You can't go home again.

Well, sure you can try, but at our ages the homes are occupied by somebody else.

I went to my hometown last Saturday, just out of curiosity. My brother and sister met me there and we had lunch at the local southern cooking buffet.

My sister and I got there early and met at the library. It is not the same library I used growing up, but it is a friendly, neutral place to leave my car for a few hours. We drove around to look at the houses we used to live in. The house pictured above is was my grandmother's. We had plenty of good times there. RIP, Nanny.

At my parent's house there was a woman sitting on the little porch, so we stopped and complemented her lavishly on the exterior improvements. She invited us in to see the inside, and wow, it really is a different house now. Gone is all the orange wood paneling in favor of textured drywall. Where the cabinets from the kitchen flowed into the dining room are double doors to the outside. Also gone is the yellow/aqua color combo in the bathrooms. (Yes, built in the late 1950's) Yes, that is exactly what it needed.

Then, we drove to the graveyard. Well, we don't have living relatives in town, so why not? We were able to find our grandparent's graves, but our parents' were elusive. And it's a big family plot, too! After lunch my brother took us to the family plot, and boy was I embarrassed. It was so easy to find if you get your landmarks fixed in your head.

Now I am becoming one of those southern ladies who wants to scrub the headstones. My uncle Floppy's headstone is completely grown over. Next time we'll bring a whisk broom, a probe, and a little edger. Maybe some spray cleaner and some paper towels too. Aunt Bess' was practically sanded over. Yep, I'm one of them now. A little early for Memorial Day, but what the heck.

Big Louie's bigger cousin

Yes, another big lizard story. I thought the one that ran up my shirt was big, but this one is a foot long or more. Just hanging out on the palm tree, waiting for lunch.

Angel or devil?

My new Keurig brewer is amazing. Every cup of coffee is delicious all day and all evening. I never drank coffee in the evening before because it was kind of a hassle and by the time I got to the 2nd cup it wasn't so yummy any more.

But I have a devil on one shoulder whispering "Do it. Use the K-Cup. You know you like it!" And I have an angel on the other shoulder who says "If you use the reusable cup there will be less plastic to throw out and choke up landfills."

My reusable cup is the EZ-Cup with paper filters. I tried the MyKCup and one other with the wash-out filters but I didn't like them for 2 reasons. One, I'm spoiled and like my coffee clear filtered through paper, and two those reusable cups are darn hard to clean. I ended up leaving a skewer out on the counter top to loosen up and dig out the tight grounds. With the EZ-Cup, the little filter lifts right out and you are good to load up another one, lickitey split.

Now I am trying to find the perfect decaffeinated coffee. I have some organic decaf from Walmart, but it is too dark a roast for me. Now I'm going to be buying cans of decaf until I can get the perfect medium roast that I like to drink and drink and drink...

Don't buy your mom a Kindle

Really, don't do it unless she is at least a little computer savvy. Or unless you live nearby and can help her.

My day at work on Tuesday consisted of attempting to help 2 different women download eBooks from a neighboring library's Overdrive collection. Both were told confidently by their offspring that they could borrow library books and read for free. Amazon makes it very easy and even fun to select books and buy them, and have them appear, by magic, on your Kindle. Borrowing books is a whole different thing, and anything but simple.

In both cases we spent over 30 minutes and near the end of the process neither of them could log into Amazon. In one case I assured the woman that it wouldn't work anyway since her Kindle had a 3G connection, not Wi-fi. For the uninitiated, all Overdrive eBooks for Kindle are downloaded directly from your Amazon account. We won't even get into the privacy issues here. For library eBooks for Kindle, if you have 3G you must download to a PC and then transfer via USB. Publishers can also insist on USB transfers of certain titles even if the Kindle is Wi-fi equipped.

But wait, it gets even better! The 3G owner came back the next day, and I spent over an hour with her, patiently explaining Overdrive, Amazon, 3G, Wi-fi, DRM, and why the book she borrowed was likely delivered to her daughter's Kindle. She doesn't have a computer in Florida, and I wouldn't allow downloading the book to our research computer and transferring via USB. Shhh don't tell, we don't have a policy in place yet. The sad bit is she insisted they helped her at her home library up north, and sure enough, there was an expired library book on her Kindle. She didn't remember anything about using a computer to do it, but that's the only way to get a book on there, so I know it was used.

It was very frustrating for both of us. She ended up purchasing the book, and then it didn't auto deliver. I suspect it was because she had just borrowed it. I left it to her to call Amazon customer service.

It wasn't even my library's eBooks. I deserve a chocolate brownie for this one. Our library is getting eBooks in April. There are maybe 3 people on staff who are comfortable with this stuff. Sure, there will be lots of training, and when it's all said and done staff will pass off the most confused people to the magic 3.

OK, if you must buy your mom a Kindle, and if she plans on using library books, make sure it is a Wi-fi enabled model. 3G is best if she is going to BUY books from Amazon. There is a big difference. And for goodness sakes, please, PLEASE make sure they can log into the correct Amazon account. Nothing happens without that.
 
Heaven help us, here come the elderly parents.

New dishes!

I did it! After years of threatening to, I bought a full set of Fiesta dinnerware, in 8 different colors.

I couldn't be happier. They are so pretty, even dirty in the dishwasher. Each time I pull out a plate, I'm all pleased with it, thinking, wow, this one is my favorite. Then I do it again for the next color.

Love it! I've used the cheap plates from the Big Lots so long that I had forgotten what nice plates looked and felt like.

Christmas cards

Ok, I seriously can't seem to let go of the holidays.

I recently got a die cutting machine (Making Memories Slice) and a bunch of memory cards for it. I have spent a bunch of time, and I'll not admit how much, cutting and pasting, and gettin' merry like Christmas. Making cards that is.

The plan is to make a bunch of these for sale in our church bazaar next fall. No, the real plan is to use up this patterned green paper which has been in my paper stash since 2004 when I started scrap booking.  Come to think of it, the paper may have even looked dated then.

My dining room table is as cluttered as ever. No, I'm not getting ahead of it. It is a good thing I live alone, because no one could ever eat.

Speaking of unfinished projects...

At least I'm working on these. My dining room table is an example of multi-tasking overkill. Really, I have my photo scanning, scrap booking, laundry folding and fat clothes give-away thing going on all at once.

This doesn't even show the stuff laid out on the temporary folding table near the china cabinet, or the stray instructional books on the coffee table.

I'm pretty sure I have adult ADD. As if I needed proof.