What To Do With Used Coffee Grounds

• Repair scratched furniture - mix 1 Tablespoon of coffee grounds with 1 teaspoon olive oil.  Apply with a cotton ball and wipe dry. 
• Double your harvest of carrot and radish - mix carrot and radish seeds liberally with coffee grounds, plant as usual.
• Fertilizer - Coffee grounds are highly acidic.  Spread them generously over flower beds of acid-loving plants for amazing blooms.  Acid-loving plants include azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, lily of the valley, roses, and creeping phlox.
• Ant repellent - sprinkle old grounds around the outside of your home to deter ants.
• Garden cat repellent - mix used grounds with chopped orange peels and sprinkle liberally around your garden and flowerbeds to keep the kitties from using your garden as their restroom.
• Treasure stones - Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup used coffee grounds, 1/2 cup salt, and 1/4 cup sand together.  Slowly add water to make a stiff dough.  Knead on a floured surface till smooth.  Break dough into desired rock sizes.  Hide a small toy (plastic jewelry, erasers, balloons, wrapped candy, coins, or charms) in the center of a ball of dough.  Dry for 3 to 4 days.  When dry, the dough will look and feel like a rock.  Kids will get a real kick out of opening the rock with a hammer to find the hidden treasure inside.  Hide these treasure stones in your backyard and have the kids hunt for them at your child's birthday party.  
• Homemade fossils - Stir together 1 cup of used coffee grounds, 1/2 cup of cold coffee, 1 cup of flour, and 1/2 cup of salt until well mixed.  Flatten dough onto waxed paper and use a can to cut circles out of the dough.  Press objects from Nature firmly into the dough and remove.  When you take the object out of the dough, you have a fossil.  Let the fossil dry overnight.  This is a neat way for children of any age to get familiar with Mother Nature. Kids come up with amazing ideas, and this is a perfect venue for experimentation.

A Dream and A Wedding

I had the craziest dream last night. Someone asked me to babysit their baby.  There were obvious signs of a filled diaper, so I tackled the task.  I carefully cleaned the soft little butt and then reached for the baby powder.  After a couple shakes, I realized that I sprinkled the kid with paprika!

Earlier in the evening I'd watched a contestant on the Food Channel rub a Cornish game hen with paprika, and that's the only thing I can figure would cause such a goofy dream.

Strong northwest winds are starting to blow where I live, and gusts of 45-50 mph are expected between now and tonight.  The boulevard ash trees are losing their leaves in droves, and our lawn and front porch are mottled with yellows and browns. 

My Wedding Flower

Tomorrow will be our 44th Wedding Anniversary.  Neither of us can remember being scared or nervous before our wedding day, just incredibly excited. Our traditional hour-long Catholic ceremony started at 10:30 in the morning.  The Best Man, who wasn't used to the business of kneeling, fainted at the altar.  When the ushers saw him go down, they dutifully marched up the two steps, lifted and propped his body up, and helped him into the sacristy just as if it had been rehearsed.  My Maid-of-Honor leaned over and whispered in my left ear, "Thank God that wasn't me!"

At the reception, a personalized silk ribbon wrapped around a cigar was pinned on each guest's suit jacket or dress for a souvenir.  Two of my girlfriends opened all the wedding gifts for the guests to see, which was the custom back then.  I praise the newlyweds today who choose to open gifts themselves on a separate day and have the surprise and fun of seeing what's in those elegantly wrapped presents.  That was one part of our wedding that we wished had been different.

Brides these days are paying outrageous amounts of money for their wedding-day dresses.  In the thousands.  The price tag on mine was $125, and that was on the high side.  Personally, I feel that weddings have outgrown the middle-class wallet.

Back in the 1960's, couples didn't dare live together without being married, so the honeymoon was the trip of a lifetime.  We drove our red and black '62 Chevy Super Sport up into Canada, back down into Montana, through the Bad Lands, and visited the famous and impressive Mt. Rushmore.  When we came back home ten days later, there wasn't a leaf left on a tree.  We felt that the trees were starting a whole new stage of life right along with us.

From My Observation Tower

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that we buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that we financed in order to get to the job we need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house we leave vacant all day so we can afford to live in it.

Don't listen to what people say.  Watch what they do.

Appreciate life even if it's not perfect. Happiness is not fulfillment of what we wish for, but an appreciation of what we have.

There comes a point in life when we get tired of chasing everyone and trying to fix everything, but it's not giving up.  It's realizing we don't need certain people and the drama they bring.

Saying someone is ugly doesn't make us any prettier.

Stop trying to fit in.  There is nothing worse than being ordinary.

We don't drown by falling in the water.  We drown by staying there.

Our life's story is the sum of our choices.

A laugh changes everything, at least for the moment.  That's because we can't feel two emotions at once.  One will always trump the other.  So we must do something that makes us laugh, or that makes others laugh.  Focus on and force the laughs.  It's a priceless gift.

I would rather be disliked for who I am than liked for what I'm not.

There are parts of a ship which, taken by themselves, would sink. The engine would sink.  The propeller would sink.  But, when the parts of the ship are built together, they float.  So, with the events of my life, some have been tragic, some have been happy, but when they are built together, they form a craft that floats and is going some place, and I am comforted.  ~Ralph Sockman

Sad?  Later we will be happy.  Crying?  Later we will smile.  Because for every action in life there's an opposite reaction.  So, hold on, things will be better soon.

Let's quit defining ourselves with who we once were.  BE WHO WE ARE TODAY!  Fully.  In this moment.  Independent of what others may or may not expect from us.

Relationships are never 50/50.  We can't always feel 50%, life is too unpredictable for that.  So, on the days we can only give 20%, the other must give 80%.  It's never been about balancing in the middle, it's about balancing where we need it most, and being willing to give more when the one we love can't help but give a little less.

Wooden Boxes

Are you attracted to wooden boxes like I am?
   
They make perfect treasure chests for our keepsakes.  Should I happen to take the next taxi to Heaven, I can't help but be concerned what will happen to my endless collection of little things. 

Who will take care of my Sweet Pea kitchen fairy?  or the gray plastic mouse that the kids move from brick to brick on our fireplace?  Years back, hubby went to a job-related convention in Chicago, and he brought the mouse home for me.  (Not everything worth keeping has to be useful, you know! )

Every room in the house has a hand-carved wooden box on a shelf or in a drawer.  Each one is caretaker of stuff I would never dream of parting with...peculiar rocks and stones, feathers and fallen plumage, broken jewelry, coral and shells from the oceans, lucky pennies, and even two pine cone scales that I picked up from the Vatican lawn.  None of these things have monetary value, but not even Bill Gates could afford what they mean to me.

The small things we choose to keep along our way tell a story about who we are and where we've been.  They are souvenirs of times that are no more.  I think it's emotionally healthy for us to lift the lids on the boxes once in awhile and wake up the memories that are sleeping within. 

My search for, and love of, wooden boxes will hopefully never end.  Nor my search for souvenirs to inspire and please my soul.  And, it will be more than okay with me if my gravestone reads, "Little Things Meant A Lot."   

Gosh, I just wonder if our attorney would think I'm nuts if I'd ask to include Mr. Mouse in my will.  Hmmm......

Doggy Dental Day

When I was a little girl, my family's pet dogs lived outside and got little care.  It wasn't an option for them to live in the house with us.  Our long driveway made a perfect race track for the milk hauler, so it wasn't a matter of "if" our pet would get run over, it was a matter of "when" it would get run over.

Thinking back to those days, it's obvious that we weren't very kind to our most loyal comrades.  Now, the fuzzy one lives here with us. She is one of us.  Her feelings are our responsibility.  We buy special dietary food that comes at a high price, simply because her breed tends to suffer from allergies.  She is groomed on a regular basis, and her temperment is such that her veterinarian soundly sedates her during the grooming.  The short and sweet of it is that the two of us do nothing that doesn't involve her welfare first. 

Today she is going in to have her teeth cleaned.  We have to remember that our pets don't brush daily, so their plaque and tartar buildup is worse than ours.  Without good dental care, they can lose teeth, get abscesses, have bone loss, and get nasty infections that can enter their bloodstream and damage heart valves, liver, and kidneys.

Off and on we hear of a story where a dog saves a life or brokenheartedly lies beside his deceased master.  It almost breaks a person's heart to watch the extent of their loving loyalty.  One thing we can always be sure of.....if our last friend on earth turns their back on us, our fuzzy ones will still love us and loyally protect us.  We never have to worry. 

Great Spirit, please hold our canine companions in the palm of Your Hand, and please help us humans keep their teeth nice and clean.  Amen

Fate or Coincidence?

Last night my husband had a dream that spurred me to do some research about myself.

Saturday, October 20, 1945, was my first day alive.  On that day I was a one-cell creature already programmed with all the fixin's to be who I am today.  My gender, personality, physical features, and vulnerability to certain diseases were magically placed inside that one cell.

And, a little less than one month later, on November 10, 1945, my little heart pumped for the first time.  Is it fate or coincidence that my heart beat for the first time one day after my husband was born?

Another State Park Adventure

Aren't the apple trees bountiful this year?  So many apples will go to waste, and that troubles me. When growing up on the farm, we had a small apple orchard behind the hog house. I remember picking apples off the ground when my arms couldn't reach up high enough to get them off the tree. Mom filled her apron with apples and carried them back to the house to make us an apple pie for supper. My Daddy liked desserts, so our meals ended with sweetness. One of Daddy's pet names for me was Sweetness.  It was no secret that I was the apple of his eye!

Yesterday we dawdled our way down this State Park road. All four of our eyes were on vigilant, but unsuccessful, black bear watch.  Hubby caught glimpse of a deer crossing the road through his rear-view mirror, but it scampered back in the forest by the time my head spun around. 

Most every one of the last 44 years we have visited the Cathedrals of the North Country.  They say the tall pines whisper, but I say they breathe.  Helen Keller's lack of eyesight may have been what heightened her connection with Mother Nature and urged her to say,"To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug."

Our drive turned into one of those 'end of the road' sandy trails.  The only reason we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle is for times exactly like this when we get ourselves into places and then don't know if we'll get back out.  Somehow I managed to get the car aerial in the photo, but it personalizes the moment and makes it our own. 

The sky's emotions are showing here, and the leaves have magically turned into a quilt of color  A poetic interpretation of splendor in the grass!

Hmmmm.....looks like our camera is one day off cuz these were taken yesterday, the 23rd, but show they were taken on the 22nd.  Better re-program the little bugger.

Speaking of the 23rd of September, Happy Anniversary to our dear Arkie friends (a day late).  We started dating at the same time in high school, we got married a week apart, and now the four of us can look back full circle.  Happiness always, you two. 

Chinese Cookie

We're up real early, cuz we're off for a special day trip.  It's what we're calling one of our pre-anniversary celebrations.  Some people fly away to islands and other charming destinations or throw big parties to celebrate, but we rather go explore new places.

One of hubby's relatives passed away, so yesterday we attended the wake.  This gentleman was at our home for a family reunion only a few weeks ago.  Cancer was the cunning culprit that stole him away from his family.  Cancer, the beast that wears and ravages a body, devours and steals it, and then leaves jars and jars of tear drops in its tracks. 

On our way home, we suppered at a Chinese buffet.  Hubby's auntie went with us to the wake, and she had never eaten at one.  I'm like a little kid when the fortune cookies are brought to the table.  Hubby's fortune was the coolest of the three....."No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."

Gotta go.  I'm hearing the conductor calling.....aaaaaaaaaaalllllll aboard!

Earth Angels

I feel the presence of angels

As I walk among my friends,

For each one serves a purpose

And on them I do depend.

They console and encourage me

When troubles seem to unfold.

their strength helps to carry me

When I need to be strong and bold.

You might not see their wings;

Yet they're always near to share

My happiness and my sorrows,

And I know how much they care.

I call them my Earth Angels

That are sent from God above

To share my earthly journey

And to fill me with their love.

~ Shirley Hile Powell



Acrostic Poetry

Writing poems started for me in grade school when we wrote in autograph books.  They were simple poems, like, "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you."  Some were silly, some were serious, but all of them were the beginnings of our choosing our own words to write with.

Acrostic poems may appear elementary, but they can be taken to any level.  1)  Pick a subject, any subject.  2)  Think of things that relate to that subject.  3)  Write the subject vertically on a piece of paper, one letter at a time.  4)  Write each line of the poem relating to your chosen subject.  An example .....

_________________________A_________________________

_________________________U_________________________

_________________________ T________________________

_________________________ U________________________

_________________________M_________________________

_________________________N_________________________

TIME FOR LEAVES TO FALL OFF TREES

PATCHES OF PUMPKINS FOR THE KIDS

DAYLIGHT HOURS ARE SHORTER EACH DAY

TEMPERATURES TURNING COLD AND CRISP

HARVEST MOONS ADORN THE SKY

GARDENING SEASON HAS SAID ITS GOOD-BYE.



Our brains have fun playing around with words if we give them the chance.  Writing poems, for me, is simply a way to think deeper, and it's a great way to explore subjects that interest me.  Acrostics can be written using the name of a person and then writing a description of him/her.  Put the letters anywhere in the sentence, at the beginning or end, or in between like I did with this one of Autumn. 

Take a spiral notebook and write a poem each day, simple as it may be.  You'll impress yourself in one month when you go back and re-read them.  I'll betcha you'll say to yourself, "Did I really write that?"

"Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry."   ~ Muriel Rukeyser