Thursday, March 31, 2011

OK...what am I doing wrong?

Can anyone tell me? After I post, my picture disappears into an "x". I can't seem to get it to open! Also, when I post, it goes directly to "draft", even though I don't hit draft button! Help!

Well...here we are!

Marching into April!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Easter is right around the corner!

{images found on-line} Don't you wish you had "some bunny" to hug right now?

Funny Bunny~!

Sweet Molly aka "Grouchy Girl"!


Shhhhhhh! don't wake her!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Temptation! Who has the remote?

SHE resisted the temptation
to MOVE from her cozy little spot. SHE could....in an instant loose that familar channel.
SHE chose instead to guard her soft cloud like pillow. After all...SHE is 18 years old!

SHE knew how to channel her inner temptations... of purrrrfect sweet dreams. Keeping one paw poised just in case someone or somebody swiped the 'mote! ZZZZZZ
{ummm...K...who took the 'mote?}

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

It MUST be March Madness!!

{paper by Graphics 45}
(warning...a small but tasteful venting session ahead)
Has anyone
ever
had a "good" phone
conversation with one of our leading telephone companies??
I mean...
a really satisfied..".Gee I'm glad I called them" feeling?

Well, after spending over an hour
(75 mins. to be exact)
I was frustrated...
worn out
shocked

...did I mention frustrated?

Especially after listening to that
awful background music!!

Desperately trying to find out
WHY my 87 year old mother
had a charge of $ 257.87 on her phone bill.

It was....(are you ready for this one?)
My mother chose to use operator assistance to dial
a long time girlfriend in Ashland Massachusetts. Some how
she was connected to ....
Ashland MAINE. After giving her the wrong connection....
the operator then connected her
to the right one.
...in Massachusetts! The cost? "$200.00" !!! What?????? Really?????????????

{ photo images found on line}

And you might ask Why such a steep, over inflated phone charge ( that of course had NOTHING to do with this Atlantic telephone Co.)
It was , in fact (per the customer service rep.) an "International call".

International?????? Maine is NOT international...like in another country...international!!!! (I said not believing what I had JUST heard!)


Yes...that's right folks! Who knew Maine was NOT part of the United States! She then added..."but Alaska is still considered part of the
United States. "
Whew! Now that's a relief!

After several bouts of Maine IS part of the US (and therefore this "International" charge is completely bogus!) with several replies of "No... (this Atlantic telep. co.) has a policy that it is NOT"
She finally said. "ok...it is part of the US...BUT...the charges remain the same"

(right about NOW...I want to just bang my head against the wall!) The "supervisor" comes on and I get transferred to billing.
I'm now listening to their terrible music; thinking about my Mother who only wanted a little help from the operator...to make a call to a friend back home and bring a little joy into her life. There in her little 3 room apt. in an Assisted Living facility, with a cat named Tibbs. (a FAT, long haired, Mr Wide body himself...cat). And...in a couple of weeks she will be celebrating her 87th birthday. Will it be phone less???!

In the end. The solution was simple and did not deviate from the initial reply of 74 mins. earlier. Pay the whole balance. Mother's phone line will be restored (for a fee of course...don't worry it won't show up until the next bill)...And life is good again! "Thank you for choosing %&*##@### and have a nice day" (I don't think she heard my reply b/c all I heard was a dial tone)

(BIG heavy sigh...) It's only money right?

But MAINE !!!!!

has departed from the US and is now INTERNATIONAL????!!! Where do they come up with this stuff??

OK...I'm done venting! Thank you for those that actually read all this. I'll leave you with a joke my brother made in reply to my rather long email regarding this conversation.

"...I'm sure you have heard that At&t wireless is buying T Mobile. Actually, it is a wedding....with no reception following the ceremony"

(HA!)
{images by "bing"}

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

In honour of St. Paddy's Day!

One more tribute to Lizzie Belle!
In addition to finally getting to see
my Great Grandmother's face for the first time in my life(story in my last post),
I have this beautiful crazy quilt!
made by you (Lizzie Belle Flanigin Allen)
How did she learn all of these fancy crewel work? Such a variety of stitches!

Lizzie Belle Flanigin, you amaze me!
A hastily (and misspelled) note by my Grandmother, Laura (Lizzie's daughter).

I will cherish it always! I wish I could have met you. I'm honoured to be your great grand daughter. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Nanna!

Laura Mae Allen b. 3/5/1891 - d. 5/1997
Thanks to Crafty Secrets for the free calendar download. The Irish Girl (online photo) the poem
is actually a post card that was found in my Mom's treasures of generations past. probably 1915-ish.

The adorable, cute, sweet and precious kitty is Angel. She's my scrap booking buddy. My photo scanner-watcher,
my computer key-board duster and my all around QC inspector of large and small things. But she "doesn't do mice!!"
"Pa-leez!"
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As my Great Grandmother Lizzie Belle Flanagan would say...

spoken in an Irish brogue, "Sit ye self dune and stay for a while"!
This is the one
the only..
photo I have of her, Lizzie Belle Flanagan.
The date on the back is 1894.

Taken by a photography shop in Turner Falls, Ma.
The handwriting on the back (I'm assuming my Grandmother's)
simply states "Grandpa Flanagan ...Mohawk Trail".
I searched, with earnest,
all yesterday and finally...
{amazingly}there it was
in all its' tattered splendor.
Wanting to scan in the photo, crop it
and for the first time...
I saw my Great Grandmother's face.
True, blurry
but my heart

saw a clear picture of love
and pride for her little
family.
What was MOST exciting for me was that
I could pick out the features of her
face that I knew from my Grandmother Laura's.

And that "wee lit'le girl"? The toddler
in the cute long dress and her hands folded together;
today...
is/was
her birthday!
Born March 5th, 1891.

Happy Birthday Nanna!!!

In honour of a beautiful,
strong, enduring
woman; I made this
layout with her
and her Mother Lizzie Belle
in mind.

This house, that
became the foundation of strength
...of love
...and family ties that bind.
Even today.
120 years later.
At the time of this photo, 1894 little did
anyone KNOW that
my Grandmother Laura would
only have 7 more precious years to be
with her Mother.

For little Laura, it was enough to build
a lifetime of wisdom for
raising 4 children of
her own someday.
Enough to learn how
to cook a meal to satisfy
4 hungry children and a
hardworking husband
when
there was almost
nothing in
her depression era
cupboards.
Enough love
and
Charity to give
to others
and
praising God she
had "something" to
give!

Thanks for all
you did Lizzie Belle.
Thanks for all you gave
to many people
yet to be born.

It all started here

In the house that
built...

Me {too}

p.s. I remember my Grandmother Laura as a great
seamstress. Her Mother must have taught her
sewing too. The "crazy quilt" pictured in the circle
above (machine needles) is the other "only one"
physical thing that I have of Lizzie Belle's.
It's(quilt) not finished. Perhaps put aside too
soon when she became sick and died at a young age.
She did a great job...I like it just the way she
left it.
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Thursday, March 3, 2011

So...what exactly IS a "Scrofula"????

Any guesses? 'Cause...I'm pretty sure that I don't even
want to catch THAT! Thank goodness for "Ayer's sarsaprarilla" and Christopher Collumbus for discovering America where you can
get some!!

I'm not sure of the date on this advertisement
but it was in with
other "little treasures" of my Grandmother Josephine's.
Most of the dates there were 1911-1915.
Ok...This advertisement
does not
list
any of the ingredients!???
really?
other than
"extract of the sarsaparilla-root
of the tropics (which one? where?)
...stillingia (c'mon..is that real?)
yellow dock, mandrake
and (other roots-shhhhhh! secret ingredients?)


Up until right now...I haven't given
the FDA enough credit
for all of the
accomplishments
they have managed to
stamp on our
society! (...long, begrudging sigh)
sorry for all the times
I ...maybe
said a
few....very few
unkind words
about how LONG
it takes you (FDA)
to allow a
drug (that could be saving millions)
to be approved
for the
every day USA
people!

(another ...sigh) OK...compared to
what some of the (quacks)
could get away with
promoting...
You were right.

by the way...the medical "condition" of
Scrofula....

according to (The American Heritage medical dictionary, copyright 2004,2007 by Houghton Mifflin Co. Pub. by Houghton Mifflin Co. all rights reserved) {wow...that's longer than the definition!}

Scrof -u-la (n.) A form of tuberculosis affecting lymph nodes especially of the neck that is most common in children and is usually spread by unpasteurized milk from infected cows. Also called Strum.

"K"?

Who knew? And think...how many were "cured" by a little
Sarsaparilla?
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Just HAD to show ya!

Remember this cute little cherub?
(I still think those booties are precious) She lived all her
life...in the same house
on the same street.
Right next to my
Great Grandfather. Who, by the way, lived
in the house that my Grandmother
grew up and lived the rest of her life in. And the same for my Mother, who grew up in
the same home as her Mother and Grandparents before her. This also was the house
I grew up in...and (yup)
my children grew up in.
(so when my family look at pictures you hear people
exclaim things like..."hey...look that
house wasn't there a 100 years ago...they must have
moved it back in.....etc, etc.")

Anyways......
Look at what I found today!

In my Mother's well preserved
stash!
The cute little cherub is now (I think) 3 years old!

It's cute little Helen (later to be Holliston's number one gym teacher!)

Awhhhwa....lookit how happy she is! She's sitting on my Great Grandfather's lawn under
the rose arbor...with her cute little box of (cracker jacks, maybe?)


Oh...no! Some body's not too happy now.

I think
my Great Grandfather John's little "shadow" has to go back
home! (maybe for a nap?) Cherub Helen could always
be found
("they use to say")
out in the garden
with my Great Grandfather John.
He was a "gentleman's" farmer. He even
had chickens, kittens and cats!

Cherub Helen would often boast to
my Mom, who came along a few years
after Cherub Helen, that "SHE" was
the one that was "SUPPOSE" to live
there (my great grandfather's house).
Because, "SHE" was there "FIRST"

Is this what the saying means..."It sure is
a tough row to hoe" ?

Poor little cherub Helen.
This makes my heart sad.
Look at that poor little cherub pout!

She doesn't even care much
about her " cracker jacks" does she?
She'll be back
another day
to play!

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