Dot`sThoughts

Seems like i have spen much of the week either drivine my car or accompany a bro in his car. Monday my bro called and asked me if I would like to ride with him to a few stores. In one of the places I picked up the tiles for my bathroom floor. I have been wanting to redo the floor for a long time. Now, I will finally get it done. Then on tues., I went to the eye dr again. This time was to have new glasses fitted.
Wed, I rode with my bro again when he went to a best buy store about 20 - 25 miles from here.
Then this morning I finally found enough time to start working on my bathroom floor. Spent all morning removing all the old tiles. Then the phone rang and my glasses had came in. Told the girl I would pick them up tomorrow. But, when I went after my mail I could feel moisture in the air and figured it might rain tomorrow. So, Off I went this afternoon after my glasses. Then had to stop and buy more minutes for my cell phone. So, was after 5pm when i arrived back home.
Then after getting a bite to eat, i decided to start getting the floor ready for the new tiles. Had some places where the wallboard didn`t touch the floor. That is what allowed the old tiles to slip in places. So I went to the shop and cut some thin long pieces of board and filled in leaving no space between the wallboard and the floor for the new tiles to slide into. Then it was sanding time as I wanted to remove as much of the old glue as possible so the floor would be nice and smooth and level. Then I got my smaller vaccumm cleaner and did a good job cleaning the floor. So, now the floor is ready to accept the tiles. But, I feel it would be better to wait till I am rested to finish. Hopefully I will be able to lay down the new tiles tomorrow. It will be so good to finally have the floor looking great again.
Next job will be the dining room floor. But there is too many heavy things to move there that I plan on letting my youngest son help with that room. Still haven`t found any tiles I am crazy about for that room yet.
haven`t had much spare time this week and i miss not dropping in everyones blog and reading what they have written. Sunday i will be off to my Son`s Birthday party. Hope things slow down next week.
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Thought this was cute so decided to add it to my post. Think it mitght really work??

Hospital Call
A woman called a local hospital. "Hello. Could you connect me to the person who gives information about patients. I'd like to find out if a patient is getting better, doing as expected, or getting worse."

The voice on the other end said, "What is the patient's name and room number?"

"Sarah Finkel, room 302."

"I'll connect you with the nursing station."

"3-A Nursing Station. How can I help You?"

"I'd like to know the condition of Sarah Finkel in room 302."

"Just a moment. Let me look at her records. Mrs. Finkel is doing very well. In fact, she's had two full meals, her blood pressure is fine. She is to be taken off the heart monitor in a couple of hours and, if she continues this improvement, Dr. Cohen is going to send her home Tuesday at noon."

The woman said, "What a relief! Oh, that's fantastic... that's wonderful news!"

The nurse said, "From your enthusiasm, I take it you are a close family member or a very close friend!"

"Neither I'm Sarah Finkel in 302! Nobody here tells me anything!."
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One more thing to add, all 4 blossoms have opened on my plant now and already the first two blossoms are starting to die. But it was pretty with all the blossoms at once. Amerillas plant that is.

Have you ever been cleaning a kitchen cupboard and suddenly really noticed all the different coffee mugs you have.
1. I have one from the Designers Collection- American creations- this cup says:
Anyone can be a Father,
But it takes A
Special Man to be A
Dad
2. Then there`s another cup has a dancing cat and music notes that says:
Grandpa
You`re
Groovy!!
2. A third cup has a picture of a Dad sitting in a comfortable chair eating a sub, with a red and white striped can on floor by his feet. Has a TV blaring on a stand in front of him. On this cup it says:
I`m a Dad
I can eat in front of the TV whenever i want.
4 & 5. Then there are the two cups shaped like Dungarees-- one says Dot, other one says Walt.
6. Then there is the one with sants clause, candy cane and Holly on it.
7 & 8. Two Christmas ones with the word Noel written on each one.
9. There is one with Gingerbread men and women on it. It plays " Jingle bells" and after about 20 years it still starts playing every time that cupboard door is opened and turns off when the door is shut.
10. There is another christmas one that shows Santa coming out of the chimney, a sleigh filled with toys and toys sitting all around thecup.
11. There is one with a rabbit and hearts that says:
MOM! Some Bunny loves you!
12. A Hallmark Smiley Happy Easter! and rabbits, flowers, easter-eggs and a patchwork border going around both the top and the bottom.
13. Another mug has a flower with a bow and lots of small hearts with a light green inside color-by Russ Co.. This one says:
Mom, I may have outgrown a lot of things, But, I`ll never outgrow your Love
14. One just has flowers and a bow with flower bordered top and bottom.
15. I have a larger mug- yellow colored with Dorothy written on it in large print made by the Clemens Pottery place.
16. Another one has a smily face and says : Have a Happy Day on the front and the cover is shaped like a cows head ( large eyes, small ears and horns) and a small open mouth. This one can be used with a straw for little kids, ot as a cream pitcher. With handle.
17-20. Have 4 tupperware stacking cups with covers.
21. Travel mug with cover and handle. One side shows a wide open mouth and My travel cup written on it, other side showa a huge hand woth "Hands Off" written on the palm of the hand.
22. & 23. these have Libra on one and Virgo on the other with long write-ups on each one.
24. Then there is that huge cup with the handle with opening for two fingers- one in each opening. Written on it is :
Official Dunkers Cup
( Floats a Whole Donut)
As you go thru Life Brother,
keep your eye on the Donut and not on the hole.

Also lists these rules-
1. Fingers only
2. No Elbows
3. No Splashing
4. No Slurping
25. & 26. 2 saying MONTREAL, CANADA - boughten in Canada but made in England.
27. One says " Bahamas" and pictures of sea life scene around it.
28. One says " Austin, texas" and shows wild Horses running around the cup.
29. One has red, white, and blue stripes on a slant all around it.
30. Then there is the one I bought when we went to New hampshire beach. it says new hampshire beach and dorothy written on it, plus has a beach scene.
31 & 32. Have two with Indian heads on them and says Mohican council over the Indian head and Boy Scouts of America under the head. Mohican council is our Scout Headquarters name. Bought one while working at summer camp. a son gave me the other one when he came home from 2 weeks at camp. We paid for his first week, but the camp allowed one boy a second free week, and my son was chosen. He eventually became an Eagle Scout. His bro had one more thing needed for Eagle when he ended up spending over a week in the hosp and couldn`t attend.

Then in my Horse collection there are 4 mugs with different horses on them, another cup with Clysdale Hitch- wagon with the Horses.

Couple have lust Horse heads on them.

Then there are 2 fancier ones. One has the whole shape of a brown clydesdale horse sticking out from the cup ( legs and all- just the back section attaches to the cup) and the extended head is the handle. The Horse is hand painted. On the other side of the cup is written in large print " World Famous Budweiser Clydesdales" Made exclusively for Amheuser Bush Inc. 1990.

Another cup has a farm scene with running horses in the field and the back half ( from center of horse to back legs and tail) is the handle.

Another cup has just a Horses head, another has a flock of wild horses running around it, still another has a Horses head and a horse shoe.

Then there is the one with a picture of an Appaloosa with " Applaloosa Horse club, 2001 Awards banquet, Oklahoma City, oklahoma" written on it.
Have a half cup size one with a prancing Horse, tree, pasture background and a thin gold line going down both sides of the handle

Oh, yes. I almost forgot these two--
One has a large rooster painter on it and says "I rule the roost".
The other one has a hen painted on it and says " I Rule the Rooster".
Guess That lists most of th mugs. But in my collection I have 4 larger horse mugs. 26 horse steins ( Bud clysdales for diff. years ), goblets, handleless mugs, shot glasses, plus lots more which all have to do with horses- mostly the Budweiser Cylsdale ones.
Guess I better give my mind a rest and also your eyes from readins all those i have listed. Bet you never thought it could take this long just listing coffee mugs and cups.

Check your cupboards- What does it say on some of your mugs or cups??

Hi everyone. I received this story from one of the sites I receive e-mail from. I sent it off to our wonderful friend Lina and she suggested I post it for others to read. So, here it is along with another memory from my past that I added at the end.

The Brick Baby Story Editor:
by David McLaughlan Joyce Schowalter
Ayrshire, Scotland

Sorn is a pretty little Scottish village. Nothing more than a few rows
of cottages and a post office, nestled in a restful valley. That's where
I met Jimmy and Morag Wilson. The Wilson were shepherds from a long line
of shepherds and we fell to talking about a way of life that has almost
disappeared from memory.

Reminiscing, Morag recalled her home, a single roomed "bothy" in the
middle of nowhere with flag-stone floors and a thatched roof. Back then
her father was paid the equivalent of a pound a week, or $100 a year,
plus a sheep! So luxuries were scarce.

"How did you celebrate Christmas, out there in the hills?" I asked.
"With prayers and hymns," Morag replied, and the sweetness of her smile
brought a lump to my throat. "It wasn't much about gifts," she
continued.

"We might be given a sugar mouse and a piece of fruit. But, oh, one year
I got hold of a catalogue. There was a baby dolly in there I wanted so
badly. I was only six, after all. Well, of course Father and Mother had
no money for such things. So Father made a pram from an apple box and
some wheels and mother wrapped a brick in a baby blanket."

Morag's gaze seemed to leave the here and now as she thought back across
the years.

"Oh, I loved my Brick Baby so much and I was as proud as can be, pushing
it along in my new pram."

Well, that story stayed with me. How could it not? I wrote it up and
sent it in to a Scottish newspaper. Not knowing if it would be
published, I neglected to tell the Wilson's about it.

It published in May 2005, but I missed it. The first I knew was when
Morag phoned me the next day. It seemed Jimmy had been taken into
hospital. It wasn't a serious problem but meant an overnight stay. Morag
was at a loss, she was worried for her husband and couldn't remember the
last night she had spent without him by her side.

Before going to bed that night she sat beside her coal fire with the
paper, hoping it would distract her from the lonely ache she felt. She
was surprised to find the story of her long-ago Christmas in print but,
as she read, the tale of her Brick Baby brought back the security and
love of her childhood days. Her worries were replaced for a while by
warmer, happier thoughts.

She slept soundly that night. I doubt if Morag's mother and father could
have ever imagined that their homemade gifts would bring comfort to
their little girl in her old age, so long after they were gone.

I'm happy to report that Jimmy is back home and Morag is happily fussing
over him. And I'm left thinking about the power of a kind, loving act
and its ability to warm a heart more than eight decades later.
----------------------------------

Now for my memory that this story brought to mind.
When I was just a young girl, there was one Christmas when money was really scarce. My parents had great Hosp bills and it was in the late 30`s-- probably around 1938 or `39.
That Christmas my younger bro was asking for a toy rifle. Any of you who were around back then might remember that most small boys had toy guns. That was before the world decided that playing with guns gave kids the wrong expression. Funny thing is we seldom heard of anyone getting shot back then unless a hunter forgot to remove the bullets from his hunting gun before bringing it back into the home. Today the cowboy pictures are forbidden because of the guns that were fired, but then they started producing movies with cops and others using guns. We were happy playing cowboys and indians with fake guns. Today kids play for real with real guns that are so easily found along with the bullets.
Well, to get back to my bro and his hope for a rifle. I was about 7 or 8 at the time and he was just 2 yrs younger than I was. I was old enough to understand that money was scarce, but what does a 5 or 6 yr old realize?
I was talking to my father in the garage and noticed a piece of wood about 1inch or maybe a little wider. I could see that it was as long as the toy rifles. So, I asked my Dad if I could have the piece of wood to make my bro a rifle for Christmas, and of course he said yes. He showed me how to place the wood in his large vice, using old rags to protect the wood from marks. Then he gave me his shorter hand saw and told me it was my project-- so to go ahead and start cutting. I used his wood marking pencil to draw what I thought the shape of the gun should look like. When I finished I asked my Dad, and he said it looked ok. So, I started sawing along the lines the best I could. When I think back, I remember how my Dad kept all his tools cleaned and sharpened, so the saw cut nicely. Hard work, and it took me a few days to have it all cut out. Dad showed me how to use sandpaper to remove any places where hands might pick up a sliver.
Next problem was how do I cut out a trigger place. I knew I needed to leave a tiny section of wood on the outside and couldn`t see a way to cut a hole. Dad got an old piece of wood, took his hand drill and drilled a small hole in the wood, then he handed me the drill and told me where to drill it at the end of the gun barrel. ( I still have both of his hand drills as he gave them to me when I was teaching Cub Scouts). So, now I had a hole to slip a finger into, but I wanted a trigger in the hole. Now that was where the harder work was. My Dad got his hand coping saw with the tiny saw blade.
I remember thinking he was going to cut thru that edge piece that I wanted to leave there.
You can imagine my surprise when I watched him removing the blade. Was he ruining the saw, or what was he doing now. Well, I soon found out as he slipped that saw blade thru the drilled hole and then replaced it onto the coping saw and showed me how to use it. It took me quite a while to cut out around a trigger section. I was sure I was going to mess it up, but my Dad seemed to think differently. When I finally decided my finger would fit in the hole on the trigger, I figured so would my bro`s.
Then I asked my Dad if he had any paint I could have. He handed me the same black paint can he had given me months before to use for the large metal can I had made my mother a paper basket with as a project for third grade. We needed something to make a basket for our Mothers Christmas gift. I still remember that can that my Dad had gotten from a filling station. He told me the station got it filled with candy and was tossing it away, so he brought it home. He figured it would come in handy for something someday. He had helped me use a file to smooth the top edge so it wouldn`t be sharp. He had given me the black paint to paint it with. Then he gave me some red and some green paint which I used to paint a stem, a green leaf off each side of the stem and lastly came the big red tulip. I painted this on each of the four sides. I knew my Mother liked tulips because she was growing them in her flower garden. We had that paper can sitting under the kitchen sink for years. Those days, the large sink was on a standard ( no cupboard under it- just an open space) and the hand pump sat on a shelf at the end of the sink. I can still remember that old metal pail with that long handled dipper sitting it it. We all used the dipper to get a drink and we were taught that the last of the water in the pail was not to be used as it was needed to reprime the pump to pump more water from the well. Noone ever worried about getting germs from drinking out of the same dipper.

Well, to get back to the wooden rifle, my dad hung it on a heavy string from the ceiling of the garage so I could paint all sides at the same time. I never would have thought of that. I remember always thinking what a very smart man my Father was. Once the paint was dry, there was just that teeny spot where the string touched it by the trigger ( heavy string or it might have been cord- I can`t remember for sure). It only took a speck of paint to touch up that tiny spot. Even back then I was self conscious about what something should look like.
When my bro came downstairs that Christmas morning, I rushed to see his face when he saw the gun. He loved it and I can still remember him running around our yard pretending to shoot with his toy rifle. Even then our Dad told us to never point the gun at anyone or at any animals. That sounded funny since I knew it couldn`t really shoot, but my bro said he wouldn`t.
Maybe thats why when my bro was older and would go hunting with friends, they always said he would never shoot at any animal. Bur neither would my Dad.

I lost this special bro back in 1994 from Heart problems. We were so close that we often could finish what the other was starting to say. I have two other older bros that I love dearly, but there was something special between the younger one and myself-- maybe it had to do with our only being 2 yrs apart and the middle children of 7.
I bet none of the other bros or sisters will even remember that paper can or the rifle. Well, they might the paper can since we used it for so many years-- but do they remember that I made it??? One of these days I just might think to ask them.
I bet other can remember things they made for their parents when yhey were younger, or some special gift they received for Christmas.
I still remember the dolls that a younger sister and I received that same Christmas. Mine I had named Joan,. It had a four peice pink snowsuit on it consisting of the coat, hat, snow pants and muff. There was fake fur around the coat collar and the pink muff for putting it `s hands into. My sisters was smaller with a one piece snowsuit with attached hood. I wonder if she remembers her doll. She was 4 yrs younger than I was, so she might not remember. Funny how one Christmas stand out over all the others. Maybe it was because with money so short, I really didn`t expect much for Christmas that year. Guess that when you don`t expect much, you seem to appreciate what you get even more.
What Christmas do you remember the most??

Did you ever go for an apointment and after you got there you found out they meant to tell you it was for another date? When I made the apointment they asked if I could come Tuesday. They never said which Tuesday, so I figured they meant the next coming Tues. I found out she meant - not for the next coming up Tues, but for the Tues of the next following week. Bet I ask the next time- do you mean this coming Tues?, or another Tues this month?
It warmed up today to 40 degrees- enough for most of the snow to start disappearing. Supposed to have snow and rain mix on Thurs., rain on Friday. It should wash away the rest of the snow. I won`t miss it at all. I can remember when I used to love to see it snow.
Where I grew up my Fathers family owned a farmhouse with a large forest. This forest had two roads going thru it. One road went straight down a long high steep hill. We used this road for skiing and for riding down on a skip-jack. The other road was three times as long and started down on less of a steep grade. About a third of the way down the road was a bad curve. If you didn`t want to go over the side and down the cliff side, you better know how to stear your sled and how to move your body to make it around the curve. Then beyond the curve was the longer slope which ended up in a large clearing near the old apple tree. If you happened to be still going too fast as you passed the apple tree, there was another small downward hill that ended up in a bad swamp. Boy, you were certain to drag you feet to slow down before you reached that far, or you simply rolled off the sled and let it go. We used long dead branches to reach and pull the sled back out of the edge of the swamp when it wasn`t frozen very deep. In the coldest of the winter the swamp would freeze up, but in the summers we walked the long way all around the swamp. This swamp was caused by the Barge Canal which ran along the further edge of the woods. There were other little streams thru the woods that were flowing from the canal.
There was a High stone wall with an opening in the center that allowed water from the canal to flow thru into the woods. We named this area "Polar Beach". The name was painted onto the stone wall. It became our private swimming area as we grew up. We would swim across the canal, climb up the stone wall on the other side, dive off it and swim back across. This same canal became our private skating rink in the winter. There was a road that went along the other side of the canal with railroad tracks beside it, and further down on the other side of the road was the railroad station. There was seldom ever any vehicle on that road as it was called a Tow Path road. It used to be used for the mules to walk down as they pulled the barges down the canal. My grandfather used to run one of the barges and my Mother was actually born on the barge. One day my grandmother decided she wanted to accompany her husbnd that day. I often wonder if she new she might have the baby that day and therefore didn`t wish to stay home alone while he was at work. By this time the barges didn`t need mules to pull them as they were a bit more modern. I was told that the barge was located right behing the Cement Works building when my Mother was born. So, she was born on a barge, on the Barge Canal behind the Cement Works
I wish they still had one of those barges around today as I would love to see where my grandfather worked and where my mother was born. I never knew this grandfather as he died when my Mother was still in High School.
Well, this has gotten off the woods that I was writing about.
These woods had blueberry bushes that we picked every year.
It also had the most beautiful Skunk Blossoms, so very pretty if you could stand the skunk odor long enough to eye them. There was also lots of wild violets and a other wild flowers. It never surprised us to see a rabbit, racoon, skunk, squirrel, muskrat. snake, frogs ,all kinds of birds and other small animals running off as they heard us in the distance. Today there are also deer, moose and wild turkeys in these woods. my oldest bro now owns the farm and most of the wooded area and he has it posted to keep hunters out and protect the animals.
I once lived on this farm and my twins were born there. We intended on buying the farm and wooded area from an Aunt who was still living there. But while we lived there the step daughter found a bottle in the old stantial shop ( as they called it back then), she spilled some on her arm, tossed it, it hit some boards, broke, splattering both her and her 2 yr old sister-- burning them severly. They spent the entire summer under mosquito netting on a bed. The liquid turned out to be mercuric acid and battery acid combined that was used years before on the farm to dehorn the bulls. We thought everything of danger had been removed. But this bottle had fallen down behind a board out of view. This happened when my twins were just 4 months old. The worst summer of my life. Once they were healed , we decided to move and built our own home that I still live in today.

Jac, you asked to see some of the plants still in bloom so I took a picture of some of them. They are nowhere as full now as they are in the summer when they are outside in the sun and fresh air.
I actually have 9 Impatience plants that keep blossoming year around. Every summer I use them to fill up my large railing flower box on the side porch. They grow so large and fill the box with flowers. Some times I add some flowering begonias scattered between them. But, once the furnace starts they don`t do as good.
Then there is one Rieger Begonia in blossom, only one of the Calla Lillies is still in bloom, only have the one African Violet left which blooms year around. I had a lot of African violets in many pretty colors till we were without power for a few days last winter and all but this one died from the cold. I will probably get more in the spring. The spider plants did have lots of tiny white flowers on them, but the flowers are gone now.
Then I have one Amerilla that is starting to blossom. But this time I am getting two separate stems - one on the back and one on the front of the same plant with a blossom on the tip of both stems. I won`t know how many blossoms will open from those two closed tops until they start to open. I usually get anywheres from two blossoms to four or one time had five on one stem. They are so large and so pretty. I have over 30 of these plants, but most are still to young to blossom. It will be a while before the blossoms open as the stems have to keep growing much taller first. As you can see, one stem is much taller than the other short one so it should open before the other one does. Would be great if they all opened at the same time.
I can`t think of the name of the tree/ vine that is in the background. it used to be so large that I had to tie it to a hook in the ceiling to keep it from falling over as it got very heavy and was so full it took up the whole corner. This past fall I cut it all down and started some new ones.
I have given away an awful lot of Aloe plants and I still have lots more than I need. I also gave away many spider plants. I had some that were getting real large, but they were taking up way to much room in that small room. This is only some of my plants. Most of the plants are kept on a table in front of the Laundry room window.
I`ll be glad when nice weather gets here so I can put them all outside and get my house back.
Jac, Not as pretty as those you post. But they are so much prettier when they are filled with blossoms. Have to admit that I haven`t taken as good care of them lately with doing so many other things.

Got this from a cousin and thought I would share it.I have no idea who the credit for making it up goes to.

Neat math trick:

1. Grab a calculator.
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number exchange (NOT your area code).
3. Multiply by 80.
4. Add 1.
5. Multiply by 250.
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number.
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250.
9. Divide by 2.

10. Cool, huh?