Harbingers

Harbinger: hahr-bin-jer. Anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign; herald: Baby daffodils are a harbinger of spring.

Apparently, I've been saying it wrong all these years.

Tat-ty Kids

When Bethany graduated from high school she took a celebration trip to the coast with her girlfriends. Upon her return she informed me that her friends had gotten tattoos. "Oh Bethany, I'm so proud of you for not succumbing to peer pressure," was my reply.
About two weeks later, I noticed that her ears had acquired another piercing. My sweet daughter had been hiding her ears behind her hair for that long! It was a minor rebellion and several years later, at the admonition of church leaders, she let the second pair of holes close up.

Ten years later, Charlie turned 18.

I noticed that something was up.
He was acting in a secretive manner.
He went to the doctor and then needed our prescription card.
He would divulge nothing.
My mind, of course, was taking all kinds of wild rides in the realm of possibilities. I was convinced that he had an STD and I felt quite sick at the prospect. I did some digging. In his bathroom drawer, I found a paper giving instructions on "The Care of Your Tattoo."
Oh.
Whew!
I was so relieved I wanted to sing and dance and hug his rotten little neck.
I felt like laughing.
His tattoo had become infected.
Ha! Serves him right, I thought.
I decided not to tell him that I knew, because it was so much fun to have him intimidated for a change. I realised then that he had been wearing his shirt all of the time at home. He was often shirtless at home, especially before and after showering. So I thought maybe the tat (that's what cool people call them you know) was on his upper arm. So I just smiled quietly to myself for the next few days, and eventually someone let the cat out of the bag. I think he overheard me telling the story to a friend on the phone. It turned out that the tat was rather large, Death Before Dishonor, on his left chest. Ugly, but at least his clothes hid it.
Then, a year or so later, he was home on leave from the Marines and walking around the house in his usual semi-naked state and I did a double-take. Wrapping around his lower torso was the biggest, ugliest tattoo I have ever seen. Think skeleton and who-knows-what-else. He was already a little rueful, having done it in the aftermath of boot camp. "So, Charlie, thinking about tat removal already eh?" He chuckled.

Then Annie brings Edwin home. Who is also the proud owner of several very visible tats. Including one on his forearm that says Mary Jane. Who is, in case you haven't guessed, his former wife.
Oh yeah, major blunder!
Annie married him anyway.

I was starting to feel like I should get a tasteful butterfly tattoo on my ankle just so that I could fit in with my family.

This Valentine's day Edwin started the removal process for Mary Jane.
Here is the facebook thread, lightly edited by yours truly.

Edwin White I dont know what was more uncomfortable? Getting a tattoo or getting it removed. Im glad I finally did it though.
Susan Wilson Osborne Tell me it's the Mary jane one! Is that one of my Roxy photos?
Edwin White Yes to the mj tattoo, and no, this is a pic of Roxy Annie took when we first got her.
Susan Wilson Osborne Oh, I see it now, she does look younger. Good for you on the tat. That was a pretty big one, did they do it in one session?
Bethany Osborne Mitchell Ow. BTW, I like that you got it removed, not that it hurt. :)
Charlie Osborne DUDE!!!!!! dont give my mom ideas man!!! shell make me get mine removed when i get back.... oh by the way... ill do it mom if you pay??!!! ;)
Susan Wilson Osborne We'll pay!
Bethany Osborne Mitchell LOL Now you don't have an excuse Charlie!
Annie Marie White I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!! :D
Edwin White Now where should i put Annie's name???
Susan Wilson Osborne Did you not learn anything?
Edwin White I'm not going to. I just wanted to see yor reaction.
Susan Wilson Osborne Ha! I foresee a blog post on tats coming up here. Beware!

So you see two things.
#1. People in my family do not know how to use punctuation.
#2. If you are patient and wait long enough, most things will come full circle.

These I love

In no particular order:

Cuddles and kisses from little Jeff.
Cuddles and kisses from big Jeff.
The blogs of my kids.
Comments on my blog.
Fruit and nut Toblerone.
Sunny days.
Brightly coloured spring flowers.
Piano students.
Hot chocolate in the morning.

Walking to church.
Slabs of butter between two graham crackers.
Gathering with friends.
A good poem.
Any chocolate by Lindt.
Mozart.
Chopin.
Jamie Cullum.
Digital cameras.
My house.
Facebook.
Kangaroos and koalas.
Children singing.
Riding my bike.
Outdoor concerts.
Holidays.
Protest rallies.
America.

Ain't life grand?
I could go on, but you would find it tedious.
Feel free to add your own list.
In the comments section.

This and That

I've been feeling a little bored again lately.
And boring.
I think it's the empty nest. As much as I love having a house that stays clean and the luxury of not HAVING to be busy if I choose not to be, I miss my peeps.

In a couple of months we will have a full house again. Mum is coming for four months, starting in the middle of April. Then Annie arrives for a month, Charlie for probably three weeks of leave, and Edwin will also be here for a week. So for at least a month I can cook and entertain to my heart's content. I will hug Charlie to death, put Edwin to work (he's such a handy soul), make smoothies for Annie, and try to fatten Mum up. Then, by the time Mum leaves in August, I will appreciate my empty house once again. Variety is definitely the spice of my life.
So here are a couple of things I've been doing to relieve the boredom this week.

I know I promised a fascinating idea for Valentines Day, but it was a bit of a bust. I found this website, where you can upload photos, set them to music, and make your own video. It seemed like a fantastic idea. You can make a 30 second video for free, so I made one and tried to embed it here, but I couldn't get the embedding to work. However, the process seems sound, and you can make full-length videos for only $3, so I may try it out again at a later date.

Yesterday, Jeff and I went to the Yard, Garden and Patio Show at the Convention Center in Portland. A friend gave me tickets, so it was a bargain. Only $6 for parking. We spent a couple of enjoyable hours wandering the aisles, wondering at times what some of the booths had to do with the subject of the show. Socks? Really? Trivets? Dip mixes? I suppose you can do almost anything on a patio that you can do inside the house, but some of the connections were tenuous at best.
I found some lovely glass necklaces (see preceding thought) and Jeff was happy to let me get one for Valentines Day. Yeah, like he had any choice, right? But he is always gracious about my purchases, he says it's my reward for sticking with him all these years. And this lovely, um, thing, for holding flowers. Maybe my arrangements will finally look like ikebana. Right.

If you want to see some truly beautiful ikebana arrangements, go here. And yes, my daffodils are blooming. Spring is almost here.

Friday night, I got together with a few friends and we canned chicken. It's a surprisingly easy process, although I am quite fearful of pressure cookers. Go see Kellene's instructions if you want to give it a try. I love this woman more and more.
Six little jars of chicken breasts.

Today, I tried cjane's recipe for a crock-pot chocolate cake. It's very similar to my favourite recipe, it just uses a little more liquid. I've never tried baking a cake in a crock pot, but it worked wonderfully. I used a Triple Chocolate Fudge mix and added dark Dove promises. I think the Promises were a little too bitter after being cooked, so I will use milk chocolate next time.
Here's the recipe:

1 box of cake mix
1 c sour cream
1 c chocolate chips (or other chocolate treats)
4 eggs
1 small chocolate instant pudding mix
1/2 c oil
1 c water

Mix by hand.

Spray crock pot with non-stick spray, put batter in the pot.

Cover, cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours.

Eat hot with vanilla ice cream.

We took it over to Jon and Jenny's place.
Jeff loved his.
Thomy said, "I don't like chocolate cake."
Sigh.

Speaking of Charlie...

...he has started a blog. You can catch his ruminations in my blog list at The Life of Oz.

Warning: I cannot vouch for content on his blog. He is 19 and a Marine. His idea of language and idioms that are acceptable for polite society do not always coincide with his mother's. So read at your own risk.

However, I am sure that he will narrate some interesting adventures, so the risk may be warranted.

Funny, I used to call Jeff "Oz". I can't even remember when I quit doing it. His Uncle Al has always been Oz as well. It seems like one male in each generation ends up with the moniker. I am often asked by people if we are related to Ozzie Osborne. Isn't that name a redundancy? I am ever so happy and relieved to tell them "No." Although his daughter spent some time at the addiction rehab facility just down the road from us. So I reluctantly admit to a slight connection to the family.

I'm working on something for Valentines Day. I hope to get it posted soon enough that you can utilize it for your own needs, if you so choose.
Keep an eye out.
Right here.

Now, I must be off to Freddies.
Jon called to tell me that their Rugers are on sale.
Woohoo!
Armament serendipity.

Charlie update, updated

Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. Plato.

When Charlie was a child, he had beautiful hair. I remember the first few times I cut it, before he was maybe two, I would have to chase him around the garden with the scissors. He had lovely white-blond hair with little curls. As he got older his hair darkened up, as did the hair of all of our kids. For a long time I gave him bowl cuts. They were kind of awful, but I think he looked cute. And don't you see how silky his hair was? Ah, but I wax sentimental.
Now, my Marine wears his hair in a buzz-cut. Strictly military. It's so short that you can see all of the scars that he accumulated on his head in his childhood. Not attractive at all.

I thought you might be interested in an update on Charlie's life. As it turns out, to my relief and his dismay, he will not be seeing any combat this deployment. It being the Marines, we're not supposed to say too much, but they have mostly been on board a Navy ship doing training and security work in several different countries. He spent Christmas day snowboarding in Dubai. Nice life if you can get it!
Someone posted this photo on Facebook so I stole it. It's the only photo we have of him since he left.

We expect him home in April, all things being equal.
However, this is the Marines, so we remain flexible above all else.

P.S. I found this photo on Charlie's facebook album. I'm not sure if it's from his days at Camp Pendleton or his deployment, but it depicts the new Charlie a little better than the small photo.

Home Improvement in Spring Lake

While I was fairly idle at Annie's house, I did manage to get a few things done. And if you know me at all, you know I count my worth in the number of things I get done in a day.
So here is the photographic record of "Stuff that Nana did at Annie's house."

Bought a new curtain rod so that the living room curtains will look elegant.
And coerced Edwin into putting up the rod.

Cooked up a bunch of ground beef into spaghetti sauce and shepherd's pie meat.

Bought a new 400 thread count sheet set, including four pillow cases, for their bed. I love good sheets and figured it's where Annie spends most of her time lately. Also bought two co-ordinating cushions for the bed. What would we do without Ross and Marshalls and their ilk? Then HAND-SEWED a duvet cover for the feather comforter out of two sheets. Yes, my friends, hand sewed. It took me about four hours of fairly small back-stitch. No sewing machine, don't you know? Annie loves it. The lump in the bed is she. She had a migraine the day I left so I told her just to hunker down while I took the photo.

Talked Annie into buying these pretty sheers at TJMaxx to replace Edwin's ugly old faded blue curtains. Sorry Edwin, it had to be done!

Finally, some pictures of the happy couple.
And Roxy.