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Amy
Today’s writing prompt is: “what are five everyday things that bring you happiness?” Well, my everyday may look a lot different to someone else’s everyday, but here are mine. I think a lot of people will agree with this: coffee. It’s a bit of a ritual: selecting a mug, smelling the aroma throughout the house as it brews, deciding if I want sugar and creamer, or sugar and whipped cream, or sugar and caramel….then just sitting, maybe on the porch if the weather is favorable, or tucked into a corner of the couch or maybe my library chair, huddled under a quilt and working the day’s Wordle and Connection puzzles. All makings for a pleasurable morning, thus, bringing me happiness. Before the rest of the world intrudes. And you know I’m gonna say my dog. I’ve always loved dogs, always had a dog. But I never had my own dog inside until a few years ago. And Chester even slept in my bed for awhile! A body needs a dog. He’s such a delight. He’s entertaining and a lot of company. As my aunt told me: “you needed something to take care of. You needed somewhere for your love to go.” She is right. Dogs are happiness, and it’s contagious. Reading by candlelight. I guess this is a two-fer. I love my books, even though I generally read on my iPad exclusively anymore. My eyes aren’t as good…
The WordPress prompt the other day was “What would you ask your pet if they could talk?” And my initial thought was, “Are you happy here?” but then I decided that was a waste, because any idiot can see that my dog is exuberant and ecstatic. He’s completely boundless, is what he is. So that would be a waste. Then I thought I’d ask him if he was hot, but that would be foolish, too, because what was I gonna do? Shave him like a llama? No. I was still thinking about it the following morning because I’m neurotic and thought I might perhaps ask him if he remembered his time before here, at the shelter or on the streets. But I didn’t want to bring up bad memories for him, or encourage a lot of questions that I don’t have the answer to. Then there was the possibility of what Chester would ask me. What if he desires a better standard of living? More trips to the Chickalay, more people visiting, more bacon and cheese? This wouldn’t do at all. So I decided that it was probably best we can’t talk to each other. However, if he was feeling poorly this would certainly have its merits. When he’s limping, I could ask if he fell off the couch or porch when I wasn’t home. If he was…
She’d be texting me to see if I had any storm damage. She’d tell me I could stand with her at the service today. She’d ask if I had lunch plans for afterwards. If I was going to be late for work or take the day off for sickness or errands, it was imperative I inform my chairman, my secretary, my DC, my Cynthia, and my Susan. Because if I didn’t, I’d have a text at 8:15 asking if I was okay. This is why we called her Momma Hen. When I went on vacation, I texted her to let her know I’d arrived in one piece. Do you know how many times in the past week I’ve caught myself about to text her? There is great comfort in knowing the people you love are safe and their whereabouts, knowing precisely where they are. I know with absolute certainty where Susan is. I don’t know why she loved me and took care of me, other than she’s a good Christian woman. We had next to nothing in common– I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies or raisin’ ’em. I don’t can my own vegetables or show cows and I can’t sew a button on a shirt, let alone crochet an entire blanket. Basically, I ain’t scared…
“I believe from what I have been told you will be doing in heaven what you enjoyed doing here on earth. That is why JE tells me the Lord won’t be having me working cattle because he knows I can’t…lol I will be cooking or rocking babies…” November 19th 2021 10:58 am I know who’s rocking babies this morning, right after she got the hug of all hugs from her savior, Jesus Christ, as He welcomed and ushered her through the gates of Heaven. I am mourning one of my dearest friends this morning. I called her Momma Hen but two people just called her momma, and eight more called her Mamaw. She celebrated 39 years of marriage on Monday to a man she knew was hers from the time she was nine years old. I’ve only known her since I started Co-op, in 2001. Susan has been the secretary for Jefferson Co SWCD since December 1st, 2015. She comes from a farming family, and canned dozens of quarts of vegetables and jams every year from their huge garden. At one time they had broiler houses in Sevier County but had moved to Jefferson and concentrated on raising polled Hereford cattle, corn, and putting up hay and silage. It was easy to talk about God and faith with her, as she was such a strong believer. To know her was to know the Lord and…
At a quarter after five, I am awoken.Again.A little after one this morning, Chester was howling in his sleep. Sometimes he does that. Another time, I had to teetee. Another time, I was hot. Plus it had taken me forever to get to sleep, because some redneck down the road was shooting joyfully till past ten last night.I laid there, wondering what it was that had disrupted my slumber this time.After a few moments, I heard a short, faint beep. That’s weird. I have very few things in this house that beep. It had to be a smoke detector. But no, that’s not right, either. My smoke detectors have a built in battery that are supposed to last ten years. And they’re not even two yet.But still. Definitely a beep.Nothing to do but get up, which overjoys my roommate (the one with a tail, y’all, calm down). I come to the other end of the house and it’s slightly louder, but the source doesn’t seem to be upstairs at all. There is another 10 year detector downstairs. And what’s that voice? Or was that my stomach? Another minute or two and I heard it again. I don’t know of ANYTHING in this house that talks to me. I’m limited on technology over here. I checked my Amazon purchases to be extra sure I wasn’t…
Sometimes I believe I was placed here to make others feel better about their own lives.For instance, today.Well, it started early this week when I was thinking, “Amy, if you’re gonna make cookies, you need to get on it.” And I answered, “ehhh, I’ll do it Thursday night and that way I can deliver Friday.”So last night I broke out my recipe book and flipped to the back to my beloved peanut butter cookies. I don’t eat them, so they’re about the only truly selfless thing I do for others.I’m gathering ingredients. I had conveniently forgotten you have to bring the eggs and butter to room temperature. Dang it. No way to hasten that without breeding bacteria.I read on.Chill a minimum of three hours.Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap.By the time I got ingredients to room temp and everything mixed, it would be 7:00. Three hours puts me at 10:00, also known as Amy’s bedtime. But in a stroke of brilliance, I figure I can just take the batter to work and bake them there. No fuss, no muss.Well, I woke up at 5:11. Not on purpose. I just did. So I went ahead and got up and decided to bake the cookies.Hmm. That’s odd. Dough was still sticky and very pliable. I vividly remember in years past wishing…
It has been a very long day. I tried to pace myself, and start strong with coffee and breakfast. I usually treat myself to Bojangles after the doctor, but I’d be treating myself to some dirty martinis later, so I figured I could make my breakfast. I get to the dermatologist and the waiting room was PACKED. It was only nine in the morning; I think they start seeing patients at 7:30, so this was surprising. The guy sitting next to me was reading a Bible. He was about my age. I hope he was ok. Or maybe he was the driver of someone and he was in the word for them. I commented on it to my doctor and she speculated maybe he just liked reading the Bible. “As we all should,” I acceded. Surprisingly, I like my new doctor better than my old one. This one may not look as carefully, but she still found plenty to freeze and cut on. “Plenty” being three spots total, but that’s enough. And what I really liked about her was her easygoing demeanor and ability to smile. Amy was very serious. When this one said, “your chest looks good,” I replied, “that’s what all the boys tell me.”I thought her and the nurse both were gonna fall out. I have to wait two weeks to know the results of what my previous doctor called “a bug bite that didn’t heal correctly…
I started a new book. I didn’t think I was gonna like it much after reading the summary, as it revolves around a lesbian. But the rest of the message was sound, and I had been in line for it for some time, so I decided to give it a whirl. If I could tell right away it wasn’t my cup of tea, I could give myself permission to quit. It’s a Reese Witherspoon pick, and she’s usually on target, so I am taking my chances. And so far, it’s really good! I know I tend to say this in the early stages of all my books, and then come back at the halfway point, whining, and then at the end, saying it pretty much redeemed itself but it was slow. I know how I am. So I’m going to withhold further comment. Emily got me this morning, talking about finally throwing away seeds in her fridge that had been in there since before her daddy died thirteen years ago. She started to dig the Silver Queen corn out, but ultimately decided against it, saying, “I do not need emotional support corn, I’m a big girl.” We have adopted that as today’s mantra. It started snowing here about nine. JA checked in a little after eight, quite excited about the size of the flakes. He acted like they were out to get him, specifically. Jodi wasn’…
Today was the Christmas party for NRCS. I am happy to go, it’s the only time I see some of those people. So I fixed breakfast and had my coffee and although I didn’t have to be there till 10, I was still almost late. Time just gets away from me of the morning. I tend to get involved with a little housework or whatever and then there I am, rushing around. And I couldn’t wear my planned outfit because it was already over 60 degrees. I decided to take those brownies I made a few months ago and froze. They were so rich, I made them like I make my box cakes where you substitute butter for oil, and milk for water, and add an egg. It’s too much for brownies, in my opinion. I figured I could eat them with ice cream to cut the sweetness, but I never did, and this presented the perfect opportunity to get rid of them. Especially since I didn’t care what this bunch thought. It ain’t like I see them every day and have to hear about how awful they were 🤣🤣I cut each full sized brownie into fourths. That might make them more palatable, too. I arranged them on one of my pretty Christmas platters, since presentation is half of it. Again, not that I expected this bunch to notice.JA called right on cue at 8:05, when…
Monday, Monday…. It’s getting to be that time of year where everything speeds up. My to-do and to-buy lists are already uncomfortably extensive. It’s not like Christmas sneaks up on me. I’m in Hobby Lobby pretty regularly and they start preparing in June. So why am I always running around in a mild state of panic this time every year? I’ve got cards bought, but not stamps. I’ve got a list of who to buy for, but not many ideas. I know what all I want to eat, but not much desire to fix it 🙃 I went by Food City on my way in and didn’t have any trouble being refunded the $6.76 where I was overcharged. She said they had experienced a few issues. I was relieved I wasn’t expected to tote the whole roast back in. I have never in my life met anyone as outwardly disgusting as Jake, nor as lazy. I was very clear with him for days ahead of time that I would be leaving Friday at 1:30 and he seemed to be on board, even reaffirming that a field visit that morning wouldn’t adversely affect my schedule. So imagine my surprise when I came in this morning and there were THREE missed calls, the first one coming in at 2:18. So, he clearly left right after I did. I could STRANGLE him…
