Lysol Douche?...

I remember seeing mom's red rubber bag with a tube hanging from the shower head and not know what it was... not much caring, either. Of course as I got older I learned. But using Lysol for douching wasn't one of the things I learned.

When a friend e-mailed this ad from the 30's to me (along with some others) I read the silly thing and when I got to using Lysol, after I picked my chin up off my chest, I fell out laughing and knew I just had to share.

Apologies to any fellows out there that might be embarrassed. As a friend we all know and love likes to say, "Just keeping it real."



Click on the pic so's you can read it without a magnifying glass.

Help!!!

BrendaS an Okie in Colorado!!! Where are you? I've been trying to find you in my limited knowledge about computer stuff and so far have come up dry. If you read this I'm trying to find you so I can have you e-mail your address for a pair of my surprise addition to my give-away earrings. You can e-mail me at Llachi@aol.com.

So can anybody else!!

Congratulations And Thanks...

Go out to all who entered... And, of course, I needed to have a surprise for you because I like surprises.

In addition to the Hoochie MaMa Wahoo necklace and earrings, I found these fun glass heart beads I had and put them on earrings to add to the fun. And if any of you do not have pierced ears, please let me know. I think I have some clip-ons that I could change them to, and, if not, I can get them.

And because I like to add a little suspense to the whole thing, I'm going to tell you who won a set of these earrings first.

Twisted Fence Post -Becky

Adopting M.E. - Mary Ellen

Okie in Colorado - Brenda

Crafts And Stuff - Hetty

and last, but definately not least... Wonderful World Of Wieners - Hallie

Now.... for the drum roll... /0\ /0\ /0\ - The winner of the 100th post celebratory give-away is:

Blind Pig And The Acorn - Tipper !!!

Tipper, I hope you are ready to get your Hoochie MaMa strut going on because these are fun and make you feel good when you put them on. They were created with a lot of thankfulness and blessings strung into them and I hope you have fun with them and really enjoy them.

I'll be sending you all an e-mail or you can beat me to it and send me your address, because I will need an address to get all these prizes out to you.

Thank you again for all the encouragement, all the bloggin' love and for just being such good, kind and fun friends. I'll think of another reason for a give-away soon, well, just because I enjoy 'em, too.

Time's Up...

Thank you all for leaving your wonderful comments. I'll write everyone down and put the list on the dart board... oh, wait, I don't have a dart board. Well, back to the mini-schnauzers... I'll post the winner man~an~a. Tomorrow.

Thank you one and all for helping me, encouraging me and putting up with me.


Helen

Lariat Ideas...

I had hoped to finish the lariat necklace while in Ft. Worth so I could get G.G. to model it for you all , but due to circumstances beyond my control...

Miss Mollie Mae decided she needed to help and she is an enthusiastic helper. I ended up having to wait until after her visit to my bedroom late at night. She likes to come in and play "attack the feet when they move". Needless to say, it would be quite late before this game was over and since I was in the bed, well, it only seemed right to try to go to sleep.

I can't lay all the blame, though, on Mollie. My brother's ex-father-in-law passed away Saturday morning and Ben came home early from his medical meeting and so we had to visit, too. And watch movies and visit some more...

Anyway, with a lariat necklace you can wear them in so many ways. You can wrap them around your neck two or three times, you can tie a knot in the front and wear it long. If you want you can drape it around your neck and down your back. Some people even like to wear them around their waist, for a bit of a different look.

Since this one is is truly a longer one, you could probably even walk the dog with it... or even the cat. Even one as active as Mollie.

Hoochie MaMa Wahoo Set...

IS HERE!! Boy howdy, this gal thought she might have let her mouth overload her butt on this give-away.

In thinking about the timing of my 100th post celebration, in addition to Valentine's Day coming up, notwithstanding my 64 birthday... I decided that I needed to go with Valentine colors in case whoever wins wants to whoosh and douche and get all fancy for a Valentine Dance.

The bad part of this 100th post give-away is ... I don't want to give it away. This set is one that
will be difficult for me to give-up. It's not often that I create something that I want to keep, because my joy is in the design and bringing what I see in my mind to reality.

I used freshwater blister pearls, dyed red-maroon, white small potato fresh water pearls, crystal bi-cone beads, small lavender seed pearls and flat puff silver beads.

This is called a lariat necklace. You can do many things with it, get many different looks. It is, from end of fringe to end of fringe, 84 inches long, The earrings are for pierced ears and are about 3 and 1/4 inches in total length.

I like to put on things I make. I like to feel how they will drape or with the earrings, how they will move, and this set feels and moves g.o.o.d. I think they are appropriate for celebrating my 100th.


This photo and the next are just to show a bit of the details. I had fun stringing this up. GiGi is sad because, since she is family, I told her she couldn't enter. I guess that tells you that she really loved the set, too. Her daughter is getting married in September and so my sweet s.i.l. will be getting some new jewelry from me to wear to festivities, showers, rehearsal dinner and to the wedding.

Okay, here's what to do... leave me a post. That's all. I don't care if you want to link to me and use a photo to tell your readers about the give-away, but if you want to, go ahead, it's not required. You know how I enjoy your saying hi and stopping by, so I'm just showing my appreciation for you all helping me and encouraging me to get, now, 101 posts.

Give-away starts now and will end Wednesday at 9 p.m. CST and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

I hope who ever wins has as much fun wearing this as I've had creating it. This set can dress up or be worn with jeans and going to the rodeo or the club. I think I'm going to have to do one up for me now... especially since I can wear it with my jeans!!

Let's get this show on the road.









Hoochie MaMa Wahoo Necklace And Earrings.

created out of gratitude for my blogging friends who have encouraged me from the start and to celebrate 100 posts.

Helen Gardner



P.S. - You can click on the photos and make them bigger.

I Never Thought I'd Live...

To see 100... posts, that is. I've been having such fun running up and down I-35 and so my 100th post snuck up on me.


After going over to pick up this Little Stinker over at Rick's Place I came back to my dashboard to post it and happened to notice that this would be the big 100. I figured if I had a give-away at 50, I ought to figure out something special to make for a give-away for #100.

I'm running back south down I-35 tomorrow and will be back on Sunday. I'll take some jewelry making supplies and see what I can whip up while GiGi are sitting around watching movies and visiting. My Baby Bro has to go out of town to a medical meeting and Ms. G. can't drive yet so I'm the designated driver, grocery getter and all around entertainer.

Since she has excellent taste, I will make sure that whatever I come up with will pass her inspection and maybe if we are lucky, I can get her to pose with whatever I come up with around her neck or on her ears or all of the above since anything would look better on her than on me.

So wish me inspired thinking and designing for a surprise for a give-away to celebrate my first 100... and how many more ways do you think I can figure out to tell you all that I've done 100 posts?

On Sunday evening, if not sooner, I'll be posting (#101) whatever I come up with to tempt all of you to leave a comment. I hope it will be good!

Heros...

No, not the sandwiches, the real people. People like you and me, caught up in freaky circumstances, that do heroic acts to help, rescue and/or save other people. I've been watching a program this evening on television about heroic rescues and I got to thinking about some of the incredible rescues that I've seen on t.v. or read about over my almost 64 years of life on this great earth of ours.

With the exception of the 9/11 bombings and those police and firemen who helped to save as many people as they could before their own lives were lost, I would have to say that the pilot that put that airplane down in the Hudson River made the most incredible impression on me. Not only the pilot, but the whole crew on that airplane. Not only the pilot and the crew, but the things that the passengers did to help each other, the younger folks that helped the older folks or the men that made sure all the women and children were out of the plane before they exited.

The sight of all those men and women standing on the wings of that airplane in the middle of the river, calmly awaiting rescuers in the boats that were coming to pluck them to safety, some holding hands to help others keep their balance, some going in the water to help others that slipped off to get back onto the wing, the story about the captain walking the aisle of the airplane to make sure each and every one of his charges were safely out before he left the plane...

These people, each and every one, are heroes. At least they are to me.

Put Out The Welcome Mat...

Mom, we've got company for dinner.

I was out working in the flower beds one day last summer and my pups were 'helping' me when I noticed that something had caught their attention. I looked around and saw this little kitten diddy-bopping down our drive.

I continued to watch to see what happened, because these two hon-yocks have been know to chase cats. When you live out in the country it seems that you have a number of wanderers, both cats and dogs. And there have been a couple of larger cats that hung around and the girl's would chase them every time they saw 'em.

The girls watched this kitty walk down the drive towards our house, walk under the chicken wire at the bottom of the gate heading right towards me. Even when they went to greet him/her and sniff parts, it just kept on walking to me with the schnauzer escort. Silly thing, it knew who to come to for a little petting and some loving and talking to and was absolutely not afraid of the girls. Chloe decided that the kitty was of no interest to her, but SueSue (in the pink collar) was totally entranced. Everywhere it went, she followed.

I picked him (I figured out) up and took him in the house to show Carol and put him down by the dog dish for a drink of water. Suess stood there, watched him lapping up the water, leaned in and took a drink, stood back and watched. When I took the kitten back outside, with a bowl for him to have some water, and carried him to the goat shed for a bit of food, SueSue was right there.

I found out the next day that he lived at the neighbor's house, so Suess lost her enamorata, but it was fun to watch while it lasted.

Goofy, sweet, blond Suess didn't understand that he was not her's, and we had to have a serious mom-to-pup talk about lost loves in our life and how it is part of the growing up process.

She was not happy about it but seemed to understand that someone else was first in the kittie's heart.

It breaks a mom's heart to have to watch your baby suffer, oh, for all of about 12 minutes... until I found a ball and then the chase was on.

How quickly those teenagers heal.

Don't You Just Love Willy Nelson...

On the road again.. can't wait to get on the road again.

Not really. I don't like traveling as much as I have the last month. I'm back in Ft. Worth again. My s.i.l. had back surgery a week ago yesterday and on Thursday my baby brother e-mailed me and asked if I could come down and help for a few days.

GiGi (my s.i.l.) was to get out of the hospital on Friday and he was scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday. So I packed a bag on Friday and drove down.

To make a long story very short... it's Tuesday and we are hoping she will be able to come home today. Physical therapy had orders to ambulate her only. That means simply get her up and help her to walk.

Well, they had not read the orders properly and had her doing lumbar exercises. She told the p.t. person that it hurt to do the exercises and, of course, they said to just try a little. Being the good patient she tried... and now is paying the price.

So I've beeen spending a lot of time at the hospital, away from the computer. My baby Bro is off today, but he had a meeting at the hospital at noon-time, so after the meeting he is going to bring her home, if her doc okays it.

I got to stay at the house and, after a much longer time away than I'm comfortable with, I am back on the computer. I miss posting and I miss checking up on everybody. I feel that my social life has so been compromised.

So I'll be going visiting today to see what I've missed. Hopefully, you all have been having way more fun than me.

Suck It Up, Girlfriend...

I did get out of bed, I did take a bath and I might have even talked to one or two people, at least maybe one or two words.

I've got to come back to life for THE GAME Thursday night. I've got to come alive and bake some cookies tomorrow or Thursday to have to pig on during THE GAME.

Lisa over at My New Thing To Do read my sugar cookie recipe and sent me one of her's to try, so I'm going to give it a try tomorrow or Thursday and I promised her that I would let her know what I think of them.

I've got to come back to some reasonable facsimile of life because even my SueSue didn't want to sleep with me last night. She left Chloe and me, jumped off the bed even before I went to sleep and got on another roommate's bed and went to sleep... even before Pat (the roomie) went to bed!!! Could you, if you were me, look at that face and not feel guilty for being a grumpy old woman?

So I've got to snap out of it whether I want to or not... Before even my precious Chloe takes flight, too. Since she just turned 9, or 63 in human years, she may have decided that, after all these years, she made her bed and she might as well hang in there with me.





In my present state of mind I will not read anything into this hang-dogged, resigned-to-her-fate-look.



We've been through a lot worse together.

Please Don't Feel Neglected...

I've been terribly busy having a pity party... or a blue funk... or, or just plain ole' de-pressed.

I hate de-Christmasing the house. My world feels so blank and colorless and now I , too, feel blank and colorless. I might as well let my hair grow out to it's real color, mousy brown (with just a few strands of gray mixed in).

I don't want to bathe (my roommates stay away from me), I don't want to talk (so no one speaks to me), I don't want to make jewelry, I don't want to do anything but get in my bed, turn on the electric blanket (it's gray and cold today again) and cry myself to sleep. Well, maybe not cry myself to sleep, but to just sleep, perchance to dream...

Since I dream in full-blown technicolor, my life improves dramatically when I sleep, but never fear... this too shall pass.

Hopefully in a hurry.

HAPPY NEW YEAR... And More...

COOKIES.

I love cookies, especially home made sugar cookies. Especially these sugar cookies, these Million Dollar Sugar Cookies.

When I left you I had mixed everything up and stuck it in the fridge to cool. It makes it easier to ball the dough in the next step.

I just take a teaspoon and scoop up the dough, then, depending on my mood, I either roll it into a ball or just kinda wad it up some and put it on the cookie sheet.

I did some of both when I cooked these up last night. I did the little wads first, because I wanted to get them in the oven and cooked so I'd have some to snack on, otherwise I'd eat more cookie dough than I'd make up into cookies.

After you get it wadded or rolled and onto the pan, it's time for MORE SUGAR!!! You take a flat bottomed glass, in this case an Oklahoma State Cowboys glass in honor of how well they did this season even if they got whipped in the Holiday Bowl, and you squash the bottom into some sugar in a bowl and you flatten the cookie balls.

I like to make them pretty flat, less than 1/4 inch because I like them more crisp, but you will have to determine what you like best. If you don't want them as crisp don't squash them as flat.

Then all that's left to do is bake and prepare for the battle, because you're gonna have to fight people off to get your fair share. Yes, in my opinion, they are that good.

And the finished project. I got this pan just a bit brown on the edges, but they are still tasty. Did I mention that I don't cook much? So I wasn't used to how the oven heats. The top rack was more true to the time on the recipe... the bottom was hotter, so less time was necessary. These were cooked on the bottom rack.



I'd print photos of me chowing down and savoring these crispy, delectable (that's a good 35 cent word) cookies, but I've been told that I could be arrested for indecent exposure. And extreme mis-behavior. And lustful drooling...


Now for the recipe...

MILLION DOLLAR SUGAR COOKIES

1 C. powdered sugar
1 C. granulated sugar
1 C. butter
1 C. oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Cream both sugars and softened butter. Add oil and mix well. Add eggs, vanilla and mix again. Sift together flour, salt, soda and cream of tartar. Add to batter.

Chilling for at least 1 hour will make the cookies easier to handle. Form into balls of about 1". Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Then throw your arms around them 'cause you are going to love them.

P.S. I get kitchen privileges because I do clean up after myself. Very well.