This Stop Willoughby

On March 15th, a little after 10:00 pm, my dad passed away.  He had been receiving home hospice care and they had told us he was beginning the process of "winding down" several weeks before, but still, I wasn't prepared. He had been struggling with a number of health issues for a long time.  Over the past year he had undergone bypass surgery and two amputations and had been bouncing back and forth between the hospital and a rehabilitation center.  When they finally sent him home and recommended hospice care, we knew our time left with him was short. We were told to expect ups and downs; a roller coaster ride.  Really, though, he had more good days than bad.  He was confused at times and would say things that we didn't understand or would call out for me when I was sitting right next to him.  Occasionally, he would ask about their dog.  "Maggie has been gone for 15 years, Dad."  "I know," he said "I'm talking about the dog that looks li...

Easter is coming.  It's about a month and a half away, so it's a little too soon to worry about what I'm going to make for Easter dinner.  Still, I'm a little scared because I've managed to hurt myself in the kitchen on every holiday since last Easter. Along with the ham, I had decided to make scalloped potatoes.  I was using the mandolin (with the guard) to slice the potatoes, but I was rushing to get it done.  The guard slipped and I ran my middle finger across the blade.  For a split second, I wasn't sure I had cut myself because it didn't hurt.  But then it started bleeding, and I mean BLEEDING, and it hurt like crazy.  I had cut all the way to the bone.  I could actually see it.  Really.  I grabbed a gob of paper towel and put as much pressure on it as I could.  Then I put a bandage on it (which wasn't easy, I was home alone at the time and more than a little woozy after seeing bone), slipped on a disposable glove and finishe...

Being indoors all the time is starting to drive me crazy.  Today is sunny and the sky is clear blue, but I can't get out and enjoy it because it's wicked cold outside.  The wind chill bottomed out somewhere around -16 degrees this afternoon.  It snowed for a short time, but instead of coming straight down, the wind whipped it into a horizontal blizzard. All day long I've felt overdue for a nap.  Sure, there are things I could do to keep myself busy.  I've got a few loads of laundry waiting for me and those tax returns aren't going to do themselves, but I don't have the energy or the focus to deal with either one of them. Yesterday, we got an advertising circular from a local home improvement store.  The front page was filled with paving blocks, landscaping timbers, planters and hose reels.  Everything about it screamed spring.  It made me feel hopeful and sad at the same time.  Hopeful that spring is coming, sad that we still have five fe...

Tomatoes are a total mystery to me.  I buy them, I grow them, I eat them, but I can't say that I understand them. First of all, why is it so hard to get a good tasting tomato in the middle of winter in Michigan?  I know some tomatoes are imported from warmer places and some are grown in green houses.  Unless they're labeled, I usually can't tell the difference.  Neither one has much flavor and they're usually mushy. Next, I just don't understand what to do with them.  Whether it's February and I'm getting the flavorless ones from the produce department, or the middle of July and I'm harvesting fresh tomatoes from my garden, I've always followed the conventional wisdom that you should not refrigerate an uncut tomato.  So I don't.  I leave them sitting on the counter.  This poses two problems.  Number one, I like tomatoes to be cold (I don't care that someone, somewhere says they're more flavorful at room temp.).  Number two, they go b...

The color of the year appears to be winter white.  The snow in our front yard is approximately five feet deep. Taken at eye level. Looking toward our neighbor's house. What is the weather like where you are?   *Warning, shameless plug!*  If you need to keep warm, stop by our shop for some blizzard swag ! Willoughby You can now follow me through Bloglovin .

Back in July, I tried to get back to blogging.  Considering this is my first post since then, I guess you could say that my return wasn't terribly successful. Blame it on timing, blame it on laziness....I don't know.  In any case, here I am, back again, trying one more time. To help me decide on a topic to blog about, I went back and reread some of my older posts.  One that really jumped out at me was a post about Bucket Lists . Since the original post was written, I have, sadly, not crossed one thing off my list.  Mr. W, however, has now been skydiving.  He and our son started with tandem jumps and then took lessons to get their "A" licenses.  Wanna see? Here's Mr. W on his graduation jump. Since the guys liked it so much, we gave our son's girlfriend a tandem jump gift certificate for her 20th birthday.  She loved it.  So now, even though when I wrote the original Bucket List post I said I was far too afraid of heights to ever go skydivin...

Mr. Willoughby came across our kids' old wagon while he was cleaning out the garage a few days ago.  It's still useful for moving gardening supplies around the yard or hauling wood to the fire pit, but we had a different idea to put it to use.  We wanted it to look like a vintage wood wagon.  We didn't want to damage the wagon in any way, so we came up with a way to give it a totally reversible makeover.  If you would like to try this project, you'll need a wagon (you can do this with any wagon, old or new, but you'll need to improvise if the handle is attached to the wagon and not the axle), lumber and screws or nails. Basically, you'll be making a four sided box, so you'll need to gather enough lumber to make the box.  We used leftover cedar decking for the sides and deck spindles for the corner supports, but any scrap wood would be fine.  Next, you need to measure the long sides of your wagon.  To that number, add the thickness of the boards...