in our plans, but a huge leap in her life. (I've skipped all softball travels this summer with the Coach) There's always next year.....



And in other news, it's been raining like crazy here for a few days.

I had no idea we were going to have a tropical storm. Should I put on the news on occasion? Nah.....I like to be surprised. HA!
My biggest concern is my monarch caterpillars that are outside.

Yes, I put up some golf umbrellas to keep them from drowning....'twas easier than making little floaties for them all.

Happy Tuesday!

This, that and the other thing

This

Way back in March we hosted a "smoked butt' fundraiser at our home for a charity that supplies veterans with beach wheel chairs.....getting them back to the beach. Our family will put our 'butts in a smoker' if it helps someone.
We raised enough for two chairs and they had the second dedication recently. (We were not available for the first dedication) It was a great day with old friends near and far and new friends from near and far.

This soldier was a very humble man who clearly didn't want the fan-fare, but did it for the rest of us. He's not been to the beach in almost 20 years and is so looking forward to this new freedom; it's much deserved. The Coach is here thanking him for his service and getting to know him a bit better.





That

These two. Callie and Cocoa. If you remember Callie was a 'cow dog' who lived her first 8.5 years herding cows and living in a dog pen outside with other dogs and horses. She's settled in nicely here....so much so, that she sometimes forgets that she's not the ONLY dog. Kind of a bully to Cocoa for the most part, but here they let their issues go and took a nap. We have a large home, but they love those few inches between the couch and coffee table.

The Other Thing

For Christmas this year the Coach gave me perhaps the best present ever....aside from his undying devotion and the girlies. He gifted me with flower delivery every two weeks for a year direct from the farm. No wasted vases, no florist middle men.
It's been so much fun to see what shows up; I've loved them all. Sometimes I remember to take pictures. Sometimes I don't. I'm a heathen.

Have a bee-u-tiful weekend and take a moment to smell the flowers. Well, not mine.
Boundaries people. Boundaries.

XOXO

#24

Today is our Lolo's birthday.
She's the girl that made me a mama.
Well, actually the Coach made me a mama, but ya'll knew that. Right?

We're so proud of her....she is an amazing young woman who is stronger physically and mentally than most 40 year olds I know. I'm astonished by the challenges that she continually takes on AND with grace.

Her future is so bright that we should all don some shades today in her honor.

 This is the day that she took her official oath.



How can this pretty face intimidate anyone? I'm told it does.....

Some fun facts while I can still recall them.

Lolo was a really active toddler. REALLY active. She never stopped moving. At one point I said: "she is going to be an only child because I can't do this twice".  And a few weeks later I was preggers with little sister Linds. God had other plans. (fyi, Linds was a very calm and chill baby/toddler, thank you Baby Jesus!)

She was obsessed with (Disney's) Goofy as a little girl. I would catch her in her room dancing and playing with Goofy all the time. I was a little frightened, but she grew out of it.
I think.

When she was around 9 years old she wanted to be and umpire when she grew up. Must've been all the time she spent on the softball field and wanted to have the 'power' herself.

I swore as a young girl that she'd grow up and be an attorney; she questioned everything and then had an argument for OR against whatever it was I brought up.

As a toddler she had some OCD issues. Pulling her hair out. Chewing up sweaters. Her socks were never straight enough on the toe area. It was challenging for us all. But look at her now....her hair is lovely and she wears combat boots with socks daily!

HAPPY 24 my sweet Lolo! Mama loves you.
XOXO