It's Not all Hearts and Roses Around Here

Oh you have one.

You know you do.

That little shoebox of romantic keepsakes from your early relationship days.

Don't even stand there rolling your eyes at me.

When was the last time you looked through it?

Go get it, I'll get mine and let's compare.

This is going to be so fun!

And all romanticy.

The shoebox:

Hmmm......seems to be mostly cards in here.

What's that on top?

Oh my Gosh!  A bingo card! 

Well, I could tell you stories about that!

See this one time, Brian and I were....

ummm

We went to this Bingo ummmm

I have no idea what that Bingo card is from.

I don't remember playing Bingo since I was like 6.

Let's move on.

I can't believe I still have this cork!

I thought I'd lost it!

As you can see it's dated 2/11/07 which is the day we

ummmm

hmm.

I have no idea. 

That date holds no significant meaning for me.

I wonder if it should.

The strange thing is that neither one of us drink wine.

EVER!

So, if this is yours and it found it's way to my box accidentally,

and February 11, 2007 holds some wonderful significance for you,

Let me know, I'll send it your way.

Now, this I do remember.

We were married in Laughlin and this was the baggage claim check from the hotel.

Notice it says "Glebens" on it.

Our last name is "Blevins".

All weekend the hotel staff called us Mr. and Mrs. Glebens.

What else is in here?

Ohhhhh!

Nothing says "LOVE" like a pair of NASCAR ticket stubs.

So glad I kept those.

And our fortunes from Big Heng's, down the street.

"Life is a flower of which love is the honey."

For some reason I found them to be box worthy.

Just gag me.

Other than a bunch of generic birthday and anniversary cards,

that's about it.

My romantic life for ya'll to see.

Makes you feel all warm and squishy inside, doesn't it?

Oh and for some reason,

this card was also in the box.

It was a birthday card to me

from my son.

Holly

xxx-ooo

The 90's Called and Wants it's Cell Phone Back.

I am old, this I know.

For my cell phone tells me so.

I'm not a techy kinda girl.

I don't need the latest and the greatest.

I don't have an Ipad.

Or a Kindle.

Or a laptop.

Or a convection oven.

Or a sleep number bed.

or a.... well, you get it.

I just need the basics.

My husband, on the other hand,

feels that he cannot survive with only the necessities.

He requires GPS.

Satellite radio.

OnStar.

Rapala Pro Bass Fishing for the Wii.

Ronco's rotisserie oven.

It keeps our marriage interesting.

So, our contracts are just about up with our current cell phone plan.

I have one of these:

You remember these right?

You would pick it up, dial a number and talk to someone.

That was it.

It didn't take fancy pictures,

have Apps,

or cook your dinner.

And I've been fine with that.

But someone in this house is not fine with that.

Someone needs more.

Someone who doesn't know how to use the Internet needs this.

Someone who only knows how to use the computer to

 play free online poker

and search the Bass Pro Shop Clearance events

needs this fancy dancy cellular telephony contraption.

Someone who has only sent one email in his entire life

and that was to his wife.

And it said, "Did I this go throuhg?"

That was not a typo on my part.

That's what his email says.

I still have it.

God love him.

Hey! 

Remember back when we were kids

 and we got a phone call and wanted privacy?

We pulled the phone cord through the kitchen door

as far as it would reach and hid in the coat closet.

And then mom would yell at us because the

cord wouldn't coil right after that.

So, do we do this Iphone thing?

I'm afraid of what will happen if I give in.

What will be next on his list of must haves?

Holly

xxx-ooo

Crack Hoes Cannot Be Trusted!!!!

I am so alone.

Oh, yes, I used to have friends.

Friends who confided in me.

Told me their secrets.

Shared their inner most thoughts.

Their fears, dreams, and sorrows.

That was then.

Before blog fodder.

What is blog fodder, you ask?

1. blog fodder (n)
interesting idea, story, or link.
Referred to as blog fodder when your first reaction is to use it in your blog.

I used to walk into a room full of people and hear,

"Hey Holly, over here!!"

Now, I hear, "Shut up, here she comes."

Suffice it to say, if I happen to have my camera with me, people scatter as though I have the plague.

Let me give an example.  I was talking to a friend the other day and the conversation went something like this:

Holly:  So, what happened?

Friend: If I tell you, you're not going to post it on your blog, right?

Holly:  What?  How could you think I would p

Friend:  I'm serious, you're not, right?

Holly:  Of course I won't post it on

Friend:  Holly!!  I mean it!

Holly:  Fine!   Just don't say anything remotely funny. 

Come on People!

What is wrong with you!

You were NOTHING before I put you on my blog!

You were NO ONE!

Now millions of people laugh at you.

This is the thanks I get?

(Ok, millions might be an overstatement)

But I think you can see where I'm going with this.

It's true.

I can no longer be trusted.

Not with secrets.

Not with family photo albums.

Blog fodder is my crack.

I seek it out.

I will go to the dirtiest darkest places to find it.

I need it.

I NEED IT!

I'll sell out my family and friends to get it.

I'll lie, cheat and steal.

I only need a little bit to get me through.

I can stop at any time.

I just need one teeny tiny idea.

One tiny glimpse of humor to get the ball rolling.

And then I'm off, my fingers tap- tap- tapping away.

My head thrown back.

Brahahahaha!

Selling my soul.

Taking you all with me.

And if all that fails, I'll make crap up.

I can't be trusted.

Also, my father has grounded me because of yesterdays post and I've been told to return the family photo album.

Holly

xx-oo



It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

I'm not above using my family's most embarrassing photos for blog material.

You are shocked, are you not?

I have no shame in doing this as long as I am not in the pictures.

My father entrusted me with the family photo album.

I have no idea what happened there, he used to be such a wise man.

When my sister and I were young, we spent every weekend

at our Grandparents house.

Every weekend!

We loved this.

We adored our grandparents and they enjoyed having us.

It never occurred to us that this was a rather strange situation.

Until just a couple of years ago.

My sister and I were talking and remembered those weekends.

"Why do you think we went to Grandma's every weekend when we were little?" I asked her.

"What were Mom and Dad doing when we were gone?" she asked.

Let's take a peek at the family photo album, shall we?

Now, I can't tell you exactly what was going on here.

But this was our living room.

Notice the lovely floral couch and the green shag carpet.

Apparently, this was a game where the husbands rolled up their pant legs and the wives were blindfolded and had to find their husbands by feeling their legs.

I'm not positive about this but I'm assuming that copious amounts of alcohol were involved.

I'm not judging.

We must remember, this was before the invention of Wii Bowling.

Before Pictionary.

But for crying out loud Dad!

They did have poker and ping pong in those days, didn't they??!!!

Holly

xxx-ooo

Pickles and Weird Emails

While in New Mexico, my sister and I were discussing recipes. 

I told her I wanted to make pickles and she said she makes quick pickles. 

I forgot to get her recipe so I Googled it. 

 I had acquired some small cucumbers a while back from someone who had an abundance of them and knew I wanted to try this.

We like pickles in these here parts.

Quick Pickles

• 1 cup of distilled white vinegar
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dry dill weed
• 2 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cucumbers, cut into thick slices

I doubled this recipe and used 6 small cucumbers.

Begin by adding the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, garlic, and peppers to a sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring well to mix in the sugar.  Once boiling, remove from the heat, and add the dill weed. Let the pickling mixture completely cool. Add in the bay leaves.

To a clean mason jar, add the cut cucumbers, arranging them the best you can. Pour in the cooled mixture, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, however overnight is probably best. When you are ready, open and serve. Now you have pickles any day of the week, and is probably much more affordable than getting them at your local market.

These are good in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, then they get pretty soft. They typically do not last that long in the refrigerator though.

I wish I could give credit to the blogger who posted this recipe but I don't remember who it was. 

(Bad Blogger Etiquette)

On a side note, my husband calls cucumbers "Home Wreckers". 

That's funny, unless my father is reading this.

Then, I have no idea what he is referring to.

Here's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.

Remember Mondays with Max?

Well, Dad sent me this email today after reading that post.

Hi Kid: 

"Mondays with Max" reminds me of "Tuesdays with Morrie".  Remember that? 

Morrie was this old guy that was dieing & every Tuesday a young friend visited and wrote down his words of wisdom which turned into a book and made the young man rich. 

This made me wonder if asked, could I come up with any words of wisdom? 

The only thing that comes to mind is "use your turn signals"....Good luck on getting rich.

Love Ya...dad

And my sister always said I was adopted.

If that ain't proof, nothing is.

Holly

xx-oo

Back Home - Part two

My sister lives in Florida but has a cabin in New Mexico where my father lives.

The town is full of little shops and restaurants.

So we shopped.

And we ate.

Her cabin is just darling.  So cozy.

I tried to take a lot of pictures while I was there but was having some camera issues so most of these pictures were taken from the website where they list their cabin as a vacation rental. 

If you might be interested in staying there, let me know and I'll forward the website to you.

This is my sister Kelly and her husband Bill. 

They've been married for 30 years.

Or something like that.

 Let's talk about Bill for a moment, shall we?

I have never met anyone like him.

He is a sweet, sweet man.

With a love for Jesus.

He listens to rock music so loud that I can feel my teeth vibrating.

He drives really close to the edges of cliffs while I cringe and Kelly scolds him.

He teases me constantly.

And pretends like he doesn't like me.

But he loves me, I know this for certain.

Almost as much as he loves canned banana pudding from a restaurant salad bar.

He chose this particular restaurant based on the fact that they served this.

He is in my top ten favorite people list.

I will let him figure out where he stands in that list.

Kelly and I had a great time together.

Yes, I was in my jammies.  I spent a lot of time in them while I was there.

We also spent a lot of time catching up.

Reading blogs.

Discussing our kids.

Talking about our childhood memories.

And I reminded her of how she tortured me when I was a child.

She has no recollection of any of those memories.

Whatever.

The wildlife is just amazing.

The deer were fun to watch.

They arent' afraid of anyone and would come right up to you.

Kelly fed them Raisin Bran.

And the turkeys.

I wish I had gotten some pictures of the dinners she cooked.

I wish she lived closer and would cook for me all the time.

She made an amazing spicy white bean chicken chili the first night.

And a wonderful avocado black bean salad.

I want to be her when I grow up, but I don't ever think I'll be that grown up.

Kelly is Martha Stewart/Ina Garten

I am Paula Deen/Lucille Ball.

But it's a nice mix.

And I miss her bunches.

Holly

xxx-ooo



I'm home and my camera clickin finger is achin

I had a great time visiting with my Dad, Sally, my sister Kelly, and her husband Bill.

Dad is feeling pretty good right now and Kelly and I had a wonderful time with him.

I love my Dad's house. 

 He enjoys buying disasters and turning them into beautiful showplaces.

Here are some pics of his home.

It was difficult to get a good picture of the house with the cars in front.

Here are a few pictures of his living room.

Click on the pictures to get a better view.

I love my Dad's decorating style.  He's quirky.

Here are pics of the master bedroom and bathroom.

And the sun room.

The hall bathroom.

And the guest bedrooms.

And another bathroom.

I understand that this is a pretty long post but I would like

to introduce you to the first entry in a long series of mini-posts.

MONDAYS WITH MAX

My father, Max, is retired and I thought it might be fun to check in and see what he happens to be doing with his leisure time.  My Dad can paint, draw, build furniture, create beautiful pieces of art and he can cook like a maniac.  Mondays, however, I will be showing you just a glimpse of some of the little cartoons that my Dad has done in the past.

Here is the first in the weekly series, Mondays with Max.

I'll be back tomorrow to show you what a great time I had with my sister.

Holly

xxx-ooo