My Neck is Not Meant to be Draped in Fabric

In mid-November I had to have surgery to remove a tumor from my neck (now you know why I did not post for so long).  I won't bore you with details, other than to say that the tumor was benign and  I am just fine now.  I am only telling you this as a segue into my dislike of wearing scarves.

I feared that after surgery my neck would be black and blue (based on having blood drawn from my arm...many times that tiny little needle leaves a big bruise).  Therefore, I assumed that when a surgeon takes a knife and cuts across my neck, it's not going to be pretty!  I had to go back to work immediately after the surgery, so I decided that I needed to buy some scarves.

I had about a three-week notice of this surgery. I immediately scoured my favorite clothing site (Coldwater Creek) and ordered just about every scarf I could find in the outlet. I went to Wally's World and grabbed what they had available.  This picture is about half of what I bought so that I would have something to cover my hideous post-surgery neck no matter what color of jacket I wore to work each day.

Other than for warmth with a winter coat, I have never worn scarves.  Since scarves are really "in" right now, I thought it was time to learn how to wear them.  I watched CC's video of something like "8 ways to tie a scarf".  I searched "scarves" on Pinterest.  The models looked great in their scarves.  I was getting excited about wrapping myself in yards of fabric (most of these scarves are longer than I am tall) and looking, oh, so chic.

Well, let me tell you, I was totally disappointed.  With the exception of the short infinity off-white scarf with the gold metallic circles, I hated all of these.  I think maybe scarves are only for tall thin people.  I felt like I was overwhelmed, choked, totally engulfed in these long skinny yards of fabric.

It took me less than a week to decide that I would rather flaunt my neck incision than to wear one of those hideous wrappings.  The incision looked much better than I anticipated right from the start--there was no bruising.  It was a bit red and swelled, but not all that repulsive.  I never thought to take a picture of it, until today. 

It has been 4 weeks since my surgery and because I  travelled 4.5 hours (one way for two weeks in a row) to have a very experienced surgeon at the University of Michigan hospital, my neck looks like this:

I am thrilled with the smallish cut and feel it looks way better than any of the dozen scarves I bought to try to hide it! 

I did order this scarf last week.

I have not received it yet, but I think it will be here tomorrow.  This one looks really quirky  and I am hoping that I will love it and be able to wear it in place of a necklace with blue jeans (weekend wear).  I no longer care if it hides the incision.

 

I have decided that my neck was made for short infinity scarves... ....or strands of 14K gold  :). 

 

Now I have to figure out what to do with all those long scarves.  Do you think they would work as table runners?  Anyone have any other ideas? 

The Fewest Words I Have Ever Used in a Post

It was around 80 degrees when I got up at 5:00 a.m.

Middle-Age Maintenance Week

I just got home from over two hours at the hair salon getting my hair highlighted. I have not had it done since last June. She put two different blond colors over my own dark blond hair. Here is the top of my head (yes, I bent over under the hallway light so I could take a pic with no flash---anything to give my readers the true color!)

I am fairy happy, though not exactly giddy over it.  If it made me look 20  years younger, I would be giddy.   I know, even the best hairdresser is not a miracle worker!

Thursday I have to go to the dentist for my quarterly cleaning.

Thank goodness I got rid of the acrylic nails or I would have had to get those done this week, too.  I did like the acrylics, but I did not like the time it took to maintain them.

I know some women love to go to salons to get all these treatments. Personally, I HATE to go. I would much rather leave work and come straight home than spend two hours getting my hair/nails done.  I much prefer doing my own pedicures and manicures.  I guess I am kinda weird.

Sunday I went to  JC Penney. I had a $10 off anything that cost at least $10 coupon. Who can resist that? I did not take me long to find something to spend it on.  They already had handbags marked down, I know I don't need another one, but when I saw a burnt ORANGE leather handbag, I just had to have it.  I mean, really, how often do you see an orange leather purse?  This one was originally $45, marked down to $21.99 and I got another $10 off --final cost was just under $13 for this beauty...

I just happen to have quite a few items of clothing with this color of orange in it. This picture is the true color.

This is a picture I took of a few of my clothing items that I could use it with. Unfortunately I had to use a flash and the bag turned out way too orange.  Just imagine it the color of the above pic......

It is the purrrfect color for my newest animal (cats) print jacket. I think I will wear it to work tomorrow.

After 12 hours of work and middle-aged maintenance, my newly coiffed self  spent twenty minutes cooking chicken breasts so that I could  enjoy this spinach/chicken/strawberry/pecan salad with poppy seed dressing for dinner. I am dining alone as I write this post.

This salad is so delicious that I groan after every bite!

Oh, and the brownies taste much better today. I have to force myself to stop at two.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday evening.

Is the Romance Dead?

I went grocery shopping with DH this morning. We stopped at a video store and rented a movie.

I have mentioned before that I NEVER go to the movies and only rent a movie about once a year. Since we are staying home all weekend, I thought it might be nice to rent one. I went into the video store with him. It's been years since I have been in a video store. I have no idea what movie to get. After about 10 minutes in the new section, I am bored and decide to grab whatever is in front of me. It happened to be The Golden Boys, a romantic comedy, set on Cape Cod in 1905, about three 70-year-old retired sea captains who try to lure an attractive middle-aged woman into marriage.

It was OK. I can't sit for two hours and just watch a movie, so while it's on I am watching from the kitchen as I roast squash, carrots and make apple crisp.

After the movie, it's 4:00 p.m., so I decide to make a lemon drop martini with some Grey Goose Citron Vodka that was gifted to me a few weeks ago after I did some sewing for a friend. While shopping this morning, I bought a fresh lemon in anticipation of making this cocktail.


I said to my husband, "I should be drinking this Lemon Drop wearing a sexy house gown, sitting next to a romantic partner in front of a roaring fire in a family room with solid wood floors."

Without skipping a beat, he says, "Go get your gown on, Honey, and we can go sit by Sam's fire."

Sam is our neighbor.

Last night we had incredibly high winds and many trees blew down around town. One of Sam's trees blew down. Today he is outside burning the debris.

Sitting in Sam's yard drinking my Lemon Drop is NOT exactly what I had in mind.

I would tell that to my DH, but he is in the Lazy Boy taking a nap.

I Cannot Eat any Real Food for almost 48 hours

I had a sandwich Monday night at 6:00 p.m. and cannot eat any more solid food (except for Jello) until about 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, after a medical procedure is completed. Tomorrow I can't eat or drink anything at all...not even water...until late afternoon.

This should be fun.

I have decided that my Jello will be served today as though it's a gourmet meal. I made four different flavors and cut them all in cubes. When I can no longer take the hunger pangs, I scoop out a nice dish of different flavors.

Sometimes I mix them all together.

A while ago I bought two new flavors. I must say they are quite good.

I took a little walk around the homestead this morning. My burning bushes are ablaze in flaming red.

The maple tree is a brilliant yellow.

I brought some branches of each inside to use for my dining room centerpiece.

Bon Appetit!

I had a Tulip for Dinner

I was alone for dinner tonight, so I decided to fuss a little and came up with a new twist on a simple ham/cheese sandwich.


This fussy sandwich is not really something that my dear husband would appreciate, so tonight was the perfect time to make it.



Some people can't imagine doing something like this just for themselves. I think I deserve a little something special -- and if nobody else is going to pamper me, then I have to do it myself!

Doesn't this look much nicer than two pieces of bread cut in half?

It was very quick to do.



I used a tulip cookie cutter to cut the bread, ham and cheese. then I stepped out on the deck and cut some chive stems.

I washed and dried them, then searched the refrigerator for something to accent the sandwich with. I was looking for olives, but didn't have any. I decided sweet pickles would work. I just cut them into leaf shapes.

The orange plate was a nice background. I had to have a medium dark plate--white would not show off the flower and a dark plate would not show the dark green leaves.

I put a few potato chips around the plate....gotta have that chip crunch with a sandwich.

I ate my light dinner while reading a book on Halloween decorating.


It was a most enjoyable meal.

It's Been a Long Day away From Home

I left at my usual 6:30 a.m. this morning, but didn't return until nearly 7 p.m. tonight. I had a hair cut appointment at 3pm and a nail appt. at 4 p.m., so I left work at 2:50 p.m. and headed to the salon (I get everything done at the same place).

I walked in and everyone greeted me. I glanced over and saw that my hair stylist was busy with someone else so I sat down and picked up a magazine. After a few more minutes, I glanced over and saw that she was just beginning to cut the hair. Hmmmmmmm............not looking good.....is she that far behind?

A few minutes later one of the other stylists walked over and I whispered that I thought I was supposed to be in that chair. She gave me a raised eyebrow like that's not going to happen any time soon and offered to check the appointment book.

The look on her face said that something was amiss.

It seems that my appointment was down for tomorrow. It matters not who made the mistake. I must sit there wasting an entire hour before I could get my nails done. Which, the way, I had done in the exact same pink/orange/white as I had two weeks ago. I have really enjoyed that color. I could have left and went someplace, but it's a cold and windy day and I had to park a good 1/2 block away so I wasn't walking back to my car until I was headed home.

On the way home (5:15 pm) I decide that I am not feeling like cooking dinner (I can't really do much for two hours after the nails are done) so I called DH and asked if he wanted to go out dinner. He did. I told him I would be there in 5 minutes.

About two months ago I discovered a delicious meal that is the best meal I've had in ages. It consists of 7 medium-sized sauteed shrimp in a sauce of heavy cream and salsa (nice pink/orange color...gee, it even matched my nails!). The shrimp rest atop a handful of fresh lightly-wilted baby spinach leaves. You must take a bit of spinach, sauce and a shrimp in the same forkful.

OMG, it's like going to heaven without leaving earth. I wish I had taken my camera so I could show you what it looks like.

I also tried a French martini (thank you, Susie in CA for telling me about this a while back-I wrote it down and carried it in my purse so I would remember what to ask for). It's vodka, chambord (raspberry liqueur) and pineapple juice. Very tasty.

So my day went by fast, and tomorrow I will have to go back to the salon for the hair cut. I hate going to appointments after work, but at least I already have my chicken noodle soup made for tomorrow night.

So how was your day today?

Boy, I am into BRIGHT lately!

Not only bright hair, but clothes, too.

I have taken a liking to pink, orange, and red clothing and purchased a jacket that has all those colors.


During one of my recent overnight trips, there was a jewelry sale in the hotel lobby and I picked up this beaded bracelet. It's just an inexpensive stretchy bracelet, but I think it is going to be great fun with the multi-colored jacket behind it.

I also recently bought this orange shell necklace, which just happened to go nicely with the jacket.

I am not sure I like the bracelet with the necklace. I will probably wear them at separate times. I have another longer tassel necklace ordered that I hope will also work with this jacket.It should arrive next week. I have been having a ball shopping the internet outlets. I wait for free shipping promotions. With cheap prices and no shipping, I can't go wrong.

I have not worn this yet. I am waiting for some spring weather. I don't know what I will wear it with. White pants/capris would be perfect, but I don't do white on my lower half. It would be cruel to subject the public to that image. Maybe jean capris.

I have worn the necklace with a different outfit.
This jacket has a lot of red and orange in it. I am not sure you can see the colors. The necklace is indeed eye-catching!

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Tomorrow I plan to stay home all day and get a little work done. I have really been slacking off in the housework department this winter.

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight.

Blondes are wild, brunettes are true, but you never know what a Redhead will do!

OMG, I have RED hair!

I have always had dark blond hair. Two weeks ago I went to have lighter blond and red highlights put in. I picked a nice mellow strawberry blond.

When it was done, I had nice blond highlights, but nobody could even tell I had any red. My hairdresser offered to redo the red and today was the big day.

My hairdresser, Cindy, said that she was thinking about it and she had an idea on how to mix the "potion" so it would be more red. I was a tad apprehensive, but hey, we only live once. Let's go for the gusto! I told her to go for it.

I think the red took, don't you?

It looks pretty stripey here because it is not yet combed out. Here it is combed out.


On my monitor the red does not look as bright as it really is, so I am not sure what you are seeing. Does it look red to you?

I have some pretty bright red highlights, and I think I am really liking it. I think it's going to be fun!

I will have to wear a lot of lime green for a while. Don't you think lime green goes nicely with red hair?

As my 78-year old co-worker says, "What's life if you don't have any fun?"

When did gaudy become beautiful?

Is it just me or is this ring beautiful?


I have noticed that as I get older everything I used to find gaudy I can now wear without batting an eye.



This is another piece I have had for years, but never wear. This morning I put it on and thought it was great. Just look how it matches my jacket.



I remember my mother buying it when I was a teenager. She gave it to me at least twenty years ago.



I am either looking pretty spiffy lately, or as I walk away people are saying, "Look at that gaudy old lady!"

Guess what? We are under a snow storm watch until Friday morning.

See this Driveway?

I just spent 35 minutes shoveling heavy, water laden snow from it.

Yes, not only am I the nurse, but I am also the Driveway Maintenance Woman and the Director of Sanitation (i.e. I haul out the garbage).

So right after working all day, I shoveled the driveway, then I put the garbage can out for tomorrow's pickup.

I AM WOMAN, HEAR MY ROAR!

Yesterday I dropped DH off for an appointment. While he was there, I ran to a dollar store nearby and I found these green martini glasses:

They were only $1 each! ONE BUCK! I couldn't believe it. I bought six because it was all I could carry. I plan to go back and buy six more blue glasses. I really have to check out that store more often.

At the hotel where I work, we just purchased new bedding. We went to thin white comforters which are $120 each. We just put them on the beds last week.

Today the Executive Housekeeper came to the General Manager's office to show him a cigarette burn in one of the comforters. He told her to get rid of it.

$120 down the drain all because of one careless guest. If you wonder why hotel rooms are over $100/night, this is part of the reason!

Lucky for me, my office is right next to the Big Kahuna's. I jumped right up and asked if I could have the comforter. Really now, why throw it in the garbage, when I am sure I can make something out of it. He said I could take it.

Look how beautiful the pattern is on it:

I was thinking of making sofa covers, but I really need about three of them because I have two sofas to cover. So I may make dining room chair covers instead. You can be sure I will show you what I make when I do something with it.

I have to end this blog post now. My patient is getting hungry.

A WOMAN'S WORK IS NEVER DONE!

It's Weird how My Tastes Change

in everything from food to jewelry.

Yesterday I was going through some plastic storage boxes full of jewelry that I never wear and I came across this ring that my husband purchased for his mother while overseas in the V. war.

It's a cultured black pearl. His mother gave it to me years ago because she is not the type of person who would ever wear it.

I thought it was a nice gesture, and I tucked the ring away thinking I would never wear it either. To be perfectly blunt that thing was Ugly, with a capital "U"! I hoped my facial expression didn't give away when my true feelings when she opened that box.

Well, when I sipped it on yesterday, I thought it looked so contemporary, so sleek...just look at the high profile on this ring I I am loving it and am going to wear it to work today.

Then I came across this bracelet that some family member (I believe my dad's uncle) bought for my mother while in Greece over 40 years ago.
I have always loved this one, but it has a broken clasp. I really should get that fixed so I can wear and enjoy it.

I am happy to report that DH is feeling a lot better. It's amazing what one week can do!

He even felt good enough take an overnight trip on Saturday to spend some time with a few of my close relatives (Mom, Dad and favorite Aunt and Uncle).

We had a very nice Valentine's dinner. I had lobster tail, which I have not enjoyed in ions. I even tried a Lemon Drop Martini (vodka). I read a blog where the lady has Lemon Drop Martinis all the time and I have been wanting to try one. It was cold and frosty with a sugared rim so you got a touch of sweetness with each sip. Loved it! Now I have three drinks I like - Appletini, Cosmopolitan, and Lemon Drop--they are all vodka martinis.

We are hoping that DH will be able to drive again next week so I can turn in my chauffeur license. :)

I Know it's Selfish, but I can't Help it

DH wanted me to thank all of you for the get well wishes.

We went to the Dr. today. He took more x-rays and then explained the different levels of his shoulder injury. His is right in the middle and the doctor told him they could do surgery now or wait a couple of months to see if it heals on it's own. The decision was DH's.

Well, my dear husband has never had a major operation and he is in no hurry to have one. So he chose to wait it out.

There is nothing that can be done other than pain pills for the broken rib or the shoulder. So it looks like my nursing skills will be put to use for quite a few more weeks. The Dr. said it could be up to 4 months.

God help me.

A Cocooning Weekend

After spending most of the morning running errands, I returned home to spend the afternoon preparing a warm comfort meal.

My Mom & Dad came over early in the afternoon and we spent a few hours on this cold, snowy Saturday playing nickle/dime poker. I have played poker since I was, as they say, knee-high to a grasshopper....as I kid my parents often had friends over on the weekends to play cards. I remember standing around the table just waiting for someone to need to use the bathroom so I could play their hand while they were gone. I can still remember a lot of the games, though I have not played very often in the last 30 years.

I had dinner all set to go into the oven before they came so I did not have to interrupt the games too much with cooking chores.

I made a pizza lasagna.

I layered pepperoni, ground beef, mushrooms, onions, pizza sauce, cottage cheese, Parmesan, mozzarella cheese and a 5-blend Italian cheese. These pics are before it went into the oven.
I also took a loaf of French Bread and spread melted garlic butter and caramelized Vidalia onions over each half.

Then I put Mozzarella cheese on one side and Parmesan cheese on the other,
folded it back together, wrapped it in foil and stuck in the oven for the last half an hour.
Dessert was easy. I took a chocolate shell and filled it with peanut butter ice cream that I had rolled in crushed pecans and topped with a tiny little chocolate cookie and some Reese's sauce. Then I put a maraschino cherry in the bottom of this glass and inserted the whole little filled shell into the glass.

So we had an enjoyable afternoon, good company and a nice meal.

Then I watched the news.

Peanut butter is probably NOT the kind of ice cream I should have bought.

I hope we don't all get sick!

Tomorrow I am planning to stay home all day, bake a little, sew a little and make a pork roast with sauerkraut from a recipe that I found recently on a blog.

I hope all of you in the cold weather states are keeping warm. We are in another snow storm...about 5 inches so far and probably more tomorrow. We have not had snow like this in many years.

I am actually enjoying it.

All Work & No Play Makes for a Dull Life

So last weekend we went to a casino with my mom and dad.

My Mom and I had so much fun playing EBAY video slot machines. They are penny slots--though that's a misnomer. They actually take a minimum bet of fifty cents and a maximum of $2.50. That's a 50 cent/$1 machine to me.

Nonetheless, they are action packed with a bonus round that everyone playing is involved in. I think there were 5 people who could play at once.

Here is a picture of what they look like.

I got this picture at this Flicker account.

We spent hours playing this machine and even ended up coming ahead a few dollars.

This weekend I will be washing floors and cleaning toilets. I really would prefer to be playing this machine!

Bucket List

Jean has tagged me for the "bucket list" meme.

Jean said, "there are no rules except to give your list of five things you want to do before you die, based on the movie The Bucket List."

Well, I am at a bit of a disadvantage as I have never heard of the Bucket List, so I went searching to see what it was all about.

When I found out that Jack Nicholson starred, I was immediately interested. I always enjoy his movies.

I found the plot outline: Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

So what do I want to do before I die?

1. Retire. It would really tick me off if I died before I got out of the work force! I am a decade and a half from full retirement age. My plan was never to work until retirement age anyway. But then I didn't plan to work past age 40 either. Time flies by so fast.

2. I’d like to take more classes at the local community college. I LOVE learning. I already have two associate degrees from this college I am one class short of a third Associate degree. But I don’t even want another degree. Why would I need one? I don’t want to go to work again! I just love taking classes. The last few classes I took were computer related and I took them as an “audit” which means, I got no credit for them. I didn’t have to take any tests unless I wanted to. Auditing a class costs the same as if you were taking it for the credits. The advantage is it’s stress free.

3. Before I die, I want to have the freedom to waste time. Lots of it. That will come when #1 is reached.

4. I'd really love to, just once, tell a customer to go stay at a competitor's hotel! We all get a kick of out the customer from He**, who carries on about irrational complaints and then says, "I'm never staying here again." Just once before I die I want to clap my hands in glee and thank them profusely for not coming back. I must admit, I am laughing out loud right now just thinking about saying that!

I can’t really think of anything else I want to do. There are no material items that I long for. If I were younger, I would want a bigger house. But at this age, I don't want a mortage and I don't really want more to clean.

I like my life just the way it is. Though I would probably travel a bit, I don’t have any big travel desires, there is no foreign country that I am dying to visit, I don’t want to start my own business, I don't want diamonds, gold, or sapphires….

Basically I just want more time to wallow in pure selfishness. Time to do exactly what I want to when I want to do it.

I am supposed to tag five people, but you all know, I am not going to do that. If any of you want to, please feel free to do a post on what you would like to do before your time is up. It really takes some thinking to figure out what you want (at least for me).

Now I have a short term goal -- to rent that movie. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth two hours of my time? Because I am not quite at the point where I can spend productive time on a boring movie. :)

I sure wish Blogger would get that spell check fixed! Please ignore any misspellings.

Stay at Home Socks

I am fascinated by the things people search for and find this blog.



Lately "Stay at Home Socks" has been a hot search item. Of my last 500 searches there were five different people who landed here after googling the term, so I thought I'd cater to the masses (ha,ha, like five is a mass).

I don't really remember what I posted about these socks, so I googled it myself to find out.

Hey, look at that--out of nearly 2 million sites, I come up number 2. I guess that makes me some sort of sock authority! :)

My post was disappointing as I didn't say much about them at all. I now remember that I had just purchased a few pairs. I can't even remember where. I only remember that the label called them "Stay at Home" socks.

So let me now give a little Stay at Home sock critique.

I happen to love these socks. They are very lightweight, yet they feel so cozy, so warm, so fluffy. They are meant to be worn at home while you relax.

They give the same feeling as coming in from ice skating on a frosty evening and settling down to a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

I am not a slipper wearer, nor do I like to be barefoot. Even in the summer, I most often wear socks in the house. During the cold weather seasons, I most often pick a pair of the Stay at Homes.

So if you five people are wondering if you should buy a pair---GO FOR IT!