Ritzywife's Thoughts

Life Choices

2012-01-14T21:23:00.000-06:00

That may sound strange, but that is what I have spent most of the week dealing with and thinking about. Mine and other's choices. I am going to guess that we make hundreds if not thousands of choices each day------ Am I going to get out of bed, what am I going to have for breakfast, what am I going to wear.......you get the picture. Then there are other choices such as------am I going to stay single or get married, am I going to have children or not, what kind of job do I want, am I going to college, Those are pretty easy choices, but then - there are some that are not so easy, am I going to be a gossip today, am I going to treat my family and friends the way I want to be treated, am I going to make a (good or bad) difference in someone's life today.............
Yeah, this past week I was "called on" more than once to go clean up someone else's mess. I tried my best, but the result remains to be seen. People do not stop to think about what they are getting ready to say or do. I am not gonna say I am perfect, cause I know I am not, but I am also not going to act like I am either. If I mess up, I try to "make things right". Some people think they are justified in their thinking or in the way they feel and are not about to change for anyone. That kind of person cannot be helped.
I also had some good times this week also. I was able to spend some time with our very pregnant daughter (28 weeks with twins). She and her hubby treated me to lunch. That was so sweet of them. After eating, the hubby went to work and we started shopping (isn't that the way it works, haha!) Anyways, she needed some stuff and I didn't think twice about getting it for her. I remember how hard it was starting out. I love my kids and will do anything I can for them.
When it was time for me to leave we said our good-byes and I left, not thinking anything about what I had just done. This brings me to explain what the preacher's sermon was about last Sunday--------it was about going the extra mile for people without complaining or expecting anything in return or anything extra. He called it - going the "smile mile".
Fast forward to Wednesday evening after I got home------the daughter sent me a couple of text messages that made me cry. She told me that she appreciated how I always go the "smile mile" for her and her little family and that she hoped that she would be the same way someday. I told her that I don't have any doubt about her being the same way because I see it in her. She also told me that her hubby thinks he is the luckiest guy around to have been brought into our family. Hey, we feel pretty lucky too. I guess I said all that to say: When we are being the kind of people God wants us to be, we don't have to put on an act.......it just comes out.
I don't want the people around me to have to wonder about my feelings or intentions. I want them to know. Like I said before, I am not perfect and sometimes I mess up, but I do try to make it right.
Now that Wednesday evening I was talking about - it was about time to leave for church when I received a phone call to go talk to someone in the church ( who also happened to be my friend) when I could find the time, because someone else had hurt them. I did go because this person was my friend and wanted to let her and her husband know that Ritzy and I were there for them. To me this was more important than going to "church". In all reality the person/people that should have gone to my friends were the ones who were asking me to go. I thought to myself - there is something wrong with this picture - I decided later the next day I was gonna start calling my self "the mop lady"........
I don't know how this is all gonna turn out, but I can say that I did and said everything I could. I have come to realize that in church a person has to realize that they are ultimately doing their job for the Lord and to not let others get in the way. A lot of times people in the church like to give a person a job - that no one else wants - and then "micro-manage" the job. If the church is going to give a person a job or mission to do, then step back and let them do their job all the while supporting their work and not gossiping or complaining about them or the job they are doing!!!!! This causes nothing but strife and hurt feelings......
I can almost hear what one person will be telling me as i walk in the doors tomorrow ---oh, I didn't mean any harm....Well, I am gonna call them on it and say that I am not the one you should be telling this to. The person who was hurt is the one that needs to hear this from YOU!!!!
Now, it's getting late and I have to get the bulletin ready and study my lesson for Sunday School.
Ritzywife out...........................

Busy Holiday

2011-12-27T22:57:00.000-06:00

This Christmas season has been one of the busiest I have ever experienced. I thought things were supposed to "slow down" as we get older, just like our bodies do, haha!!! Not so, I am finding out. Ever since Thanksgiving it seems I have been going non-stop.
The daughter and son-in-law left today for home, the son followed to help them transfer stuff from their garage to the storage barn. Also, to help hang their tv on the wall, and to set up the baby crib. I was cooking beans and cornbread and the daughter came in my room and said, ahhh you're having beans and cornbread????? That is one of her favorite meals. I told her that as soon as her dad got home I could bring the cooked meal to their house and we could all eat together, plus, the two younger guys might need the older guys help, haha!!
We were stopped at Oologah getting gas when the daughter called and asked about a bracelet that someone lost during her wedding in April, she couldn't remember who lost it. Guess she found it while moving stuff around.........I said, yeah it was mine......My sister had given it to me while I was busy decorating that afternoon and I was so busy that I just put it in the box of decorations. Well after the wedding decorations were taken down and some discarded I got to looking for that bracelet and could not find it anywhere. I just assumed that I had thrown it out by mistake and never thought I would see it again. Well.......I now have that long lost birthday gift. YIPPEE!!!!! I called my sister and told her the good news.....she could hardly believe it....I am not gonna let it get away again!!
This family devoured those beans and that cornbread. What didn't get ate, the daughter wanted for tomorrow. There wasn't much left, but I gave it all to her. The guys got the t v hung on the wall while Ritzy sat on the couch and watched. Keri and I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items.
Ritzy and I are now back at home..............alone!!!!! The son is going to stay there a while to play video games. It is quiet in Ritzywife's home for now, and I am enjoying it. I don't want it quiet all the time, mind you........... but sometimes quiet sure sounds good!!
I am thinking about when to take down the Christmas decorations........when the mood strikes is when it will get done and not any sooner.......
It keeps gettting closer to the twin's due date ( if they go to term it is the first week in April), and we are all getting excited. I just feel for Keri and all she is having to deal with right now. I have no idea of how uncomfortable she has to be feeling, but it will surely be worth it all to welcome those two precious baby boys into the family......... My prayer is that she and those babies will stay healthy and have a good delivery.
Don't have any New Year's plans.....we just get together and eat some good food and play games or watch t v at mom's or our house. New Year's Day we go to Mom & Dad's to eat those black-eyed peas for lunch.
That's about all I can come up with tonite so for now................Ritzywife out!

Almost the New Year

2011-12-27T00:24:00.001-06:00

Well, Christmas 2011 is just a memory now. We had a wonderful day. Going to church, then to mom and dad's for lunch and then opening gifts and watching the little ones play. Came home to take a nap then back to mom and dad's to eat leftovers. Last nite we opened our gifts here at home. I think everyone was pleased with what Santa brought them. And yes.........according to Ritzywife - there is a Santa!!!!!
I wasn't planning on doing anything today but the son suggested going to Owasso. I decided to go with him to get a few groceries and see what I could find in the after christmas sales. I must say, I was very pleased with the bargains I found. I am set for next year for all my gift-wrapping and decorating needs. Woo Hoo!!!!
After all the running around these past few days, I am ready to slow down a bit. I spent the rest of the day cooking dinner, putting some stuff away and finding a place in my kitchen for some of my gifts to "live".
Watched a movie with the son-in-law and daughter tonite on t.v. Well it was just the son-in-law and I that finished the movie, the daughter fell asleep. Was a good movie tho. I told the son-in-law I was glad he suggested watching it. They are spending the nite tonite. I think that he is probably in there right now playing on the X-box.
I love this time of year and being together with loved ones. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to see some of that "white stuff" falling from the sky. I don't know when we will see any of that, but heck Winter just got started, so I guess I will just wait and see what happens.
It is just so hard to believe that 2011 is just about gone. It is gonna be 2012 before we know it and then Springtime and time for those precious baby boys to be born.
I bought each one of them a Spongebob fishing pole for Christmas. Two reasons for that, the daughter loves Spongebob and the son-in law doesn't care for the show at all. I did it to be onery. Well.......that son-in-law told me tonight that he just realized what was on the fishing poles, hahahaha!!!!! I told him I did it just to irritate him, (in a good way) ;-)
Well, he got me back this year............and I might say he did a great job. After what I did to him last year I deserved what I got. He told me last year he would get me back, and i was thinking he had forgot about it. We were up at mom and dad's and I was handed a gift. In it was a note telling me how they were going to take the "high road" and get me a "nice" gift. I open the bag and pull out a t-shirt that I can see a target on and it also says "SUCKER". Then I proceeded to get bombarded with silly string. I had no idea who was shooting because i was hiding behind the shirt. I found out tonite that it was the son-in-law, the daughter, the son and Ritzy doing the "shooting". Can ya believe it------Ritzy was in on it?!?!? I put that shirt on last night and wore it for a while. it surprised them cause they told said that they thought I would just throw it away. Heck, why throw away a perfectly good t-shirt.........
We had a good time, and that is what it is all about, I believe---having fun and good times with your family and friends!
I have had all the fun I can handle for a while, at least for a day.........so.... Ritzywife out.......

Almost Christmas Already....

2011-12-14T20:43:00.000-06:00

December is just about a distant memory. I sit back and wonder where did the month go. I just realized I haven't even posted this month. Been quite busy.
I was able to go see those precious grand-babies on ultrasound yesterday. The daughter is 23 weeks along and the babies are at 1 1/2 lbs each. Dr. said everything looked fine. I am lovin' this so much!!!
I guarantee you this -- those babies have more under the tree than anyone else ;-)
I know they are not here yet but, that's just fine.....
My niece was able to come back home yesterday after being in the hospital since Thanksgiving.
The son-in-law took Ritzy fishing Saturday and they caught 40-something fish. I think Ritzy actually enjoyed himself. Way to go Steven!!!! You accomplished something that I have not been able to do in 28 years of marriage --- get Ritzy to go fishing.......
Steven just knew there were more fish in that "hole" and he was right on. He and his dad have caught 94 crappie 2 nites in a row. They did not go today because of the wind and rain.
That brings me to our plans for tomorrow nite. We get to go over to the daughter and hubby's to enjoy a meal of fried crappie, hush puppies. Steven's parents are coming over also. I am going to make one of my peach cobblers that everyone likes so well, especially Ritzy and that son-in-law. YUMMY!!!
I am basically finished Christmas shopping. I just have to sew a few things and then it's all done. Woo Hoo!!!! Now to just sit back and wait.... Haha, who am I kidding, when do I ever have the opportunity to "just sit back and wait"?!? We have a Christmas dinner to attend this Saturday. It is a get-together for my Mom and her family. Haven't decided what I'm going to fix for that dinner yet.
Well, i am pretty tired so I am just gonna call it a nite.....Ritzywife out.

Happy Birthday!!!

2011-11-25T23:19:00.000-06:00

Today is Ritzy's birthday. He catches up with me in age at least until next March. The son, son-in-law, daughter Ritzy and I all went out to eat tonight at Red Lobster. It was wonderful. Great food and great company. In fact, we had a whole room to ourselves. Don't know how that happened, but sure glad it did. We all love seafood. Heck, who am I kidding, we just love food!!!!

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's home yesterday. Talk about good food.......yummmmm.......
My neice who has the brain tumor was able to be there. I found out after arriving that I was "in trouble". I always make my "Orange Salad" on holidays and my sister, her mom, always makes her green salad. Well, as it turned out, neither salad was made this year, and boy did we hear about it. When Kaysie learned her mom wasn't making her salad, she thought oh well that's ok cause Ritzywife would certainly bring hers. NOT!!!! Wasn't even on my radar this year. Instead I had sweet potatoes on the brain. I made homemade candied sweet potatoes from real potatoes. Did not need a can opener for these!!
Her son, the great-nephew was thinking I was bringing a pumpkin pie, well......I brought 2 pecan pies. I was in trouble with him also. I guess I am just going to have to make a pie and salad just for those two, haha!!!
After eating, I came home and laid on the bed all afternoon. I was tired and no one was going to stop me from taking that nap.

About the niece......we thought things were going along ok til yesterday when she was taken back to the hospital because of a large bruise under her skin causing pain and some pretty bad siezures. The bruise is due to the blood thinners/chemotherapy. It has been rough the past day and a half.

A lot of my friends went shopping last nite and today.....they are NUTS!!!!!! I did that a few years ago. Never again.......
As of right now I have no plans for tomorrow and I like it that way....but if I wait long enough I'm sure something will pop up. It usually does......
It's getting late and with that Ritzywife is out...............

Chinese......Yumm, Yumm

2011-11-21T20:00:00.000-06:00

the insides of the egg rolls

assembly of an egg roll

stir-frying rice noodles

egg rolls


Yumm, Yumm...

I got brave enough to try cooking Chinese food tonight. What I cooked was a lot easier than I had ever imagined. Don't know why I ever waited so long now. I was watching a TV show the other night and they were showing how this food was made and I could not believe the cravings I got from watching all that.

Ritzy and I ate at a Chinese restaurant in Owasso last Friday nite and it was wonderful. I decided then, that I was going to give it a try at home. Boy, am I glad I did. The only thing on the plate not made in my kitchen is the fried rice. Schwan's has a wonderful fried rice so I used that for tonight. I have made the fried rice from scratch before and it turned out pretty good. I was running short of time tonight so I opted for "easy".

As Ritzy and I were eating tonite, I told him that I even surprised myself at how well the meal turned out. I was worried that it would not have any or little flavor so I added a few extra flavorings . He told me that the egg rolls were better than the restaurants. Woo Hoo!!!!!!

I love to cook!!!!! I came from a family that loves to cook and takes great pride in their cooking !!! Now... when I get to craving egg rolls, all I have to do is just make them instead of getting those frozen ones or waiting to go out to eat. YIPPEE!!!

Now, on the the weather....It isn't even Winter yet and I am freezing.......which leaves me to wonder how I am going to do when Winter actually arrives here in Oklahoma, hahahah!!!!!
It is raining outside now and it has only been in the 30's and 40's the past couple of days. Thank goodness for electric blankies!!!!!! I would not survive without mine....I am thinking I need to invest in one of those electric blankets that are made to be used when sitting and just relaxing ;-) Maybe I'll send Santa a "hint" about what Ritzywife would like for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I have just about finished all my shopping for the season. I went for "easy" this year and ordered a lot of it. Now all that's left to do is WRAP!!! I have threatened anyone's life here in this house if they even come near my closet, haha!!
I have been seeing friends and family putting up their Christmas decorations and it's starting to rub off on me. I am going to wait until after Thanksgiving tho. Just too busy for now.....

Changing the subject:


Isn't this beautiful?!?

As I was cooking tonite, I knew Ritzy was home, but didn't see him come in the house. He asked me to turn around and showed me these flowers. I asked if they were for his "girlfriend".....He said they sure were!!!!
He is so sweet........He sure surprised me !!!!! I told him "thank you" and that I loved them and him.
Ok, enough with this mushy stuff.
Well, I am cold, so I am going to turn my electric blanket on to "Fry", I mean High and go take a nice warm/hot bath to get warm and call it a night. Ritzywife out...........................

BOY, OH BOY!!!!!!

2011-11-15T21:16:00.000-06:00

That's what I found out today. That daughter and son-in-law are expecting twins and they found out today that those babies are both boys!!! Wow.....all the daughter said when she called was...mom, it looks like I'm gonna be outnumbered..........I knew exactly what that meant ;-)
Ritzy and I were at the Claremore Taco Bueno eating out tonite and I asked him if he realized that it would only be 4 (short) months before things were going to change forever......I am so looking forward to these babies!!!!!! Now that I know what they are, I can start buying and making "stuff" !!!!!!!!
Still haven't figured out how I'm gonna go fishin' and babysit at the same time this next Spring, tho, hahaha!!!!
My niece found out today that her Oncologist wants to start her chemotherapy this coming Thursday, even tho she has not been able to get her port put in. They will just have to use an i v. He is not wanting to wait any longer for her treatment. She has to take 1 treatment every two weeks for 6 times.
As I said earlier, Ritzy and I were at Taco Bueno tonite......... eating tacos of course. After that we went to our former pastor's home to get a couple of kittens. The last kitten we had disappeared so we thought we would try 2 at a time so they could play with and look out for each other. They are cute, one is mouse gray and the other is black and white. The preacher's kids had already named them "Mouse & Oreo". I think we will just keep those names, they're cute!!!!!! Now, I will just have to wait and see if they are good mousers.......cause I hate mice!!!!!! They will be outside kittys of course. Ritzywife does not like four-legged creatures in her home!!!!!
I am about ready to call it a day, so...Ritzywife is out...........................

{{{{{{EARTHQUAKE}}}}}}

2011-11-07T20:11:00.000-06:00

That's right....Oklahoma has experienced 2 significant earthquakes in the past couple of days. The first one was in the wee hours of saturday morning. I slept right thru that one. The next one which occured at 10:53pm on Saturday nite, well, that one I was lucky enough to experience.
Ritzy and I were on our way home from a wonderful Gaither Homecoming Concert that night. We were stopped at the light in Oologah at the HWY 169/88 crossing and while stopped I felt the truck moving. I thought...well, I just didn't have the brake pushed in hard enough, but I could not push it any more, then the light changed, we were on our way and I just shrugged it off. A couple miles down the road I get a call from the son who was at home, along with the daughter and son-in-law and he proceeds to tell me about the earthquake. He said he heard a low rumble then the whole house shook. They were excited about it. My words to him were - dang it, I missed this one too-
then I said, oh wait, no I didn't miss it and proceeded to tell him about the experience back at the light. He told me what time it happened and I realized that was the time we were waiting at the light. WOW!!!!!!
2011 has been a year to remember for Oklahomans. We had the record breaking snowfall and cold temps in the winter, terrible tornadoes in the spring, drought and record breaking heat in the summer, and now the earthquakes in the fall, it leaves a person to wonder what is in store to finish out the year here in this great state of ours.
On to other things...my niece who has that brain tumor had to be taken to the hospital saturday nite because she had a seizure that scared her mom (my sister). It seems they were on their way to Tulsa at the same time we were on our way back home. I told my sister that if she needed me, we would go straight to the hospital, but she told us to go on and if needed she would let me know. I had plenty to do once I got home anyways. I had to prepare my Sunday School lesson for the next day and I also had to make a copy of our Church Bulletin........those little jobs kept me up til almost 2 in the morning. Good thing I at least got that extra hour to sleep.......I still haven't caught up on my rest tho.
The great-niece wanted to come home with us after lunch at Granny's, so I let her......that meant no Sunday nap for Ritzywife.....but my mom and dad had been watching the kids and they were tired so I helped out where I could. The niece was sent home around 4:00 Sunday morning, and I was still awake, waiting for my sister to text me to let me know what was going on. When she told me they were on their way home was when I was finally able to relax and go to sleep.
Ritzy and I have a funeral to attend tomorrow at noon and I have to get our church report ready for Wednesday's business meeting. The daughter wants me to go to an appointment with her Wednesday, so here comes another busy week. I will have to start on that report in the morning and finish it tomorrow afternoon.
All this thinking is making my poor little brain tired.......
I am about ready to call it a day/night and with that Ritzywife is out....................

Back Home In Oklahoma

2011-10-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

Ritzy and I made it back home this past week. It was a fun and enjoyable visit with his family. We all met at his sister's house for a meal together. I took pictures of our Northern family to show the new son-in-law. On our way back home we were a couple of hours from our stop for the night when all of a sudden Ritzy and I heard a loud noise. We could not see damage on the windshield from inside the truck....so at the next rest stop we looked over the windshield and in the black strip along the bottom... there it was. A bad chip and the starting of tiny cracks. I was NOT a happy camper!!!!! Well, before we left the next morning, I found a place to "repair" the damage done by that rock that was thrown by that 18-wheeler!!! I was not going to give that thing any chance to grow..... and now..... if you didn't know the damage was there, you'd never be able to find it. They did a good job!! I told Ritzy that for me it was in a good spot because it was invisible from the inside and for Ritzywife...... "outta sight is outta mind"......... hahahaha!!!
I hate those trucks!!!!!! I have often thought they need their own highway system!!!!! Although, they probably think the same about us ;-)
The weather here in Oklahoma has cooled off and I am wearing a jacket as I sit here in my home (too stubborn to turn on the heat). Our church Harvest Party is tomorrow night. We will be having games, door prizes, a pit fire, good food, and good fellowship. I am kinda in charge, but I have recruited some help. Some of us are staying after church tomorrow to set everything up. We decided to just have sandwiches and get to work. Looking forward to a fun evening.

Took some pictures of what little decorating I did outside this year, here is one of the pictures: yup, that's Ritzy in the background........and that's his John Deere tractor he had as a child. Isn't that cool?!?
The kids that play here always go to that little tractor to play on it. It has a wagon and that great-niece loves putting "stuff" in there and pedaling all around the yard.
The niece (great-niece's mama) is doing "ok" for now, but there are other personal problems she is dealing with. We continue to be there for her and the kids and pray that God takes care of them.
You know when one family member hurts, you all hurt. It's like.... when part of your body is hurting, the whole body feels it.
The daughter is FINALLY feeling ok. No hot flashes or anxiety attacks for the past couple of weeks. Praise God!!!! She is starting to feel like herself now, except for that little "pooch" making itself known. It's beautiful tho!!!!! But......she is in the "cry/laugh" part of the pregnancy...or in other words the emotional highs and lows. I warned her about it, tho........I told her to just let the tears flow.....that is our body's way of trying to take care of itself and in the end ....if you overlook the stuffy nose and red eyes..... she will feel A LOT better!!!!!!
By the way, that hubby of hers wasn't understanding all of her mood swings or anything about being pregnant....why should he, he's a guy!!! Well, while we were in Appleton, we went to a used book sale and as I was looking over the books I walked around a table and there standing on the table staring me in the face was a book entitled "HOW TO BE A PREGNANT FATHER"......can ya believe it?!? I snatched that one right up. He now has it in his possession, haha!!! I hope he makes good use of it...
That is about all the thinking I can handle for now...Ritzywife out!!

Greetings From Wisconsin...

2011-10-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

Yup, you read that right. Ritzy and I are here visiting his family. It sure is cool up here. We are enjoying the weather. A welcome change from that Oklahoma weather we have just been thru. Not much going on. Ritzy has been visiting his mom and dad every day. They are in a place for senior adults in a town called "Kaukauna" about 15 minutes away from Appleton.
Back home in Oklahoma, my niece should be getting out of the hospital today after spending the last couple of weeks in there. She had blood clots in her lungs and legs, pneumonia and just not feeling well mentally. This sure is hard on her and her family. I feel so bad for them and try to think of ways to help. Without God and His grace we would have never made it this far.
The daughter seems to be doing well this week. The last post I had planned to go with her to her appointment then go to a dear friends funeral.......but as we all know even the best plans have kinks thrown in once in a while. While at the Dr's office the daughter was going down to get blood drawn and suddenly felt dizzy and faint. It was only a 5 minute trip but it took us about 40 minutes to get to the lab. She laid down for a while then we went to the cafeteria to get her something to eat. After finally getting the blood drawn and leaving to go home, I was running behind my "schedule" for the day. I stayed at her home to make sure she was gonna be ok. I then realized I was not gonna make it to that service, but... staying with my daughter, making sure she and those babies were ok was more important to this mama.
Ritzy and I are having a good time.....he has even sold some firewood while gone. can you image that?!? It gets cold and those people start wanting that wood ;-)
The son is holding down the "fort" at home . I was trying to show him how to run the dishwasher before we left and he informed me that he would NOT be using it. I said that was ok, but I had better not come home to a sink full of dishes, haha!!!
I am going to get my hair trimmed in a little while, its getting so long. It gets down to my ears and neck and it is annoying. I asked my sister-in-law about a hairdresser and she is taking me to the place she uses. Ooh, it is going to feel soooo good to get that hair cut....
The day is starting and with that Ritzywife is out............

Lovin' This Fall Weather......

2011-10-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

WE DESERVE IT after that brutal summer!!!!! It has been gorgeous here in Oklahoma. I am going to hate to see it come to an end.
My "running around" has not slowed any. I went over to the daughter's Tuesday to be with her during her checkup and about an hour before the appointment the Dr.'s office called and had to cancel due to his being in emergency surgery. His office is in Owasso~~about 5-10 minutes away Soooo that appointment has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:45. I am going over again to be with her, let's hope all goes as planned. After that little visit, there is a funeral service in Chelsea at 2:00 pm that I am attending. I am gonna be ready for some of that "boring" that I can't seem to find these days.
My niece that has the brain tumor is back in the hospital at Tulsa as of Sunday. She has a blood clot on each lung and some in her right leg. She is very lucky to still be with us. Her inability to move her right side is sure taking it's toll on her health. She also has another urinary tract infection. I went down to Tulsa yesterday to visit with her and her mom (my sister). They have inserted a filter in her stomach area to catch those clots in her leg and started her on a blood thinner. All the while she is waiting on her chemotherapy treatments to attack this tumor that has recurred. The latest MRI showed it wasn't being aggressive right now. But......she has to be in decent health before they will even think about chemotherapy. The whole family is under a LOT of stress right now thinking about her and her family, trying to help anyway we can and just trying to "be there" for each other.
Well, if I want to "be there" for that daughter in the morning I had better get off here and get to bed.
Ritzywife out!!

Where Did "Boring" Go? I think it is gone with the (Oklahoma) wind!!!!!

2011-10-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

I thought life would be slowing down after that last post....NOT!!!! These past couple of weeks have been so busy. I have been "doing" things for everyone else. I don't mind it at all, but geez, what is going on here???
I noticed I haven't even had time to post any new news. Not that there is much, mind you, but still......
I have been running around going here and there trying to help out wherever and whenever needed. I'm thinkin that this is about as "quiet" as it is ever gonna be because in 5-6 months those precious twins that the daughter and her hubby are expecting are gonna be here and life will NEVER be the same for Ritzy and I, hahaha!!!!! That's what I told the expectant parents, told them they better get all the sleep they can now cause once those babies arrive, a good night's sleep as they know it is.......... just gone....forever ;-)
Ritzy and I took those two "parents-to-be" out to dinner and a movie at Owasso this past tuesday nite. We ate at Goldie's for a good hamburger and then watched the movie "Courageous" . It was a really good movie about what God expects a husband and father to be....to stand up for your faith and make the hard decisions to raise your family with morals. That is not easy in this world we live in today, but it must be done!
Ok, off the "soapbox".........today, Ritzy is splitting some of that firewood, and I am actually having a pretty easy day......so far......
I'm thinking about going into the kitchen to start some sourdough to rising for some yummy bread afterwhile...mmmm... i can already smell and taste it.....

So....Ritzywife is out!

Isn't This Cute???

2011-09-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Isn't this great?!? This past weekend the son and I were headed to Owasso to buy groceries. To get to HWY 169 we go west on the Winganon Road. This cement drum has been on the side of the road for the past 30 or so years. I guess you could say it has become a "landmark" around here. Well, the past few years it has been painted red, white, and blue. But......Saturday we saw someone just beginning to work on it and this morning the son called while on his way to work and told me what he was seeing. I jumped up, grabbed my camera and headed out the door. This is so cool!!! I posted it on Facebook and the News on Six website. It quickly became one of their website headlines, WOW!!! I don't know if it will make it to the news on tv tonite or not, but that's ok, at least it got some recognition. The people who did it deserve to be applauded for their work......they did a great job!!
This past weekend was a busy one around here. It actually started before the weekend.....Ritzy and I took Wyatt and Halley (great-nephew & great-niece) to the Chelsea Jamboree Thursday nite. For $20 each they could ride all the rides as many times as they wanted all nite. We grabbed some of that wonderful "carnival food" also. Then Friday, Ritzy came in the house and was checking out the utility room when he discovered water around the water heater...............well, we then went to Bartlesville to pick up a new water heater. Ritzy waited on the son to get home so they could install it. Saturday we were all running in different directions, Ritzy was busy with his woodcutting, and the son and I went grocery shopping. Sunday was church and Sunday nite we had a cookout at the church. So.......I am hoping for a quiet week coming up.....we'll see.
The son just called and asked if i could meet him at the highway around 4:45 this evening. He needs some clothes. I guess he is going down to help his sister and her hubby move some furniture. I have told the daughter ( who, I remind you is carrying those precious twins) to not do any heavy lifting or straining!!!!
Puts kind of a "kink" in my dinner preparations but I guess we can just eat a little later than I had planned ;-)
Someone just came to the door and as I was standing there talking to them, I realized how beautiful it was outside and then asked myself why in the world I was in the house and not out there enjoying the wonderful weather...........
That being said.....Ritzywife is out!!!!

Changes

2011-09-15T23:03:00.002-05:00

I know people and things change all the time, but here recently the changes have been quite dramatic.
After going thru a summer of 100+ degree temps, today the temperature stayed in the 50's. WOW!!!!
I am needing a blanket on the bed tonite......gonna soon be time for the electric blankie......
I fixed chili for supper tonite, it just seemed the right thing to cook after the cooler temps. The daughter and son-in-law came over for supper. It is so fun to watch the daughter going thru the "changes" that pregnancy is bringing about in her.....
I have been seeing the "change" in my sister, niece and the whole family after the niece's biopsy last month. Our niece has gone to my sister's and her husband's home to be taken care of. She is unable to do anything for herself. They had to "change" out the bathroom to make it handicap accessible. There is now a hospital bed in their living room for the niece to sleep in. She has to get around by wheelchair or the Hoveround that Mom and Dad found at at an unbelievably low price. Someone has to be there 24/7 to help her. This "change" in my niece affects the whole family. Everyone is having to adapt and help out where needed. I have been watching the toll it is taking on her kids also. They are wondering when their mama will be "normal" again. That is a hard one!!!!!! They are wondering why she just can't talk like and do what she used to .
You know, I learned a couple of years ago when Ritzy was deployed that our "normal" can be changed in an instant, and we had better be able to cope and adapt or we are in a lot of trouble.
Ritzy and I took the two older kids to the Bluegrass & Chili Festival this last weekend. We had a lot of fun. The weather was finally cool enough to enjoy the event this year. I haven't gone in years past because it was just so darned hot. I could never understand why they would hold a chili festival near the end of summer.
I can hardly believe summer is almost gone and Fall is soon going to be here. I need to start getting my fall decorations out. I hope I can remember what I did with them, hahaha!!!! no seriously.......
Another "change" that happens as we get older, I guess ;-)
I played the piano for my Dad's cousin's funeral today. There were a lot of family members there. I had the chance to talk to a few Aunts & Uncles and friends.
Like I said earlier, changes are all around us.......it's up to us how we react. We can fight it or we can find a way to just do the best we can with what we have and be thankful for what we do have.
That being said.................Ritzywife is out!

Welcome September!!!

2011-09-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

WOW it's September 1st already......although is is still supposed to be over 100 degrees here in Oklahoma for the next couple of days. But in a few days our temps will be in the 80's. WOO HOO!!!!!! I have forgotten how that feels. This will be a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.
I have been busy running back and forth to the hospital to visit my niece. She is now in Rehab and will be there for the next 2-4 weeks. the rehab will be very hard, but something that has to be done to improve her life. She still has to deal with the tumor after rehab is done. I know she misses her kids and home and they miss her. She has been in the hospital since August 3rd. This has been quite a "learning experience" for all of us.
Our family cookout is monday, and it won't be quite the same knowing the niece is in the hospital. Her husband and her mom (my sister) will probably be there and they might take the kids down to see her. I told Ritzy last nite we all should just take the "cookout" to her.......
Ritzy is busy getting his firewood ready for his customers. It will be time to start up the woodstoves, fireplaces before long and they want that wood in place and ready to go.
I spent time yesterday with the daughter. We did some errands and ate lunch together. I told her to keep taking good care of those "babies"..... I just feel for her having to deal with the nausea part of being pregnant. I told her that once those babies are born, she will realize that everything she had to go thru will have been well worth it ;-)
That's about all I have for now...........Ritzywife out......

UPDATE..............TWINS!!!!!!

2011-08-19T00:30:00.000-05:00

That's right.....the daughter called yesterday and informed me of this little fact. I asked her if she was "toying" with me and said it wasn't funny. She said NO, Really Mom......Oh my gosh, when I finally composed myself-- I was so happy. I got to see the ultrasound pics today. They are 6 weeks and 2 days along according to the ultrasound. Those precious babies are beautiful. My prayer is that they be safe along with our daughter/their mother. I called my sister and she was just silent and shocked, the sister-in-law just squealed. I called and told Ritzy and he just said---Are you kidding me? It was just so funny the way he said it. He sounded very happy. I was kidding the daughter, because my mom always told me that a person pays for their raising. Well I "smarted off" and told mom that she must have been really bad if I was her payment. she failed to see the humor in that. Well I told Keri that if she was having twins then she must have been twice as bad as I was, haha!!! I have to say that her hubby is elated also. The "morning sickness" isn't necessarily in the morning and seems to show itself when she eats anything spicy or fatty, or fried. I told her she may have to change her eating habits for a while and to really watch what she eats. I really feel for her, because as any mom will tell you-----Morning sickness is NOT fun!!!!!!
My mom and I spent some time at the hospital with my niece today. She still is having trouble expressing her thoughts and identifying pictures that her therapist shows her and remembering things that just come so easy for us. Her right side movement is still very limited. I don't know if this is all from that new tumor or the biopsies performed. We are also still waiting on the second biopsy report. These results will decide the next course of action. She will likely be put into rehabilitation in the hospital for a while after it is decided how to handle this new tumor growth. It is not going to be easy either way. It is so hard to see her in this way, knowing the way her life was just 2 weeks ago. It may never be the same. She is separated from her kids. You know they miss her and she misses them. The two oldest ones started school today. The son is in the fourth grade and the daughter is in Kindergarten. The other two girls are soon going to be 3 & 2.
It is just so strange....the feelings we experience knowing the heartache we are going thru with our niece, and the elation we feel about the daughter's pregnancy.
That's about all I have for now.......Ritzywife out..........................

Very Busy...

2011-08-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

I have been pretty busy with running to the hospital the past couple of weeks. My niece has had 2 brain surgeries in the past 10 days. The first one did not give the results the surgeon was hoping for, so yesterday she underwent another. These were only biopsies, but they were sure hard on her. She was just getting better when they did the second one. by saying better i mean that she was starting to be able to say words that could be understood and moving her right arm and leg a little bit. Last night after her second surgery, i saw her for a few minutes before we had to go and she was talking a little plainer and had some movement on her right side. That was so good to see!!!!! But........the fact remains that she is unable to care for herself in this condition, let alone her kids. That is what is hard face. Another thing to remember is that tumor is still in there, growing and causing problems. They won't do anything about the treatment until they know what they are treating, so we sit and wait on the pathology reports. The Dr. thinks it is either problems caused by radiation or the cancer has come back as a different type. We all knew this was possible two years ago.
Now on to some "venting"......I use Facebook and see people write comments about their perception of events and it just really has me scratching my head. I see comments about my niece doing better, or doing just fine etc... and then see others comment about how God is good, awesome, in control..etc. You know what I mean. Well....... our circumstances do not dictate how God is doing. FYI, people---He is all those things, all the time!!!!! It does not matter if things could not be any better, or be any worse for us, God never changes. What are these people going to say when tragedy strikes--they are the ones who will be saying "well, it must have been God's will"......to that I say-- "B A L O N E Y" ( I have another b-word, but better not use it) Sometimes things happen to us that are not God's will, but because we live in a flawed world and we ourselves are flawed, we are faced with tragedy, heartache, & troubles.....the one thing God does promise is that He will be there for us, whenever we call out to Him. Ok, I guess I can get off my "soapbox" now....
To change the subject...My daughter just called and told me they were bringing over steaks to cook out tonite. YUMMY!!!! I would be a fool to turn that down ;-)
Also, this same daughter has confirmed that a grandchild is definitely on the way. Ritzy and I are so happy for the daughter and her hubby and for ourselves I might add ;-)
This is gonna be fun!!!!!! This kid is gonna be Cherokee/Delaware (daughter) & Creek (son-in-law) indian. He/she better come out lookin' like a little indian baby, hahahaha!!!!
With that.....Ritzywife is out!!!!

Geez, It's A Hot One

2011-08-02T15:00:00.001-05:00

I know, it's been a while. I've been waiting on my internet to get back up to speed. This Oklahoma weather has gone extreme this past year. Back in the winter we were -30 degrees and now it is 109 degrees and climbing as I write this. Our garden started with so much promise, we had beautiful green bean plants, bell and hot pepper plants, okra, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. But because of all the hot, dry weather there wasn't much to harvest. The potatoes were few and small. The green beans didn't even get a chance to produce a "mess". The pepper plants have given up very few peppers. Usually okra does really well in the hot weather, but this summer the weather is so darn hot even the okra is having a hard time. The saddest thing of all is the tomato plants. I've gotten a few tomatoes..... the plants have looked the best of any Ritzy and I have ever had, but this weather is really doing a "number" on them. Ritzy told me last night that he wasn't sure he could do anything else. He has been watering them every evening, but that is no competition to the 100+ degree temps we have had since June. I went outside yesterday afternoon just to see how hot it felt sitting in the sun. took a thermometer with me and that thing went up to 120 degrees (in the sun). I didn't last long out there. I came back in to the comfort of my a/c. I really feel for the people who have to work out in this mess.
Heard on the news that July was one of the hottest on record in our state. June was also a hot one. We were getting August weather in June this year. I remember last year we only had a couple of 100 degree days. This year is totally different!!!!! I keep asking Ritzy, the son and the son-in-law if they are being careful out in this heat. I know they are "big boys" and able to take care of themselves, but I told them that was just the "mama" in me ;-)
My daughter informed me the other night that there might be a grandchild on the way. WOO HOO!!!!!! This will be Ritzy and my first one....and it is about time!
My niece goes into the hospital tomorrow for her 2nd brain surgery in 2 1/2 years. We are all a little anxious. It's gonna be a long day..... I don't know how things are going to turn out, but I do know that we will all be there for each other no matter what.......
Ritzy and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary last weekend. (7.30.1983)...I cannot believe how fast these years have gone by. He asked what I wanted to do, and I told him that going to see a movie was ok by me because last weekend we had 2 birthday parties, and a family reunion to attend. I realized that the movie "Cowboys & Aliens" was playing and asked him if we could go see a movie with that handsome Harrison Ford in it for OUR anniversary, haha!! We both enjoyed the movie and our time together.
Last night I watched "Rango" at home with the son.....Now that movie was "cheesy". More dumb than funny.
I still enjoyed watching a movie with my son, tho. Ritzy was outside getting wood ready for the winter. He is crazy....!!
I hope everyone is able to stay cool.....Ritzywife out!!!!!

~Can't Sleep~

2011-07-08T02:22:00.000-05:00

It is almost 2:00 am and I am sitting here at this darn computer. Too much is racing thru this poor little mind of mine. My niece's brain tumor has decided to come back. It has been only 6 months since she stopped her chemotherapy and had her last MRI which showed nothing. Well in only 6 months time that thing has regrown to the size of a golf ball and starting to cause her problems. A couple of weeks ago she had a couple of bad seizures, which is how we found out it was back. She has been seeing her team of Doctors and is waiting now on the ok for surgery. Tonight she experienced more seizures. Her husband took her to the hospital, I guess they took another look and said nothing had changed and sent her home. WHAT'S WITH THAT?????? Good grief, they know that thing is gonna come out.......but they have to wait on the procedure to be "approved". Meanwhile we all sit and wait. I told my sister (her mom) tonight that I was so sorry they were having to go thru this ordeal. I realize the whole family is experiencing this nightmare, but they are a lot closer to the situation than we are.    I just feel so bad for her kids and husband. It seems that now she will not be able to be alone.......just in case she needs help. she has a one year old, a two year old, a 5 year old and an 8 year old.
Our daughter has had a rough week. She saw a doctor about a problem with her hand and they prescribed some steroids for her. Well after a couple of days taking them she started to get dizzy. This kept happening until finally today when she said she has felt better.   She was worried about that hand because that is how she makes her living. She is a massage therapist, and a darned good one I might add. Well, after giving the hand some rest, she says it is doing better. I sure hope so. It is not a good experience to see your kids or family hurting and not be able to do anything about it.
My niece's surgery should be anytime during the next couple of weeks to end of the month. That is all fine and ok, except Ritzy and I had rescheduled our trip to Wisconsin for the end of the month and now it looks as if it might get put off again. Things sure are taking a crazy turn this year.
We will EVENTUALLY get up there.......
Oklahoma is drying up fast.   Lawns and gardens all around us are begging for water. It sure got hot and dry early this year. Ritzy has been watering our garden. The few veggies we have been able to pick have been wonderful. Even tho he is watering, a good rain still can't be beat. And the heat is keeping the plants from producing like they normally would. I think they go into "survival mode"........
Well, I think I am finally getting sleepy.....gonna get off here and try to get some rest.
Ritzywife out...................................

~A Blur~

2011-06-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's what this past week has been. Don't really know why, but it just has. I still don't know fully what is going on with my neice and her brain tumor returning. My sister has finished all her treatment and she is doing great. Matt is fine after rolling that work truck. Ritzy has been working hard all week. He mowed the yard and did some garden work today. My cousin, who lives next door thinned out her strawberries and brought me some "starts" of the plants. Ritzy built a raised "bed" for them this afternoon and has already planted them. I worked with my new embroidery machine for most of the day. It sure is fun, but it takes a lot of concentration to design the patterns I want to sew. This evening we fired up the Weber grill and cooked some fresh garden veggies and some rib eye steaks. The steaks had been marinating in the refrigerator since about 2pm this afternoon. The food was wonderful!!!!!
I have finished studying my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow and am now taking some personal time before going to bed. Ritzy is watching "The Green Hornet" on tv. Talk about cheesy.....hehehe!!!!!
We are having "Family Night" at church tomorrow night. It's gonna be hot, but fun.
I could really "go" for a Coke float right now, but I know better.......I would NEVER get to sleep, it's just not worth it......ahh, the joys of getting older...... hmmm ;-)
That's about all I have for now....Ritzywife out..................

Well........The Day Started Out Good.....

2011-06-16T01:23:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful day until about 5:30 this evening. My sister, sister-in-law, niece, her 4 kids, my mom and I visited my daughter for most of the day. We ate lunch and watched a movie together at her house.
My sister has had to go to Tulsa every day this week for radiation treatments twice a day. She had a lumpectomy about a month ago. Things are going very well for her. My sister-in-law has been going with her. Today was my daughter's day off and she wanted me and "granny" to come down for a visit. Well, I said we would but my niece ( my sister's who is taking radiation) daughter could not be left alone at home. So....... we would just all come down for a visit. My niece is the one who was diagnosed with brain cancer 2 years ago. Things were going well until last Thursday when she had a couple of bad spells and was rushed to the hospital. there was some swelling in her brain and we were all given a dose of reality. She sees her doctor and surgeon tomorrow.
It came time for the sister to leave to take her second treatment today and everyone left except for the neice's 2 oldest kids and I. We stayed for a while, let the kids play and we left for home. fast forward to 5:30 pm.
I had just walked in the door, grabbed some bacon and started frying it for BLT's when my cell phone rang. It was the son and the first words out of his mouth were "Mom, I have some bad news".......He proceeded to tell me that he had had a blowout and rolled his work truck about a mile north of Talala. I told him I would call my dad and uncle ( his bosses). How he came out of it with hardly a scratch and some bits of glass in his hair is beyond me. I turned off the fire, left everything on the cabinet and told Ritzy he could take the kids home and I was going to see our son.
When I arrived, the truck was pretty banged up, all the contents from the bed were laying beside of the road and the brand new ac (air conditioning) unit that he had just picked up in Tulsa was sitting beside the road and both rear tires of the truck were blown. Matt was doing ok, he was talking to the medic.
Needless to say, the ac unit as Dad said was "toast"..........My uncle told me to take Matt to an emergency room to get checked out. We left the scene and drove BACK (for me) to Owasso to St. John's. We were there just a short time before we were ready to go. I was impressed!!!
While all this was going on, I was also thinking about tomorrow, because I was supposed to be taking my niece to her doctor's appointments. Well, it was about 10:00pm ( we were at McDonald's finally getting supper) when she called to let me know that her mother-in-law was going to take her, because she wasn't sure when I would be back home, and I might be too tired.
Ritzy and I were supposed to have left for Wisconsin yesterday.....but, with the niece's problems arising I decided I may be needed here and...............I have had an uneasy feeling about leaving for the past week or so. I CAN tell you this...that if I had gotten that call while away, I would have been a basket case, which I proceeded to tell Ritzy and my kids.
You never know what is in store for the day......all we can do is handle what comes our way the best we can..............and with that Ritzywife is out!

Time Sure Slips Away

2011-06-07T22:06:00.000-05:00

I looked at my last post and it was almost a month ago..........geez, where does the time go?!?

I've been busy fishing, being a housewife and mother, taking care of church business and so on....
As I was sitting here at my computer I suddenly realized that tomorrow was June 8th.......The reason I almost panicked is that tomorrow is our son's (firstborn) 27th birthday. WOW!!! Again I have to ask "Where the heck does the time go?"
Our garden is doing well, my flowers are looking great....but this dry weather we are having is not good. We are needing some rain and I am not sure when it will come. It has been unseasonably hot so far here in Oklahoma. Gee, you just never know what to expect when it comes to the weather..........Ritzy and I are going to Wisconsin next week and right now it is in the 90's up there.... I sure hope it cools back down to normal temps before we get there.
My fishing is done for the year. The crappie have spawned and are now in deeper water. I ended up doing pretty well. Got lots of fish in the freezer and had all we could eat while fishing....even gave some away. I am going to take some up to Wisconsin with us and show them Northerner's how to cook fish and hushpuppies. hahaha!!!!
Well, its past 10 pm and I still haven't had my bath so I had better go...Ritzywife out..................

What I Have Been Doing

2011-05-19T23:16:00.000-05:00

I finally remembered to take a picture of the fish before they were cleaned. The last post, I stated that I wasn't sure when I would go fishing Tuesday this week. Well I got to the "fishing hole" around 9 that morning and left at dark. The son and I ended up with 60 crappie. Tonite we had 30. I have put so much fish in the freezer, I can't believe it. I told someone today that I'm going fishing now for the pure love of fishing and not because I need the fish. It will all be cooked-----you can bet on that, hehe!!!
We have caught between 250-300 crappie so far this year.
I have a sore spot on my thumb from dropping so many of them into the basket ;-)
I had to stop fishing this evening to go to a wedding rehearsal. Got back and cleaned the fish. It is now 11pm and I just finished eating my supper (pizza)......sure hope I get to sleep tonight.
It is supposed to rain late tonight and early in the morning. I hope it does so I will stay home and not go to the fishing hole, haha......I need the rest.......I woke up yesterday morning at 7 and went back to bed, thinking I would get up in a few minutes....the next thing I knew, my phone was ringing and it was the son asking me if I was fishing and I said no because it was kind of rainy outside. He asked if I had just woke up and I said "yes". He then asked if I knew what time it was and I told him I didn't. he proceeded to tell me that it was 10:45am. I could not believe I had slept that long. I guess I needed the rest........
Speaking of rest, that's where I am headed........Ritzywife out.........

Where Does The Time Go???

2011-05-16T22:52:00.001-05:00

It seems as I get older, the time just goes by faster......I saw the last time I posted on here and could not believe it had been a week already. I have been pretty busy.......fishing, of course. The fish slowed down on the biting due to the weather. It's about to get straightened out now, but the spawn is about over.
I put some more crappie in the freezer tonight and there is a"mess" in the refrigerator to cook later this week. I cooked some spoonbill (paddlefish) and hush puppies tonight. My brother gave it to me last week. It was pretty good but doesn't compare to crappie. It has a stronger flavor and a tougher texture. It almost tastes like chicken.
I have a wedding to play the piano for this weekend. My niece is getting married on Saturday afternoon. It's great to see all these kid's grow up and start their own lives. I think I am helping serve refreshments also.
Still pondering whether I am going to go fishing early in the morning or wait til the sun is up for a little while ;-)
Ritzy and I are planning a trip to Wisconsin later next month. I am looking forward to getting away and visiting our family up there. I really hope is is warm up there. It has been crazy here in Oklahoma weatherwise. It gets warm, cools off, gets warm cools off etc.....I am ready for it to get warm and stay that way....and with that Ritzywife is out~~~!!!

Still Fishing

2011-05-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Yes, the fish are still biting. This past weekend was great. The son and I caught 35 crappie on saturday. On Sunday (Mother's Day) we did not have night church so we went fishing and caught 29. I don't know what happened ....but today I caught only 10 fish. Really surprised me. I was looking to catch more. But, I can't complain......we are getting all we can eat, give to friends, and put in freezer to enjoy at a later date.
I was down there at 5:45 this morning and fished til 8 this evening....got a LOT of sun. I think I will "sleep in" tomorrow. I have some bookwork for the church to get done and I just want to spend some time outside in the yard. When the son gets home from work, if he wants to go...then, I will probably go fishing.

I had an interesting experience while fishing today........I was looking around and when I looked back I noticed a snake just a few feet in front of me. That snake picked the wrong rock to "sun" on. I started beating that thing senseless with my fishing pole, a couple of rocks, and a big stick. "You don't mess with Ritzywife" haha
My brother-in-law finished him off. I hate snakes!!!!!
There are 3 different reactions when a person is faced with danger.... Fight, Flight or Freeze. Well, my reaction is FIGHT!!!!! and that snake soon found that out, hehe!!
With that, Ritzywife is out......

Wedding

2011-04-25T17:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't been on here very much in the past couple weeks. I have been way too busy preparing for a wedding. Our daughter was married on April 22 at the Will Rogers Dog Iron Ranch near Oologah, OK.
We were praying for good weather. It had been stormy and cold and the day of the wedding it was supposed to be stormy. But.... the bad weather stayed south of us and everything worked out fine. The only problem was that annoying wind. We had to improvise on the table coverings.
Here is a picture of the newlyweds during their "first dance" as a married couple.

Everyone had a wonderful time.....but Ritzywife was "wore out"!!! I am just now recovering. But, you know... I would do it all over again. I guess that's just how mom's are ;-)
The next day was spent returning rented items. Ritzy got that job along with taking the couple to the airport (early)... I spent the whole day putting my house back in order. I thought I would never find the top of my table, haha!! Caught up on some sewing for the son, and all the other things that had been neglected due to wedding preparations. Now if this rain would just let up a bit so I can get back to fishing..We needed the rain, but geez.....
We did not have evening services at church yesterday. After eating Easter lunch at Granny's, I came home , crawled on top of my bed, covered up and slept the afternoon away. After finally getting up at 7 to take my bath, my son said that I would not be able to sleep in the night. Well, I had no trouble getting that sleep.
Now, we just have to wait on the garden to dry out so we can finish planting our tomatoes, cukes, and pepper plants. Oh yeah, and this crazy weather......i am ready for it to warm up and stay that way!!!!!!
Ritzywife is tired of these "cold spells"..... Ritzy just got home and the son will be home soon, so I had better get to the kitchen.....that being said, Ritzywife is out............

GONE FISHIN'

2011-04-13T23:41:00.000-05:00

That is where Ritzywife has been the past couple of weeks. I caught a fish on that new rod and reel I received for my birthday. So, I have it "broke in". Have been eating crappie and boy do they ever taste good!!!!
Yesterday I left the house at 7:30 am and returned home at 8:30 pm. Made for a long day, but I caught 21 crappie. YEA!!!
I only went for 4 hours today because the fish just weren't biting......only caught one and that was by accident. My sister-in-law came over and asked how i "hooked" my minnow, so I grabbed a pole with the intent of showing her, I started reeling in and realized there was a fish on it. The only fish I caught for the next 4 hours.
I did take a few days off fishing so Ritzy and I could take a much needed mini-vacation to Oklahoma City. We visited the 45 Infantry Division Museum and just "chilled" out in our hotel. We got to meet up with an old friend and have a meal and wonderful visit. I have known her since childhood. She and Ritzy worked together for a while in Perry, OK after he moved to Oklahoma from Wisconsin. (She is the one who introduced Ritzy to Ritzywife ).
I can hardly believe it is just a little over a week til our daughter's wedding. Everything is coming together nicely. I have been watching the weather and now it looks as if it is going to be a sunny day, a little on the cool side for this time of year but we can handle that........this is important because it is an outside wedding with no back-up plan ;-)
I plan to get up very early in the morning to go fishing. This is before a cold front/low pressure system moves in. The fish should be biting. After the system passes it will be a couple of days before the fish will bite again. Next week is going to be crazy.......I have wedding preparations to make......and some fishing to do!!!
That being said.....Ritzywife is out...............

Happy Birthday!!!

2011-03-31T22:49:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday....(#52)......WOW, I can hardly believe it. Time is so precious, it seems to creep by until you get out on your own and start a career or family. Then, it just seems to fly by. I still find myself wondering where all the time has gone over the past few years.
My family had a "Taco Dinner" and cake and ice cream for me tonight at my sister's house. We had good food and a fun time together. My brother gave me a red rod and reel "Crappie Rig" for my birthday. Red is my favorite color and fishing is my favorite pastime. I plan on using it very soon.
My sister-in-law and nephew brought me lunch and we sat and played a board/card game all afternoon. The nephew wasn't showing much mercy on his Aunt on her birthday....he won nearly all the games.......
It has been a wonderful day. Ritzy is taking me out of town for a couple of days next week to celebrate. This week was just too busy. I am really looking forward to that. He had told me a few months ago to pick out a place to spend a couple of days and nights. I picked Oklahoma City. I have always wanted to see the 45th Infantry Division Museum. Ritzy served in the 45th Infantry (National Guard) for over 21 years so I feel we need to go visit the museum to learn about the history of our great Oklahoma National Guard.
It will be so nice to just "get away" from the stresses of our normal routine for a couple of days.
I spent yesterday altering the daughter's wedding dress. Talk about stress....WHEW!!!!! I think we about got it where she wants it. The wedding is only 3 weeks away.......
I am probably gonna need a vacation after that too, hehe!!!
It is getting late and this birthday girl is getting tired so I better get my rest because as you know ~~I am not getting any younger~~Ritzywife out...............

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

2011-03-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe it. I didn't have a speck of green on today and nobody noticed. I did it on purpose, just to see if anyone would be brave enough to pinch Ritzywife, haha....
This month is flying by. Spring is just a few days away and the weather is finally feeling like it should. Today was beautiful, but I couldn't be outdoors due to a nasty cold that I acquired from someone. I was also busy, busy, busy in the house today. The daughter and future son-in-law moved into their house the night before last. That meant that I could FINALLY get my house back in order. I did not waste any time doing so. It took the whole day, but "mission accomplished"....
The only thing I have left is to arrange my sewing table and craft items in the storage/sewing room. That will be a fun job, tho.
The wedding is slipping up on us, just a few weeks away. We are all trying to see if we have forgotten anything....I am almost sure there will be something we didn't think of but, you know....it will be just fine in the end.
The fish are starting to bite and I have not had a chance to go yet. They are just beginning to come in to start their spawn for this season. My brother and sister-in-law went fishing tonite and only caught some small ones. My brother met the sister-in-law and the nephew at our house after work and they all went fishing. I was frying chicken strips for supper and realized it would not take much more effort to cook for 3 more........I realized brother was probably hungry after working all day. I called my sister-in-law and told her I had a "doggie bag" to hold them over til they got home. When they came in the house, I told them they may as well sit down and eat....we were just finishing and there were still plenty of side items left. So, they ate and we got to visit for a little while. I love doing things like that for my family.
Earlier in the day, I was talking to her on the phone and was telling her that I had a table that had some storage space in it that I wanted to give to the daughter because it was just too big for where I had it, but i needed a place to put my cookbooks and some other items. She said she had just what I needed and she and the nephew brought it out. It was perfect. Now my dining table is where it is supposed to be ( not pushed against the wall) and 4 people can sit around the table. I told you I had been cleaning, ;-) Before, there was that baker's table, my dining table, chairs, a file cabinet for the church and another small table in the dining room, plus some tote boxes due to the daughter's move back in November. Not Anymore.... The only thing in the dining room now is the dining table and chairs. YIPPEE!!!!
I should not be having any trouble falling asleep tonight, but we'll see. Ritzy is sleeping right now and I am about ready to call it a day. That being said....Ritzywife is out!

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

2011-03-01T11:53:00.000-06:00

Only 3 weeks away, and it is playing hide and seek. It warms up a few days then turns cold. Hard to believe it is March 1st already.... Ritzy and I have been switching between turning off the heat and turning on the A/C - turning off the A/C turning on the heat for the last couple of weeks. It's just that time of year in Oklahoma.
He told me that he was talking to his brother in Wisconsin last night and found out we have received a lot more snow than Wisconsin so far this season.
Ritzy was also telling me that his parents are doing fairly well. His mother fell and broke her hip. She had to have hip replacement . Ritzy's brother said the recovery is going to be very slow. We will be going up there in a couple of months. His brother already invited us to stay with him and his family. Gee, I sure hope it isn't as hot as last year. Their home does not have air conditioning. The week we were up there was one of the hottest times during last year. hmmm
Ritzywife is thinking about that garden and planting flowers....and let's not forget crappie fishing! I love this time of year!!!!!! Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, and it is beautiful......but my favorite time of year is Spring. I love watching everything come back to "life". My jonquils are up and getting ready to bloom. The only thing is - this is when we usually get a heavy snow. We will just have to wait and see.
I hope the weather cooperates with my fishing plans this year. We live close to a creek that runs into the Oologah lake. The bank is rocky and the crappie come up in there (if the water temp is right) to spawn. This goes on for about 6 weeks starting in late March-early April thru May. But the temperature has to level off. Has to make it in the 70's - 80's during the day and not drop below 60's at night. The way we are going now....it's going to be interesting to see how things turn out. If I am lucky it doesn't flood me out of my fishing hole. That's the bad thing about where I fish. If we start getting a lot of rain, the lake rises and floods out the creek. Then the only way to get to where the fish are is by boat.
The daughter and her fiance are about to get their house ready to move into. They have spackled the walls in the bedrooms, bathrooms, painted and are getting new carpet tomorrow. This has turned into more work than they had planned, but they are about finished. Still have to replace the kitchen countertop.
She is getting things ready for her wedding day, also. All this while both of them are working full time. Oh well, they are young....they can handle it ;-) that's why you do this stuff while you are young, haha!!
I have a Dr.'s appointment in a couple of hours. Its's that yearly exam every woman looks forward too......not!!! I just keep telling myself that tonight it will only be a distant memory, hehe!!
Speaking of tonite, after returning home from that appointment, I have to get supper started. Think I will go with chicken. Last night we had homemade chicken and noodles...and yes, the noodles were homemade too. The daughter and fiance came home and got the noodles out of the refirgerator and headed up to "granny's with them. She said granny (my mom) wanted some too........The future son-in-law said they were delicious.......
I also tried a new recipe out on hubby and the son. I saw the recipe in a magazine the night before. It was a German pancake. It tasted pretty good, and was so darn easy to make.
Ritzy told me last night that he did not know how he would have survived all these almost 28 years without Ritzywife's cooking ;-)
I thought that was sweet. He sure can put that food away tho, I just look in amazement at the amount he eats and stays so fit. He ate 3 bowls of noodles last nite!!!! plus dessert.....I did good to eat one!!
I am glad that he likes my cooking......I love to cook for my family.....even tho sometime's it can be a challenge, but, I like challenges too.....
Speaking of cooking, I am going to have a new stove delivered tomorrow. The stove I have used all these years doesn't have a see-thru door, it is also one of the cheaper models made. I thought I deserved a nice stove for all this cooking. This one has 5 burners on top, a grate all across the top, the middle can be used for an oversized pot or griddle, and better temperature control, a lot of other features and the most important (to me) a self-cleaning oven. I will probably be giving my brother a call to come help Ritzy install it. All it will cost is a steak (cooked on the Weber grill) dinner and a homemade cobbler. No problem for Ritzywife.....
Wow, when I sat down here to write, I thought I had nothing to say.....but as you can see, that was not the case.
Ritzywife out...........................

What Season Is This, Again....Anybody Know????

2011-02-17T13:08:00.000-06:00

On the last post was a picture my son took while on his ride to work. It showed the outside temperature to be -27 degrees. Here it is exactly one week later and it is 75 degrees. A 100 degree difference in only one week. WOW, this is crazy. Ritzywife is threatening to turn on the AC unit. It seems we have jumped from the freezer to the oven.......hehe!! All that beautiful snow is just about gone. I had about forgotten what my yard looked like... You want variety.....come to Oklahoma!!!!!
I am starting to get "Crappie Fishing Fever"..... You fishermen out there know exactly what I am talking about.
I was reading on a weather site the other day about what to expect in the coming months. They said to expect dramatic changes in the temperatures. They won't last long, but it will turn cold, them warm etc....
With the daughter's wedding coming up in April, that is not exactly what I was wanting to hear. I told Ritzy last night that I was going to wait until I know what the weather is going to be like before I buy my clothes for the wedding ;-)
Speaking of the daughter, she came into our room early this morning wanting a thermometer. We found it and she proceeded to tell me she had been up half the night with fever/chills, back hurting , rapid heartbeat, and just not feeling well. I took her blood pressure and it was normal, her heart rate was a little fast. She was holding a cold wet cloth on her face and neck to try to "cool off"... She said that some of her co-workers had come to work sick, but she didn't know if she had "caught" anything off them. I asked her again to show me again where the back pain was. After that, I told her that it was possible to have either a kidney infection or kidney stones. Told her a trip to the Dr.'s office was probably going to be needed. That is where she and her fiance are right now. He texted me a while ago and said they were waiting to take a ct scan, because the Dr. thinks it could be kidney stones. It sure is hard watching your kids hurting and not be able to "just make it go away"..... I was going to take her, but he offered and I figured they are about to start a life together and they need to learn how to take care of each other. So, here I am at home....She said she had a full day at work, but I told her that sometimes these things happen and her boss knows how hard a worker she is, so try not to worry about it. Just an observation here--My and Ritzy's kid's work ethic is one of their qualities we are really proud of. They both know their jobs and they do them well. Sorry for the bragging ;-)
After the daughter and her fiance left, it was around 8:30 am. I debated on whether to go back to bed, or just stay up. Well the bed won. I didn't get up til 10. Psst, don't tell Ritzy. Oh well, I will probably tell on myself tonight.
This warm weather had me thinking about supper tonight. When Ritzy gets home I am going to ask him to get the Weber charcoal grill out and fire it up. I have some steaks thawing right now. I am usually not a steak eater, but that sure sounds good now....Sure glad Northeast Oklahoma is not included in that "burn ban"....
I have a feeling this is going to be one of those days where at the end of the day I am going to be scratchin' my head wondering where the time went.....
Ritzywife out.........................................

How Low Can You Go?!?

2011-02-10T18:06:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it?!?!? Oklahoma is in the freezer....... That was the temperature (NOT WIND CHILL) here in Winganon this morning.....We have had the most amazing weather that I have ever witnessed. First of all we dealt with a blizzard about a week ago and a couple of days ago both record snowfall and cold temperatures. There is about 3 ft. of snow on the ground in our yard and drifts up to 4 & 5 ft.
The Oologah lake ( just a mile west) is frozen with about a foot of snow on top of the ice.
Even though all this is going on......it is still beautiful, so I am trying to enjoy it instead of whine about it. Here is a picture of the latest snowfall added to the snow we recieved last week:

My patio table and chairs are almost covered up and the swing by the porch is covered. That red thing peeping out of the snow is a lawn chair. Ritzy sure has had his fill of shoveling snow for a while. He was even at the roof shoveling snow by the porch to prevent ice dams.
Speaking of the lake ...here is a picture of the snow drifts ON the lake taken from the road crossing the lake looking to the north.

Ritzy and I made a trip into town to get the poor little birds some seed. We grabbed a snack and I asked if we could just go park on the road and just look at the lake for a while and eat our lunch/snack. Just a chance to be alone and out of the house. With all this bad weather and 5 adults in the house.......there isn't much "alone" time for anyone.
I hear it is supposed to warm up by this weekend....then we will be dealing with the slushy mess this melting snow will create. Ritzy and I are having to put off starting our garden becuase of the snow...Usually have our potatoes in by middle of February to first of March. That is just so hard to imagine.... seeing all this "white stuff" around.
Well, it's time for Ritzywife to get off here and fix this crew some supper.
Ritzywife out....................

2011 Blizzard

2011-02-02T09:46:00.001-06:00

Well, as you can see - we did get that snow. All 18-20 inches of it. The top picture is our a/c unit outside the back door, buried in the snow. the bottom picture is my porch swing on the other side of the back porch buried in the snow also.... It was amazing to watch it snow so hard and tso long. That wind was really blowing.
All the family was stuck at home yesterday. They are still here today. Ritzy shoveled snow in the driveway and sidewalk. He had to do the sidewalk 3 or 4 times. By the time he would get finished it would be covered again. We could not open our back door all the way til he shoveled some of the snow away.
The daughter's boyfriend (fiance) thought he would drive his 4-wheel drive to work and get the equipment to pull people out of the ditch. Well, he got stuck, but he was close to the place where the equipment was so he got the loader and graded a road, did a little work and finally got his truck unstuck and headed to the house. He was 3.5 miles away (across the lake) when he called and said he could go no further. There was a truck stuck in front of him and an emergency vehicle behind him coming after those people in front of him. I tried to tell the daughter to tell him to go with those people cause it was COLD outside. But NO!!!!! He gets out of his truck and starts walking in knee-deep snow to the house. All this is about to get the best of me. So I go to the kitchen and proceed to make some potato soup. Well the daughter comes in the kitchen and proceeds to tell me that she is going to go meet her guy. I do not like the idea, but I really can't blame her. I make sure she has enough warm clothes and she goes on her way to meet him. He is at the bridge at this time, about 2.5 miles away. I holler at Ritzy and tell him she needs a light because it is after 5 at this time. He comes after a light and I tell him that she is not to go alone. He goes with her and after a while I hear him come in. I ask where they are and he said his feet were getting too cold. He only had on rubber waders at the time. He gets his feet warm, puts on his army boots and heads back out the door. He meets up with them finally about a half mile away from the house. About 30 minutes later they all walk thru the door. I was a mess while all of this was going on. When that soon to be son-in-law walked in I told him how glad I was that he was ok, but then I grabbed his shirt and told him that if he EVER tried anything like that again, that Ritzywife was going to "punch his lights out."
After all that.... we all grabbed a bowl of soup and had our supper.
I hope everyone stays put today......&
I hope to get outside to take some more pictures later.
Ritzywife out...................................

Winter Storm

2011-01-31T00:00:00.000-06:00

We are under a "Winter Storm Warning" until Wednesday. Could see some ice and 10 + inches of snow.......YIPPEEE!!!!
I love snow, even if it means being "cooped" up with the family, haha!!!! It's also going to get really cold. I keep telling everyone that it is winter.....it's supposed to be cold. The only thing wrong with the timing of this storm for us is that Ritzy and I are going to Skiatook with my brother and his wife next Saturday for a music/comedy show. With the temps not getting above freezing and that much snow------we may NOT be going anywhere soon......
A very busy weekend around here for me. I do my family's income taxes online and they had me going at it pretty good all weekend. Ritzy and I already have ours back. I did some sewing for our Pastor & Family's new baby that is expected this week. I have some more sewing for myself lined up for this coming week while being "snowed in".
The daughter's wedding plans are going along pretty well. Now I just pray for pretty weather in April. Everyone is in bed and I am about ready to be there myself. Looking forward to a slow Monday after a very busy weekend.
At least tomorrow everyone will be out of the house early and I can get things back in order.
This bunch thinks I am the only one qualified to do this job, or the only one dumb enough to do it......not sure.....will have to get back to you on that...
I am really getting tired so.....Ritzywife out...........................

Another New Dish

2011-01-19T10:43:00.000-06:00

"Asian" was the choice this time. I saw an Asian cole slaw recipe that sounded and looked so good and pretty that I had to try it. I also found a pepper steak recipe that looked delicious. I even made home made fried rice for the first time. It all turned out wonderful. What can I say.... I love to cook and try new things.....The daughters fiance told me that he was "just going to have to make himself stop eating"..... cause he liked it so much ;-)

Fast forward to this morning........I was sleeping sooooo good when my cellphone rang. It was the daughter's fiance telling me that if I wanted to see a "great American symbol" to get my camera and head out the door toward the lake. There was a bald eagle perched high in a tree on the east side of the lake just 1 1/2 miles from the house. I told him that my sister-in-law, nephew and myself saw 2 of them the other day while crossing the lake. They were sitting on the ice. I had forgotten all bout it.

So, I got ready, grabbed the camera and headed to the lake. Here are a couple of pictures of this great bird.....He was on the opposite side of the road so I had to go by him and find a place to turn around. I was driving as slow as possible without scaring him so I could get a photo. The pictures probably could have been better, but even after 2 years, I am still learning how to use my camera, haha!!!! The photo of him "in flight" is when I slowed way down to take his pic but he was not gonna have it.......
All of this before breakfast..............and I am getting ready to take care of that...............
Ritzywife out.................................

We Have A Date!!!!

2011-01-13T12:49:00.000-06:00

April 22, 2011
This is the date chosen for our daughter and her fiance's wedding.....Good Friday.....Ritzywife is happy!!
The daughter wants just a simple outdoor ceremony. She has her dress bought, and it is beautiful..
She will make a beautiful bride....just a Mother's observation ;-)
I have been trying out new recipes again, now that the holiday's have passed by. One is a Mexican chili sauce (pictured) that I found online. It was a hit with the family. I believe it is the first "authentic" tasting Mexican dish I have made in a long time. It is delicious!!!!!

Made the homemade bean/cheese burritos to go with the sauce. The Mexican rice is the "Knorr" brand. I had never tried this brand before but it turned out wonderful. Taste and texture were just right.
Even made homemade sopapillas for dessert. YUMM!!!!
The whole family loved the food!!! That doesn't happen often when Ritzywife tries out a new recipe. All I can say is--"this one is a keeper"......
I am going to start a pot of soup/stew for dinner tonight. All I can hope for is that it turns out like "Papa's", my Dad's. The daughter thinks her Papa is the ONLY one who knows how to make good soup. Every time I make mine, all I hear is "this doesn't taste like Papa's"......I am thinking about asking Papa to stop and make the soup for me, hehe!!!
Gotta go get busy....Ritzywife out...............

Holidays Are Over......for now

2011-01-06T23:04:00.000-06:00

Here we are into January and the time just keeps flying by. Well, the daughter and boyfriend have set a date for their wedding......April 22, 2011. Gee, (we/she, are/is) going to have to get with it.   It is fun and frustrating watching her think and talk about what she wants. I am staying out of this until my opinion is asked for, hehe!!!
She wants a very simple ceremony with just a few people present.
I am STILL waiting on that snow........Looks like it's gonna turn colder in a few days.   Maybe I'll get my wish soon. Ritzy still thinks I am nuts for wanting the white stuff......but I don't care cause I love it!!!!
I have all my Christmas decorations put away for another year. It's always sad to see them come down and get put away. I love the Christmas season and all that is included.......always have......and probably always will....
It has been pretty busy around here. The days are getting longer.......only by seconds, but they ARE getting longer.  Looking forward to Spring and getting my "gear" ready to fish for the crappie that come into the creek nearby the house. Can hardly wait!!!!!!!
That's about all I have for now.......Ritzywife out.....................

What The Heck!?!

2010-12-28T18:32:00.000-06:00

What is going on around here......I sit here behaving myself and my two supposedly "mature" adult kids are treating and talking to me like I have "ticked" them off. I don't know what I have done.... If they want to act like that, they can go somewhere else to do it. No room for that kind of attitude in Ritzywife's home....
Ritzy and I have been more than generous to our kids, and sometimes I don't think they even realize what we have done and gone thru for them. Guess that is one of those "Wait till you have your own kids" experiences...
I love my kids, but they sure can be "pills" sometimes..
Yeah, I know Ritzy and I are partly to blame because we are still letting them live at home. But I would never kick them out and anyone who knows me that is not an arguable point... So, Don't go there!!!
I'll just try to be patient and let everyone "chill".........
Poor Ritzy is dealing with coughing and sneezing and being congested. He sounds terrible. Get this, he doesn't understand why I don't want him to kiss me or get close for a hug, DUH......I do not want that nasty little bug going around!!! I don't have time for it!
I WANT SOME SNOW!!!!!!!! I don't know if we will ever get any. Looks like the rest of the U.S. is getting all of it. Hey, don't forget us here in Oklahoma!!!!!
Well, I gotta go finish getting supper ready......Ritzywife out...................

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T23:31:00.000-06:00

I would love to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day. We started out the day going to my mom & dad's. After opening gifts everyone hung around until lunch time. After eating all that GOOD food Ritzy and I came home to take a nap and rest a bit. Went back to Granny's for dinner at 5. After returning home, the daughter, her boyfriend, the son, Ritzy and I opened our gifts. It's just easier on everyone if we wait until Christmas night. I have found that I kind of like it that way !! Well earlier in the week I had wrapped 2 gifts that the daughter's boyfriend had gotten her and I assumed that was it.
But.......while at Granny's, she and the boyfriend returned from visiting his family and she came in and went to the bathroom. After coming out we started talking and I noticed something on her hand. I asked her to show it to me and my sister even asked what it was and when she told us - my mom, my sister and I just started crying. It was an engagement ring!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!
That boyfriend asked her while driving down the highway on the way back home........he always said he was going to be different about it and sure enough it was different allright!
I am so happy, not only for her and her guy, but just happy as a Mother knowing her daughter has found the love of her life and now they are engaged to be married.........soon I hope ;-)
We didn't have any snow this Christmas season, but I guess I will get over it. I guess we had enough last year to last a few Christmases...........it is cold, though!!!!
Everyone seemed to be happy with what they received. As stated before, our main christmas gift was our trip to Branson. This was a very good year for us. A lot of memories and good times.......not necessarily "things". Those memories can't be taken away and will last a lot longer than any gift.
Now it's time to get ready for 2011. I can't believe a year can go by so fast.
We have church tomorrow and I had better get to bed to get some rest. I woke up at 4 this morning and didn't fall back asleep til almost 6 then got up a little after 7. Even tho I had that nap, I am still getting sleepy. Gotta be ready to teach my class and play that piano.....
That being said....Ritzywife is out........

Family Trip

2010-12-17T01:49:00.001-06:00

A couple days ago we all returned from Branson. We had all decided to take a trip to Branson and Silver Dollar City for Christmas instead of buying gifts this year. Well, it was a great idea. We had a wonderful time. The first day we were there (which was Sunday) was the only day Silver Dollar City was open while we would be in Branson. We checked into our hotel and then went to the park. Did I mention it was COLD!!!!!! An arctic front had come thru for some of the coldest weather of the season. Sunday nite while watching the parade and looking at all the Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City the temperature was about 17 degrees with a NW wind blowing at 20-25 mph. THAT'S COLD!!!!! But, you know what----it felt great sitting there waiting for the light show and parade and drinking some hot cappuccino. (I will post a picture when this darned Internet speeds up.)
Ritzy and I did our own running around while the kids did what they wanted some of the time, but we were all together most of the time. It was sad to see the time come to an end, but at the same time we were glad to be headed back home.
Wednesday, I took my truck to have some maintenance work done and was running late so I picked up a hamburger around 2:30 or so. By 4 pm I was NOT feeling well at all. I was nauseated and just not feeling good. By 5 I was chilling and could not get warm. So, I took my bath and by 6pm I was in bed with the electric blanket turned on High. I guess I got some food poisoning by eating that hamburger. Let's just say it was not fun. Yesterday I was only able to eat toast and crackers and drink some flavored water. The daughter's boyfriend asked why I wasn't eating last night and I told him that just the thought of food made me sick. I am now up at 1:30 on Friday morning eating some more crackers and drinking water. Maybe later today I will feel like eating again.
I still have some things to get finished before Christmas. One thing is that family calendar I make every year. The only thing holding me back is we have a nephew and niece expecting their second child anytime. My sister-in-law (the Nana) called yesterday and said that the niece found out during her check-up that she was dilated to 2 cm already. So, here I am waiting on that baby to get with it so I can finish the calendar ;-)
I hope to get to feeling better soon, because there are some goodies I like to make for the Christmas season........
Well, I am starting to feel sleepy again, with that Ritzywife is out...................

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T10:17:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe it is Thanksgiving . I just finished baking 2 pumpkin pies for Granny's. I tried a new recipe this year, saw it in the newspaper - Paula Deen's recipe, I figured if it came from her I couldn't go wrong. I had some leftover filling so I baked it in a small dish.  As I post this, I am trying that filling out on some warmed up sourdough cinnamon rolls....Mmmm.....yummy. I think they will like the pies ;-)
Well, ususally Thanksgiving weather in Oklahoma is kind of mild, mostly in the 50's - 60's range......but not this year. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory. It is 31 degrees outside with a small chance of precip.
Makes me think back to our first day of Spring........we had one of the biggest snows recorded.    Have heard a lot of speculation about our Winter weather this year, they are calling for normal snowfall, but more ice. That call for more ice makes me think back to 2007 and the ice storm we experienced while Ritzy was deployed with the Oklahoma National Guard. No thank you very much!!!   At least this time I would be a little more prepared......Ritzy would be home, and I have that generator.

Oh yeah, today is Ritzy's birthday. Happy Birthday Ritzy!!!!!!    He catches up with me in age....at least til March, hehe!!
This cold I have been dealing with is hopefully on the downhill side. This coughing has about "ate my lunch", and I am ready for it to be over.  Also, I have kept Kleenex in business.... I sure hope I can taste that turkey and all the trimmings today.......if not, I am not gonna be very happy ;-)
The daughter and boyfriend are eating Thanksgiving lunch with his family in Joplin.   They will be here this evening to eat leftovers at Granny's. I am gonna miss having them here, but it's ok. I have told my kids that I understand if they have to be somewhere else on the holidays. She already sent me a "text message" with her Thanksgiving wishes.   Actually, when I received it, I couldn't believe she was already up, haha!! She's gonna get me for that one.....
I went to Tulsa yesterday to help her box up a few things. It looks like they will be moving their belongings to their house on Sunday.  What they need while staying here for a few weeks will be brought here. As I said before, they don't want to move in the house till the floors are re-done.
I just want to tell everyone to go spend time with your loved ones if possible and have a great holiday! Ritzywife out..............

What Is Going On?!?

2010-11-23T09:45:00.001-06:00

Yeah, that is what I would like to know. As I stated in my last post, I had "offended" my daughter and boyfriend, without meaning to of course all the while trying to think of them. We got that all worked out and everything is cool.........but, here comes something else from a totally unexpected direction.....Sunday we observed the Lord's Supper at our church. Well. for the last 7-8 years Ritzywife has been responsible for getting everything ready for that, only because no one else would. No one said any different this time. Our attendence on Sunday night is really low (about 20). So instead of filling 2 holders of grape juice and 2 plates of bread I only did one of each and thought if we all (small group, remember) sat together it would be easier on the deacons to serve. Besides, there were only 3 present that night. As we dismissed Church Training and proceeded to the sanctuary I suggested to a couple of the couples present that it might be easier if we all sat together. One of the women spouted off--Well, what if we don't want to sit over there with you----which, really shouldn't have surprised me considering the source. I just said to just sit where you want then......Another couple came in and noticed that everyone was sitting on the same side and said something and Barbara, the one who spouted off said "Cheryl, told us we HAD to sit over here. I was up at the piano at the time hearing all of this complaining about sitting.....(good grief people, get over it) I could not believe it!!! Well, here comes the preacher and his family and guess what----everyone started telling them that I was telling everyone where to sit. By this time I had just about had enough and was ready to walk out. We finished our song and I went to sit by my Mom . Then, the preacher asked what was going on with everyone seated together and I raised my hand and said I would tell him. I proceeded to tell him that we all knew there would only be a few there so I only filled one tray of juice and one plate of bread. I was trying to make it easy on the ones serving. Ritzy and Dad ( I thought, were going to be serving). NOT!!!!!! Well, While telling him this , the ones complaining really started spouting things off about me saying that Cheryl said this or Cheryl made us do this. All lies.... All I did was suggest that it might be easier if we just all sat as a group. I turned at one point and said " I am about ready to leave", they may have thought I was joking but I was dead serious. I had just about had enough of this. We were in church, people!!!!! It seems the preacher forgot to mention that he was going to serve everyone that night. I was almost in tears at this time and VERY close to getting my things and walking out. All I tried to do was make things easier on the ones having to do the work. Well, that was not the end of it, forward to last night at home. The daughter and boyfriend came back for a great-neice's birthday. She turned 2. After the party we were all at the house and the daughter brought up the subject that her gas tank was on E and it was 15 miles to the nearest gas station. I looked at her and was telling her how dangerous that was . Not only for her truck, but for her in general. I told them to put some gas (that Ritzy had in the garage) in her truck before leaving. Anyways, I was trying to explain to her to always have gas in her truck. You never know what could come up. Well, the son and boyfriend were playing XBOX all this time and the son chimed in and told me to just keep my thoughts to myself because what I had to say didn't matter because they are gonna do what they want. Again, all I was trying to do was offer some helpful advice. I simply closed my laptop, got up and proceeded to my bedroom. Then the son made another comment about me leaving. I turned (almost in tears again) and told him that this was the 3rd time in a week I had tried to help someone and dang near got my head bit off-----I was thru!!!!! I then went to my room and sat for a while.
After a few minutes, the daughter knocked on the door and came in. I told her that I was not trying to boss her around and that she would have NO IDEA what I was going thru until she had a son or daughter with a vehicle and out on their own.
When I was younger, I would often wonder why some older people were so cynical and it would seem like they didn't care. Well, I am beginning to see why.......It would be so easy to just say "That's it, I've had enough of this" and never try to help again. But, I know me and I will probably never quit trying---and probably keep getting hurt......when it comes to my family. As for church, I have always stepped in to do whatever needed to be done, but I am now going to wait til I am asked to to a job. It's time for someone else to do thier job!!!
That being said........Ritzywife is out.......................

Being A Parent

2010-11-20T21:47:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, it's the best feeling in the world.......and sometimes you think "what is going on here?"
First of all I want to get the fact stated that I dearly love my family . But I receieved a phone call yesterday that just threw me into a spin. The daughter and boyfriend, and yes I said boyfriend, are moving out of their apartment and trying to buy a house. (Everyone who knows me knows how I feel about that, and I might add so do the daughter and friend). It is just about a done deal, but the timing is a little off. There is going to be a 2 to 4 week period inbetween the time they have to be out of the apartment and when they can move into the house. The house needs carpet replaced and a little work done on a wood floor. Well they did not want all their stuff in there to work around (and I can't really blame them). So...they are going to store all their belongings in the garage of the house, but.....they were needing somewhere to stay. Somehow (mother's intuition I guess) I knew this call was coming. Anyways, she asked if they could move back in after being gone for 6 months. I never expected the kind of emotions I felt as I got off the phone. I don't know if I was angry at myself for feeling the way I did or realizing that 5 adults in our home was going to be really cozy. Well, I was just trying to make things better for all when I made a call to my sister-in-law. She is the one who lost her mother last month. We had been talking and she told me that if the daughter needed somewhere to stay she was more than welcome to come stay in her mom's place (1200 sq. ft. of space) until they could move into their house. I thought this was a great idea because everyone would have their privacy, space and be happy. NOT!!!!! The daughter and boyfriend were offended that I would even think of such an idea. I said I was not trying to offend anyone or hurt anyone or make anyone not feel welcome in our home. I just told her that one of the things I heard most often before they moved out is how much they wanted their privacy. I was only going by what I had heard them say. Well, let's just say our home will be cozy for a while. But......I told them that I was NOT going to be anyone's maid, that they were to pick up after themselves, do their own laundry and help with the groceries. I think that is more than fair.
Like I have said before, I sure can "tick" people off, and not even intend to. I haven't heard from either of them today, they are usually here by now to spend the weekend.
Now to today.....I haven't had the greatest day, last evening I was "chilling" and could not get warm and today my throat has been sore and scratchy and I have just felt "yucky". I guess that this is the time of year to expect a cold. Well, at 7:30 tonight the son came in here and wanted to re-arrange the living room. We didn't do exactly what he wanted to do, but we did change things around a bit. I hope everyone is happy with it.
I still have to study my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow, so with that being said Ritzywife is out.............

When Does It Ever Slow Down?!?

2010-11-18T01:46:00.000-06:00

I have always thought that as you get older, your life slows down. NOT!!!!! I have been so busy , it's crazy. Can't even remember what I did Monday........Yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday. This is the sister-in-law who recently lost her mother. So.........Ritzywife had the bright idea to surprise her at her home with my mom and sisters bringing lunch. I knew this birthday would be especially hard for her. We would use the decoy of me calling her to tell her to be ready to go eat at an undisclosed place at 11:00 am, but instead we would all be meeting at her home at 11:00. That was the plan anyways, but my mom and sister were not going to be able to make it because something unexpected came up..... so we decided to hold her party that evening. Well....that meant I had to take her out for real now.........My youngest sister was going to meet us at Chili's and surprise her. We ate at the Pryor Chili's. The only thing about having the party at night was the fact that her son takes guitar lessons on Tuesdays at Claremore and they don't get home till about 8 in the evening. Anyways we got all the people contacted for that surprise party. I asked my brother to "call" me when they were a couple miles away. Yes, he was in on this from the beginning. Well I got the "call" so we turned out the lights, ( we were inside because her two older sons have a key to the house, haha) and waited. Everyone parked their cars behind the house and they were not visible. The door opened, my brother turned on the light and we all yelled.... {{{{{{SURPRISE}}}}}. It shocked her so much she just stood hiding behind the door for a minute. Yea!!!! We pulled it off. There were about 25 friends and family present. We all wanted her to know how much we love her and cared for her. It turned out to be a great time for everyone........
She gave me a few "I am gonna get you back" looks but it was worth it.....I hope, haha!!! Also, when she found out our brother was in on it she could not believe it. I was so afraid someone would let something "slip". Yesterday while we were on our way to and back from Pryor I turned off the bluetooth on my cellphone so it would not come thru my radio while in the truck. I also turned the ringer off. I did not want to give even a hint of what we were up to......Well, that was yesterday and now on to today. Started out getting ready to meet the daughter in Owasso for a movie and lunch. We had a great time. Got back home and had to go down to my sister's house to help cut and wrap 3 deer. The daughter's boyfriend and Dad got these while on a hunting trip to Nebraska last week. They were going to pay the processors to process the meat and I told the boyfriend that we would do it for just some of the meat. No sense in paying for something like that. So, after returning home as I said before I went to the sisters house and began helping. We worked till it was time to go to chruch. (7:00 pm) After chruch, I went back down there and we quit at 11:00 pm. Got everything done except 4 gallon bags full. We will do that tomorrow. That should not take long at all.......and now here I am at 1:45 on Thursday morning and I am feeling the bed call me. I am also starting to hit the wrong keys on my laptop. Time to call it a day......Ritzywife out.......................

Thank You Veterans!!!

2010-11-11T20:01:00.001-06:00

Today is a day we set aside to honor all Veterans. I just want to say---"THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE"......

We all need to stop and think about where we would be without their sacrifice...I have:
2 uncles who served during WWII
1 uncle who served in Vietnam
2 uncles who served during peacetime
a nephew who served in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)
and my husband who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)...
Chili's was offering a free meal for veteran's today so Ritzy and I ate a late lunch there. At the time we were dining, there were about a dozen veterans also enjoying a meal. It was very good..
My sister and I had a visit with a cousin (by marriage) today. The conversation turned toward--- how, as Christians, the way we raise our kids and what they choose to do anyway. The point was brought up that we should not be so hard on them when they choose a lifestyle that is NOT suitable for a person that claims to be a Christian. I believe that as a Christian a person should stand up for what they believe in and not give in to what is going on around them. Not to the point of a "better than thou " attitude, mind you, but others should be able to see our lives and see that our living measures up to what we "talk". If we see someone in our family or even in our church just throwing their life to the wind and letting it fall where it may.....it is wrong not to hold them accountable for their choices... and not how we are called to live. People always get hurt, whether it be adults or children when we make choices that are not according to what God expects. I am NOT saying we will always be perfect, but when we do "mess up" the thing to do is get it straightened out and live the way we profess.
This may sound like a lot of "preaching" but I really believe that the reason our country is in the shape it is in today is because we (Christians) try to "blend in , not hurt anybody's feelings, not be noticed and put up with peoples ideas and attitudes. Our country was founded on Christian principles and we have strayed so far away it is hard to see where we will end up. I do know if we stay on the track we are on now it will NOT be good. It's ok if you disagree, but the thing for me is-----I know what I beleive and who I believe in and I know what is expcted of me and will try my best to live the kind of life that will match my "talk"......
Ritzywife out.......................

Comfort Food

2010-11-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's what I call these chicken & noodles. They sure were good.... Ritzy, the son and I ate almost all of them.....
The wind was blowing pretty hard all day and leaves were going everywhere. I do believe Fall is here. We have a freeze warning here in Oklahoma tonight.
I was talking to the son earlier and asked about his making some deer jerky earlier in the week. Well, he had taken items out of the cabinet to look for some cayenne pepper. He found the pepper, but forgot to put the items back in the cabinet. One of those items, which was laying beside a dehydrator was a bag of chocolate chips. I was telling him that what I now have thanks to his leaving that bag out is .....a bag of "chocolate chips" and a bag of "chocolate chip"........that's right, about half of one of the bags melted into 1 piece. Guess I will have to get out the grater (or hammer, hahaha) when I get ready to make cookies.
Not too much going on around this household right now and that is fine with me........
I made reservations today for our family to visit Branson sometime next month. Instead of buying gifts for Christmas, we are all going to take a mini-vacation together and have some fun!!!!!! You cannot put a price on family or the time you spend together.....PRICELESS
It's time for me to clean my kitchen and start getting ready for bedtime.......Ritzywife out!!

Here It Is November Already...

2010-11-01T22:07:00.002-05:00

I can hardly believe 2010 is almost gone. The weather sure is changing, which here in Oklahoma is a good thing... I looked out the window today and the leaves were really falling. The ground is just about covered in leaves right now. You can certainly "see" & "feel" Fall in the air right now.
Ritzy and I were supposed to go to town to buy our groceries tonight, but I just didn't feel like it. Instead I cooked some cabbage rolls for supper. I have been "craving" these for a long time. I have never cooked them in our 26 years of being married. (don't know why, but..... Could be, because I now have the internet to access all those great recipes, haha).... Used to eat them when I was growing up. I started looking for recipes online and found a couple. Took those and "tweaked" them, added a few more ingredients and seasonings and..........wa-la.......Ritzywife's Cabbage Rolls ;-)
Below is a picture of them as they are finishing cooking on the stove....

They were delicious, not bragging just stating a fact. I served them on a plate of rice. Also cooked some acorn squash to go with them. I started Ritzy off with 3......Well, he ate those and went back for 2 more. After finishing those 5, he went back for 1 more. He ended up eating 6 of those things....Honestly, I do not know where he puts all that food, haha!!!! I will be making this dish again!!

I sure hope this week is "slower" than last week. It has started off that way....thank goodness.....

I must remember to go and VOTE tomorrow. I haven't had the tv on (on purpose) so I have been immune to all those campaign ads (that I hate)!!

I am gonna get the newspaper out in a while and go over all those questions that can be so confusing when you are standing at the voting booth. ----why can't they word those questions in such a way that a person doesn't need a college education to understand what they are reading?!?!

That being said, Ritzywife is out...............

Fall Is In The Air

2010-10-28T23:49:00.000-05:00

I guess that's the only way to explain it.   I have been cooking & preserving a lot these past few weeks. Today after loading the crock pot with a chuck roast I had to go to town on business for the church.
That roast smelled yummy all day!!   I did the laundry, swept out the house and made some cupcakes for the guys. Well, I bought a cupcake carrier for a good price and had to justifiy buying it, haha!!!!!
Made lemon ones, they were really good.
I texted the son and asked if he wanted B-B-Q or hot beef sandwiches. He chose B-B-Q . You might wonder why I didn't ask Ritzy. Well Ritzy will eat ANYTHING I put in front of him.  That son, on the other hand is a bit picky.........(makes for a frustrated cook sometimes).
I ended up making half B-B-Q and half hot beef. Drained the juices and added sauteed mushrooms to make the gravy. There were already onions and garlic in the juices cooked with the meat. (Yeah, the onions are what the son will not touch. I don't understand--he loved them until he turned old enough to learn what they look like.) Ritzy complimented me on the food. The son's compliment was an empty plate ;-)
After eating I was going to sit outside in my swing by the firepit. But........Ritzy was trimming some firewood that was too long and he would pick up a piece, lay it down, saw it, throw the small trimmed-off piece in the truck and stack the other piece. I thought it was going to take him forever to get that done so.....here I go into the house for my gloves------somebody stop me----- and I go out there to help him. Good-by fire and swing ;-(
After doing all he wanted we proceeded back to the fire when I realized that our temperatures are supposed to be below freezing in this part of Oklahoma tonight. I told Ritzy to go and pull the 2 pepper plants ( a bell and jalapeno) we have and I would dry them. We have already harvested a lot of peppers off these 2 plants this year. Was a good year for peppers!!!
I brought the peppers in and started working on them........I DID NOT forget the gloves this time!!!!!
As I sit here -- I hear the dehydrator doing it's job and I will have dried peppers by morning ;-)
They will come in handy in the coming winter months... I used the crushed jalapenos in deer jerky.
Tomorrow is open so far. Gonna take a day off and rest......Here it is almost midnight and I am FINALLY getting sleepy........that being said, Ritzywife is out..........................

YUMMY

2010-10-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

Even tho no pictures are posted, try to picture this: I am eating some iced sourdough cinnamon rolls that are just out of the oven ... they sure are good...yummmm
They are small so I put 3 of them in a bowl and told Ritzy I knew he would want 3 of them and he said--"what if I want 4?"   Well, that lets me know he likes them.
I also have 2 dehydrators full of venison jerky that should be finished around midnight. I made some the other day and it is just about gone. The daughter's boyfriend likes it hot so I used some of those dried jalepenos I fixed a couple of weeks ago. I ground them into a powder ( they were burning my nose as I was working on them) and added them to the meat mixture. He loved it!!!! I must say that if you like it HOT, this sure does the trick......
He sent me a text yesterday saying that he sure was trying to make that deer jerky last but he just could not stop eating it.   I told him not to worry cause I was making more today and would give it to the daughter tomorrow when we met for lunch........Let's just say, that made his day!!!!
***Ritzy just said---"Guess what hon......4 wasn't enough" and there he goes into the kitchen for more. I don't think that pan of rolls is going to make it thru the night ;-)
If he has a bellyache later it is NOT Ritzywife's fault..........
I can't believe it-----Ritzy just asked if I was going to finish my own roll, and I said "of course" so he went in after his 6th one!!!!!!!!   Dang, I'm gonna have to guard my food!!!!!
Sure am glad there are some Tums in the bathroom, hahaha!!!!!!
Last week was a very busy and stressful week. my brother's wife's mother was laid to rest yesterday. I played the piano for her "Celebration of Life" service in Claremore. Earlier in the week my nephew and I put together a DVD to play at the service.  He played the guitar and I put the pictures together.  He did a wonderful job playing for his "Granny"......He has only been playing since June, but he played "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" as the background music...... I also made 2 CD"s of songs -- one song played at the service and one at the graveside.
We then drove to Ft. Gibson for the graveside service.   On our way home we all stopped in Muskogee for a meal together and everyone in the resturaunt kept remarking about how big our "bunch" was. There was about 20-25 of us.......they had no idea where we had just come from......All this made for a long day.
I tried to get caught up on housework today. Tomorrow is the day I meet the daughter for lunch and a visit. My sister-in-law asked if she could join us and I told her "of course" so we are going to have a good time eating and visiting.
The weather has turned a little cooler here and it feels wonderful. Ritzy and I sat out by the pit fire for a while tonight enjoying the heat and watching the fire.
A few years ago Ritzy made a remark about all the flowers I was planting. I always tried to plant them out of his mowing path.........well.........I am about ready to remind him of what he said because he and his "woodcutting" are about to take over every spare  inch of space around here. Everywhere you look there is-----FIREWOOD!!!!!!   hahahahahahaha!!!!
People are coming to him almost daily wanting to buy firewood for the winter. ........ He has his regular (40 hr/wk) job and cuts firewood for something to do. He loves doing it..........just as a hunter likes to hunt and a fisherman likes to fish.    Well, Ritzy loves to cut firewood!!!! and Ritzywife is smart enough to stay away ;-)
I guess that's all I have for tonite......Ritzywife out....................

How We Deal With Grief

2010-10-22T12:02:00.000-05:00

This past week to 10 days has been pretty busy. My sister-in- law (brother's wife) lost her mother yesterday afternoon. But you know, she had her family all around her and she just went very peacefully.
The sad thing is - just a year ago this woman found out she had lung cancer. This is someone who never smoked a day of her life.  A short while later she had surgery to remove the cancer, which the doctors thought they did. But this summer she started not feeling well and only a few weeks ago she was not able to eat and just started going downhill. Went to the doctor and found that the cancer was everywhere. Only about a week ago she came home after a short stay in the hospital for some radiation treatments......and by Thursday she was gone. I could not believe how fast her situation changed. You see, I have known my sister-in-law and her family all my life. We kind of "grew-up' together.
The good thing in all of this is that she had her family all around her as she passed. Of course it was very hard on them, but they know that she loved them and she knew that they loved her. To me, that is the most important thing in our lives --- to tell our loved ones how we feel and not "hold it in"..thinking that it somehow shows "weakness" on our part if we show any type of emotion.........I told my nephews that it was just fine to show those emotions, because we are emotional beings......it's just part of who we are!
Through all of this, I have gotten a chance to get closer to the youngest nephew ( he is 15)..... When I decided to leave last nite, I gave him a big hug and told him that if he needed to talk, he knew how to reach me. He grabbed my things and walked me out to my truck. We hugged again and he said he had something to tell me....he said "You are my favorite aunt"...... Oh my goodness, that about made my heart melt ;-)
I told him how much that meant to me and said I was glad I could be there for him and his family.
My sister-in-law and her brother now have the difficult task of finalizing the arrangements for her mother's service. I will have the honor of playing the piano at her "Celebration of Life" service. I also made a Movie DVD of her life and that nephew (who has just recently started taking guitar lessons) played the background music. A beautiful song -- "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". He was playing that one night while I was over there and I told him that he ought to play that at her service or as background to the DVD. It took us a little while to get all those pictures scanned and the music just right, but we got that DVD all finished.
I made copies for all the family so they could have something to watch and remember their "Granny" by.
After all of this, I was pretty tired last night. I got home around 10. After taking my bath I got into bed,   looked at a few magazines and went to sleep. I haven't slept that good in a long time. I am quite sure that everyone in my brother's home slept good too. They have been "on alert" since this started over a week ago. The other night we were all talking and my brother was (whining, haha!!) about wanting a peach cobbler and his middle son was talking about the cinnamon rolls he had come and picked up at my house the other night, and that youngest son was talking about pie also. So, yesterday when I went over there I took some apples, my apple peeler, and the "stuff" needed to make an apple cobbler. I got it made and set it on the stove and I think everyone's mouth was watering. Around 3 or so we ate lunch and then everyone "attacked" that cobbler. My brother made the comment that the next time I had better make a much larger one cause that one went way too fast, haha!!!! I am just glad they liked it~!
There is a house that is for sale next to their property and that youngest nephew is trying to talk Ritzy and I into buying it cause he would have Ritzywife's cooking very close by. hahaha!!!!! I think the brother would like it too cause he was trying to "bargain" with me the other night. It got so bad that he said he would change the oil and filter in my truck for a pie.   I'm thinking I just need to show him how to make one, hehe!!
Speaking of baking, I have some sourdough in there that is going to be used to make some sourdough cinnamon rolls after while. YUMM, I can hardly wait!!!!! Yeah, my two guys here have been kind of neglected, but they understood what was going on. I put a chicken in the crockpot yesterday and it was done by the time they got home.   They both said it was good.....
Gee, I had more on my mind than I realized.....That being said.......Ritzywife is out!!

10-10-10

2010-10-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Hey, that's fun to write, haha!   Have been busy the past few days. Cooking, baking, cleaning, doing laundry, ticking people off.......oh, did I say that???
Sometimes you do your best and people still are not satisfied. I say "not my problem"!!!!!
Yesterday I picked green and red bell peppers & jalapeno peppers from the garden. This weather has been perfect for peppers. I thought about having stuffed bell peppers last night but then another thought came to mind. I have 2 dehydrators and have been using one to dry apples. I got the other one out and cut up the bell peppers and loaded them onto the dehydrator. Had about 50 or so jalapenos. I had already strung some up so I cut some of these in half and proceeded to take the seeds out, barehanded, mind you.....not a good idea!!!!!! I knew better, but I did it anyways...While loading the dehydrator with jalapenos I thought about making some cheese stuffed jalapenos to eat, so I saved about 15 of the biggest ones. I proceeded to stuff them with cheese and wrap a piece of bacon around them. Put them in the oven for 45 minutes. Well, while they were cooking something came up that I had to leave, so I asked the son to watch them. After I returned home, I asked if there were any left. The son showed me there were about 10 halves left. What was kind of funny tho, is that I was warned about the "heat" contained in these little peppers. I ate them anyways, they were a little hot, but heck they are supposed to be........I got to the last one and oh my goodness it set my mouth on fire. (must have been some seeds in that one)
I asked the son later if he liked them and he commented that they were so hot that he couldn't tell if he liked them or not, hahaha!! Well. he ate them, so they must have been ok....
Back to preparing those peppers with no gloves.....my hands seemed to be "ok" UNTIL I was cleaning my kitchen and ran hot water on them.   Oh, my goodness---my hands felt like I was holding them over a fire and I could not make it stop. I was wishing I had used those gloves.
I searched online for a way to "make it stop".........Found that milk and tumeric would work so I tried it. Soaked my hands for a few minutes, the heat went away and even when I took my bath it didn't return. My hands are still a little sensitive today, but I WILL NOT prepare jalapenos without gloves again.
This was not a fun lesson to learn, but a lesson well learned......
Anyways, I got all those peppers dried and crushed and now when I need bell peppers or jalapeno peppers in a recipe---I have them on hand!!!! There is nothing worse than realizing you need something like this for cooking -- and it is 8 miles to the nearest grocery store ;-)
My niece's kids came over for a little while this evening. We built a fire in the pit and had a weiner roast. It was fun.......The nephew came in the house to play the son's X-Box and his sister and I stayed outside. She was playing and I was enjoying watching her, then  she sat beside me in the swing and we were just talking about "stuff".........fun to do with a 5 year old ;-)
That about covers my weekend and now a brand new week is starting, I guess we'll see how that goes...
Ritzywife out..................................

Busy Week....

2010-10-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

This week has been pretty busy. I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post until tonite. Had a cousin's funeral to attend Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening we attended my nephew's birthday party. His birthday wasn't till the 4th but they had the party during the weekend. Saturday was also my brother's birthday, the little nephew's Papa. Brother wanted a peach pie for his gift, so--Ritzywife made him one. Sunday was church, then starts the workweek. Monday I took my sister-in-law to Tulsa to get her mom's (who is in the hospital) car. After Ritzy got home Monday nite, we went back to town to buy groceries. Tuesday I had to make a trip to Chelsea to get some stuff at the dollar store. Today my mom and I met the daughter in Owasso for lunch/shopping. Went to church tonite and here I am. Oh. I forgot to mention that yesterday I wanted to make an authentic Tex-Mex meal so I made the homemade corn tortillas, homemade chili/enchilada sauce and proceeded to make some cheese enchiladas. They turned out really good. I also made some pumpkin-cranberry muffins. Was gonna used canned pumpkin, but didn't have any.......but.......I did have a "pie pumpkin" that I was using as decoration in my kitchen. Gee, that little thing sure was hard to cut!!! I processed that and used fresh pumpkin instead. The muffins turned out great. I also started some apples in the crock-pot last night to make apple butter. Did some research online and found it could be done in the crock-pot. I decided to give it a try----and I sure am glad I did. The apple butter turned out wonderful! It sure beat standing at the stove for hours stirring..... My parents have about 30 apple trees on their property....it's not like I am going to run out of apples anytime soon. I will probably be making a lot of this butter. Tonite I started another crock of them and also a dehydrator full of sliced apples. They should be done by morning. Will be making a lot of dried apples too. The family loves to snack on them......
I was telling Ritzy that starting tomorrow at 6pm in Vinita they are having a display of part of the Vietman war memorial. This will visit only 6 cities this year. I told him that we should go to see this and pay our respect to those soldiers whose lives were lost during that horrific war. Makes a person stop and think about what is really important in life and who we should thank for our freedom.
As far as I know, Friday is open and I will finally get to enjoy this beautiful weather we are having here in Oklahoma. We better enjoy it while we can ;-)
Well now that I have cleared my mind, I think I can rest better. haha!!!
Ritzywife out.....................................

YUMM, YUMM

2010-09-29T22:53:00.001-05:00

(sourdough cinnamon rolls)

Here it is 10:30 pm and these are just out of the oven. I made some the other night and this afternoon after returning home from lunch and shopping with my daughter and mom, I decided to make some more. They are sooooo good!!!! I have a sourdough starter that I keep on the cabinet and ready to bake with at anytime....
Ritzy and I are eating some of them now. They are delicious!!! He has only ate 4 of them, so far, haha!!! The poor son just got home from work a little while ago. I put his supper (BLT's) in the fridge. He has eaten them but said he did not want any rolls. That kid must be tired!!!!!!!
I did have a very good day, visiting with mom and the daughter, we look forward to meeting every Wednesday.
The weather here in Oklahoma has been perfect----sunny skies, light winds, moderate temps. I say we deserve it after that scorcher of a summer we had.
Ritzy has been burning a fire in the firepit in the evening. It is so soothing to sit there on the patio in the swing and listen to and watch the fire.
A friend that I have not seen in a long time is supposed to come by tomorrow while on her visit to Oklahoma. It is going to be wonderful to catch up........
It's time to get the son's workclothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer......
With that Ritzywife is out.....................
(there better be some cinnamon rolls on that cabinet in the morning!)

Ritzywife's "Soapbox"

2010-09-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

Well, sometimes I just have to "vent" a little. This time the subject is those who have the mindset of "all about me".......While we need to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually it is never supposed to be "all about me".......
This is a hard lesson to learn, not fun either, but we must learn it if we ever want to be happy in this life. We make decisions in this life and then we better be prepared to deal with the consequences of those decisions. Something goes wrong or things don't turn out as we planned and we want to "bail".
The correct order is God first, others second and me last.......when we do things right everything else seems to fall in to place, not by chance mind you but because we have put things in their respective order. If we don't realize this little fact and decide anyways to make it always "all about me" when we get old no one will be around, because we didn't take the time or effort to "invest" in them. I don't know about anyone else but I cannot think of anything worse than being alone, and no one caring whether I was alive or dead.
That is why we make the effort to love our families and friends. Yes, sometimes it might be hard but our responsibility ( because of the choices we have made) is to love them and show them we care about them. Also, if our kids are still at home-- to make our kids feel that there is NOWHERE safer to be than at home with their parents and that their parents are together on EVERYTHING, and always will be there for them................
You might wonder why in the world I would write something like this, but sometimes a person just sees things going on around them in their family or friends lives and wonders how or why it ever got to this point.
We would all come out better in the end if we could just remember that it is NOT "all about me" !!!

Now that I am thru "venting" I can go on to other things. I baked more breads today:

sourdough english muffins

sourdough loaves

They turned out pretty good. While they were on the last rise the son came in and asked why I never made sweetbreads like cinnamon swirl.....told him I didn't know. I thought well - I have some cinnamon/sugar mixture in the cabinet, I'll just try something. The loaves on the right have caraway seeds on them and I had a plain loaf in a loaf pan, which is the bread on the left. I got the sugar mixture and put it all around the loaf in the pan and on top of the loaf also.

It came out really good. As it was cooling, the son asked if he could cut it and I said it really should cool more but go ahead. He ate a piece and said -"This won't be around very long ;-)"

I tasted it and it was really good!

Guess I will be making some more of that......

After baking the bread, Ritzy and I had a birthday party to attend. Today is one of our Great-Niece's birthdays. She turned 1 year old. When she was born last year she was 10 weeks early and her mama had brain surgery the same day. It was a scary time for all. It was decided the day before to go ahead and deliver the baby and immediately do brain surgery on her mama ( my niece) because of problems the tumor was causing.......Today, a year later, that little girl is doing just fine, and her mama is doing fine also. My niece still has a few more months of chemotherapy left, but things look really good for now.

This hasn't been without it's ups and downs and my niece and her family still need our prayers!!!!!!!

Any time "cancer" is involved it is hard on everyone.........

Even thru all of this we still praise God for this miracle in our family!!!!

God Bless my niece, her husband, and those 4 precious kids!!

Ritzywife out...........................................

Busy Day......

2010-09-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

Today the daughter, her boyfriend, my mom, sister-in-law, nephew and I all met at Olive Garden for lunch. Had a good time eating and visiting. The rain from Tropical Storm Hermine started here in Oklahoma.... sure is wet out there. Keeping that in mind, Before meeting at Olive Garden, I had to stop at Best Buy to pick up Season 6 of The Office for the son. Being the good mom that I am I got out of the truck (in the rain) and walked to the store. In my head thoughts of the cement being slick were going on so I was "watching my step" I made it inside the store and must not have wiped all the "wet" off my shoes cause when my right foot hit the cement floor, the foot just kept going and Ritzywife's buttcheeks kissed the floor. It was one of those "Geez, I sure hope no one saw that" kind of fall. I'm sure they did tho, probably got it on tape to watch and laugh over and over. The young man greeting everyone came over and asked to help and I told him I was fine. I proceeded to get up and go get what I came in for, that darn blu-ray........I just stood there laughing at myself. You know I have figured out that if you can't laugh at yourself, you are in pretty sad shape. I do have a feeling that I am gonna be sore in the morning tho. Have already took a couple of ibuprofin before bedtime.
I told the son what had happened tonight and I could see him snicker. I told him that I literally went thru "hell and high water" to get that darn blu-ray and he had better enjoy it ;-)
Got home and took a short nap before starting a pot of chili for church supper tonight. I made it in my new enameled french oven. I love this new pan. It makes cooking fun and is so easy to clean up.
Chili sure tasted good!!!! Ritzy has some for his lunch tomorrow. I sure am glad he doesn't mind taking left-overs for his lunches at work.
Tomorrow is the daughter's 24th birthday. Hope she has a good one.
Watching the rain on the radar on tv. looks like it's gonna get pretty wet around here (callin' for 3-6 inches). I usually prefer sunny weather but we need this rain so bad that I am grateful it's here. It looks like the HOT weather is gone for this season!!!!!! Come on Fall!!!!!
With that said, Ritzywife is out................

What A Beautifiul Day!!!!

2010-09-03T22:26:00.001-05:00

Today was perfect. It's one of those days that you think are never gonna happen after going thru all this hot weather in the summer. The temperature was in the

70's and low wind, and not a cloud in sight.

The only thing wrong with today was-I had to get up early to go with Ritzy to a Dr.'s appointment. I made up for it tho cause later in the afternoon I grabbed a nap.

Made beans and cornbread for supper. After eating, Ritzy and I spent the evening outside just enjoying the weather and each other's company. Earlier in the afternoon he had started a fire in the burn pit. We just sat there in the swing, watching the fire.

This afternoon I got all my Fall Decorations out. Decorated the yard and inside the house. Springtime is still my favorite time of year, but I do love the colors of Fall. I can hardly believe Labor Day weekend is about here. The past year sure has flown by.

Looking forward to Monday and the cookout and fellowship at Mom & Dad's. It's so fun to watch the little ones play. Gotta love that bar-b-que too!! The daughter told me that she asked for chicken. Just give me some brisket or baby back ribs and I am happy ;-) She also requested a salad that I make, so I guess I will be getting the ingredients needed for that tomorrow.
I think I hear my pillow calling...........and with that Ritzywife is out....................

Look What I Won Today!!!!

2010-08-31T22:45:00.000-05:00

Aren’t they pretty?!? Today I attended a meeting/luncheon for ladies in the Agriculture field at Cowboy Junction near Vinita. Since Ritzy works for the USDA helping farmers and ranchers, his office said I was more than welcome to come. I am so glad I did. I am guessing there were nearly 100 ladies present. The information, entertainment, food and fellowship was wonderful. After the entertainer "Willamae" finished her skit , which was about how the women are the backbone of the farm family and how it is to deal with husbands and kids, there was an older lady that asked if she could comment afterward and they said sure. She said that after hearing all that "Willamae" had to say about the life of a farm wife, that she was so thankful for her life. "Willamae" asked her to elaborate and we were all expecting this serious answer when the lady said ---- After hearing all this I am just so thankful that I do not have a husband or kids!" Everyone just busted out laughing...........including "Willamae".....
There were a LOT of door prizes and this was the last one to be given out. I could hardly believe I was hearing my name. Ritzy is also known as “Pondman” at his USDA job. The young woman handing out the prize said – “Oh, Pondman’s wife gets these, haha…”

I cannot believe what just happened as I was typing this. My son, who is in the kitchen getting his lunchbox ready for tomorrow just threw something through the window that separates the living room from the dining room. I felt something hit just below my chin and asked what in the world that was. He just started laughing and proceeded to tell me it was a green bean he saw in the refrigerator. I asked why he did not throw it in the trash and he said “the lid was closed”….I told him that my robe was closed also, but that did not stop him from throwing it my way. I am gonna have to think of a way to get him back. He better sleep with one eye open ;-)

When I first started posting tonight everything was ok, then before I knew it everything I had posted was gone, arghhhh !!!!!!!! As if that wasn't bad enough in itself , we are having a little bit of rain move in and the satellite is down. Let me tell you, satellite is not everything it’s cracked up to be.

Yesterday evening, Ritzy, the son and I went to Tulsa to have a meal with the daughter and her boyfriend. Had a wonderful time. Ate some fish (crappie) that my brother caught Saturday. Mmm mmm good!!!!! Tomorrow his wife,(my sister-in-law), Granny and I are meeting the daughter at Olive Garden for lunch. Boy, Ritzywife sure has had a lot of “meet & eat” this week, huh???

I am writing this on my computer and gonna try to post it to my blog when the internet returns . Hope it works..

Yea,,,,,it worked!!!!!
It's now getting late and I am getting tired so with that Ritzywife is out.................................

{{{OUCH!!}}}

2010-08-27T21:32:00.000-05:00

Ouch is exactly how I felt after being stung tonight. I was out in the garage looking for my Fall decorations. I picked something up and must have put my finger right on that darn wasp.  He proceeded to show me just what he thought about it. I let go really fast and proceeded to tell him just what I thought about what he just did. (Had to repent after that.)
After getting over the shock of being stung, I went in the house to wash my finger, then put cider vinegar on it, then made a paste of baking soda and water and put that on it. I was doing anything I could think of to neutralize that sting and the pain it was causing........Now my finger is just swollen to just about twice normal size and it's just annoying.
The last time I was stung was about 20 years ago by the same kind of wasp. I was picking up a pop bottle.  (I guess I need to stop picking things up, huh?)  The wasps were the large red and black kind. Believe me..................they hurt. I sure am glad I am not allergic to stings. I was home alone at the time. Ritzy was up the road cutting wood and the son had gone to town.
I gave up on looking for those decorations. I will either let Ritzy get them or I will get my leather gloves before I try again.
The weather has been wonderful so far this week here in Oklahoma. It's about time!!!!
I drove to Claremore today to get me some tacos for lunch and just drove with the windows down cause it felt so good.
I tried sitting outside in the swing tonight, but those darn mosquitos were eating me up. I think Ritzy and I will start a fire in the pit tomorrow to help keep the pests away.....while we enjoy the cool evenings.
I don't have much to do this weekend. I will just piddle around I guess. I really want to get those Fall decorations out. Maybe I am rushing the season a bit.
I have a new dishwasher to put in. I have had a portable one for 8 years and have loved it. I chose that one because I did not want to give up my cabinet space. But now I want a built in one. I am trying to de-clutter my kitchen. I guess I am  tired of walking around it and tired of hooking and unhooking it from the faucet, plus, with my new faucet I can't leave the adapter on the faucet like my old one. I have to change the aerator and adapter everytime I do dishes. I am afraid it will ruin the faucet.   My brother is coming over sometime to help Ritzy install it.
It will be so nice to have.........
I think I feel an ice cream craving coming on, and with that Ritzywife is out.......................

Finally, Some Relief from the Heat!!!

2010-08-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

We finally got some relief from this heat that has been in Oklahoma for the past 3 weeks. This evening a front moved thru that produced some rain. It cooled the air down 30 degrees. WOW..... It was sooooooo nice!!
It was actually in the mid-70's instead of the mid-100's.
We did not have church tonight so Ritzy and I drove to Nowata to the Sonic to grab a burger and fries. It was finally pleasant enough to sit and eat and just enjoy the evening.
I actually heard the AC kick off this evening. It has been working hard this past few weeks.
After eating lunch at church, I came home and took a nap in the bedroom. I like it in there because it is dark and quiet...... I don't have any idea what Ritzy was up to.
I was telling Ritzy on the way home that I actually do not have any plans this week. NICE!!!! Although I did talk to the daughter later and we discussed meeting at Olive Garden on her day off. Sounds like a winner to me. I look forward to that kind of "running around"...
I guess it is about time to go to bed for the night. Don't think that nap is going to hurt anything about my getting to sleep tonight ;-)
Ritzywife out..........................

Geez, It's Hot!!!!!!!

2010-08-14T22:59:00.000-05:00

Good Grief, it's been hot here in Oklahoma the past 3 weeks. We have been under excessive heat warnings most of that time. It's so hot that we have to wait until the sun almost sets to be able to sit outside and enjoy (if that's what you can call it) the outdoors. I don't even want to turn on my stove or oven because I don't want it heating up the kitchen. The poor AC is working hard enough as it is....
I told Ritzy that we were going to pick up supper tonight. I called Rib Crib and ordered a pound of sliced brisket and a pound of boneless chicken and some potato salad. Had some Grillin' Beans to heat up at home.. We drove over to pick it up and brought it home to eat. Sure was good. I love barbeque!!!!!!
Upon returning home we noticed some commotion on the east side of our property, but we just pulled in and came in the house. Pretty soon the doorbell rang and it was a young man saying that only 15 minutes earlier they were driving by and saw someone and thier "bike" in the ditch. They stopped and the guy was in pretty bad shape but he refused to have them call 911 because he had been drinking. So he had a relative come get him and the boys were watching the "bike" til someone else could come pick it up. That is the 3rd time this kind of accident has happened in that spot since we have lived here. These crazy people need to slow down and quit drinking and driving. Ritzy went over there and said there was stuff everywhere, but I guess they got it all picked up. I sure hope that person gets medical attention if it is needed. No need to mess around with that kind of thing....
Speaking of not cooking, I have to confess I did turn the oven on tonight. Baked some banana bread with some really ripe bananas.. We have pot luck dinner after church tomorrow and that is what I am taking. On the subject of Banana Bread.......the family usually gives Ritzywife the ripe (rotten-as they call them) bananas. I try to tell everyone that they are just ready for bread when it looks like they should be put in the garbage. That's why my bread always tastes good....(my little secret, til now)...Put the bread in the oven, went to take my bath and just about the time it was done, so was I.
I have just finished studying my lesson so I am in pretty good shape for the rest of the night.
Ritzy, the son and I laid new tile in both bathrooms over the weekend. It looks good. It lookes like wood flooring. Has a natural finish and not a glossy one, I really like it.
I think I have finally "cooled off" enough to think about going to bed. I cannot be hot and get in bed cause I will never get to sleep. I turn the thermostat down about 2-4 degrees before I go to bed so it will be nice and cool while I am trying to sleep and I have told Ritzy to not say a word about it!!! Hard to keep a 50-something woman cool enough -- I hear ;-)
With that said Ritzywife is out...............................

STILL AT IT....

2010-08-08T02:09:00.000-05:00

Plum butter cooking on stove

Plum jelly

Yes, I am still at it. We (Ritzy & I ) picked the rest of the plums from Dad's tree today. It is 1:49 am and I am waiting on the butter to cook down. It's been cooking since 8:30. I think it's about ready.
The jelly making was interesting tonight. Everything was going fine until I poured the first 4 jars, I was getting ready to tighten the lids when I must have pushed the board too far and it fell into the sink, sending 1 jar full of HOT jelly in the floor and one in the sink. I managed to save 2 jars. I was just standing there looking at the mess and pretty disgusted when I realized that I ought to be thankful that the jar of HOT jelly did not fall on me. It would have been very painful. So.................I commenced to cleaning up the mess. I think I mopped the floor at least a half dozen times to get all the sugar off it. It was nasty...
I cannot believe I am still up at 2 am. I have studied my Sunday School lesson while waiting on the butter to cook down.
I loaded the dishwasher and washed a load of dishes while I took my bath. I also had to put my kitchen rug in the washer to wash all the jelly off it. It is laying in the laundry room drying now.
I have had a very busy day today. I made the daughter something for her and the boyfriend's apartment. I also made him something to put in the bathroom. He has it decorated in a John Wayne theme.
After finishing those little projects I started in on the jelly making. I had not been outside all day, so while the plums were cooking on the stove I went out and sat in my swing for a few minutes. It was about dark and by that time it had cooled down enough to be comfortable outside.
Well I am going to see how close that butter is to being done, because Ritzywife is about done................
Ritzywife out....................

Jelly Making

2010-08-03T15:41:00.002-05:00

Wild Plum Jelly

4 hours of work.. (4 batches)

This is how I spent my morning and early afternoon. The 4 hours doesn't even count picking and preparing the fruit. Ritzy and I picked the wild plums last night. It was a lot of work considering they are about the size of marbles. We picked about 3-4 gallons of them. I had Ritzy back the truck up to the trees and I stood in the back to pick the fruit. At 8:30 I prepared the fruit and let it drip all night. Got to bed at midnight........whew.........Early this morning I started making the jelly. On an earlier post I had made some tame plum jelly, but this jelly turned out clear and beautiful.
It turned out that way cause I let the juice drip all night instead of just straining it like I did with the other plums. I just finished eating some on some buttered toast and it tastes wonderful!!!!! (I sure wish I had some of those english muffins made. Guess that is something to do tomorrow. I don't see them lasting long, because the son eats them about as fast as I can make them. ) I take advantage of the wild fruit because it isn't here every year. Most years a late freeze will get the trees. I don't think we had any plums last year. That's ok cause Ritzywife is making up for it this year. I still have another picking up at Mom & Dad's. I am going to make some more plum butter.
I tried something today unsure of how it would turn out, but everything turned out fine. I made this jelly without Sure-Jell.
I noticed the juice was very thick due to the natural pectin in the fruit, so I thought why waste a $2 box of Sure-Jell. I just measured out the juice that my pan would boil safely and put in however much sugar I wanted and cooked it to the "jellying" stage, which turns out to be about 20 minutes after it began to boil. Each batch took about an hour by the time I cleaned up the pan and utensils and got the jars and lids ready for the next batch.
After finishing the jelly today I had to make out the church report for tomorrow night's business meeting at church. I am finally finished with my tasks for today. I think we will do leftovers tonight for supper.........It's a good thing Ritzy isn't a picky eater, hahaha!!!!!
Ritzywife out..........................

How Ritzywife Spent Her Saturday.........

2010-07-31T17:13:00.000-05:00

Plum Butter

Plum Jelly

By looking at the pictures, you should be able to figure it out. I got up early, went to mom & dad's to pick some plums. After returning home I prepared the fruit for some juice to make some jelly. I ended up with 14 pints, (3 batches)....

After finishing the jelly, I had some pulp left and did not want to throw it away, so I looked up a plum butter recipe. It was too easy. I only ended up with what you see here, tho. I think I will go pick some more this week and make some more butter.

I remember as a child there is no way you could have gotten me to even taste a fruit butter, but now it tastes pretty good. I guess our tastes change??

Ritzy and I celebrated our 27th Anniversary yesterday. We had dinner at Red Lobster in Tulsa. I told him the other night that I was going to pick the most expensive item on the menu, and I did. Had the crab trio, sure was YUMMY!!!! Went by to see the daughter after we ate. Had a good visit with her and the boyfriend.

We have a birthday party to attend in a little while. It is "bubba & sissy's" combined. His birthday was last week and hers is this next week. He is 9 and she will be 5. Their mama got smart and just combined them. I don't know what we are having, but after all that work today, I sure am hungry. Ritzy has worked outside all day. I have only seen him a couple of times during the day.........Well, He just walked in to get ready for the party.

I have been hearing the lids on those jars "pop". That is the most wonderful sound for someone who cans and preserves food at home, hahaha!!!!!

It sure is hot out there, but we are starting August and this is Oklahoma ;-)

We got our electric bill today, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Not as bad as this time last year. That poor AC is getting a workout.

I guess it is about time to leave and go PARTY!!!!

Ritzywife out.....................................................................

VBS is Over for Another Year!!

2010-07-24T01:40:00.000-05:00

Friday night was the last night of vacation bible school. It was a busy week and I am tired. The kids were great!!! Our theme this year was a western one and it was a hit!!!!
We had our program on the last night. The kids did a wonderful job of singing and saying their bible verses. VBS is so exhausting, but rewarding. You might ask, if I am so tired - then why in the world am I still up at 1:30 am. Beats me, I guess I am just trying to wind down from this last week.
Tonight (Saturday), Ritzy and I have a nephew's birthday dinner to attend. His mom called last week and invited us and told me that he had a request. He wanted his aunt ( Ritzywife) to make him his very own peach pie for his birthday. (from those Porter peaches) It was also hinted at that everyone else wanted some too. So........today i bought 3 pie pans for those pies. That is what I will be doing later in the day. My sister-in-law is serving enchiladas and she asked me to make the pico-de-gallo to go along with the meal. I will be making that as well.
I was talking to another sister and she said that she was about out of peaches and had not put up any. I told her I had not put up as many as I want.......so that means I will probably be making a 3rd trip to Porter in the coming week. Porter is about 70 miles one way. Not too bad of a drive, but it does take some time....
Next Friday is Ritzy and my 27th anniversary. I cannot believe it has been that many years ago since we said "I DO"
We will decide what we are going to do this week.
I am finally starting to get sleepy, so I better head off to bed........
Ritzywife is out........................................

{{{{{{HOT !!!!!!}}}}}}

2010-07-18T23:37:00.001-05:00

If you don't like hot weather, then you are out of luck here in Oklahoma. This past week we were under an "excessive heat warning" and it still continues into this next week. You can't go outside without the sweat rolling off you in a couple of minutes. Ritzy is crazy and I told him so. Yesterday he was cutting some hickory wood over at my brother's place. He finally called me around 2pm to let me know he was quitting and coming home to mow the lawn. He kept finding things to do outside and I was a little worried. He kept drinking that water tho. Went thru several bottles of water........With all the late rains, the grass is still growing. By now the grass is usually starting to turn brown, but not this year. Ritzy is not going to get a break in the mowing .
He gives the hickory to our neighbor who owns the store/bait shop. He smokes meat nearly every day. We use some when we grill outside. I told him it was to darn hot to be running that chainsaw.
We start Vacation Bible School at our church tomorrow. It goes from 5:00pm -8:30pm every night. I told Ritzy that if he wanted dinner he was going to have to help at VBS. Actually we eat from 5 - 6. I already told the son that he was on his own for dinner this week.
VBS sure makes for a busy week, but it is so funny to watch those little kids.......
I had better get off here and get some rest, cause I am certainly gonna need it, Ritzywife out.......................

Disgusting!!!!!!

2010-07-10T23:52:00.001-05:00

These things are gross!!!!!!!! There had to be millions of them. The son was on his way to Owasso and told me to drive across the lake to see the mayflies. So I grabbed my camera and took off. We live on the east side of the lake. I could not

believe what I was seeing. It looked like the bushes and trees were brown and wilted, but it was from all the mayflies on them. The electric poles were covered and the Winganon bridge was covered also.

I stopped the truck and took some pictures. I didn't dare open a window or door or I would have been swarmed by them. They are nasty......

You can see them hanging on to my window as I am driving across the lake to turn around. They will cling to anything. Our security light and pole are covered tonight. It's dangerous to even step out the door, hahaha!!!

Some of them were still on my truck when I pulled in the garage, and that is a couple of miles. I was thinking about the insects and bugs today and was thinking that here in Oklahoma that we have Junebugs in May and Mayflies in June-July. Are the bugs messed up or what???? Should they be renamed----Maybugs & Juneflies ;-)

Yesterday evening we had my brother and his wife and son over for dinner. We grilled steaks and veggies and I made a fresh peach pie. The nephew said that he had not ever ate that much food before. I am glad they liked the meal. You see I had an ulterior motive. My brother and Ritzy installed my new washer and dryer...........finally.......the washer and dryer have been sitting in the garage since April, but no one's schedule could jive. So, Ritzywife tempted brother with a steak dinner and that did the trick.........

Back in February, while Ritzy was cutting wood, he lost his wedding band that I had given him for Christmas 2008. (3rd one, mind you)

We went back to where he was cutting and could not find it, so I just gave up. I had bought Ritzy a new one a couple of months ago and was going to give it to him on our anniversary that is coming up at the end of the month. Well.............I heard a commotion in the laundry room and Ritzy came in the kitchen with a silly look on his face and held up something and said "Look what we found under the washer!"......It was that wedding band..............can you believe it!?!?

I guess it had fallen out of his pocket when he laid his woodcutting clothes by the washing machine.

I guess he will just have a "spare".......

I painted the laundry room a couple of days ago. It has been the most neglected room in the house since we have been here. I decided that I was going to give it a makeover. It looks pretty good now.......I even decorated it. Now, I can say that every room is finished and that ought to last a while........

I better get off here and study my lesson for church tomorrow. We also eat a pot-luck lunch after services. We have no church tomorrow night, so the morning will be busy, but the rest of the day and evening will be restful.

With that said, Ritzywife is out!....................

Independence Day

2010-07-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a safe holiday. I thought it was going to be a "washout" with all the rain. The day before was terrible. Couldn't go out, it rained off and on all day. The 4th wasn't too bad, it was cloudy all day and I guess that's ok cause it kept the heat down. When we started shooting off our fireworks it sprinkled a little bit but thats all we got. We had good food and good company, can't ask for better.
I have been busy since returning from our Wisconsin trip. Geez, it takes a while to get things back in order........had to catch up with the garden, mow the lawn, do laundry, clean the house......the son did do a pretty good job of keeping the house, tho.
Ritzy and I have an anniversary coming up at the end of the month on the 30th, (will be 27 years). I don't know where the time goes.....My sister's anniversary is today, and another sister's is on the 22nd. We did not plan it, but all three of us girls picked July for our wedding dates, The first one in 1979, mine in 1983 and the other one in 1984. The brother had to be different and pick September ;-)
The daughter and her boyfriend spent the weekend in Missouri with his family. We had the pleasure to "babysit" Senor, her chihuahua. I'll tell you one thing, I realized that I have not missed him at all. He and I just tolerate one another, hehe!!!!! I told Ritzy and the son that he was their responsibility, that I was having nothing to do with him. They took pretty good care of him. Didn't hear him complaining, anyways......
I am sitting here thinking about what to cook for dinner tonight. I think it will be left-over bar-b-que and some veggies from the garden. Sounds easy.....Ritzy is not a picky eater..........
It's about time I get off here and fix me some lunch, with that ...Ritzywife is out........................

AHHHHH!!!

2010-06-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

That describes the feeling of our trip to Wisconsin this last week. It was so relaxing.....
We stayed with Ritzy's brother and his family. We were away from TV and internet for a week, and it was wonderful. I found out that I can survive without it, haha!!! Sure did have a lot of e-mails to delete tho..
Ritzy's mom was doing fine, but his dad wasn't doing as well. It sure is hard watching your parents age.
We had a safe trip, missed all the bad weather while on the road.
His brother's home is not air-conditioned, that was ok cause by night it was cool enough, plus I had 2 fans in the room, one at the foot of the bed and one on a table beside the bed. That fan was blowing in my face and I loved it.
Central heat and air are luxuries in the north and not neccessities as they are in the south.
While we were gone the son had cleaned out the refigerator, shelves and all, also cleaned the stove for me. He must have been really bored :-) Don't know how he found the time, having to work so much overtime. He's a good kid......and I appreciate what he did. I told him so last night.......
I have spent the better part of today getting things back in order, doing laundry, mopping the kitchen floor.....Ritzy and I buy groceries tonite, so I called the son and told him I would fix his supper and it would be in the refrigerator for him when he gets home. Fixed him a pasta salad and 2 chicken breasts.
I just heard the dryer buzz with the last load of clothes so I will be putting those away in a bit.
I can't believe it is almost July 4th. I am gonna buy some fireworks tonite. The son and I are going Friday to get some "big" ones. We always shoot ours off at Granny's.
The son picked some veggies from the garden. I am so glad when we can start eating out of the garden. I made a cucumber salad the night we returned home. It was yummy. My grandma always made it and I have always liked the salad. All you do is cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions and add miracle whip, salt and pepper and you have a nice salad. (I added some fresh bell peppers too)
I took a bowlful to our church picnic last night and there were only a couple of spoonfuls left.
I may cut up another one for tomorrow. It seems to be better after sitting in the refirgerator for 24 hours.
Am waiting patiently on the okra to be ready.............yummmmmm
I reckon I am caught up for the moment.....Ritzywife out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!!!!!

2010-06-09T00:00:00.001-05:00

Today (June 8) is the son's 26th birthday. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by since he was born. He, Ritzy & I just "celebrated" at home with a nice dinner and one if his favorite cakes......a strawberry-jello cake. The kid loves strawberries.
Now, if we could just find him a girl to catch his attention, hmmmmm.......
The daughter seems to be doing just fine living in Tulsa. She and her "significant other" are happy. That is more important to Ritzywife than anything.
I want my kids to be happy........with their lives, jobs, etc..
I watched Ritzy split wood tonite. He just does not know how to "do nothing"........I think he was having fun tho, playing with that log splitter.
I had quite a busy day. I had to make a trip to Pryor for the daughter, while there I shopped for the son's birthday present. I went back thru Claremore to stop at Walgreens. After leaving there it was lunchtime so I stopped at Arbys and got me a Turkey & Swiss sandwich. I decided to go home thru Oologah (the scenic route)....So, I just make one big circle. After getting home it was time to bake the cake for the son. I baked the cake, mixed up the jello and poured it in the cake, then set that in the refrigerator. I was ready for a nap by that time....so that's what I did, for a couple of hours. Then, it was time to start supper for the "guys". Hey, I just realized that with the daughter gone Ritzywife is outnumbered. I may be outnumbered but I will never be outsmarted!!! hehehehe!!!!!
Ritzy and I will be going to visit his family soon. I just hope it is cool this year. Last year the hot weather just followed us to Wisconsin.
That's about all I have at the moment........Ritzywife out...........................

"Happy Memorial Day !?!?!?"

2010-05-30T23:41:00.000-05:00

We all say that, but do we realize what it took for us to even "celebrate"such a day. Nowadays everyone decorates all their loved ones graves. That is a good thing I guess, but somehow I think people have forgotton the REAL reason we have a holiday called "Memorial Day"....It was originally a day set aside to remember all those who had given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today. We need to take a moment tomorrow and thank God for such brave and unselfish men and women who stood for and fought for their (& our) country, our great USA!!!!
Also say a prayer for those serving today......and don't forget the families left behind....
I think that sometimes it is harder on the family than the soldier. When called to duty, the soldier has a job to do and 100% of their focus is on their mission,,,,yes, they are away from their loved ones, but the family members left behind have to go through their daily routine with that family member gone. It can be very hard sometimes. I know because I have experienced it. I would not ever want to have to go thru that again, but I would not trade the experience for anything in the world. When I see a flag flying, it makes me think about all the soldiers, (past & present) and thier families who make that possible and how thankful I am for their sacrifice and service.
We are going to Mom & Dad's for lunch tomorrow. It will be the same thing we always have.....brisket, ribs, chicken. I am going to take some crappie up there and cook it. Have it thawing now..... Ritzy picked some cherries off Dad's tree tonite. After pitting them we helped mom get some ready for a cobbler and put a couple bags in the freezer. That cobbler sure is going to taste good with the vanilla ice cream my brother is bringing. yumm yumm!!!! As we were leaving I told mom that no "sampling" had better take place.......I guess we'll see, huh???
Its going to be pretty hot. Probably just sit around and watch the little ones play. They are so fun to watch.
May have to take a nap too.
Woo Hoo!!!! The daughter moved out of the house this weekend. She and her boyfriend are much closer to their work in Tulsa. I would have liked to see them married first, but they are young adults and make their own choices. Oh yeah, I must not forget her little dog Senor. I don't miss him at all. Anyways it's just Ritzy, the son and I now. Sure is quiet here.......
People in this house just don't understand the fact about me not missing that dog, but I just don't like dogs. Senor and I just tolerated each other, hahaha!!!!
Told the daughter when the dog went, his "chair" went with him. Her boyfriend asked what was wrong with the chair and I proceeded to tell him that the rocker-recliner was an excellent chair but it has had a dog sitting in it and for that reason I would not have it in my house. I think they think I am nuts. But, as they say---to each his own......it's my house and that's the way I like it.........Needless to say, Senor and his chair are in their happy new home..............
I guess that's about all I got for now......Ritzywife out..................

Love To Fish!!

2010-05-13T00:17:00.001-05:00

I wasn't going to go fishing today. I had to get the financial report ready for our church business meeting tonite. I also had to prepare something for the meal so I figured fishing was out for today. I had just finished the report and ate my lunch. And...............around 3pm my sister-in-law calls and says they are biting. Well, that's all it took for Ritzywife. Told her I'd see her in a few minutes.
I got down there and caught 2 two-pounders right off. They were big!!!!! I told her I was going to have to figure out something that would not take any time to fix for the supper tonite,(if i even went, haha!!).....
Well, around 5:30 I called my son, and asked if he wanted to come down there to take my spot and I would return after church was over. He came down there, I left at 6pm (church starts at 7), came home (only a half a mile away, thank goodness) changed clothes, threw some Schwan's fried rice in the microwave for 6 minutes and wa-la....I have a dish for tonite.
After church, I went back down there and the fish were still biting pretty good. It started to get dark and no one wanted to leave. My brother, sister-in-law, & nephew were down there, along with her dad and step-brother. My son and I also. These weren't small crappie we were pullin in either....
The spot we were fishing was on around the bank from where I have been fishing the last month.
As you can see in the picture, they are pretty good size. I put my (dirty) hand beside them to compare..
We stayed, everyone got out their lights, the sister-in-law's dad pointed his truck toward the lake and turned on his lights, haha!!!!
We started to hear thunder in the distance, but at 9:30 we started to notice the lightning in the south. We all loaded up right before the rain hit.
The son and I got home, took care of the minnows and cleaned the fish. While I cleaned the fish, Matt took pictures of the pretty light show.

Finally at 11pm I was able to go and take my bath after cleaning and putting up the fish, and cleaning up after the daughter and her supper dishes. We ended up with 18 nice sized crappie. Not too bad for an evening of fishing.
Don't know if I will be going tomorrow, I'll have to wait and see how the weather is. Fishing tomorrow nite is out tho, because the daughter's boyfriend wants us all to watch a John Wayne movie together. That sounds like fun to me. I like John Wayne.....
For now.........Ritzywife is out...............

Busy, Busy, Busy......

2010-05-06T00:32:00.000-05:00

I have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post.

Last weekend Ritzy and a friend of ours refinished my countertops. I had old formica which was still in good shape but it was {{{{{orange}}}}}. Dad put in those cabinet tops in 1972. They were built in the '50'-'60's. I was ready to see them go......Here are a couple of before and after pics. I also put in a new sink. One with only one basin. It is so much better that the standard stainless steel sink.
Took the guys the whole weekend, but they finished the job and Ritzywife was happy. I spent Monday finishing the cleaning and sealing the grout. Finally --- everything in my kitchen matches. That Orange had to go!!!!
Besides redoing the cabinets, I have been fishing. I got up a 5 this morning to go. Last night when I told Ritzy I was going to get up that early, he just laughed and said --"yeah right, you can't get up at 5 in the morning".........I told him that I could get up when it came to fishing ;-) I stayed until 10 this morning and only caught 5 fish. One of my nephews was down there and he asked if I wanted his fish cause he did not want to clean them and I said--You bet I do!!!!!! I don't turn down crappie. The daughter came down there for a little while and a little before we left she asked if She and I could meet her boyfriend in Owasso to eat lunch. I was hungry and that sounded like a pretty good idea to me so, We hurried home, I cleaned the fish and myself and we headed to Owasso. Before leaving the fishing hole, tho, as I was gathering my gear I happened to look in a hollow spot in the rock I had been sitting on all morning and a dad-gum snake stuck his head out. I thought, O my gosh I have been sitting on or by that thing all morning. I was ready to go!!!!!
After returning home I headed for my bedroom to take a nap. We ate supper, went to church and as soon as church was over I returned to the fishing hole. No one was really catching anything. My brother, his wife, her dad and my two nephews were down there and I just found a place next to them to fish. As the sun was setting, we were all leaving and one of my friends pulled up and we started talking about our catches. During the conversation he asked if I wanted the fish he had cause he did not want to clean them and you can guess what I said.............so at 10pm I was out in the garage cleaning crappie. There were 14 of them.
Yesterday morning I arrived just as the fish stopped biting. After a little while my sister-in-law's dad came over and said I must be bad luck.......I said- Gee thanks!!
Well, tonight I get down there and he says here comes Bad Luck Cheryl. I thought... it's gonna take some work living that down. hahahaha!!!! But as I was thinking about his comment while cleaning the fish I thought --Heck I haven't done too bad. Twice in one day I was given some pretty good sized crappie and they would make about 2 meals for us................so.............if you ask me, I think that is darned good luck!!!!!!!
With that, Ritzywife is out for the day...............................

Housework....is there ever an end????

2010-04-23T12:44:00.003-05:00

I have spent the morning catching up on housework. Vacuuming and sweeping the floors, unloading the dishwasher, dusting, got one load of laundry done, and gonna go put it in dryer and start second load.
All this fishing has me a little behind on my "chores"......I spent yesterday fishing and caught 7 fish. They weren't biting for anyone...... (I think it had something to do with the low pressure system that came thru late last nite and this morning.....) I called Dad and asked him if he wanted a "mess" of crappie and of course he did not turn that down. The deal is----Wednesday nite after church he was hinting to me that he was ready for some more fish just like the ones I gave him last week. They were cleaned, cooked and ready to eat by the time he got his hands on them. So when I caught those fish yesterday I decided I would cook them and Dad could pick them up on his way home from work, which he did. There were some left over for us. They sure tasted good. Nothin' like a fresh batch of crappie......
I was thinking earlier about going down there after all my work was done, but I think I will wait till this evening, so the weather will have a chance to settle a bit. Plus, I don't want to drive my truck down there in the mud. I'll wait till Ritzy gets home with his truck and drive it down there, hahaha!!!!!!!
I sure do have quite a "fisherman's tan" going. The past couple of times in the sun I have worn long sleeves to protect my arms. Someone asked why I didn't use sunscreen and I told them that sunscreen wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind when I was headed to the fishin' hole ;-)
Don't know if anyone believes it or not but with all this fishing and pulling in all the fish and taking tackle in and out of the truck, I seem to have aggravated my "tennis elbow". In a way it is kind of funny, but when the arm is hurting there is nothing funny about it. After the second day of fishing, I noticed my arm would hurt expecially if I was lifting or putting pressure on it. I then realized that I had stirred up my tennis elbow. I did not ever have a problem until 2 years ago when Ritzy was on active duty in Iraq that the son and I would mow the lawn. He would mow and I would do the weed eating. Handling that weed eater is what started it all. I finally found a "strap" that goes around my arm. So I ordered it and started wearing it. It took a few months but the pain finally went away........til last week when I started fishing. I am now back to wearing the black band around my arm until the pain goes away. It hurts to make a fist or straighten out my arm, and I don't have the strength to lift anything very heavy with that arm. (Fishin' was worth the pain, hahaha!!)
I wonder if Ritzy would let me take off for "rest and recuperation" leave till it heals.....hehehe!!!!
Well, I better go put those clothes in the dryer and start the last load washing if I want to get my work done for the day.
With that, Ritzywife is out............................

UPS & DOWNS OF LIFE

2010-04-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

I don't know how else to express it. My grandmother who was 89 years old in February passed away yesterday evening. I was at the "crappie hole" fishing when I got the call from mom. I was sad to learn of her passing, but she had lived a long and happy life, and most important of all........ she was ready to go.
I was telling one of my uncles today that I always remember Grandma as being easy talking and kindhearted to everyone. I don't ever remember seeing her mad. When I was about 12 years old she made me and mom matching red gingham aprons. I still have mine and it helps decorate my kitchen today. In fact I have something from both my grandma's. My other grandma made me an "Indian Costume" out of feed sacks and scrap material 40 years ago when I was in grade school and in a Thanksgiving play. It hangs in my and Ritzy's bedroom. Those items are very special to me.
The picture is of the fish I caught today.
I got to the fishing hole around 9:30 this morning and left at 5 only because I HAD to leave to come home to clean the fish and get ready for Wednesday night church service at 7. I also have one heck of a sunburn. Stick a fork in me---I"m done!!!!!!
I had decided that the fish caught today were going to be given to our Pastor and his family. They have 3 young children. Those 15 fish made a good "mess" of fish for them. I think they were very happy with them.
I think I had better stay home tomorrow and stay out of the sun. I look like a ripe tomato, hahaha!!!!!
The housework doesn't do itself, darn it......I will be catching up on that so I can justify going fishing some more......
My grandmother's funeral service is Friday, so that day is going to be a busy day.
One thing I will always remember about her is that she did NOT want to be called "Granny" and she let us kids know that little fact ;-)
I think the name "Granny" is sweet, but Grandma did not see it that way.........
That's about all I have for today.
Ritzywife out...........................

GONE FISHIN'

2010-04-13T00:17:00.000-05:00

That's what you could say about the daughter and I today. We spent the afternoon and evening fishing. I had a funeral service to play the piano for this morning. After that I came home and loaded up the truck with fishing gear to head down to the "crappie hole". We go to the bait shop across the road only to find out they are out of minnows, and learn that everyone else is out too. We proceeded to drive to Oologah Dam to see if the bait shop had some bait. They were out also. As a last resort we decide to go to Nowata and find a tiny bait shop that had what we needed. A 30 mile round trip to go 1.5 miles away from the house to go fishing. As you can see, we did pretty well. We ended up with 34 crappie which made a gallon of fillets.
Tonight I was supposed to cook fish that the daughter and boyfriend had caught over the weekend, but once Ritzywife gets to fishing and as long as they are biting, there is no going home till it's dark. So......everyone was on their own tonight for supper.
My nephew came down there to join us this evening and caught a few.
While leaving, he asked how I was going to clean them and I proceeded to tell him that I would use my trusty fillet knife. He told me I needed to use an electric knife. I tried that once and butchered the fish and didn't try again.
After I got home, he called and asked if he could come help me clean the fish, I didn't turn that down. I tried to give him some of the fish, but he refused so I told him I would give him a call when they were ready to eat and that was ok by him.......
There is nothing like hauling in a good sized crappie. I love it!!!!!!!
I should have put on the sunblock or wore sleeves, tho. I got a "little" red after spending all afternoon and evening in the sun.
After getting home and putting everything up, the daughter was still bent on frying up some fish, so I told her how to do it and while I took my bath she cooked. That fish sure tasted good!!!!!
The weather has been beautiful. This week will be perfect fishing weather. The crappie are just starting to move in and will be spawning soon, so there is a short time frame to fish in this "spot."
I hope to be posting more pictures of our "catches".....
Ritzywife out....................

HAPPY EASTER!

2010-04-04T17:39:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a blessed and happy Easter. Our church had a sunrise service and breakfast at 7:00am this morning. We all enjoyed meeting outside for a short while and then coming inside for a fellowship and breakfast. The food was wonderful. Ritzy and I showed up at 6:00am to help. I didn't do much because I have had a nasty cold the past few days. I sound terrible and it's been hard to sleep at night. The daughter came down with this last week and I think she passed it on to her mama. We had regular sunday school and worship services then dismissed services tonight.
After lunch at Granny's I came home and got on my bed. At 5pm I woke up. Ritzy has been cutting wood all afternoon.
Well...... I have all the "stuff" to start redoing my countertops and replacing my sink, but now I am going to have to wait until I start feeling better.
I am thinking about going outside and sitting in the porch swing for a while, but the only thing holding me back is the fact that the wind is really blowing and I start coughing if I feel any breeze at all in my face. I have even had to shut off my bedside fan at night.
I got the rest of my window blinds hung yesterday. I enlisted the son's help. He did a good job. I just handed him whatever he needed and he got the job done.....
Not too much else going on around here this weekend.
Ritzywife out.............................

Happy Birthday!!

2010-04-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

March 31 is Ritzywife's birthday....... I spent the day getting up late. going to Lowe's to purchase ceramic tiles for my kitchen countertops and eating dinner at my niece's house after church.
She called earlier just as I was beginning to assemble pizzas for supper and told me to STOP! She then told me that she was having enchiladas and cake and ice cream for me at her house after church. We all had a good time visiting and watching the kiddos play.
I am waiting on my new sink and faucet to arrive so I can start laying the tiles in the kitchen.
It has been really nice weather in Oklahoma this week. Sure has been windy tho. Didn't know if the warmer weather was ever going to get here. I hope it is here to stay............
I sure am tempted to plant some flowers, but am holding off for that last frost of the season. The potatoes and onions are growing good in the garden. I sure hope they don't get "bit".
Will be planting some beans, tomatoes, okra and cucumbers as soon as the frost danger passes.
I am in the process of hanging new blinds in the windows. I have always had mini blinds, but last fall I ordered 2-in blinds that look like wood. Have the ones in the kitchen finished. Still have to hang blinds in the dining room, living room, utility room and bath room.
Ritzy informed me that this was "my" project and he was staying out of it, hahaha!!!!
Not much else going on around here.......I am also waiting for the water to warm up so I can go fishing for crappie. Unless we get a lot of rain that will raise the lake so that I am unable to get to the fishing spot, I should start in a couple of weeks, if the temps stay as warm as they have been. But we all know how quickly that can change around here.
Ritzywife is out for now................

Spring Is Here.............I think.....

2010-03-24T14:38:00.001-05:00

Well, Spring started out strange. It started with a Winter Storm that gave us 8 or more inches of snow and temps in the 30's and wind chill in the teens. I was going to upload a picture but our internet has been so slow the past couple of weeks. It was 70 degrees the day before the storm and 70 degrees a couple of days after.
About the internet, I am so disgusted with our satellite service. They say that if a customer uses more bandwith than their plan allows , they will slow you down. The son and I were trying to figure out what in the world we had done to exceed our limits. It does no good to call cause they will always say it is something we done. I believe this is only a way to rip us off and not provide our service. We pay for the highest plan available and it is supposed to be very hard to exceed your limits. Anyways, I am ticked off. I am thinking about going with mobile broadband with my cellular company.
Last week one of my nephews and his wife had their first baby, a little girl. This is my youngest sister's grandbaby. It is now official. My two sisters and brother are grand-parents, and Ritzy and I are still waiting.........
I have been making some deer jerky in between baking all that bread. It turned out pretty good, so I hear. (Would post a picture of that if the internet was normal.) I just loaded both dehydrators and am waiting on more to be done.
I have been hungry for tamales. I have made them once before. They require a little work but they are certainly worth it. I bought the ingredients to make them last night, so in the next few days we will have homemade tamales for dinner. YUMMMMMY!!!!
We have potatoes and onions planted in the garden. I just hope it stays dry enough to plant the rest. This week looks wet tho.
After all that snow melting, the yard is a big waterhole. We live at the bottom of a little hill, and get all the runoff.
It is hard to believe that next Wednesday, I will be 51. Don't have anything planned, yet. May tell Ritzy that I am not going to cook on my birthday and if he wants to eat, it will be out.....hahaha!!!!
That's about all I have for now..................Ritzywife out..........................

Ritzywife's Kitchen......

2010-03-13T22:45:00.001-06:00

Ritzywife's kitchen has been pretty busy this past week. My sourdough starter finally got to the point where I could start baking with it. I cooked sourdough bread and pancakes. The pancakes were wonderful. We have already finished 2 loaves of bread. Also in the picture is a loaf of Norwegian Rye Bread. I have always been "afraid" to try bagels and english muffins, but as you can see I have "conquered" that fear as of today. The family loved them.........which is a big deal to Ritzywife.
Made plain bagels and blueberry bagels. I have always loved baking bread. Ritzy asked tonite when I was going to stop, and I told him to shhhh, haha!!!! He better take it while he can get it.......
Before baking all of this I was researching anything and everything on the internet to learn all I could. My poor brain was about to go on "overload". I finally just picked a recipe for each one of these baked goods and said, Here we go.........surprisingly everything turned out great the first time. Hope I can keep up the sucess........
The daughter has also been asking for dehydrated apples, so, as you can see I did that also. I dehydrated some bananas while I had the dehydrator going. I will be making some deer jerky this week. Who knows what I will come up with next.......
This is the eve before Daylight Savings starts. I always hate losing that hour. It seems like it takes forever to adjust to the time change. I do like that extra daylight in the evening tho.
Ritzywife is out.......................hopefully to get rested up for tomorrow after losing that hour of sleep.

Goodbye Aunt Judy.........

2010-03-07T21:54:00.000-06:00

Today started out well enough I guess. While we were eating lunch at Granny's the phone rang and it was my mom's youngest sister (my aunt) calling to say that another aunt, my mom's brother's wife, was not doing well at all.
Last October she found out she had cancer. They immediately started treating her. Only 5 months later and she is gone.....
I told Mom I would go to the hospital with her. We got there and there were a few people gathered around. After only 2 1/2 hours of watching her labor to breath .....the breathing stopped....it just stopped...
During this time I observed how different people handle.......death..........Some refuse to accept it, some can't believe it will ever happen to their loved ones, and others know it is just a part of life.
As for myself, it's hard to explain. I usually don't show much emotion at the time, but later grieve in my own way. I have always been this way and always thought there was something wrong with me. I don't believe that anymore, though. What I beleive is that each person knows how they can best deal with the situation and they act accordingly.
It was hard watching my cousin (her daughter) and uncle (her husband) watch their mother and wife slip away. Although she is not here physically, she will always be here in our hearts. She is in a place now where there is no more pain or sadness. she is home.........
I will always remember how the room lit up when she walked in. She was always happy and showed it. She always kidded my uncle and gave him a hard time in fun. You could not help but smile and be happy with her around. She could always find something to laugh about. Somehow, I think the way a person survives this life without losing their mind is finding something to laugh about, even if it is yourself. God gave us laughter for a reason.........and he gave us tears for a reason.......to grieve.
We will all miss her and grieve for her, but the best thing we can all do for our families and loved ones is make sure we are ready to go when the time comes.
After watching others tell her good-bye, Ritzywife walked over and gave her a kiss on the hand, told her I loved her, and thanked God for the pleasure of being her neice.
With that, Ritzywife is out.......................

Olympics Anyone???

2010-02-26T00:41:00.000-06:00

Has anyone been watching the Olympics. When they first started, I wasn't much interested, but now I am watching every night. Watched the ladies figure skating tonite and they put on quite a show. Ritzy went to bed and I just stayed in the living room to watch the sports. (Hey, isn't that supposed to be the other way around, anyways....)
I was about ready to go to bed after watching tv and realized the son needed something fixed to go with the chicken for his lunch tomorrow. So.......here I am in my kitchen cooking Rice-A-Roni at 11:30pm. Nobody but a Mom would understand.....
Now, here I am thinking and writing...........a dangerous combo....
Ritzy said he is soooooo tired of this cold weather. A couple of weeks ago I would have said I want more cold and snow, but after the kind-of decent weather we have had I am ready for Spring!!!!!!!
Starting to think about the garden and what to plant. It's gonna have to stop raining or we will have to "mud" everything in ;-)
I love planting and watching things grow. I hope we have a good growing season. Last year it took forever to warm up enough for the plants to grow. Hoping it's not that way again. Hard to believe in just a few weeks it will be time to start mowing the grass.
The whole crew is in bed right now (which is where I should be) but ever since Ritzy was on his deployment in 2007-2008 my sleeping pattern has gone haywire. You would think that after Ritzy's being back for a little more than a year things would be back to normal, but nooooooo. he still goes to bed way earlier than I do, & he has a hard time falling to sleep too. Hope I don't wake him when I go in there in a little while.
I have plenty to do tomorrow so I should be in there resting.
I visited my neice and her kids today. The oldest ( her son) was at school, but the three girls were at home. The baby ( who is 5 months old) was crying and I couldn't take it so I got her out of her swing. Well, her older sister who is a little over a year old thought I needed to be holding her to. I sure had a lapful. But they are so cute I couldn't turn them down. After a little while the baby's mama fed her and I put the other one to sleep.
The 4 year old was seeing how much trouble she could get into. I gotta hand it to her, she is doing a great job. this is the same neice who had brain surgery and delivered a baby on the same day last September. She is now finished with her radiation but still taking her cancer drugs once a month. I keep her and her family always in my prayers!!!!!!!!

Here are those 2 youngest ones, only 10 months apart, whew!!!!!

Ritzywife is out......................................

Another One Gone..........

2010-02-07T20:16:00.003-06:00

I don't quite know what to think.... Today after lunch at Mom & Dad's, Ritzy came up to me and asked if I noticed anything different. I looked at him wondering what the heck he was talking about, then he showed me his left hand. His wedding ring was gone. I just got this sad/mad look on my face and couldn't say anything. He said he was afraid to tell me last night and that he was waiting till I was in a "good" mood. ( What is that supposed to mean - that Ritzywife is moody????) He explained that it must have come off while he was cutting wood yesterday. He always wears gloves and it must have come off with the glove sometime during the day. He said he already looked in his truck, and in the gloves. We even drove to where he was cutting to see if we could see it, all the while knowing it was a long shot.
You see, Ritzy lost his original ring after having it for only about a year, while mixing concrete for my parent's sidewalk. I let that go for a while and bought him another one, after a little while he lost that one too. It had been a while and last Christmas (2008) after he returned from Iraq I bought him another one. Well, he had this one for 13 months I recon. What does a girl do, keep buying or just say to heck with it. I told him I was going to make him have one tatooed on his finger, or put it thru his nose,,,,,, ouch ;-)
You might say "Buy a smaller one" but I can't because he needs the size I get to get it on his finger. It makes me sad, but I will get over it.
On to other things, I tried to take a nap this afternoon, but Ritzy and the son saw to it that didn't happen. Every time I would start to doze off, one of them would come in the kitchen or living room and make just enough noise to wake me. I was not a happy camper. I have since gotten over that too.....
I sit here waiting on more snow, YIPPEE!
Ritzywife is out for now............................

Thankful......

2010-02-03T23:32:00.000-06:00

That's what I am. My neice had a follow-up appointment to discuss her latest MRI today and the Dr. told her he was very impressed with what he saw. No tumor growth. It will take a while for all the swelling to go down from her sugery and radiation and she will keep getting MRI's taken every couple of months. I am so thankful for her and her family. She is always in my prayers.
I had a Dr.'s appointment today also. My yearly exam. Everything went well and for that I am thankful also ...and the fact that it will be another year before I have to go thru it again, haha!!
I hear we are supposed to be getting some more winter weather in the coming days and weeks. Ritzy was telling me this evening that he was disgusted with all the winter weather we have had so far. (16 inches of snow) He has not been able to cut wood since before Christmas, and has people waiting to buy wood. Looks like it will be a while before we dry out in this part of Oklahoma.
Everyone (those young adults) waited til tonight to do their laundry and I am up to make sure the last load gets in the dryer.
One of my nephews' and his wife are expecting their first child in about 3 weeks. My youngest sister (the grandmother) can't hardly wait. When that baby is born I (the oldest of 4) will be the only one with NO grandchildren. C'mon kids....get with it!!!!
Like I have said before, they aren't even close........
That's about all I have for now.......Ritzywife out..........

More Snow....

2010-01-30T11:35:00.005-06:00

The snow has ended here in Oklahoma but not before dropping 7-8 inches of the pretty white stuff. Ritzy has already shoveled the walkway. A neighbor came over with a box blade and graded our driveway. The poor little birds are trying to find something to eat. Ritzy and I always feed them....so, they don't have to go far.
The daughter works at the Cherokee Nation Casino and Hard Rock Hotel in Catoosa. When she left for work Thursday she took extra clothes and accessories knowing she might not be home for a few days. The hotel puts her up if the weather is bad. She is hoping to come home after her shift tomorrow night. At first she was upset that she could not come home, but I was trying to get her to look at the positive side. She could work extra hours, be able to stay in a nice hotel FREE, not have to put up with us ;-)..........She has called a few times and I think she is doing just fine....Who knows, it might make her appreciate her family more,,,,,,,
In the picture is the store/baitshop/Ritzy's hangout, across the road. You can see my little penguin leftover from Christmas. I told Ritzy the other day to leave him up. I was hopin to get some more snow so he would feel "at home". Ritzy failed to see the humor in that......
Ritzy has been finding things to do outside, thank goodness. He drives me nuts when he is cooped up inside. He goes over to his "hangout" and helps the owner out with chores, sweeping, shoveling snow, drinking coffee,etc......if you look in the picture you will notice his red truck which means he is over there now. "Caught ya, Ritzy!"
Heck, Ritzy came in a little while ago and told me he would buy my lunch or dinner over there afterwhile. Ritzywife is NOT about to turn that down.
I don't care what anyone else thinks, I love the snow and the cold.
With that Ritzywife is out.............

Finally Out Of The Freezer!!!

2010-01-13T22:43:00.002-06:00

This past couple of days we have finally seen temperatures above freezing. I like the cold weather and all but I (and everyone else around me) was starting to get a bit cranky. I took the picture while crossing the Oologah Lake over the Winganon bridge. In the distance you can see the steam rising from the power plant in Oologah.
It has been over 10 years since the lake has frozen over like this. We still have snow in our yard. It's going away, but none too soon. Has been here for 3 weeks. Ritzy and I were talking about that tonite and he informed me that I was "crazy" for liking the snow and wanting it to stick around.
Not to much going on around here except that we are getting back into our "normal" routines after the holidays and bad weather.
Supposed to get a little rain later this week.
I haven't seen much of the neice's kids because of all the bad weather. I kind of miss them. We will have to pay them a visit tomorrow or Friday.
Now.....I will just have to wait for that next snow to move in while the rest of the family says----"Bite your tongue!"....I can't help it I love the snow!!!!
With that Ritzywife is out..................

Hello 2010........

2010-01-07T12:46:00.004-06:00

What a way to start the new year. Ritzy shoveled the walkway as you can see. The little penguin finally got some snow to stand in. he ought to feel at home. Its 7 days into January and the snow is still here. It's sure been interesting trying to stay warm. The woodstove sure feels good.....
We had a quiet new year's eve. The plan was to go Granny & Papas for a new years eve party to ring in the new year. We got up there about 6pm to eat chili. Around 8pm bubba and sissy started playing and I looked at Ritzy and he looked at me because of all the "Noise" at granny's and we both had that "let's go home and celebrate QUIETLY!!!!!! What is so funny is the fact that Ritzy sometimes complains about the noise that our 2 grown kids make at home( loud movies or music), and I told him on the way back home that if he ever complains about their "noise" again i was going to get him. It is nothing compared to the "Noise" those kids were making, hahaha!!!!
We came to the conclusion that my sister and her hubby and the kid's parents are just so used to the commotion at they didn't notice. After getting home and just relaxing I asked Ritzy if he still wanted those "grandkids" we are still waiting on. hahahaha!!!!
I was telling someone at church last nite that we were in bed by 9:30 and watching a movie that night. They could not believe it. I think we even fell asleep before midnight. It sure is fun getting older.......
Today and the next 2 days are going to be quite cold here in Oklahoma. I stuck my head out the door just a minute ago to tell the daughter bye and I sure am glad I don't have to go out in that.
Heck, it's winter.....it's supposed to be cold.......I'll just keep adding wood to the fire.....
With that Ritzywife is out..........

{{{{Christmas Blizzard of 2009}}}}

2009-12-29T17:26:00.003-06:00

Here in Oklahoma, you don't hear the word blizzard, but that's what we had on Christmas Eve. Between 6-8 inches of snow. Yippee!!!!! The only bad thing was that we were stuck at home on Christmas day. We don't own a 4-wheel drive vehicle. My brother was good enough to come and get us and take us to my mom's. His son took the daughter and her boyfriend. We were stuck at Granny's till someone took us back home. My sister and brother-in-law got stuck in their driveway, as did their daughter and family. (Bubba and Sissy) After about 4-5 hours of trying to get unstuck the neice had someone pull them out and the brother-in-law got his tractor and flatbed trailer and that is how they got to granny's for christmas. 4 miles away.....Let's just say this was an interesting Christmas....I was told that if I ever asked for a "White Christmas" again, the family was gonna let me have it......
Needless to say the candlelight service at church was cancelled.
Santa was pretty good to all of us this year. I was better than I thought this past year, haha!!
We are now waiting on some more snow tonight.......I love it!!!!!!!!
Ritzy thinks i am nuts.......
He had plans to cut wood this last week on his days off, well, with all this snow, that did not happen.
I guess I will just wait and see what the new year brings..........
With that Ritzywife is out for now...............

My Favorite Time of Year

2009-12-24T00:06:00.003-06:00

Yes, the days and weeks leading up to Christmas are my favorite times of the year. I love the anticipation of watching the little ones opening gifts, seeing their faces as they see what "Santa" has brought them. I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown by this year. I have been thinking about this time last year----Ritzy had just returned from Iraq, we did not know yet that my niece had brain cancer. Life sure throws curve balls sometimes. Everyone goes thru something...
An older man who I have known nearly all my life went to be with the Lord a couple of days ago. His wife is in my sunday school class. His funeral service was today, I played the piano for it. Mom, Dad, my sister and niece all sang. It was a good service.
I will be praying for his family over this Christmas holiday.

Back to Ritzy and I - we are still adjusting after his return.
Always keep our soldiers and their families in your thoughts and prayers......
I have a special place in my heart for these people who sacrifice so much....
I know because I have been there.......

SNOW!!!!
Here in Oklahoma we have a very good chance of having a "White Christmas" this year.
I love it!!!!! It is definitely going to be cold, as it should at Christmastime ;-)
I just hope we can get the snow without the icy roads.
We are supposed to go to my sister's (Nana's) tomorrow afternoon to watch her grandkids open their gifts. It is going to be fun. Tomorrow night at 8pm we are having a candlelight service at our church. Looking forward to that also.
Christmas morning we will get up and exchange gifts here in our home, then we will all go to Granny's for gifts and lunch. Mom usually has breakfast cooked when we all get there.

Ritzywife wants to wish everyone a

Merry Christmas

.............and with that I am out...

It's December Already......

2009-12-04T20:24:00.002-06:00

Well I don't have to wonder where the cold weather is anymore. It has finally arrived here in Oklahoma. We have the woodstove going good and the electric blanket sure feels good to Ritzywife at night.
My neice finished her radiation treatments last week. Her report looks good for now. She still has to take the chemotherapy for a year. The baby that was born early is doing wonderful.
I finished ALL the Christmas shopping yesterday. The tree was kind of bare and I could not stand it so I wrapped all those gifts today. They are now under it. I am glad it is done.....
Now all I have to do is wait on Santa. Ritzywife has tried to be good this past year......
We have put a new metal roof on the house, painted the gutter and trim. I have done a few more things inside. This has been a very busy Fall. Ritzy stays busy cutting and selling wood.
Our trip to Wisconsin is a "no-go" Ritzy decided he did not want to risk driving in any bad weather. His Mom said she was glad he had changed his mind. Besides that, the daughter started a new job and the son said he did not want to take off work. This was going to be an everyone go or no-one goes trip.
This is and has always been my favorite time of year as far as holidays go. I love Christmas!!!!!!
The decorating, the music, just the "feeling" in the air I guess.......
As I sit her I have my ear buds on listening to a christmas cd by Third Day. It is a good one!!
Anybody could be talking to me ( or about me ) and I would not have a clue, haha!!
With that Ritzywife is out....................

Been Busy!!!!!!!

2009-11-13T23:31:00.003-06:00

The past couple of weeks have been very busy. Last week I started redoing my bathroom. I just finished tonite. I love the way it turned out. Put up "beadbord" wallpaper and country bath border. Painted the closets dark blue with coffee trim. Put tiles around tub. But first I had to take off the old ceramic tiles. Did that tonite. We just finished cleaning our mess up. Ritzy cut and glued the tiles and I put them on the wall. Last weekend the family put a metal roof on our house. Looks good. Now Ritzy gets to paint the gutter. I already have the paint waiting on him. haha!!
I put new border (apples) in my kitchen yesterday. Now all I have to do is put new border in the living room. I am waiting on that to arrive. All this started when I decided to redo our bedroom a couple of months ago. My body is saying (((((enough already))))).....
I cannot beleive it is November already. The weather still feels like summer. I think it is supposed to cool off in a couple of days, tho.
We are planning a trip to Wisconsin with the kids in December, weather permitting.
We have never visited during the "holidays" all these years we have been married. Ritzy was always afraid of having to drive in bad weather. Ritzy, the kids and I discussed this trip as being our Christmas present. You get to a point and receiving "things" doesn't matter near as much as spending time with family. You never know how long you have with them.
My neice has only 2 weeks of her radiation treatment left. She was saying today that on her birthday, November 30, they will be taking an MRI to see the progress of her treatments. I told her it would be a wonderful birthday present not to have any of that nasty thing left.
I have gone with her a couple of times to watch the kids while she takes her treatment. It only lasts 10-15 minutes. We just stay in the car and I play with the kiddos.
WOW, I have "nothing" planned for tomorrow. What will I do???????
I'm almost sure something will come up. It always does.....
I'll be giving this body a rest, I guess....sounds good!!!
It is getting late so I better go.
Ritzywife out!

Slow Internet.........................

2009-10-24T00:10:00.002-05:00

I know it has been awhile but our internet has been very slow. It would take a long time for the pages to load and I just didn't have the patience to wait. It is still not as fast as it should be. It's all because of this thing called "Fair Access". We have satellite internet and if you use too much bandwidth they slow you down. I think it "stinks", but what can ya do???? We are paying for it, we should get to use it....Enough of that.....
My neice has just finished her second week of radiation and chemotherapy. The doctors told her that everything is looking "good". The baby is doing great.
She weighs 6 1/2 pounds and is 20 inches long. I have not been around the baby since she was able to come home because last week I came down with a cold. I sure wasn't going to get her sick. I can't wait till I am over this so I can hold her. Ritzy can't wait either because my night coughing keeps him (and me) awake...
It has been wet and cloudy for a while and I am ready to see a sunny day. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.
It is after midnight and I am wide awake. Could be because of that frozen coffee I drank around 8 tonite ;-)
The daughter was telling me about them and I had her get me one on her way home from work tonite. Quik Trip has them. It sure was good, but I am paying for it now. I went to bed and tried to fall asleep, but that wasn't working so here I am........
Ritzy and I bought some new furniture and it was delivered yesterday. I love it!!!!
A large couch, a chair and 1/2 and a large ottoman. NICE!!!!!!
This should last Ritzy and I quite a while....."it better as much as I spent on it, haha!!"
I have already told those 2 adult kids no eating, drinking, or dogs on it....I expect them to follow the rules...
We saved the old couch, for whoever moves out first, hahaha!!!!! nothing really wrong with it except it reclined on each end and was smaller than the new one. I was ready for a real sofa.....
I was telling the daughter that we have enough furniture in our garage to furnish a small apartment, hint, hint.........
Ritzy has been busy cutting and selling wood. Wow, that big woodpile dwindled to almost nothing the past couple of weeks. People are getting ready for winter.
My sister's and neice's friends are having a benefit supper at our church for the neice tomorrow night which I hope does well. I told Ritzy that is where we are going for our supper. (I smarter than I look, haha.) That way - I don't have to cook or clean my kitchen.......
This is about all I have for now. Hopefully my next post won't take as long....
Ritzywife out!

My Neice.........

2009-09-29T21:43:00.003-05:00

My neice is doing ok after her surgery. She still has to talk slow and sometimes can't think of the word she is trying to say. A BIG difference frome the way she used to be. The baby, a little girl, is still in the hospital. She is finally starting to drink from a bottle. We are hoping that by the end of the week she will get to come home. I learned today that my neice has Astrocytoma - grade III cancer in her brain. That is not good at all. She has been to the dr.'s who will be treating her the past 2 days to set up a treatment plan. She goes to get the staples out Friday and next Wednesday she starts 6 weeks of Radiation 5 days a week. She will also be taking a chemotherapy pill for a year. This is going to be a long haul for everyone. I realize that sometimes healing doesn't take place. God never promised it would. What He does promise is that He will be there to help us through whatever happens. I am going to leave it at that.
It has been busy around here. We were either going to the hospital or down to my sister's or babysitting here at home the past few weeks.
I still cannot believe this is happening.
She is the first grand-child of our immediate family. Of course I spoiled her rotten when she was little. She was 4 years old when Ritzy and I married. We have always been close. I could always tell her what I thought, good or bad. Granny & Papa have 20 grand, great-grandchildren now. No thanks to my two kids ;-) I wish they would contribute their part, haha!!!!!
On to other things............the weather here in Oklahoma has been wonderful lately!!!! I know it won't last, but it will be hard to see it turn colder.
I think with the weather pattern we have had we are due for a beautiful Fall. I see the leaves on the trees turning and it is really pretty.
Ritzy is talking about bringing some wood up to the house to prepare for the cold weather.
This looks to be a busy week also, and with that Ritzywife is out.............

Life's Curve Balls

2009-09-19T10:54:00.002-05:00

I don't know how else to say it. What do you do????
My neice just delivered her baby 9 weeks early. Baby weighed just a little over 4 lbs. She is doing very well. As for the neice, not so hot. During the pregnancy she learned she had a "mass" in her brain. The plan was to let the baby be born and then do a biopsy on the mass. Well that did not happen. Tuesday she was having a bad headache and her baby doctor suggested a ct scan. It showed the mass had grown significantly in the past couple of months, so......change of plans. Wednesday, they put the neice out, delivered the baby by c-section, and immedietly went to brain surgery. The surgeon told us ge got "all he could" (maybe half to 3/4 of the tumor) without hurting her. She was still having a few problems thinking and talking, dont know if that is due to the tumor itself, the surgery or the swelling, but Ritzy and I went to visit her last night and she was not doing well at all. Could not think,or tell us where she was and had a very limited vocabulary. I was more than a little worried. We found out this morning that the mass is malignant cancer. Geez, she is only 28 years old with a husband, 8 yr old son and daughters - ages--4, 10 months and newborn.
This Aunt is ticked off and that is putting it nicely!!!!!!!!!!!
We will be pulling together as a family and helping with the kids or neice or whatever. I think they are going to send her to Houston soon for treatment.
That is about all I have for now.
Ritzywife is out!!!

A SAD REMINDER................

2009-09-05T11:07:00.002-05:00

While catching up on news today I saw an article about an AP photographer taking a picture of a Marine in his final moments. A lot of people, including our Secretary of Defense had a problem with the publication of this photo. As I sat here and looked at the photo I was saddened that this young man lost his life. Some might say he knew this could happen when he enlisted. Yes, he did, but not for such a cause as this. I stopped and said a prayer for his family, I was surprised that it caused so much emotion in me. I guess being an army wife all these years has caused me to care maybe a little more, I don't know.....
As for the photo, I believe it should be published along with others so people can see the reality of what war brings. WAR = DEATH, that's the bottom line and if you don't have anyone affected then you have nothing to lose. Those who have loved ones fighting in this war have everything to lose.
What are we really doing over there anyway. Those people are never going to change and what right do we have to invade their country and take over when we haven't done such a "hot" job of our own. Yes, there needed to be some repercussions about 9/11 but we did NOT go about it the right way.
On to better things, life does still go on here in "another world"......I did get that bedroom papered and loved the way it turned out. Got it done before Ritzy got home from work, just barely...... I laid tile in the kitchen and have been doing some VERY heavy cleaning this past week. It felt good to get all that done. While Ritzy was gone I just did not care about anything and he has been back almost a year now and I just now have felt like doing all this work on the house. Pretty soon we will be putting a new roof on. It will be a metal one. That ought to be fun ;-)
This is Labor Day Weekend and the "last" summer holiday. I am sad to see the days getting shorter (unlike last year when I could not wait until Fall cause that was when Ritzy was returning home from Iraq) and the leaves start to fall from the trees. I know it won't be long until the trees and bushes will be bare.
Monday we will be eating Bar-b-que at Mom & Dad's. Yummmmmmmm.............
I have all my housework done for the day, nothing to do now except go outside and watch Ritzy work ;-)
With that Ritzywife is out..........

August in Oklahoma

2009-08-26T22:26:00.002-05:00

A person can usually count on August being HOT and humid, but not so much this year. It's been a pretty decent August except...... the other thing we can count on here in the Sooner State - ragweed....YUK!!!!
The daughter, a neice, Ritzy and I have all been having itchy watery eyes and sneezing. The daughter asked me what was going on and I told her it was probably ragweed causing her problems. I let her know that it will only last until that first freeze.
The sun set before 8:00pm tonite. It always makes me a little sad to see the daylight get shorter.
I have a surprise for Ritzy tomorrow....hehehe!!!!!! I am going to paper the bedroom,put up border, put up new blinds, and change all the bedding. Mom is going to show up early in the morning and we are going to try to be finished by the time Ritzy gets home. I have had it "hiding" in the closet for a couple of days. You see, Ritzy and I have separate closets, so he doesn't have a clue.
I hope he likes it.........Darn - he came in here and started to look at the screen and I had to tell him he could not see it yet, but he would find out tomorrow why.
I am excited to start doing the work, sure hope I get some sleep tonite ;-)
Well, I better call it quits for the night and "try" to get some rest. I gonna need it!!
Ritzywife out...............

Summer Is Almost Gone ;-(

2009-08-17T21:41:00.002-05:00

Around here I see leaves falling, the grass is not as green or growing as fast. I know some of this is happening because of lack of rain. Oklahoma has had an unseasonably cool August this year. Ritzy and I have been eating our suppers out on the patio each evening, then spending time on the porch swing listening to & watching the birds or watching traffic as it goes by, or just sharing our events of the day. Usually in August it is too hot to even breath outside, but not this year.......like I have said before: it's been a strange one....
Our garden is mostly gone, only the okra and a few pole beans left. I need to pick the grapes and make some jelly in the next couple of days. We only have one vine, but it is loaded. It takes up about 20 feet of fence. Dad planted that vine there when I was a teenager. That thing is OLD!!!! hahaha!! This has been the first in a number of years that the weather has cooperated and I have been able to have grapes to pick.
Our last official summer holiday is soon coming upon us. The hours of sunlight are shrinking. I have to get myself ready to face the fact that Fall & Winter are just about here. Don't get me wrong, I like all the seasons, but Spring & Summer are my favorite.
I guess that's all I have for this time. Ritzywife out..........

It's A Little Late....

2009-08-06T22:34:00.003-05:00

But, we had a very happy anniversary on 7/30/2009. Ritzy and I got away for the evening. Just to spend time together without any interruptions. We just "chilled" in the hotel til dinnertime. Went out to eat at Olive Garden, came back and did some more"chillin". After spending last year's anniversary alone, with Ritzy in Iraq, it was wonderful just to be together.
It doesn't take much materially to make Ritzywife happy. I just wanted to spend time with Ritzy. We really had not had a chance to do that since Ritzy's return last October. We were always doing something for family, his or mine.
I cannot believe it has been 26 years already. Where did the time go!?! Looking forward to whatever the future holds for us. Hopefully some grandkids, ;-)
My niece is going to have a garage sale here tomorrow and the next 3 weekends. I've been busy cleaning and finding things I don't need anymore. I did find some things for the sale, but Ritzy took a lot of it to the dumpster. It feels good to clean and get rid of stuff that I don't have any idea why I kept it in the first place. I just bet Ritzy had a big smile on his face as he was carrying that "stuff" to the dumpster. hehehehe!!!!!
Our daughter lost one of her chihuahuas (ROO) this week. It was the one she bought after graduating high school. I am sorry it happened, but there was nothing we could do. She still has a male chihuahua. He is a little over a year old.
She brought home 2 kittens, but they seem to have disappeared.
Today is "Sissy's" birthday, she is 4 years old. Her party is this Saturday.
It is hard to believe it is August already. The Oklahoma troops (The 45th Fires Brigade) that were deployed last year about the same time Ritzy was returning home have started to return to their re-deployment site. They should be in Oklahoma next week. There are about 800 of them. For the most part we will have all our Oklahoma National Guard home for the first time in quite a while. As I sit here I think about what their families are feeling and the emotions they are dealing with. I came across some pictures of the day Ritzy deployed and it brought back the feelings I had when I knew it would be a long time before I would see him again. Deployment touches you in ways you never thought of. That's why you should cherish every moment you have with your family, even if they are driving you crazy.
Ending with that, I am outta here..............

Lord, help us.....

2009-07-28T22:11:00.003-05:00

That's about all I can think of. I just got off the phone with a sister-in-law (brother's wife). Her mother had cancer surgery today. She only found out a couple months ago she even had it. It is lung cancer and she has never smoked. What the heck???? All seems well, but won't know for sure for 3 - 4 days til the test results come in. She was also telling me that my nephew and his son (her son and grandson) were in an automobile accident tonight. They were both unharmed. Wish I could say that for the truck, it is totaled.
Tonight, Ritzy and I went to visit my neice and her family, (the one who is pregnant and has a brain tumor and Bubba and Sissy's mama)......She and I were talking about her health and what could the future could hold. The good and the bad. I just pray that she be able to raise those kids and enjoy a good long life.
My brother-in-law,(her dad and my sister's hubby) is still not well. He has been sick for almost a year now with no diagnosis. It gets really frustrating at times for everyone. It is really hard on them.
I have often thought about how blessed our family is becuase of no illness or problems. Then out of the blue, WHOOSH, it all comes at one time!!!!
My sister-in-law said tonite "Stick a fork in me I'm done!"
Our daughter's dog has been sick. I know it's only a dog but she loves that little dog and she took it to the vet today and she still doesn't know what is wrong. I don't know what to say to her cause I just don't have the concern for animals that she and her brother have. I do have concern for her tho and care about what is going on in her life, but she sees my so-called lack of concern as not caring about her pet or her. I guess you might say today has been a stressful day all around......
Ritzy is very concerned about his parents. He talks more and more about them and how much he misses them. All we can do is be there for each other....the good times & the bad times......that's what a family does.
In a couple of days Ritzy and I will celebrate our 26th Anniversary. I still remember last year, he was in Iraq and I was here in Oklahoma "celebrating" our 25th anniversary.
Saying that.....Ritzywife is out.......

HOT...HOT....HOT....

2009-07-14T22:01:00.004-05:00

That is about all I have to say about the weather here in Oklahoma the past week or so. We are supposed to get a little releif in a couple of days. It will only be in the 90's. haha!!!
I made 5 batches of wild or (chokecherry) jelly today. That sure warmed up the kitchen.
Ritzy and I picked those little things Saturday evening. It was no fun, they are about the size of a pea. We both had sweat dripping off us. The tree is in Dad's yard and earlier in the day he showed me they were ripe. We decided we would meet back up there in the evening and pick the fruit.
Ritzy and I showed up, drove the truck under the tree and started picking. We were making plenty of noise. Well, we were just about finished and my phone rang....it was Dad telling us to not come up there cause it was toooooo hot to do anything. I laughed and told him that Ritzy and I were just about finished, he could not believe it, so he came out the last 10 minutes we were there. I brought home the fruit and prepared the juice for jellymaking.
Blackberry used to be my favorite flavor of jelly, but I think I have switched to the chokecherry. It sure is good!!!!
Ritzy and I did some yard work in that baking sun Saturday. I don't know what got into us. As hot as it was, we spent the day outside in 103 degree temps instead of 70 degrees inside.
Speaking of hot, I think my brain is telling me it's too hot to think, and with that Ritzywife is out.......Stay cool!!!!!!

Happy Birthday America!!

2009-07-05T21:43:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone survived the ((((HOT)))) holiday weekend. We met at mom and dad's for the regular cookout and fellowship.
Watched the little ones play, shoot fireworks,etc.....
There is always good food. We just spent the day enjoying each others company. It started out raining. I woke up and wondered why it was soooo dark outside. Could not beleive the rain. Wasn't supposed to be doing that til late Saturday nite.
I thought I had just spent all that money on those fireworks and now we won't be able to shoot them.
Finally stopped raining and turned out to be a pretty good day.
About dark, the son and nephew started the night show. We all sprayed on the bug spray, took our seats and were ready for the "show".......
WE must not forget why we celebrate this holiday. It is our freedom that we celebrate. We must also be very careful or our freedoms can be lost unless we stand for ourselves and protect them. Also it is a time to remember all those who have given their lives for this freedom we enjoy today and to thank all those defending those same freedoms today!!!
I want to shout out a big "THANK YOU!!!" to our military and their loved ones.
It sure is getting hot here in Oklahoma....and it's just the beginning of summer.....
not good for the garden. We have dug our potatoes, picked a few small tomatoes. Can hardly wait for the okra to be ready.....
I sometimes find myself thinking about this time last year. I was waiting on Ritzy's deployment to Iraq to be over. It has been an interesting time since he returned, but I can say I would not want to live it over or trade the experience for anything in the world. With that Ritzywife is out!

Ritzywife's Thoughts

Life Choices

Busy Holiday

Almost the New Year

Almost Christmas Already....

Happy Birthday!!!

Chinese......Yumm, Yumm

BOY, OH BOY!!!!!!

{{{{{{EARTHQUAKE}}}}}}

Back Home In Oklahoma

Greetings From Wisconsin...

Lovin' This Fall Weather......

Where Did "Boring" Go? I think it is gone with the (Oklahoma) wind!!!!!

Isn't This Cute???

Changes

Welcome September!!!

UPDATE..............TWINS!!!!!!

Very Busy...

~~~~Geez, It's A Hot One~~~~

~~~Can't Sleep~~~

~~~~~A Blur~~~~~

Well........The Day Started Out Good.....

Time Sure Slips Away

What I Have Been Doing

Where Does The Time Go???

Still Fishing

Wedding

GONE FISHIN'

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

What Season Is This, Again....Anybody Know????

How Low Can You Go?!?

******2011 Blizzard******

****Winter Storm****

Another New Dish

We Have A Date!!!!

Holidays Are Over......for now

What The Heck!?!

Merry Christmas!!!

Family Trip

Happy Thanksgiving

What Is Going On?!?

Being A Parent

When Does It Ever Slow Down?!?

Thank You Veterans!!!

Comfort Food

Here It Is November Already...

Fall Is In The Air

~~~~YUMMY~~~~

How We Deal With Grief

10-10-10

Busy Week....

YUMM, YUMM

Ritzywife's "Soapbox"

Busy Day......

What A Beautifiul Day!!!!

Look What I Won Today!!!!

{{{OUCH!!}}}

Finally, Some Relief from the Heat!!!

Geez, It's Hot!!!!!!!

STILL AT IT....

Jelly Making

How Ritzywife Spent Her Saturday.........

VBS is Over for Another Year!!

{{{{{{HOT !!!!!!}}}}}}

Disgusting!!!!!!

Independence Day

AHHHHH!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!!!!!

"Happy Memorial Day !?!?!?"

Love To Fish!!

Busy, Busy, Busy......

Housework....is there ever an end????

UPS & DOWNS OF LIFE

GONE FISHIN'

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Birthday!!

Spring Is Here.............I think.....

Ritzywife's Kitchen......

Geez, It's A Hot One

~Can't Sleep~

~A Blur~

2011 Blizzard

Winter Storm

YUMMY