Moved In and Loving it All......

I'm still in a dream. Thanks to Hannah, Kim, Karl and Chris I am moved into my new/old home in the country. I love the peace and quiet...soft breezes through the trees, happy birds singing, and lots of soft quiet. The move was engineered by Hannah and went so well I could not believe it. Since we already had the kitchen stocked and ready to go, the bathrooms stocked and ready, everything was put in the room it belonged to and then Karl and Chris put together my bed and Hannah made it up...all was ready to live in. Thank you all more than I can ever say in words.

Oh, I cannot forget Mia. She did very well even though her arthritis caused her to be very stiff after spending over an hour in her carrier. But with a full week living in the new place she now has full control and has made it her domain. Yesterday, she came running to great me at the door when I arrived from work. All is well.

I still have boxes and bags to go through. Karl is coming out Monday to cut the yard and will do so for a little while. When he has to stop, I'll check with Carrie to see if she will recommend a person. I have to add the hand tools necessary for caring for the yard along with a little rolling stool I found that permits me to sit at just the right angle to weed and still be able to get up and down. Thank Heavens for this little invention. I've decided I can trim my own hedges after testing for light weight electric trimmers. Come fall a few friends will help take some of the split and thinned Cannas, Callas, Peonies, Elephant Ears, Day Lillies, Iris and Gladiolli. That will be fun. It has been years since I tended to and made grape jam/jelly so with the wonderfully loaded grape arbor, I want to get back to that. Will be learning, asking questions, and researching history, care, and what to do with all the plantings in the yard. It is wonderful!!! The big Hydrangea bush at the back of the house has beautiful blue blooms and makes the most wonderful bouquet. There are two Bradford Pear trees near the front deck that I may eventually want to take down and replace with Dogwood trees. I will also want to put one or two Magnolia trees in the back...cannot be a Southern Home without at least one Magnolia. Ever since coming to Tennessee in December 1959, I learned to love placing one Magnolia bloom in a cut crystal bowl of water and enjoying the intoxicating lemony scent throughout the house. Beats the little plug-ins bar none.

Joy and Paige came over on Monday after the move-in bring gifts. Joy had brought a bread maker....looking foward to learning the technique and the smells of fresh baked bread in the oven. Paige painted and brought a beautiful blue lamp that is perfect for the front window table, with its lovely wide-spread shade. She also came with fresh out of the garden tomatoes and cucumbers. I enjoyed delicious sliced tomato and mayo sandwiches and seeded and chopped cucumber side dish. Also make some thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches....very good! Thank you both ever so much.

It will take several months to really get into the groove of it all but, I am going to enjoy every minute and hope to have friends and family to enjoy it with me. Since I love to cook and see people enjoy the results, maybe I can entice a few to come over. Guess I best get to practicing in the kitchen again and brush up on a few old recipes. We have some very good restaurants (old and new) in the Dickson area so whenever I tire of cooking there is an easy fix nearby. Joy, Paige and I have talked about getting together for games, talking, and wine. Hope that begins to happen soon....and that Tina will be in on it also.

Now, I'll have to come up with a name for home.

My Home....finally

It has happened! I closed on my home Friday July 10, 2009 at 10:45am in Dickson, Tennessee. Was not able to get the keys until 6pm that evening and Joy and Paige had to wait outside in the heat until we gave up and they left. Will have to have them over after I move in.

There are three neighbor cats that are great...visit regularly. Mr.Tux is a black and white...adventurous and very loving; Ms. Ava, the Siamese model chooses to grant us her presence occasionally; and the new neighbor is Tex the large pale creamy/yellow tabby who sits next to a tree watching all and meowing his agreement and welcoming us to the neighborhood. I'm not sure how my Mia, Siamese Diva, will react to all these neighbors. Mia is an inside house cat 18.5 years old and ails from arthritis. Maybe she will ignore them after a while as long as they don't come into her territory. One can hope. :>)

My daughter, Hannah and her friend Kim are at the house cleaning while I'm packing at the apartment (took a break to jot this down). I am so fortunate. I'll pack today and tomorrow and Monday Hannah will load her car and I'll load mine to unload at the house while the carpet cleaners are doing their thing. Then back home to pack some more. We both return to work on Tuesday. I'll work Wed and Thurs, packing at night. Friday I'll meet the propane gas rep for him to read the meter, check tank, appliances, etc. and also educate me. I'll also unload another car full and return to finish packing and making ready for the move on Saturday morning. I'll sleep at the house Saturday night of the 18th. Sunday back to the apartment and clean, then home. Monday back to meet with the apartment managers, turn in keys, and settle up money. Then to my new home. I'll go back to work Tuesday and back to a new normal routine.

Hannah has a friend that may come to lay laminate flooring. He will do that one room at a time beginning with the master bedroom and bath (think I'll go with vinyl in the bath). This home was built in 1996 and has carpet in the master bath!!! Ugh and eeeew!!! After that is finished, we'll set up my bedroom (it will temporarily be in one of the guest rooms).

I may have to keep Mia in one room for a little while in order to let her ease into the new home place. Once we have our bedroom finalized, that will again be her main nest. Our bed is actually her bed that she shares with me.

There are so many wonderful flowers! I can hardly wait for next spring. Found we have Japanese beetles that love the grape arbor and other flowers. I set out two of the bags that have the little scent attachment and wow do they work! There are probably couple 100 beetles in the bags. Now, how do I appropriately dispose of them? I don't like killing anything but, if I just dump them out they will come right back or go to neighbors' yards. Hummmmm.

I love the poem Joy posted on her Blog "My Home" by Nikki Giovanni, also Joy's comments. It says so much how I feel about my home. Think I'll print it and have it copied to some nice paper and frame it to hang in my home.

Thank you to all who have helped me get this far and are still helping to make this my home. You are always welcome in my home and I hope you visit often.

And the Pursuit of Happiness: May It Please the Court by Maira Kalman

I hope I'm not breaking any rules in posting this article from the NY Times for others to read. I love it and found it so fascinating I want to read it over and over again. Her illustrations along with the writings are fun and interesting. I hope some of you will enjoy it also.


OPINION April 23, 2009 And the Pursuit of Happiness: May It Please the Court By Maira Kalman After a visit to the Supreme Court, and the office of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Maira Kalman thinks about law, decision-making and women breaking barriers.

1. Op-Ed Contributor: End the University as We Know It 2. Personal Health: Paying a Price for Loving Red Meat 3. The Caucus: Specter Switches Parties 4. Verizon Said to Be in Talks for the iPhone 5. A Tiny Hominid With No Place on the Family Tree » Go to Complete List

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy

Sealed Records....

I am very curious as to why the Tennessee State Legislature wants to pass a ruling that would have the records of gun permits issued in Tennessee sealed? I have not been able to find any back up information or reasoning for this action.

Also, I'm still puzzled as to why it would be reasonable to allow people to carry guns inside our parks and inside restaurants? Nashville, in particular, already has a high incident of gun related crimes. It seems to go against all that has been done to address our crime rate in Tennessee. We are one of the highest in meth labs across the state and adding the potential for "more" gun related crimes is just amazing. Our law enforcement agencies are trying their best to control and reduce violent crimes and this legislature seems to go against their efforts.

I hope someone can explain the background and reasoning related to these rulings.

New Breath of Life

Given my health and the body I live with, if it were not for nutrients, pain med, anti-inflammatories, etc. along with determination to not give up, I would not be living the life that I am right now. When I find something new that gives me a little better quality of life I want to sing praises and share my good news. Well, so far, I think I have found a new product. It is vegetarian safe Buried Treasure - VM-100 Complete, a whole food complex, nutritional system with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and is manufactured by Life Line Foods, Pikeville, Tennessee and formulated by Mark Murray C.N. I first purchased the product at Feet and More in Dickson Tn owned and operated by Jim Pass and wife.

It took about 2.5 weeks before I felt sure the liquid nutrient was making a difference in my daily life. I have paid close attention to my feelings, energy, levels of pain and not, mental agility, ability to sleep deeply, and in general maintain a balanced life in the midst of chaos and stress. It might help to explain the state of my physical body. The most significant problem is advanced scoliosis. We hear this often as it has been determined in researches done by some medical facilities that 1 in 7 people in the world have scoliosis. There is still a great lack of research on the disease. The majority of western and European medical practitioners is that it is a bone deformity but the cause if still a mistery....are we born with it as a birth defect? is it in our dna and we develop it as we reach puberity? or is it in or dna and it is not until the latter stages of life that we develop it? It is easy to spot someone with scoliosis if their bones have bent them over in either a side twist and forward in a 45 degree twist but, their are many more people walking around with scoliosis that stand straight and tall. All can have varying degrees of damage done to nerves and organs inside the body. Most all have some degree of imbalance within the skeletal structure of their body. Some as in my case have sufficient nerve and organ damage that problems show up mimicking diseases like Parkinsons's, MS, respiratory diseases, falling, etc. This I can say from experience with medical doctors, chiropractors, accupuncturist, massage therapists, etc. working with me and trying to determine the source and cure of my problems. At age 67, I am told surgery is the only answer or surgery is the worst answer , chiropractor care is the answer. Neither of these work. I have been told surgury is not an alternative due to the danger of my spine collapsing and chiropractic care is out as my bones are crumbling from osterporosis.

Country Music Marathon Saturday April 25th 2009

It is that time of year again. 31,000 expected for the Marathon. Bravo to the lady with ALS that will take part tomorrow. All begins at 6am tomorrow. I admire the people that train all year for this one and all the others too.

My physical condition does not permit me to even walk very much any more which, of course, makes me want to walk even more. At one time I walked 6 miles out and 6 miles back after getting home from work 5 days/week. I felt so much better during that time. Advanced scoliosis, osteoporosis, spinal stenosis, bone spurs, degenerative arthritis, joined by many years of dance and athletic stress on knees and hips and with a major fall some years ago has brought me to my current condition. I keep going but running and even walking more than a block or two is so painful it is not worth the effort. My best exercise is in warm water...Ahhhh.

Good luck to all those that enter tomorrow's marathon. It is great weekend for Nashville.

Guns Allowed in Public Places

Is Tennessee becoming the new "wild west" of the USA?

Monthly Posting for April 2009

Life has been on a whirlwind with work's busy season on us and looking for a house taking on the aspects of another full-time job. I love it all but alas, my 67 years and lack of exercise do not provide the energy I need to do all I want to these days.

Finding a house large enough to live in that fits my budget and not need a complete or at the very least, a major over-haul, is difficult. Every house I've looked at has major flaws. The best of them had a full basement but it was not usable for much as it had a severe water problem that had been corrected as much as could be. It needed painting throughout, thorough cleaning, carpets removed (hardwoods underneath) and washer dryer connections installed plus purchasing appliances. Thank goodness someone beat me to that one.

The one I'm trying for now is a little 2-bedroom that needs some work but probably less costly than the other one. The problem with it is that the seller is asking about $15,000 over the going value of the property. And, will not negotiate. Tennessee is having a re-appraisal of all properties so it may help or hurt this negotiation. The re-appraisal is helping some and bringing others into reality. We shall see what happens over the next couple weeks. The good thing about this house is 2 acres of land. I'm a country girl at heart and love wide open spaces where you can feel the breezes and not see another house on the horizon. Not the case here, but at least the houses I can see are far enough away I cannot see what is going on inside their windows.

If I should get this property, I'll need to research "ponds." There is a pond on the back of the property...maybe 150-200 ft diameter. That is a guess...I still use my archery days for guessing measurements. It may be about 30-50 ft deep, has water but appears to maybe be a drainage pond as the water is low and I didn't see any sign of incoming water. It has been allowed to go to rot and ruin. I'm not sure but think maybe having it filled in is the best route even though I love ponds and would love to have a good living and healthy one out back...with frogs, turtles, etc. There are cedar trees, brush, etc. growing in from the sides so it will take some heavy equipment to clean it out if I want to bring it back to life....then what if it won't hold water??? Any suggestions are appreciated.

My friend Joy, has helped by going with me to look at properties and giving opinions, and being a great co-pilot keeping us from getting lost while trekking around the countryside. She has also been there to listen, offer advise, and be patient while I whine and moan and wring my hands so to speak. Thank you, Joy. Also thanks to Paige and my daughter, Hannah as they have been there to listen and offer advise also. I am fortunate to have a wonderful realtor. She found a little house for me years ago that I lived in for seven years....longest place I have ever lived. I have no doubt my little house is nearby...it maybe this one or another one but it is nearby.

Spring is in the air in Nashville, just a little chilly today but in Centennial Park the tulips are coming up, the Japanese cherry trees are beginning to bloom along with several other flowering trees and the grass is turning that bright green that is so lovely. The park has been crowded with people enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather for the past two weeks. This is also great for the museum and we have been extremely busy from opening to closing.

I've already bought flower pots and ready to pick out some plants...cannot wait to get my hands in the dirt (or should I say potting soil) and watch daily to see the new plants maturing and blossoming. I saw black elephant ears and want to try those this year. They are so different. My Christmas Cactus is ready to bloom again and the new Shamrock plant is doing great! I love it!

Spring and Fall are wonderful times of the year....Fall being my favorite but both are exciting. Hope you all enjoy spring where ever you are.

Scams etc.

I am still dealing with the after effects of taking the bait on a "free credit score" scam. It was the "frontforce" for a world-wide scam run by multi-hidden levels of crooks that are stealing our personal information. First I had to get help in cleaning out my computer involving many hours of phone time. Did that take care of it? Oh no, they have my personal information and to stay under the wire, it is used to make miscellaneous credit card charges all under ten dollars. In less that two months I have caught four bogus charges. The credit card company tells me I have to contact the company making the charge and have them credit my account. If they do not work with me then I am to go back to the credit card company. In the mean time the crooks continue charging, crediting, and I am forced to check my account daily and spend hours cleaning it up. Ugh! Below is a site I found that helps wise us up on current scams, etc. Hope it helps and wish I'd seen it before falling into the trap.

www.scambusters.com

I am still on the hunt for a final solution to this problem and hope I can take care of it myself without having to seek legal recourse. Even that may not help as these people know how to hide themselves.

Craig Ferguson

He grins with that twinkle and I start laughing and cannot stop until he goes off. Wonder what he is like in person and off the stage?

Mariza

Portuguese singer, Mariza was in concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville tonight, introducing her fado music to a new audience. I was fortunate to be able to hear her and her musicians. This was her first time to be in Nashville and I hope the standing ovations she received gave her the message just how much we enjoyed their performance. I heard a recording of her music before going so I was prepared for the powerful emotional music but as always the recorded sound does not bring the same power and energy of a live performance. She has her unique style, fashion, hair, and even her own version of the Portuguese fado music makes it her own music.

If you are not familiar with this...fado in Portuguese is destiny. Traditionally, the fado music is performed wearing a black shawl; backed only by an acoustic guitar and the lute-shaped, 12-string Portuguese guitar. The power of their singing was used to convey the emotion in their songs.

As Jonathan Marx said in his article "Because of its sorrowful character and its distinctly national origins, fado is often compared to the blues in America, though it could just as easily be identified with Spanish flamenco or Greek rembetiko music. All rely on the bracing interplay of voice and guitar or some other stringed instrument, and all give expression to the most fundamental of human experiences: love, loss, survival."

Mariza's musicians consisted of the Portuguese 12-string guitar, the acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, drums & percussion (including African drums), and piano & trumpet(not at the same time). For her second and third encores she did "Cry Me a River" in English with the piano and sang another fado with the two acoustic guitars/guitarists singing with her and all without amplification or microphones.

The show was fantastic and I hope to see them perform again. This was also my first experience in Nashville's symphony hall. I was impressed. The friend I went with has been in several of the European music halls and is not very impressed as he thinks this one should have been built differently and not so much like the hall in Paris France. I found it to be much better than the Jackson Theater where the symphony used to perform. Anyway, I am now a fan of Mariza and fado music.

RFP's....

I took a class Monday on beginning proposal writing for grants or fundraising. First thing I learned was most of us use incorrect terminology. It is not grant writing but is proposal writing...makes sense. The class was fantastic and I really got into it and came away with my head spinning having taken in so much information.

Tuesday I was looking forward to work, all excited about my new information and ready to jump into applying what I had learned to benefit my "funds short" organization. Well, all of that positive energy took a quick nose-dive and I realized just how naive I have been....still! at 67! Ugh! Okay I've erased two entire paragraphs as Big Brother may be watching and I really need my job right now. I'll just say that I very much enjoyed the class and will get comp time for it but other than that it was a waste of my time and $125 I spent on the class. That I can gripe about as I was told it would be paid for but now looks like it will not. Although I'm going to push it and wait and see what happens. It is like walking on hot colds these days.

Oh well, surly I will find some way to use part of what I learned Monday...just being patient usually works. I believe strongly that education is never wasted so one of these days I'll be able to use it.

Oscar Night!

Barbara Walters....interviews Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Mickey Rourke. I enjoy Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman in all the roles I've seen; excited that Jackman is emceeing the Oscars this year. I am not impressed with Rourke; have to admit I've not seen his movie which of course indicates I should not comment. So I will not.

Work....

I am fortunate to work in a museum. I'm a secretary. We have three art gallaries as well as the building itself is unique and architecturally historical. There is a permanent collection of American Masters paintings that are magnificent. It is almost like living with them. This past Saturday, the Opera was at the museum and gave a lecture and performed. I love opera and this was marvelous! I'm looking forward to seeing Puccini's La Boheme in April.

Isn't it sad that support for the arts was stricken from the stimulus package? I was so very disappointed.

Another Two-Movie Day

Joy, Paige, and I saw "Milk" and "Doubt" today. "Milk" was very good and Sean Penn's acting was fantastic. "Doubt" affected me strongly. My major aversion to the 50's may be why I find both "Doubt" and "Revolutionary Road" so depressing and frustrating. The story line, directing, acting, are fantastic in both movies. I hope to see "The Visitor" - "Vicky Christina Barcelona" - "The Wrestler" - "Frozen River" - "In Bruges" - and "Changeling" but, these will most likely be on DVD at home after the awards. Time is running out. It has been years since I've seen so many of the nominated movies before Oscar night and I'm very anxious to see who/what wins. It has been fun seeing the movies with Joy and Paige...they are a wealth of knowledge about the movie world as well as the stories and back grounds.

World Clocks

Sorry about the clocks. I like knowing what time it is anywhere around the world but, they were getting on my nerves so I think maybe they might be getting on others nerves also. They are gone.

After Effects of the Spyware

It seems the buggers are charging my credit card. Little amounts have appeared that I did not authorize. Fortunately, I check my account regularly and saw these within the week of the transactions. After several phone calls, threats of legal process, and many explanations, the bogus charges have been removed. I will never understand why people with such intelligence choose to use their talents to no good instead of bettering our world. Ugh!

Movies

I'm having fun trying to see as many of the award nominated movies I can before the Oscars on the 24th. Joy is still ahead of me. I think "Slumdog Millionaire" is my favorite with "The Reader" second. "Revoluntionary Road" is so moving, especially for those of us who lived the 50's. Why wouldn't it be though since that era provoked the 60's movement of rebellion and change. "Benjamin Buttons" is unique and I understand why it has received the awards it has so far. Still want to see "Doubt" and "Milk" and possibly "Gran Torino." I almost forgot we saw "Frost/Nixon" and I definitely enjoyed that one. It is a great reminder of just how crooked our leaders can be. One thing surprised me...I didn't realize Diane Sawyer was a journalist during this time. Interesting.

Aren't We Fortunate!

President Obama. Finally, after eight years, we have a leader we can respect. Obviously, he and his administration cannot make the necessary changes over-night but he has already been able to instill hope in the heart of our nation. Tuesday, January 20, 2009 is a great day in the history of the USA. One persons's opinion...and still smiling.

Update on Mia

All is well for now. A second opinion finds Mia does not have cancer after all but does have allergies. After another round of antibiotics and lots of TLC she is back to herself. Also, I had forgotten her birthdate and was reminded that she is 18.5 years old. I'm very happy she will be with me for a while yet.

Sorry...caught a new virus and had to heal my computer.

Ugh! HP was not even aware of this spyware...goes by different names but ends in 2010, the newest version. Appears to capture personal data and after an initial charge to your credit card, continues charging. Difficult to get it stopped. My CC helped and all is taken care of. I did not have a lot on this computer so just downloaded and did a complete system recovery and reloaded my software. Like a new computer now. Hannah, my daughter is a computer wizard so I called her immediately and she advised me to stop the progression??? and shut it all down until she could research it. Then we went from there. I really wish people that are intelligent enough to design these invasive predatory programs would re-direct their talents toward creating useful and positive programs to benefit the world. Such a waste of talents.

Ivar Ivrig Blog

If you stop by to read my blog, please check out the photos on this blog. They are fantastic. What beautiful and dramatic countryside.

Mia

...my furry little angel is not feeling well. The vet thinks she has cancer. I will not let them operate as it would be exploratory and "if" they found cancer, it would mean amputating a leg. At her age of 15.5 years, I just cannot see taking that chance. If it were me in the same circumstance I would not want to loose a leg just to live a few more months and she is older than me. Meanwhile, she has tumors that appear and open up, then go down and heal. It seems that stress and trauma bring on the bouts and amoxicillin seems to speed the healing. This time, she seems to want me with her and she just wants to put a paw on my arm or my face. I am sure she understands what I tell her but I wish I could better understand her language. She has had her first dose of the medicine tonight along with a little of the organic chicken breast I boiled in organic 33% sodium free chicken broth along with a little lite salt, touch of garlic powder and a few little pieces of onion. She is very partial to the chicken and it does seem to be giving her some energy.

It is amazing how comforting our furry friends and family are in our lives. I think it would be a very sad and lonely world without them. As for love, they offer the purest love without conditions. What a precious gift they are.

By the way, Mia is a seal-point siamese. I got her from an elderly couple about 5 years ago. They were moving into an assisted living facility and could only take one pet....their choice was the little dog and Mia had to find a new home. Thank goodness, it was with me.