Beth Marie's Little Bitty Space

and the week has flown past.  I have already been thinking forward to Thanksgiving.  Last Thanksgiving for a couple of reasons I was alone.  This year I am making plans to change that.  If nothing else, I will have a roast turkey for company.  lol

I had a pleasant surprise.  One of my space friends called me last night and we had a nice visit over the telephone.  I won't mention her name.  I do want to thank her as it brightened my day considerably.

A nice day is in store again for us weather wise.  I am going to try that outing again north on 57 this morning after workout.  If I don't post tomorrow send out the search and rescue.  ;-)

A friend of my sister who was in remission from cancer is very ill now.  If you will all please ask God to put His arms around Joy now and hold her tight my sis and I would both be grateful.

For some reason I can't think of anything witty or important to say this morning.  Just one thing, Al if you are reading this, remember you have friends standing behind you.

I will catch you all up tomorrow on everything exciting? that happens to me today.

Stay safe and be happy!!

and it is to be a lovely day today.  After the passage of a cold front we are having an influx of Canadian air and the high today is to be in the lower 80s.  I plan to mow the lawn after I get home from workout.

Yesterday I ventured south on 57 to visit Meijer and Walmart on the North Prospect magnificent mile.  There I purchased the grocery specials and some DVD+R for some more recording of old VHS tapes.  Considerably lighter in the pocket I returned home and managed a trip to the library and the store.

I thought you might be interested in some facts about this road where I take my life in my own hands each time I venture out.

"In the state of Illinois, Interstate 57 runs from the bridge over the Mississippi River north to Chicago. I-57 is the longest Interstate highway in Illinois. The route is an easy way to reach Shawnee National Forest in the southern tip of the state. It also serves as a major artery for college students in the state, running near Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Parkland College in Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana-Champaign, Kankakee Community College in Kankakee, Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, and Governors State University in University Park. Interstate 57 currently does not have an intersection with Interstate 294 (Tri-State Tollway) in northeastern Illinois. It is one of only a few examples where Interstates cross but do not have interchanges with each other. Vehicles are directed to use Interstate 80 to access Interstate 294 instead, though U.S. Route 6 is another option."

Let me tell you too that the high price of gas has not slowed the highway traffic down one bit nor has it slowed down the speeding.  There are just as many nuts on the interstate as ever and they are driving faster than ever.  Even with the high price of diesel the truckers are not slowed down at all.  I noticed diesel fuel was $4.95 a gallon yesterday in the big city.

It is time for me to get a move on.  Stay safe and be happy!!

and you didn't  think I was being honest when I said I lived in the middle of a corn field.  I read an interesting article about the county where I live in the big city newspaper last night.  "Very few counties the size of **** County in the United States would have positive figures like these. The total value of agriculture output in **** County is expected to be $220 million in 2008.  The county's agricultural output totaled $112 million as recently as 2005, so the value practically doubled  within 3 years.  More than half the value is coming from corn production."  The population of my county is 14,241 so you see when I say I am surrounded by corn fields I am not exaggerating. Told 'ya that is why it is so humid here.  ;-)

Well, confession time.  Sunday I went to the deli and got some fried chicken and I opened a can of Bu**'s Grilling Beans which I divided into 3rds.  Now, there was a satisfying unhealthy meal and I enjoyed every bite of it.  I still have 1/3 of the beans in the fridge for today.  If you haven't tried these beans yet, you should try them.   They are really good even if they have an obnoxious name.  Oops, I should have spelled that with a little b.

We had a pretty good thunderstorm yesterday morning and another one last night.  Small branches down by the wind.  I checked my tomato plant.  I actually have 6 pretty good sized tomatoes on it.  I have already warned everyone that I won't have tomatoes to share this year.  :-(

The month is almost over.  My sister will be having a birthday on the 27th.  For two months I will only be 1 year older than her.  I really wish I could see her on her birthday but they just visited me last month.

My daughter is just home from a church conference in Minneapolis.  I love to tease her and Mike.  While I was talking to her this afternoon I asked her what she was having for supper as I was on my way.  She said oh good until she realized I was kidding her.  I told her to come and get me and I would stay for a few days and then she could bring me home.  I told her it would be good practice for when I move in with them.  LOL  I hope the day never comes when I have to live with someone. 

I am through yakking  for today.  So, stay safe and be happy!!

oh no, not another Monday.  I just get used to sleeping a little later on Saturday and Sunday and then its Monday again and time to get up, get dressed, have breakfast and head off to workout.  I didn't want to do any of those things this morning.  I think though that if I deviate from my routine that I will be back stuck in that depression I was in right after I lost Jim.  So I get up every day and with the good Lord's help I get moving.  And I say thank you to God that I am able to do that.

Oh Rose has probably already posted about this on her space.  She was playing a song yesterday that I didn't recognize and I asked what was playing.  Turns out it was George Jones from his teeny bopper days.  This is where the joke begins.  I have said before that I am a Jones fan and I have 123 CDs of his to prove it.  In fact, that is how Rose and I met, through one of her stationery web sites where she had of all things, some Jones stationery.  So I will never hear the end of this I am sure.

We had another thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and we are under severe thunderstorm watch today until noon.  In fact it has gotten very dark outside and I hear thunder in the distance.  This year has turned out to be a record breaker in the weather department beginning with flooding in January.  This is nothing to compare to Iowa and Wisconsin. 

I have been getting friend invitations from all sides.  When I check out the space many times there is no blog.  If there is no blog and the space looks iffy I don't accept.  Twice when I visited a potential friend site my virus protection came on and told me they had deleted a virus.  So be very careful!!!!  It takes me a long time now to keep up with everyone's space and I don't want to miss anyone.  Some of my friends post several blogs a day; once a day is enough for me.  If you post several times I will most likely only comment on one.

Well, I have blabbed enough now that I am wide awake so I guess I should get the day moving in the right direction.

Have a good week.  Stay safe and be happy!!

and another hot humid day is in store for us here in the middle of the cornfields.  I don't know if you are aware of it, but the cornfields do put out a lot of moisture in the summertime.  That is what helps to make the humidity so high in Illinois.  The temperature for today is forecast for the lower 90s with high humidity.  Yesterday it rained off and on all day.  By late afternoon the sun had come out and it had reached 90 degrees.

My good friend Stephen posted pictures of his tomato garden yesterday.  It looks so beautiful with the marigolds growing around it.  I promised a picture of my tomato plant growing in the weeds so here it is.

I am also posting a picture of my purple coneflowers so that you could see my porch steps that I just got through putting two coats of paint on.  If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.  I ate the finish off the steps last winter with having to put ice melt on them every day.

I have rescheduled my venture up north on the big interstate for tomorrow if the weather holds good.

I did cook yesterday but it was not satisfying so now I have leftovers that I don't want to eat.  I am better off sticking to my TV dinners now.  That way I don't waste food.  The stuff I really want to cook and eat is not healthy.  :-(

Saying so long for now.  Stay safe and be happy!!

and I have had to change my plans again as it has been pouring down rain ever since I got up.  I am not crazy enough to go out on 57 north in this kind of weather.

My friend Rose is back in business.  She is really handy with computers, being able to make most repairs herself. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before but Rose taught me just about everything I know about computers and she did it long distance all of the way from Texas.   When I got my first computer I didn't know anything about a personal computer.  Rose answered even the most stupid questions for me and she did it graciously.  Thank you Rose.

I have still been busy scanning old pictures into my computer.  I enjoy making them into WMV's to torment my family with.  ;-)  Since we have been on the subject of classic cars I am posting a picture of the first car that Jim and I bought when we first got married.  It was a 1955 yellow Pontiac. We were so proud of that car.

The picture is not very good but we really babied that car.  The first car that Jim had was a Nash Rambler. It is really fun looking at these old pictures and wondering where in the dickens all of the years went.

I am not sure what I am going to do today.  I got the lawn mowed early yesterday morning.  The rain this morning is welcome as we have had several days of 90 degree weather with no rain.  I thought I was going to have to water my valiant tomato plant this morning.

I definitely will cook something today.  Not sure what, I'll have to check in the freezer and see what I have.  I really would like to have some of what my friend Carole mentioned in her blog.  I want mushrooms too though!!

No workout on Saturday so I am off to visit you all.

Stay safe and be happy!!

finally huh?  I don't care much one way or the other since I am not a working lady anymore.  However, since I know how much Friday means to all of you working folks I have the Finally Friday song playing on my main page.  Plus I get to listen to a Jones classic, and that is worth a lot.

I put some VHS tapes on to DVDs last winter.  These tapes were from a camcorder that we got for Christmas in 1989.  I watched one of the DVDs last night on my big screen high def TV.  I relived a tremendous ice storm from Feb 1990 and visits with my mom and my sisters and a trip to Cumberland Lake in KY where my sister and B-I-L had a cabin, plus a birthday party for my son's 30th birthday.  One minute I was laughing out loud and the next minute I was crying.  So many family members on those DVDs are gone now including of course, Jim.  Those memories are priceless.  I just wish I had some film with my dad on it.

I have changed my plans for this morning.  I am going to mow just as soon as I get back from workout and then I will be going north tomorrow morning.  My neighbor mowed last night and so that makes my yard look bad.   ;-)

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Stay safe and be happy!!

and a quick note.  I received a call from Rose yesterday afternoon.  She is so happy with the response she has been getting at her space and she wants to thank you all.  Unfortunately her computer is down and she probably won't be back on line until  Saturday.  She will get back with you all then.  In the meantime why don't you stop by and hear her sing a Jones classic "I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair."

Yesterday was a real scorcher and the next couple of days are to be worse.  I do want to get out today and tomorrow though.  This morning after workout I am going to go to the big city and do a little shopping and then tomorrow I have to head north a ways.

Thanks for all of the response about my computer, especially Bill.  I printed out his comment and I am going to take it with me when I go to see the guys who built my last two computers.  I have no spyware or viruses on my computer.  I have good antivirus and spyware protection.  I do a disk cleanup every day and I clean out the cookies every day.  I defrag once a week even though my computer tells me I don't need to.  I have saved everything I deem important off my computer and I will just run it until it stops.  Then I will get a new one.

I don't touch on anything political in my posts so they may seem rather dull to some of you.  I have noticed that some of the spaces I visit have gotten so far out of the ball park with their political posts, printing all kinds of off the wall crappola that I don't even leave a comment.  I will be back to visit you after the election is over.  I respect your beliefs, but they are not mine.

On that note, I should close.  I want to visit a few of you before I leave for workout.  Stay cool everyone.

Stay safe and be happy!!

and the day is off to a nice warm start.  It is in the 70s now and the air conditioner ran all night.  I will get everything done this morning so I don't have to go out in the 90s this afternoon.

I have been tagged several more times.  As much as I love you all, once around on this 8 thingy tag was enough.  I posted my answers on Sunday for the ones who tagged me again.

My computer acted particularly dumb yesterday.  I was scanning pictures in and all of a sudden I lost my mouse.  It was just as if a cat had swallowed her up.  Then my computer restarted on its own.  I don't have any malicious spyware or virus or anything like that.  Remember I told you all in the past that at times my computer didn't want to come on and at other times my mouse would play hooky.  Well, since that time several months ago I have left my computer on 24/7.  My computer is 2 years old and I seriously am considering having a new one built.  Bill, if you were building a new computer for me, what would you put on it?  Tell me everything you think I need please.  Remember I am not geeky like you I just like music and pictures, etc.  Also do you think I am up to Vista?

Anyway, I talked to my brother (a different Bill) and he told me I should clear out my picture files ASAP which I did.  I have 10 CDs I made of pics  yesterday.  I am really proud as I  was careful to fix them so I can easily see what is on each CD.  Now I guess I have to tackle my music files as I have hundreds of songs on my computer.  I will put these CDs all in my safety deposit box so my daughter can figure out what to do with them after my demise.  I suspect they will end up in file 13 which is AF talk for the garbage can.

I need to get moving as workout is calling me.

Stay safe and be happy!!

and I would like to ask you all to please stop by and say hello to the very first friend I met on the Internet.  Rose and I became friends in 1997.  She has helped me through many sad times during the past 11 years and I have tried to do the same for her.  We have talked on the phone on several occasions.  Maybe someday we will get to meet in person.  I hope so.  I have several blogging friends I would love to meet too.

I have a new gas meter.  After reading the meter today my gas bill dropped from $151 to $14.78.   A bill like that is one way to give an old gal a heart attack.  Anyway the guy that installed the meter was very nice to me, and the lady on the phone was too, and you know me, I was gracious to a fault.  Why are you all laughing?  I really was.  Actually I was so relieved I could hardly contain myself.

You must  know by now that I am constantly changing my background.  Yes, I know this one has an August calendar on it.  Before August gets here I will probably have changed it a couple more times.  I just get tired of looking at the same thing over and over again.  Two of my blogging friends did make mention of it being an August background.  The rest of you probably thought I had lost it but were too kind to mention it.  LOL

My brother is home from Vegas.  He finished 4th in the tournament and didn't win anything but broke even.  While there he met Freddy Deeb and Hoyt Corkins (pro poker players).  He visited a ghost town and sent me some pictures which I am posting in my photos.  I thought the ghost town sounded like fun but he said it wasn't worth