Ahhh.  Feeling much better now.  I'm not even sure why.  Nothing really happened that I can pinpoint as a turn around.  It feels like *something* broke and I can't imagine what it was, but I'm sure not going to question!  Just let it all floooowwww and take one day at a time.

Today's picture really moved me.  All alone in nature, sleeping peacefully, with am angel standing guard, playing with my hair and stroking my face and giving me the good sleep juju.  Mmmmmmm.  I'm off stranded in fantasy land right now.

Is this not just the most precious little piggy??  A dear friend of mine surprised me with it.  She went to Paris and so he's a little Frenchy piggy.  Anyone who calls it a Freedom piggy will be killed.  Bonjour, mon petit cochon. Bienvenu à ma maison. Katrina vous aime.

Today is a sad day in the Rasbold home.  I didn't get any interesting mail.  A moment of silence, please.

Last night, I stayed up and watched "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer," which was almost as wonderful as its host movie, "Rose Red."  It's so rare to get made for TV movies that are worth watching.  I accidentally came upon Rose Red about 20 minutes into it.  I'd intended to give it a look based solely on the Stephen King involvement, but forgot about it.  I'm not one of these jaded Stephen King fans who can't imagine that he often sucks at what he does and, in my opinion, created most of his body of work because it amused him in some way or he was obligated to put something to print for contractual purposes.  When he was bad, he was about average, but when he was good, he was red hot.  For all of his hits and misses (the word "Tommyknockers" still makes my teeth hurt), Rose Red was wonderful.  I LOVE me a good horror story.  [Example being "The Others," which I thought was fairly dismissible until the last 15 minutes, when suddenly it was outstanding.  "The Sixth Sense" was totally intriguing all the way through, then turned me inside out in a great way at the end.  I'm so wonderfully gullible.]  Ellen Rimbauer did not disappoint, even though it was a different type of movie than "Rose Red."  Loved it.  Tired today.  :)

Tonight should be very nice.  Dinner is already made. For lunch, I put together a pot pie (Of course, my husband always asks if it's made from real pot).  If you enjoy fairly low fat comfort food, this is your entree.  The only high calorie, high carb, high fat part of it is the crust, which you can regulate yourself.  Boil the meat off of 3 large chicken breasts (I bake chicken the night before and use the leftovers), then remove all bones, gristle, etc and separate it out into strings and chunks and such.  Make 2 packages of chicken gravy, according to the directions.  When the gravy is done, add in the chicken pieces and three cans of Veg-all mixed veggies (the small ones).  You can also use frozen mixed veggies (carrots, celery, green beans, potatoes and such), 1 bag.  Mix it all together and add a dash of salt, pepper and onion flakes.  Pour it into a 9x13 inch pan.  Make Bisquick biscuits (or your own recipe), roll out and cover the meat, gravy and veggie mixture with it.  Poke holes over the top to let steam escape and bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown.  Yummy.

Dylan, my 5-year-old, is heavily into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase and has collected several of the figures and all three movies.  It's so interesting to see a second generation of my children into the Turtles.  :) 

To compliment my mood of nostalgia lately, I'd like to share something Sage sent to me:

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
(From Katrina:  But they were sooo comfy
unless you had to pee)

It took five minutes for the TV warm up?
(From Katrina:  And the little dot staring, staring, staring)

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?



When a quarter was a decent allowance?

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

(From Katrina:  What is the cheapest first class
postage you remember?  I definitely remember 9 cents
and I *think* I remember 7 cents)

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
(From Katrina:  and when if you wore stockings
you also wore a garter belt or girdle?  How about
*ow* sanitary belts and "blue roses?")

All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had
their hair done every day and wore high heels?
(And wigs!  Remember wigs?)




You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,
without asking, all for free, every time?
And you didn't pay for air?  And, you got trading stamps to boot?
(From Katrina:  And my mom and I could drive all
day on $2 of gas!  Green Stamps!  Top Value Stamps!)

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
(From Katrina:  Crystal Wedding Oatmeal, anyone?)

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner
at a real restaurant with your parents?
(From Katrina:  For us, Burger Chef was a great privilege!
I also remember when the McDonald's sign
said "Over 1 million sold"

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . .and they did?
(From Katrina:  Oh yes they did!  Failing was a real and present danger)



When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise,
peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?
(I remember all of that, except my dream car was the
one Sage drives, a 1969 Chevy Impala)


No one ever asked where the car keys were
because they were always in the car,
in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?


Lying on your back in the grass with your friends
and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..."

and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?
(From Katrina:  Softball with trees and cardboard boxes for bases!
Remember the "pickle" who was the stunt batter?)

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals
because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once,
you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace,
and share it with the children of today?
(From Katrina:  Not if I have to trade in the internet to do it!)

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives,
but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! 
But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.

As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games,
Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool,
and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?

Candy cigarettes
Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
(Katrina:  with bottle tops you had to pry off
and don't forget pull tabs on canned soda
and something about kidney dialysis)
Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum
(Katrina:  and all three were nasty!
what about hard Dentine!)
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
Newsreels before the movie
P.F. Fliers

(Katrina:  Red ball jets?)

Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601).
Party lines
(Katrina:  LOL a busy signal?  a bell for a ringer?
having to rent your phone?  a dial?)


Peashooters
Howdy Dowdy
(Katrina:  Captain Kangaroo, Mr Moose, Romper Room)
45 RPM records
(Katrina:  those little yellow center pieces?
stacking records and putting the arm across)
Hi-Fi's
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Metal ice cubes trays with levers
(Katrina: That NEVER produced anything but ice slivers
and froze to your hands)
Mimeograph paper
(Katrina:  Ahh.  that smell!!)
Beanie and Cecil
(Katrina:  "Hey, Beanie Boy!")
Roller-skate keys
Cork pop guns
(Katrina:  What about clackers!)
Drive ins
Studebakers


Washtub wringers
The Fuller Brush Man
(Katrina:  Ding Dong, Avon Calling 
The Tydebol Man,
the Glad Man, Mr Clean,
The Ajax White Knight)
Reel-To-Reel tape recorders
(Katrina:  Akai!)
Tinkertoys
(Katrina:  Ahhh.  The smell again.)
Erector Sets
The Fort Apache Play Set
Lincoln Logs
15 cent McDonald hamburgers
(Katrina:  McDonalds is your
kind of place, hamburgers in
your face, french fries between
your toes, dill pickles up your
nose and what about those
groovy shakes? They come
from polluted lakes, McDonalds
is your kiiinnnd of plaaaace.)
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5 cent packs of baseball cards -
with that awful pink slab of bubble gum

Penny candy
(Katrina:  5 cent butterfingers)

t
35 cent a gallon gasoline
Jiffy Pop popcorn

Do you remember a time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
(Katrina:  Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish...)
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?
(Katrina:  Remember the term "French Letter?")
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
A foot of snow was a dream come true?

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?
(Katrina:  and were only on Saturday morning)
"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?

War was a card game?
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
(Katrina:  drag flags?  What are helmets?)
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!

Lord, I must have lived a lot.

And today, I've talked a lot.

Have an absolutely brilliant night!

Love,
Katrina