A Cute Find From Grandma's

Grandma had a stereo that played LPs, cassettes and 8-tracks.  No, I didn't take that home with me.  I did take a Reader's Digest series on cassettes, Sentimental Journey, and a set of individual big band stars on cassette.  I still have cassette in the car.  I also have a record players that older than Grandma's stereo was.  I'll show that on another Thursday.  But Grandma didn't have an extensive record collection and her big band stuff was on cassettes or LPs that had long been overplayed and discarded because the songs UI know she and Papa enjoy4ed in their courting and early marri3ed days I only found on cassette.

There were a couople of records thqt I took hojme.  One was a lt3er made Frank Sinatra compilation and the other one, which I just thought was fun was this:

The Grasshoppers and introducing the Chipmunk Song!  Obviously a kids record  I did some reseach and searching. This record on the Spin-O-Rama label was released in 1959.  It is in really good shape and the markings in the empty areas of the vinyl tell that this is an original release. 

Since neither Grandma nor Papa collected old records, my guess is that it was bought in or around 1959.  My Mom, an only child, was 14.  It leaves me confused!  But, when I was 14, I read Diamond D and the Dreadful Dragon for a Forensics competition in school, so it might have been something Mom had for school.  I don't know.

Unfortunately, this is one I'm sure I'll never know.  It's still a neat find and I'll give it a spin on my turnatable some day.

See more fun vintage things at The Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

At a Stopping Point

It was break time anyway. It was 3:00 and I hadn’t had lunch – I was hungry! So, after moving things I’d put in the hallway, I came down and made myself a chicken with honey mustard sandwich with some cucumber and carrots and a mug of cinnamon hot cocoa.

The glaze I did yesterday never did set, although it’s not as goopy today. They still tasted good last night. They still looked pretty…and messy

I used various valentine sprinkles and I did some with cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon ones are pure heaven! That’s what prompted me to make the cinnamon hot cocoa. Would you believe David wouldn’t even try the cinnamon ones? He said chocolate and cinnamon is just not appealing at all. He has NO idea what he’s missing. Ah well, the spoils go to the adventurous souls who dare to try and for everyone else, there’s still plain.

I picked a good time to get hungry because I’m at the point where I need the aid of strength and height to finish in the hall closet. I decided that out luggage could go on the floor in there instead of battling shoes for space in the bedroom closet. I have 4 pairs of shoes; 2 sneakers and one each of black and white dress shoes. David has more, I think a TON more! The point is the shoes are much easier to find without the luggage, which we have a lot of, falling on top of them.

We don’t really use the hall closet and it hasn’t been opened in a while. We’ll start using it now! There wasn’t much in it. Three boxes that were on the floor where I wanted the luggage to go are actually mine. One was some office stuff and one was half of my philosophy and religion books and my dream diary. I keep my dream recording in my journal now and the dream records aren’t quite as complete anymore. I used to keep the dream diary in the bookshelf in my headboard and when I’d awake from a dream I really wanted to write down, I’d pop on the light and write it down. There were dreams that I did NOT remember the next morning except that I wrote them down in the middle of the night. Of course, I lived alone, anyway, I slept alone, so I wasn’t waking anyone else. It’s not that easy with a mate!

Well, the shelves in the closet are very deep and I can’t reach the back of them from about the third shelf from the bottom up. David said he’ll help me clear out the remaining shelves tonight and I’ll ask him to bring the luggage in too. I think the closet might be done by bedtime. Yay!


Now, while it’s still Wednesday, I’m posting my Wednesday Hodge Podge answers, hosted by Joyce at The Other Side of The Pond

1. George Washington-Abraham Lincoln-Thomas Jefferson...who would you most like to meet and why?  

My answer is none. Any of them would probably ask me more questions than I’d ask them.


2. What's your favorite chain restaurant?   Eat’n Park


3. I spied this question on the Bears at Home blog last week and she gave me permission to steal borrow it-

When you look back on your life, do you imagine you'll think about the goals you failed to meet with regret? Or will you look at what you accomplished and say: it was good?

I’m not going to “look back” and think about failure. If I’m looking back, it’s to remember how great my successes were so I can be confident looking forward. And I will still be looking forward at 90.


4. Grapefruit-take 'em or leave 'em? Given the choice between an orange and a grapefruit which would you choose? Would you prefer it served as is or squeezed into juice?

I take them and drink them. I have a grapefruit tap so I can drink the juice right out of the fruit. Then I tear it open and eat what’s left.

5. When was the last time you cleaned out a closet? Is there a closet in your home that currently needs cleaning? What are you waiting for?

The last time I cleaned out a closet was a few hours ago. I’m waiting for all 6’5” of David to get home. :)


6. You get to have lunch with three famous people...who would you like to see round your table?

Dead or alive famous people? You never really know if someone is famous or infamous until they’re gone.


I’d pick three political candidates running for the same position so I can let them fight over me for my vote.


7. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your ability to parallel park?

Parallel park is the one where you slowly run over the curb and stop when your wheels hit the street again, right?


8. Insert your own random thought here.

It’s time to take down the mistletoe. I like to leave it up for Valentine decoration.

Photoblog Wednesday

Kaline always finds the best sunlight in the house!

2/12/12

Take A Break

It’s definitely break time. I can tell you that I now know the cake-pop maker Dave, Laura and the girls gave me for Christmas works! I don’t have any sticks, so I didn’t make cake pops; I made cake bites or cake balls, 2-1/2 dozen chocolate! I am troubled because they’re drying after I put chocolate glaze on them. I think I added too much whipping cream. They’re not setting. But, maybe I’m just being impatient. I’m going to take a break for right now and then go shower. The maker cooks faster than baking them, but it’s MES-SY! I have the cake pop maker cooled and cleaned off, the dishes done and all the cake batter and glaze off the counters. Thus why I need the break before I hit the shower! I’m kinda full too. I chocolate glazed a few strawberries and had a bunch of the leftover strawbs for lunch. I also tried two of the cake balls and a pretzel bagel. As lunches go, it’s kinda shy in the milk and protein department. Well, I did say the glaze wasn’t setting because there was too much milk. That counts for something, right?


I want to mention that I am honored to have received 2 blog awards from Tere on her blog, Tere’s World. I follow two of her blogs and enjoy reading them. She uses her blogs to express, share and vent, like many of us. I have a space that I present this year’s awards on the bottom of the blog, my trophy case if you will. I’ll be doing the “things about me” part and awarding these awards, probably tomorrow, when I get back to my normal routine.


Right now, while I still have time for it to be Tuesday, I have some Nani facts to Tell!

The question for Tell Me Tuesday at Suzanne’s The Coloradolady is:

What songs bring you back to really great moments in your life?

There are a few that paint pictures in my mind that make me smile.

Age of Aquarius – This is probably my oldest memory with a song attached. I vividly remember a snippet of this song coming on the radio while I was playing under the kitchen table while Mom was washing dishes after lunch. Mom was humming along with the song and I remember the deejay introducing the song as a current popular song. The 5th Dimension’s version came out in the spring of 1969, so I was a few month away from turning 3. Mom said I played under the kitchen table when Mom was in there often when I was little. I only actually remember that one time.


Your Own Special Way – This is David’s favorite love song and he played it for me on Valentine’s Day 2005, our first. We slow danced in his kitchen after dinner. I told him just yesterday that dance was the moment when I really realized that if it was up to me, he’d be in my world the rest of my life. (SO glad he felt the same way about me!)


Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off – The version with both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers singing was a song Tori and Rina loved when they were little. I had a copy from the Shall We Dance soundtrack. They loved the song and even watched the movie with me, but they preferred color movies. When they made CDs of their favorites to play in Papa’s car, both CDs had this one. It makes me think of when they were little.


Sweet Caroline – This one makes me think of when I was little! This Neil Diamond classic was the first grown up song I knew all the words to and the first 45 RPM record that wasn’t a kids’ record that I owned. I think I had to keep my room clean for a week to earn it, but the record was played a LOT!



I Feel The Earth Move, Carole King – This was the song we danced to in my first year jazz class at the spring recital. It was my second year dancing, but this song is the one that flashes the hot pink leotard with the star and fringe. It always makes me smile.

Tell us about those songs that make you remember and smile! Join Tell Me Tuesday at The Coloradolady!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine Smiley from Eat-N-Park

Yesterday was a frustrating yet fun day. Mondays are David’s Sunday and so they are my Sundays too. It had snowed so much in Cleveland over the weekend and it was supposed to be sunny yesterday, so we headed out to Cleveland to get some train pictures in the city in the snow.

We were up and out before the sun was up which means this was our view driving east on the Ohio Turnpike:

No, not easy to drive into, but I love seeing the sun rise on a new day!

And it did start out to be a beautiful sunny day too! The first train I got of the day was my favorite shot, favorite shot so far this year, actually.

Our friend, Terry, met up with us before he went in to work and showed us this phenomenal location with a great shot of the tracks coming around a curve with Jacobs Field (brought to us by Progressive) in the background. One shot with a train and a baseball field. Perfect!!


We got McLunch and David stopped at a store to get a new scanner that he’d wanted for some time and needed to get from the store in Cleveland that carried that particular brand. After that the clouds started to roll in with a vengeance.


We saw that our train day was pretty much done earlier than planned. We wanted to have dinner at Eat-N-Park while we were in the western most area where there is an Eat-N-Park, and on Stuffed Pepper Soup day no less, so we looked for a few other things to do before an early dinner.


David got the directions to the Lake County Bicentennial Barn while he was getting his new scanner.

Now, I boast about Ohio being the Unofficial Barn Capital of the Nation, but there was only one barn yesterday. I’m glad this was it! The Lake County barn is showing the years since painting. The barn itself is a little shabbier and the logo is faded, but it has so much character! There aren’t a lot of barns in the Cleveland metro area, but this one is a gem!


After hunting and shooting the Lake County Bicentennial Barn, it was a little too early for dinner yet, so we stopped at CVS, with its bold reminder that “Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.” We decided to stop and get cards for each other. There was some chocolate selecting going on too!

After that we went to Eat-N-Park for dinner. Going the day before Valentine’s Day meant that they had not run out of Smiley Valentine cookies like they had when we ate late at an Eat-N-Park in Pennsylvania for dinner on Valentine’s Day a couple years ago. We took a half dozen home!

Before bed, David presented me with my third pre-Valentine’s day present; PEZ!

I love PEZ as a low-cal fat-free snack when I crave something sweet. I also have a Reds and a Tigers PEZ dispenser! This pack includes strawberry vanilla, which I haven’t tried before. He did ask if he could try the new flavor and if I might share the orange and raspberry ones. I teased him about asking me to share my gifts, but how can I say “no” to my favorite PEZ pusher?

That’s it for now, I’ve got a full plate today, but I’m going to try to post again today! In the meantime, definitely check out Tricia’s Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily for more fabulous barns of character!