At Long Last....

Frannycakes wants to apologize to everyone. I am alive and healthy. I have just been busy doing all the things that I don't do when I am supposed to do it. Please remember that I am very spoiled and tend to only do what I want to do when I want to do it. And sometimes you just have to do a few things that you don't really want to do but have to. Does this make any sense? I sat down last night to post and just drew a blank. My mother called this morning. She and my dad were wondering what was wrong with me.....I had not posted. She suggested I just had "writer's block". And that is entirely possible. My friend Beth emailed that she was going to have to actually WORK at work if I didn't post something for her to read. Beth.....I am posting today so I will not have to worry about you working at work! That is just too much of a burden for me to bear! Elaine emailed wanting to know if I was still sick. It is nice to know people missed me....for whatever reason!

The picture above is taken in front of our house. Even with above freezing temps for two weeks and rain for a couple of days, we still have this much snow on the ground. This area is part of the golf course. We have golf course on 3 sides of our house. I will be on the lookout for stray golf balls with a vengance once the course opens back up. I will be taking golf lessons soon. And I am sure I will need alot of extra balls. This is going to be interesting. I will keep you updated. I tell Dick that I am going to get us matching golf outfits. He just rolls his eyes. I can tell he is not really sure if I am teasing.....and I'm not sure I am either. It is going to be fun!

Yesterday, Weezie went to the spa....um....groomer. She had gotten very shaggy and was one big fur ball. She looks like a new puppy now. They put bows on her and she looks cute....especially rolling around on the floor trying to get those bows out! I am ready for a nice warm day to take her for a walk.

Today is overcast and gloomy. They are actually predicting some snow next week....and lots of rain. Snow is predicted for Easter Sunday. I am going to Raleigh that day. It better not delay my trip! I am going there for a week to pick out a condo for the "children" to live in while going to school and for me to visit for weeks and weeks at a time. (That last part was added to bring fear to the "children".) Actually, I think they like for me to come. I take them out to eat, I buy them things, I cook for them.....I generally just add entertainment to their lives! They are all good "children" and I am so proud of them.

I wish we were going off this weekend like we did last weekend. The "Big Shutdown" starts this weekend. I hate that word shutdown. It brings back bad memories. Fortunately, Dick does not have to be out there 24 hours a day during it like he had to do in the past. But it still is a frustrating period of time for him and in turn, me. We are running to Portland tomorrow morning to go look for invitations for the rehearsal dinner. I want to get that out of the way. Then we will have lunch and come back home so he can go back to work.

Well, that about wraps it up. See? You have not missed much! I will do better starting today.

I will talk to you later! Tootles

Monday, Monday

The weather has been rainy and overcast. And I am still feeling waves of nausea. Yuck. But I am feeling better right now than I did earlier today. Today was a very lazy day for me. And the weather cooperated perfectly!

I have added another blog to my list of recommended ones. "A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver" is an excellent blog. He is a talented writer and actually has already written a book. And I will tell you that I have just discovered him within the past couple of weeks and he has made me actually cry tears twice. He is from Louisiana and some of the things he writes carries me right back to Bastrop and Monroe. I think you will enjoy his blog. Take a look and let me know.

Even with the rain and the above freezing temps for the past couple of weeks, we still a lot of snow on the ground. However, I did see more grass in the back yard today than I have in months. I think we have made the turn to spring....maybe.....

Nothing more to report on.....I will talk to you later......Tootles!

Farm Pictures

Dick was petting the cow....good cow....good cow.....




I know you can't tell by the picture, but this "part" of the cow is taller than I am! And it was not very clean either.....we decided to walk the other way around!




Miss Piggy




"What are you looking at?"

Dick said we get our hair done at the same place!

Trip to Portsmouth

We are home! We had a very nice trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We left around 8 on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. An excellent start if I must say so myself! Dick had his usual small coffee, not filled up to the top, and two chocolate frosted donuts. And, of course, they filled it up to the top which irritates him to no end. I ordered a Tropicana Orange Coolata with whipped cream on top and a multi-grain bagel with low fat cream cheese. I know, I know.......this is so out of character for me. I have been known to eat a whole dozen of donuts with my partner in crime Anne Marie. But in my infinite wisdom, I realize today that if I have a sugar rush first thing in the morning, I will be in one foul mood for the rest of the day. And that would not be a good start to the weekend away. But.....back to the trip........

Dick picked a route down the coast. We had driven north to Bar Harbor, but not south. It was beautiful. There was a beach, complete with rocks. Some parts of the beach had more rocks than others. The beach communities reminded us of the beaches down south 30 or more years ago. We liked it and decided to try and go for a weekend when it warms up a little. The houses on the coast are so pretty. Dick said he had started to like the looks of houses up here.....I must admit I am feeling the same way. We saw a lot of houses overlooking the ocean that we wished we could buy. We went through Kennebunkport, but decided that George and Barbara Bush would have to wait for out visit. We were on a mission to shop at the outlets at Kittery. I guess we will stop in next time. You can't do everything.....we will catch you later Barbara!

The stars must not have been lined up or something but I just was not in the shopping mood. So we left after a couple of stores and drove on to Portsmouth. We were hungry though, so we stopped at a seafood place and ate. It was good, though our little restaurant in Turner has much better lobster rolls! But we had some wonderful beer there and actually, our drinks cost almost more than our meal. We drove around downtown and decided to get out and shop there for a while. Weezie was with us and we discovered that almost everyone in Portsmouth has a dog and had them on a leash downtown also. We did a little bit of window shopping. Now I know that I have probably alluded to the fact that Weezie does not know that she is a ......dog. It must be a law there at you can only have dogs that weigh over 75 lbs. Weezie was pretty horrified at the prospect of walking on the same sidewalk as these "animals". She would try to climb up my leg. I would carry her then put her down. Well, she met another dog on the sidewalk and.....you guessed it.......it scared the crap out of her. Literally. Oh yes, that was fun. Thankfully, I had some tissues and gracefully proceeded to pick it up while stepping in it all at the same time. And of course the sidewalk was packed with people. You get the picture. I am pretty sure Weezie had been saving up for this moment for some time. After finding a garbage can to throw the tissues away, we left to find the hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn. It was very nice. Weezie got in her Vera bag and we smuggled her in to the room. Dick fell asleep on the couch then moved to the bed. I was laying on the bed watching a movie and listening to Dick and Weezie snoring, so I decided to join them. It was a glorious nap. Dick woke up before me and actually went shopping without me. Now don't get too excited. There was a Home Depot right by the hotel and a Circuit City across the street. When he got back, we went to eat at a BBQ place down the road. It had started to snow. We watched the snow falling through the window at our booth. It was so pretty. But it was above freezing so it was not sticking.....yet. We got back to the room and watched a movie that we had never seen and then it was lights out!

Today, we left about 10. We backtracked part of the way to see the coast again. Then we headed to a maple syrup farm. Today was Maple Syrup Sunday in Maine. A lot of the farms that harvest and manufacture maple syrup open up their farms and give tours and samples. Cars were lining the side of the roads. We found a place to park and started walking. We saw where they evaporated the water out of the syrup. They gave everyone a scoop of ice cream with maple syrup on top. Delish Delish Delish! Give it a try! They were having a pancake breakfast there, but we had already gotten something to eat by that time. We bought some of their syrup. Outside, there was a long line of people waiting to get a stick of maple taffy. They had made a layer of snow on the table and poured lines of maple syrup on it. They took popsicle sticks and pulled and pulled it and wound it around the stick. That looked like something that I would have been interested in eating, but I didn't want to wait in line for it. So we left with our syrup and headed home. We ate some lunch and decided to go to a farm that is pretty close to our house. They were doing the maple syrup, but it was in a shack down a hill that was muddy and we decided not to go slippin' and sliddin'. But we did go into the barn to see the animals. I took some pictures and had hoped to post them with this post, but something is not cooperating with my plans. So I will post them later. Sorry!

I don't know if we ate something out of the ordinary or just had too much fun, but my stomach is not feeling well today and neither is Dick's. I feel sorry for Dick having to go back to work tomorrow. Hopefully, he will be up to snuff.

I hope I didn't bore you with all the sorted details. It was a good weekend.

I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Today Show

I can't believe I forgot to let you know that I saw Reese and Callie on the Today Show this morning! They looked beautiful in High Definition! I hope they were able to talk to Matt! One of these days I, Frannycakes, will go to the Today Show and I will wave to you all!

Great to see some of my favorite people on TV! That means you too Matt!

Talk to you later! Tootles!

The Big D and I Don't Mean Dallas

It is Friday and I have done a very poor job of blogging this week. Very poor. I have had a little bit of an excuse. As many of you know, I only have one friend here in Maine. And that friend is getting a divorce. It seems her husband decided he didn't love her anymore and is moving out this weekend. This has not been a long time friend.......just a short time friend. And I do not know all details of their relationship, just as I probably wouldn't know all details of even my closest long time friends relationships. I think maybe the reason this has upset me so much is that she is my age. She has 3 children. Two of the children are in college. One child is still at home. She has moved and moved and moved with her husband as he changed positions. She was pretty much a stay at home raise the kids mom. And now she is among many other things worried if she will even have health insurance.

So are you depressed now?

Dick and I are going away this weekend. Just a little get the hell out of here trip. I am smuggling Weezie into the hotel in her beloved Vera Bradley bag of mine. I guess I will have to find somewhere else to put my make-up and assorted other beauty accoutrement's. She is such a sweet baby. She is outside right now. We still have major snow outside even though it has been melting for a couple of days now. And it is soft. She is trying to walk around the back yard and sinks with every step she makes.

I talked to Jamie last night. He seems to be enjoying his job.....as much as you can the first few days when the people that are training you are busy, busy, busy. I explained that everyone is nervous to begin with. He also worked at Macaroni Grill yesterday. He asked the people at one table where they were from and they were from Jacksonville, FL. And they lived on the same road he lived on part of the time he lived there. The next table had a son who goes to the Citadel. It is a small world out there!

I guess I should go get productive. I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Uncle Mental Pause

First of all, I want to apologize for yesterday's lack of a post. I finally decided to go to Portland and got back around 7. I was tired of just looking and not buying......you know how that can wear you out! I ended up going to bed about 10:30. I have not been sleeping well lately. Well, to clarify that, I have not been sleeping well for the past 3 nights. I can't seem to get into a good deep sleep and I just toss and turn and I am hot and just can't get comfortable. I am thinking it is just about time to retire my sexy flannel pj's and get something that will help me stay a little bit cooler. I can not blame any of this on the weather....it was 8 degrees outside when I finally gave up and came downstairs at 3:30. It hurts me to even type 3:30. And I have been wide awake since that time. Could it be that dreaded....ugh....Uncle Mental Pause?

I have a few things that I have get done today. Plus I have to go to Walmart to get some thread so I can sew on a button for Dick. I have all the basic colors, but of course I need a non basic color thread.

As I am typing this post I can hear the oil company pulling up outside and filling our oil tank with about $500 of fuel. Typing $500 hurts me too! Hopefully, our heating season is coming to a close. Hopefully. It will be nice to be able to open the windows again. I never thought I would ever say that. Way down yonder in the south, it was either heat or air conditioning for me. The thought of opening a window and letting in that humidity and hot air would put me in a bad mood. But we don't have the humidity or the heat up here so opening a window is a good thing. As long as you close it when the winds pick up or everything you have hanging or sitting on tables will be blown away! Remember: Wicked Winds!

I heard from the Virge that Callie and Reese will be on the Today Show on Friday. I will set my alarm so I will not miss a minute of them. (Please make note of that Uncle Mental Pause!) I hope they will have a sign or something so I can pick them out easily. Hint Hint HMMMMM....What could that sign say that would catch my attention??????? FRANNYCAKES!!!!!!!!

I guess it is time to get my rear out of the recliner and get to work. Especially since I have been here since 3:30. UGH!!!!!!!

I will talk to you later......Tootles!

Deep Thoughts....

I hope you enjoyed the snow pictures I posted. I will have a few more to post later. Last night it started to snow again. Then it stopped. Tonight we are supposed to get a few inches. Weezie is loving going out and climbing the snow peaks. She is a snow bunny now. Much to my horror and to Dick's delight, she is barking her little head off when she see's a bird, a squirrel, a swaying tree or anything else that she imagines is outside. And her bark is not that pitiful little one syllable half cough. It is now a two syllable....ruffruff! It is cute and she is so serious about it. I make her come inside when she starts barking and she continues to growl for a while when she gets in. Last night after coming in, she continued to look at the kitchen cabinets from the safety of the corner of Dick's chair, growling at whatever her imagination had conjured up. Yes, those crumbs on the counter scare me too, but I have learned how to deal with it!

Sunday, we went for a quick trip to Walmart. Afterwards, we went to Lone Star for lunch with a gift card our sweet realtor gave us when we closed on our house. Thank you Lorraine! It was delish! Then we were off for home for an afternoon nap. I got on the couch and Dick was in the recliner. I was just about asleep when my cell phone rang. It was Chris and I know he could tell that I must have been asleep. But it was good to talk to him. I went back to the couch and just as I started to drift towards la la land, the washing machine started beeping that it had finshed. Our new washer and dryer beep continuously when they are through. It drives me crazy. Not only the washer and dryer.....the dishwasher also beeps and beeps. You just cannot ignore it. I have got to read up on stopping this beeping! So needless to say, I did not nap. Later, I started going through files shredding and thowing away. It feels good to get rid of so much. I would really like to try and get a little bit more organized with all of my filing. Right now I will just start with filing. Other things later. I promise. I think.

My trip to South Carolina has been cancelled for right now. I will have to reschedule at another time.......We still have to go look for condo's. I am gonna miss my buds. I know girls weekend is going to be fabulous and I hope you all have great weather. Of course bad weather has never dampened the fun! When you are playing cards, please make sure everyone knows that I beat Cathy McEllvine (?) at cards and she had an 800 score. And that I may have single handedly knocked her out of going to nationals. Whatever the hell that is!

Dick has dinner out tonight. I am seriously thinking of showering and going to Portland. I will wait and see if I still want to after I shower. I can always get my thoughts straight while I am showering. Which explains why I sometimes wash my hair with Clearisil face wash and wash my face with shampoo. I am thinking about other things while multitasking. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

I will talk to you later......Tootles!

Snow Pictures

I wanted to let you see our snow we got last night and this morning. It is really pretty and I wish we had visitors up here to enjoy it! Dick got the snow blower out and gave me the shovel. I worked on the back porch. I don't know if you can tell, but the snow was against the french doors that go to the porch. Weezie was happy to get the porch shoveled off. I will post more pictures tomorrow. For some reason, I am having a hard time downloading pictures tonight.

I will talk to you tomorrow....Tootles!

Snow Pictures

Winter Storm Watch

A winter storm watch is in effect for our little part of the world. Can you believe it? Just when the other snow had started to melt, we are getting more. The forecast sounded like at least 2 feet. Weezie was getting excited being able to see more grass to poop on.....

I have put links to some of my favorite blogs over on the right side of my blog. Check them out! They are all a little different and I thoroughly enjoy them all. I am adding a new one......Second Effort. I think you will enjoy him. When you have time, go to his archives and start at the beginning. It doesn't take long to read to the present. I am just trying to share the joy with my friends!

Chris and Linley got back to Raleigh from Louisiana on Sunday night. Early Monday morning, Linley woke up with a horrible stomach virus. It lasted about 24 hours. Yesterday, Chris got it. It must have been a bad one. I am so thankful Linley was there to help him. Thank you Linley! I am glad they are both feeling better. Even more thankful you can't catch it through a cell phone or through the computer!

I exercised today....not for long, but I did exercise. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to go even longer.

I have been busy getting my list of addresses ready for the wedding invitations. Thank you to everyone who sent me their full names. You know we got to be proper with this! I can hardly believe it is only 4 months away.

I had hoped we would be able to get out of town this weekend so Dick could get a little change of scenery. But it looks like the weather is not going to cooperate. This has been a long week for him. I would say it has been a long week for me, but you all know that I am spoiled rotten and have nothing to complain about. Really, I don't.

I will talk with you tomorrow.....Tootles!

It's Raining, It's Pouring, Dick is Upstairs Snoring!!!!!

Today was very uneventful. I got up, got my cup of coffee and watched the Today Show. Then I got dressed and went to the grocery store. I went to my favorite store, Shaws. That was a treat. When you walk in the door, there is a Dunkin Donuts to your immediate left. Since I still had my headache, I decided that I needed a Coolata to make me feel better. It was delish, if I must say so myself. I enjoyed it till the last drop. Nothing like self medicating.....

After I put up the groceries, I made a PB&J Sandwich. Then I decided to go get a shower and maybe my head would open up and some of the pressure would be relieved. That made me sleepy, so I layed down on the sofa and dozed for a while. When I woke up, my headache was gone. I am so glad.

Tonight we had salmon, sauteed spinach and corn on the cob. It was very good. We really would rather cook the fish on the grill, but decided against it because of the rain. I can't wait till it warm up. We cook everything down to the vegetables on the grill. It won't be too long. Of course, we still have a lot of snow, so........

Dick has a dinner out tomorrow night. No cooking for me! I do love the occasional dinner meeting.

That about wraps it up for me.......I will talk to you tomorrow! Tootles!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!

Southern Accents......That Sounds Like a Good Magazine Title!

I still have a big one.....of course I am talking about my HEADACHE and not any other part of my body this too would describe. I am hoping it is caused by the weather and not a sinus infection. We are about to get some rain and then some snow. I tried the magic potion this afternoon after getting desperate.....Goody powder and Coca Cola. Now most of the time, this is magic. However, it helped but did not take it away. I am going to try it again before I go to bed. I hate these headaches.

We went to a going away drop in tonight. It was nice and I got to meet some more people from the mill. Too bad none of them live near us. Oh well.......maybe when it thaws out I will meet more people.

I talked to the couple whose house burned yesterday. It was all I could do not to start blubbering right there. My eyes kept watering up and my voice cracking. Dick's company is letting them lease the house we lived in for a time that is here in the neighborhood. They already have a builder who is ready to start rebuilding as soon as the insurance gets settled. I am glad they are able to use the red house. This neighborhood has just come together for them. People were moving furniture in there tonight for them as we were coming home from the party. I will go down tomorrow to see what I can contribute.

Someone asked in the comments who Josh was.......he is our nephew, son of Dick's sister Debbie and her husband Steve.

Today while I was in Walmart, I was checking out and the man behind me started talking to me and the check out lady about my accent. He went on and on and on and was imitating me. I finally turned to him and told him that people down south thought that northerners had funny sounding accents. He replied with a southern accent that no, southerners had funny accents. I told him I would try to imitate him but I would probably hurt his feeling and I tried my best not to do anything that would hurt someones feelings. And to that he said absolutely nothing.

Well, this old southern girl (and proud of it!!!!!) is going to medicate and go to bed. I hope my frown turns upside down in my feelings picture tomorrow! I will talk to you tomorrow.........Tootles!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Mornin' Yall!

I usually don't post this early.....um....it is 10:30 in the morning......early...right? I have kind of been out of sorts since returning to this place called Maine. I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it because I was gone for a whole month? Yes, probably. Is it because I have been around my children and I miss them? Yes, probably. Is it because I have been around my bestest friends and I miss them terribly? Yes, probably. Is it because I have had very little sunshine and a lot of overcast? Yes, probably. Is it because I have a killer headache that just doesn't seem to want to go away? Yes, probably. I need some sunshine and green. We still have snow....though it is melting as I speak...um....type. I checked the weather forecast this morning and it looks like I spoke too soon about us getting no more snow. I will get over all this.............and the sooner the better.

Today, I have some paperwork stuff to take care of. The taxes are just about ready to go. I have some reimbursement things that need to be sent in. And I need to throw away a lot of things that I have filed that we just don't need any more. Of course, the moment I throw them away, I will need something. This theory explains why my files are so full......you know......just in case.....

My birthday present from Dick was a plane ticket to go to a girl's weekend in SC. I made my reservations last night. I know, I know..........I were just complaining about being out of sorts........well, I think I can justify myself...yeah...okay.....I am killing two birds with one stone........I am also looking at condos while I am down. We have to get one in Raleigh and I will be looking at them with a realtor while I am there. See.....justification. Of course I get to see the bestest friends again......

Yesterday, one of the houses in our neighborhood burned down. According to what Dick said, it took 30 minutes for the fire trucks to make it here. Kelly had left to go pick up her kids from school and when she got up the hill, she saw the fire and called 911. It was a complete loss. I am afraid that if our house caught on fire, it would be ashes before anyone even saw it. We are kind of isolated from the other parts of the neighborhood. And most people aren't home during the day. It makes me want to take Weezie with me when I leave the house.

Okay....I will try to leave on a cheerier note. I don't have to cook dinner tonight!!!! How's that for cheerier? There is a going away get together tonight. I am all for those!

I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Happy Birthday Gran Gran!