Life Through the Eyes of my Scattered Brian

Yesterday I posted about long standing friends and today I wanted to post about newer friends. These are friends I have made in the last few years, some with the last year. These are the people that will just drift into my life and be gone in no time at all, I do believe these will be friends that will be around for awhile. There is Theresa. She has been in a couple of my blogs along the way. I met her almost three years ago when she came to Photo Services to work (where I worked before coming to the TBI). Theresa was a throw back from the older Photo Services days, this meaning, she was a photographer that worked there once before. She came into that office working with a big staff of three (3)! It seemed as if Phil, her and I hit it off really well. We would all do lunches together and sometimes there would be a drink or two after work. Theresa and I have continued to stay in contact since I left. She lives near me, we have a lot in common, two of which are eating and photography! We...

You know, people come and go through your life daily, some to stay, and some just to touch you in one way or another then to move on. Others just pass by and you may or may not even notice them. In my 49 years I have met more people then I could even begin to remember. Some of those might have left a memory in my mind that will pop up from time to time and others might have stayed a last memory. Others might have remained in my life to become long times friends. I have some friends that are just that, long time friends. Ones that have been in my heart and in my life for what seems like forever. Some that I might not see but once a year (Julie) and others that I see once a week (Debbie), the ones that live in the neighbor behind me and I see from time to time (Barb)….but with each one of these long time friends, I know in my heart, if I needed them, they would be there. Barb and I go back a long time. I was around 12 when her and I started to hang out together. She lived down the street...

I did a blog for my Granny yesterday so I wanted to be sure and do one for my Granddaddy also. That man was bigger then life to me and I loved him so much. Granddaddy left us when I was in either the 7th or 8th grade (that would be about 36 years ago or so). He had lung cancer. That was my first dealings with that wicked disease, later in life I lost several close family members to it in some form or another. To hear that my Granddaddy had this was scary; to know that we would probably lose him was hard to take. If I remember correctly, six months after hearing that news, he was gone. Like my Granny, I have memories of him. He worked at the local drive in (that was when there were still a lot around). He ran the projector at night and cleaned t he parking lot during the day. When we visited we always went a long to help out. To us, my brothers and my cousins and I, it was not a job because we always seemed to have so much fun doing it. We would each have a burlap sack that was as big a...

This is my Granny. Wasn't she a pretty lady? My Grandmother has been gone now for twenty two years, this past February. I was twenty seven years old when I lost her and to this day I still miss her. Even at that age I was young and to dumb even though I was expecting my second child to realize how important she was and how much history she carried with her. I wished I had sit with her and recorded events in her life, her childhood, her life as a married woman and her life as she raised seven children. I wished I had the wisdom to have done that. Granny, me and my daughter, Amber My Granny was not a hugging sort of person, but you knew she loved you, you knew it with every little thing she did for you. I lived out of town and do not have the daily memories my cousin’s have but I have some really special ones that I will carry with me always. One memory, if we happen to be making a trip to Georgia around my birthday she would want ...

This iron yard art that sets under my tree in my front yard was a trash find. My brother found this one years ago while walking through is neighborhood the evening before trash pick up day. Mark is a recycling person and he just could not leave this to go to the landfill. He collects metal a lot of times and then takes it down to the locate recycling place when he has a truck load. I am sure he thought this piece would also make it to the back of the truck but for some reason it ended up at my Mother's yard sale. I took a liking to it for its strange shape and cause it was just different, so I ended up with it. One mans trash, became a yard art treasure for me. This plant holder was one of my Goodwill finds. I gave $1.00 for it. I was not sure at the time if I would keep it or do something else with it but as soon as I got out of the car with it, it was set on my porch steps and there is where it has remained. Just adds a little extra to my steps with a plant sitting in it during t...

This post is for my friend Pam D and fellow blogger http://lifebythecreek.blogspot.com/ Pam and I go back to elementary school, 2nd grade actually, and that would be right around 42 years. Now we were not best friends, go each other's house friends and then there was the years after high school till just recently that we had no contact.....but I consider her my friend. Our high school, which no longer exist as a senior high, has its own website. It has to be one of the best high school websites I have ran across. Pam and reconnected through this site a couple of years ago and then she got me into this blogging thing...thanks Pam, I do enjoy it. Anyway, from the past to the future. Pam and I share the school website, the blogging, facebook and emails. She is well aware of my battle this past winter with squirrels in my attic. To go along with the RODENTS that moved into my attic, they partied at night, right above my head while I tried to sleep. Now, that is bad enough, but I suffer...

My neighbor is a firm believer that Miracle Grow works wonders. I for one have to agree, but I don’t mix it up and use it on a regular basis like she did. I could look outside and she would be carrying milk jugs all over the backyard with this mixture watering all the various plants here and there, spreading the liquid love. I worked with friend that had a lot of little trees, maple and red buds that were about 2 to 3 feet high. She dug them up and brought them to me to plant in my backyard since there are not a lot of trees except on the outer edge. I shared with my neighbor. We planted a maple one about mid way between the decks in the center of the backyard. Not sure if it’s on her side, my side or in the middle. But she took to mixing the liquid love and applying it to this tree at least once a week. Once again, I had a brain storm and I included my side kick, my son. There was also a maple tree that was growing on the side bank of the creek on the side of my yard next to my drive....

If you have read any of my back issues of my blog, like the one’s titled “Can this be the reason I am not married anymore”, then you probably have learned one important thing~~ I am a jokester! I love a good laugh, especially if I have managed to pull one over on someone else. But there again, I am good at telling things on myself that also bring in a laugh or two, I believe in sharing the laughter! There have been a couple of ‘jokes” that involved a neighbor I had. I live in a zero lot line home, which basically is a townhouse duplex. I own my half, the neighbor owned hers. She lived alone, I lived with my two kids. My neighbor and I spent time either on her deck or mine on Saturday or Sunday enjoying a cup or two of coffee, we did the garden/flower shopping thing together, dinners and things like that. With that said, she became the subject to a few of my “jokes”. Normally in the evenings you could find us both out at the same time watering our plants and flowers, so with this knowle...

No, I am not talking from the Swine Flu Virus, I am talking for your computer. You see, I had protection on my computer but I still got hit. So beware out there. This past weekend my grandson was playing games on my computer, which today I found out that is an easy way to bring a virus into your computer. While he was playing he put the game on pause so that he could eat breakfast. I looked over at the computer to see a virus warning had popped up. Not reading it and thinking that it was from my protection, I did not close it out, I clicked for it to scan. MISTAKE. By doing this I allowed a company by the name of Personal Antivirus to attack and attach itself to my computer, apparently bringing with it a host of viruses. It did it’s little scan to come back and tell me that I had 950 something treats and viruses. YIKES. What was I to do? So I started by trying to go onto the computer and finding a free virus removal tool to remove all this crap, only to find out that every time I tried...

I would say for a woman this would be a must see movie but then again if you don’t see it, it’s not like you missed the masterpiece of the century. Honestly, I liked it a lot. It was a funny and entertaining movie. So glad I took the time to go see it. Meryl Streep who I think is a fantastic and talented actress did a wonderful job playing Julia Child in movie. Meryl Streep is very talented in her ability to perform a variety of different characters. I have enjoyed watching her over the years and this performance was no different. Well done. Amy Adam’s played Julie Powell and she did a really good job also. I don’t feel that she is the actress that Meryl is but then again, she has not been at it as long as Meryl has either. She played her part in this movie well and added her humor to it. The only thing I could say that I see wrong with this movie is that if Julie Powell had actually cooked (or if I had) all that rich, French style food and ate it for 365 days…she would not have retain...

In 1987 right after my son was born I bought a new car. First new car I have ever owned. It was a fire engine red Ford Tempo, 5 speed, 4 doors (gotta have when you have two kids). I have some long time friends (Barb and I have been friends for 37 or more years, her hubby, Phil, a bit less). Let me add here that Phil is not the same Phil that I hit when I totalled my car. Anyway, as the story goes, Barb and Phil lived on a very busy two lane road. They made a turn around at the end of their drive way which made things a lot better, no more backing out onto the main road. When you pulled into their drive it was set up in such a way that they pulled over and parked side by side in front of the garage door. If anyone came to visit they could just pull straight in and park at the end of the drive. This would allow Phil to still get his Ford Bronco out if need be. My ex and I had gone over to spend an evening with the Ware’s, the kids were playing, all was well. Phil and my ex decided that t...

My grandson Caleb entered the 3rd grade last Friday. They attended for a 1/2 day. Tomorrow he will be going all day long. He likes his teacher. Says she is really nice. Caleb ended last year with A's and B's and reading at a 4th grade level. He loves learning and always has. He told me just a couple of weeks ago that he wished school had started earlier, he was ready to learn some new things. I love it! He will also come out with things that I had no clue he knew. When I ask him where he gets these things he tells me that he learns them on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel or in class. He has also let me know that he has read things in books that he checks out from the library. I am hoping that this is a smooth and good year for Caleb. It's always nice when a child loves to learns and when they soak it in and retain it so easy and fast. Here's to wishing Caleb a fantastic year!

Daisy Dakota Dakota looking out Animals, esp. dogs are a lot smarter then people tend to think they are. I can remember as a child our dog Sam rushing to the door when it was time for my Dad to get home from work. Dad drove an old Rambler that made some noise but we just figured that Sam heard time coming blocks away. Now...I wonder. There are several things that make me wonder about this. My Mom now has a beagle for Sam is long gone from this world. As hard as training this hard headed beagle, Daisy, to just stay out of the bedroom trash can was, she seems to have found her calling.....or would that be howling? It seems to be that at 2:00 each day, which is feeding time, Daisy will let my Mom know that its time to be fed. This started a few months back, while Mom sat in the recliner in her room and Daisy came into the room made a small wh...

Laundry room doors I hung I learned back sometime ago when I was a newly married woman and mom (yes, it was really a long time ago), and money was always short that when things needed doing you could not always hire them to be done. I married at the young age of 20, had my first child at 20 and I knew how to basically boil water, not much more then that. Over the years of marriage, two kids and a divorce I taught myself to cook, clean and tackle a lot of other things, like home repairs. Now keep in mind, there are some things I will not or can not take on, but for the most part if my back will allow, I will try it. When I left home I had never yielded a paint brush to a wall before, I soon got over that and I could not tell you the many walls and ceiling I have painted in the years since. But as those years went on I tackled cabinets, with the sander, primer and paint. I have laid floor, hung wallpaper, stripped wallpaper, changed washers, hung doors and even changed out a faucet. Alth...

My niece Holly.... I have written entries in this blog about Holly and her acting before, this is just one more added addition. Isn't she just so pretty!??? Holly is entering her freshman year of school. This “little” girl is growing up all so fast! Holly has also entertained us at family events, around the house, and also in a local community play. But the biggies come from the school events. For two summers she has been a part of the schools summer drama camp. This is a week long camp that takes any student from the school that wishes to be a part, lets them try out for a place in the play and at the end of that week of hard practicing and work, they put of a play. I was blown away with the first one I attended, Annie. Most of these kids had never been a part of anything like that before but each and every one of them did the most awesome and amazing job. They took what they signed up to do seriously and to heart, giving it their all. With the help of some really great parents th...

Looking for outdoor furniture that will last for years to come? I think I have the solution for you. Check out Santa Cruz Exotic Garden Furniture at http://www.santacruzgardenfurniture.com/shop/ This outdoor furniture is made of ipe wood. Ipe is a deep, rich, dark brown color wood with a fine to medium grain texture. It is very durable. Ten times better then teak at less the cost and harder then red oak or redwood. This ipe wood has a natural resistant to decay, termites and borers. That alone tells me that it will stand up against most weather and most any bug out there! Not only is it durable to the weather and bugs it is beautiful furniture and I can say from experience…comfortable! I have been able to sit and enjoy several hours of time in a few of these pieces and I really enjoyed it. If you have any questions you may contact the owner via the website above. Prices and pictures of the items are listed also on the website. Please stop in and visit, and NO, I am not getting a kick b...

I was not aware that Home Depot offered projects once a month for kids until last month. My daughter started working for Home Depot and she told me about it because she wanted Caleb to be able to attend but she had to work that Saturday. In my area these projects are held on the first Saturday of every month. The class for these projects start at 9 and go till noon. You can come at anytime during those hours. You go in and at a long table they have kits sat out around the table. You pick a spot to sit and just proceed. The kit has directions on the project that you are working on. Each child has the same project, and that project changes each month. When you enter and pick a place to sit, you are given an official looking orange Home Depot apron to put on and wear. You write your name across the top. You take this home with you. Caleb and I took this back for his second project, he really don’t need more then one! In July Caleb made a caddy. The kit consisted of the cut wooden pieces, ...