29 for the Second Time

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 29--for the second time. Yep, I turn 58. That's 29 for the second time on the 29th. When I was young 58 sounded quite old. I never wanted to be that old! Now it's quite young! I am not going to mind being 58 at all and I definitely don't feel old! I now think that 95 would be old! But, then again, I know a 93 year old who can work circles around me! Age is in the mind of the beholder.

I have nothing special planned for tomorrow. I will go to the library and do my usual activities there. Charles has a special lodge meeting tomorrow night so there won't be a "special" dinner at home--or going out. I will get a 'home alone' night! That's pretty awesome. I thought about making myself a cake but couldn't decide for sure what kind I wanted so I made a cheesecake instead. I'll probably pig out on it for supper!

Flowers and Folders

Yesterday I received a little basket of beautiful yellow flowers. I don't know who they came from. All the card said was "Thanks for all you do". It was in honor of secretary's day. I was totally taken by surprise because I don't consider myself a secretary. I love flowers and this is such a pretty little basket. I just wish I knew who to thank. I have an idea but am not sure. And, no, it wasn't Charles!

Behind the flowers are some of the folders that contain court cases that I am working on at home. These are large files, with any where from 100 to 200 pages. They are so curled up that we have to humidify them before we can work on them. Many are change of venue cases from other counties. It will sometimes take me an hour or longer to get the papers organized, in order and counted.The one on top here is a murder case from 1947. I haven't counted the pages yet. It has about 75 pages of testimony from the preliminary hearing. I really enjoy working on this project. Today was a beautiful day and I should have been outside working in my flower beds but I stayed in to work on the files. Shame on me! Now it's going to rain and I won't have my beds cleaned out. Again, I had good intentions but that's all they were.

We ate the last of the mushrooms tonight. Charles went looking for some more yesterday but only found three. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time the other day. They sure were good! Before I go to bed tonight I am going to put a brisket in the oven to cook overnight. I trimmed it and put liquid smoke on it this morning. Then tomorrow night I will slice it and put bbq sauce on it. Yum. I just have to decide what I am going to fix to go with it. Probably potato salad and baked beans.

For some reason this year I am having allergy problems. I usually don't have any trouble but I am sneezing, eyes watering and head stopped up. I can only remember one other time feeling like this and it was oak. I remember going to town to get something to take and by the time I got to town, the symptoms were gone. But as soon as I got back it started all over. Charles thinks it's the cat this time! He's having problems, too. He said that while he was mushroom hunting yesterday he cleared up and felt fine until he came back to the house, so we are blaming the cat!

I have a busy schedule the next few days. With the library Friday and Saturday as well as the Lodge pancake breakfast--I have to go support them, then there's the city wide yard sale. I won't do any shopping, just fight the traffic. People are so crazy! Sunday afternoon I have a wedding shower to help with. I think that will be fun. And, of course, there's the Sunday school lesson to prepare. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have a whole list of things on my agenda!

It wasn't good

That chocolate cake I made last week wasn't good. At least I didn't think so. It was way to dense and fell apart when trying to serve a piece. I didn't like it at all, but everyone else thought it was really good. I took most of it to the library and I believe the last was eaten yesterday. I won't make it again, unless some one asks for it specifically.

I haven't felt very good today. I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I am sure it is just allergies but I am really dragging tonight. I ought to go to bed right now. I got up early this morning because I had a project to do with a couple of ladies for Share Your Christmas. We put the yearly reports together so that groups who participate can have a record of what was done by everyone. It's a 40 page booklet and it took a couple of hours to print it off, sort and staple. That wore me out! So I came home and read.

Charles went mushroom hunting yesterday and came back with 60+ nice sized morels. We had part of them tonight with burgers. They tasted pretty good although I got the batter a little soupy. But they were still a treat. That's the most I ever remember him finding. I think he will be going again tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

I did it! I said "no" to another commitment. It was really hard to do because I thought it would be fun to do and it was all expenses paid for participating and it was only one meeting a year! But I said no. The request was to serve on a state committee for Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA). I've been a member of this organization since 1973. I've served on regional committees and to serve on a state committee would be something I could add to my resume. But I just don't want to take on one more commitment. I have too many as it is. I keep trying to give some of them up but don't seem to make much headway. No one wants to be secretary of Retired Teachers. I didn't take a position with DAR this time but have a feeling I will be asked for the next term. Maybe by then I will have "no" down pat! I enjoy the library and the clothes closet. And I enjoy serving in my church. With these three things I don't need anything else to do.

I made a cake tonight for the retired teachers meeting tomorrow. It was a new recipe for me so I hope it is okay. It's chocolate so it should be good. All chocolate is good! I'll need to put a glaze on it in the morning as well as write up the minutes for the last meeting. Then on Saturday I am one of the hostesses for the monthly DAR meeting. I need to get the paper items for this meeting. This will be only the second one I've attended this year. I am cutting back on attending meetings. I've only been to one of the Delta Kappa Gamma (teachers group) this year. I think I am going to withdraw from this group. I have always felt if I'm a member of a group I should be active in the group. But this year I just haven't wanted to go to DKG.

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. I really meant to get a card in the mail to her but never did--of course, I didn't get a card for Charles for our anniversary. I have good intentions anyway. So, Ruby, if you read this, just remember that I did think about you several times today and hope you had a wonderful birthday. The day itself was beautiful. I love the sunshine and warmer weather. Happy Birthday!

Easter

Today is the day that my Savior showed the world that He truly is the Son of God. Today is the day that lets me know that when I die I will then dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I love Christmas and Easter for what these two days mean to me as a Christian. They give me hope as well as a peace about my future. It bothers me that for many these days are only for the getting and giving of gifts with no thought to the most precious gift ever given--Christ. They have become commericialized and children are growing up today with no idea the true meaning of these two days. No wonder we are seeing so much turmoil in the world.

At church today we had the Blackwood Gospel Quartet present a concert. We had a large crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy the music immensely. When I first learned that we would be having a concert instead of the preacher giving a sermon I was a little disappointed. But it was definitely a message in song. I left feeling uplifted and close to God.

Charles and I went to our friends, the Boulings, for lunch. I have known this family all my life and they have included us many times in their family get togethers. We had soup and sandwiches and a wonderful afternoon of visiting. This is one special family. The only one missing was Valary. I still don't like not having her around for special days. I worry about her not having family around her, but she has lots of friends and I believe that she had to work today. She was missed!

27 Years and Counting

Twenty seven years ago today I became Mrs. Charles Gass. It seems like only yesterday. These 27 years have definitely followed the "in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for better or for worse". And not necessarily in that order! We have both had major illnesses, lost jobs, and good times as well as bad. But we've made it so far and I believe that we will make it to the end. I can honestly say that I do love him more today than I did 27 years ago. It's a different kind of love, but it is deep and it is sincere. I am proud to be Mrs. Charles Gass.

We did nothing special tonight. I fixed steak and baked potato for supper. Now when we hit 30 years I will expect a 'night on the town'! While I like to make a big thing out of most special days, for Charles it's always "just another day". Once in a while I would like to see him get excited about a birthday, anniversary or holiday.

I didn't sleep well last night so I've been kind of crabby today. I didn't want to go any where or do any thing but I knew I needed to be at the library. Tomorrow is our annual genealogy conference and while I don't have any responsibilities other than the registration desk, there were things that needed to be done today to get ready for tomorrow. So I went but I wasn't very nice. Grr! Sorry folks!

I will be glad when the weather finally decides that it should stay warm. This warm one day and cold the next is really getting me down. I think I need lots of sunshine for a while. Maybe that would help my disposition.

Time with the Daughter

What a wonderful weekend we had in Kansas City with Valary. I so look forward to the time I get to spend with her. She had a busy weekend planned and I'm so glad that she included us in it. Of course eating out is one thing we always do, and with so many great selections to choose from it's sometimes hard to make a choice. This time we chose Gates Bar-B-Que, which was very good except that the sauce was a little too spicy for Charles. For breakfast on Sunday Valary took us to First Watch, a new restuarant for Charles and me. They serve breakfast, brunch, and lunch. It was pretty good--but IHOP is still my favorite for breakfast! And what would Sunday after church be if there wasn't a trip to The Sweet Tomato.

But our weekend wasn't all just eating. Charles had told Valary at Christmas that he wanted to buy her a good ladder so we went ladder shopping. I believe they also got a trash can and a pruning saw in addition to the ladder. This morning I got to have some "mommy-daughter" time as we went shopping. We didn't buy a whole lot but we had a good visit just the two of us. I don't get that too often up there because Poppy usually has a list of things to do with, and for, Valary. So I really enjoyed this morning.

I finally got to meet the roommates that I hadn't met. I am so glad that they all get along so well and enjoy each other. I worried when Valary said she was going to rent out a couple of bedrooms because I knew it wasn't a good situation a few years ago for her. But it is working out great and I'm really glad. Sunday night Valary had already scheduled a dinner party for her co-workers but was more than happy to include her Mum and Poppy. Valary is an excellent cook. If I had been in her shoes I would have been in a tizzy. She wasn't sure how many were going to come so I would have worried about how much to fix. Not her, she just fixed a lot and then sent home leftovers! She made a cheesecake as well as Italian Creme Cake for desserts. Her main course was Chicken Marsala. Was it ever good! We also had roasted vegetables, salad and bread. I did help with some of the cooking and did some cleaning for her. It was an enjoyable evening. We got to meet co-workers and some of the med students she had worked with. She made her momma proud!

We got home this afternoon about 3 and I am tired. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight! Sleeping in a different bed isn't a good thing.