" Best Laid Plans "

Part 4

Diana took a ride in the car today. It was a beautiful first day of Autumn. Although she thought it quite hot for this time of year. The further north she drove, she noticed more and more the subtle changes in the colors of the leaves. They weren't the vibrant green they were weeks before.

She brought some CD's to listen to on the way to the Gastroenterologist. She was in the mood for Madeleine Peyroux's, "Dance Me to the End of Love". A song that she loved. It was her mother's C.D. 

Diana's mother loved that song too, only Diana didn't find this out until after her mother passed away. It was played at her visitation.

It was a very nice ride and the doctor visit went as she thought it would. She wouldn't worry. No. She felt that life was much too short to worry needlessly.

The previous Saturday, Diana, her daughter Katie and Katie's friend Natasha went for another nice ride. It was another beautiful yet hot day. The ride was fun as the teen's played their music in the car, singing and chatting all the way to their destination.

The Big Mall....

They went to the BIG MALL in search of the perfect dress.

Which they found...

Which went very well with the gloves that Diana made for Katie and is now making for Natasha as well...

 

Which will go with the perfect necklace that Katie found to go with the perfect dress...

Shoes still need to be chosen as well as a little clutch purse.

It all has to be just so. After all this will be Katie's first high school dance!

It should prove to be a fun evening for the girls!

Unless of coarse Katie gets banned from the dance. You see Katie is one to speak her mind. She held a bit of a revolt at school last week.

She was written up and assigned to Saturday school!

Diana thought it was all quite silly and said as much to the administration. 

You see Diana is also one to speak her mind when she feels the need to do so. It was a silly offense. Certainly not worthy of Saturday school. 

So Katie's beautiful mother....

and handsome father...

had to teach their young teen that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about making changes in the world,

and in high school!

So the young and idealistic Katie went about printing up fliers to be passed out around the school.

The hullabaloo has seemed to calm down for the moment and Katie's mother just hopes Katie can hold her tongue.

At least until after the dance.

These days you can still find Diana hanging her clothes outside to dry.

 

Truth be told, she really enjoys it. She loves being out in the yard and the clothes smell so good. 

Although her trip to the doctor today pretty much nixed any chance of her getting a new dryer in the near future...

For some reason, it doesn't bother her nearly as much as she thought it would. Although she may change her mind come winter.

Right now we find our "Housewifely Heroine"

relaxing.

She is anticipating her handsome husbands homecoming this weekend.

She longs to sit underneath their one and only Maple tree...

Together again.

Will Katie make it another two weeks without getting into trouble

at school?

Will she actually be able to attend the dance?

Why is Diana's handsome husband coming home next weekend

when it's not his weekend to be home?

And what about the fabric softener?

Yes, what about the fabric softener?

Find out the answers to all of these questions and more

on the next episode of...

" Best Laid Plans "

" Best Laid PLans "

Part 3

This past week we find our "Housewifely Heroine" feeling much better since suffering from her mysterious, unknown illness!

She is feeling much healthier as you can clearly see...

but don't let this relaxed pose fool you. She has had much more energy as of late and has been quite busy in and around the home.

Last weekend she found out that she and her handsome husband...

were to have the entire weekend alone! It was a very nice weekend and the cooler weather found the young, handsome couple outdoors doing yard work together...

Ah yes, cleaning up the yard for the anticipation of Autumn!

The evening was cool and they treated themselves to the first fire of the season. 

They had a few surprises that evening. They called them

"The Three S's". First they spotted a satellite in the evening sky.

Then Diana spotted a shooting star!

So they both held hands and made a wish!

It was just a short while after spotting the shooting star that Diana's husband Jake spotted something else. It was very dark out by this time and when he noticed it, he warned his wife to remain still and quite. 
Something that wasn't easy for Diana to do but she listened to her husband none the less!

As she and her husband sat quietly by the fire, he instructed her to look to her right. It was difficult for Diana to remain quite and still as she spotted one of these little fellows casually walking by.....

This would explain the two times that Diana had smelled this critters odor coming through her bedroom window air conditioner unit in the middle of the night!

Apparently the couple has a neighborhood Skunk that likes to hang out in the evenings around the house!

So now when Diana walks the dogs at night, she is a bit more quite and cautious!!

After the fire Diana and her handsome husband went into the house to watch a movie.

Diana's husband has been craving homemade popcorn.

You see, back in the olden days, people would cook their popcorn in a pot on top of the stove. They would melt butter to pour all over the popcorn. Diana kept a jar of real popcorn salt for just such an occasion.

This old fashioned practice also requires the use of napkins. The taste is nothing like the popcorn of today that people microwave.

It is a special treat. One that they thoroughly enjoyed that evening!

The rest of the week was not without it's problems. Diana noticed on Monday that their internet service wasn't working. This happens from time to time and then it usually starts to work again after a few hours.

And it did. However things were not loading. So she gave up for the day and decided to see what Tuesday would bring.

Unfortunately Tuesday brought the same problem. Diana used her time to do things around the house and even got back into her crocheting which she hadn't done in a long time.

She made these for a special upcoming event in her daughter Katie's life!

But by Tuesday afternoon, after checking her computer, she knew that it was time to call " The Animated Lady " at the local cable carrier.

Diana got very lucky. After speaking with "The Animated Lady", she was directed to a "Real Lady" who was very helpful and friendly.

The nice lady sent out a very nice technician the following day. And what did he discover?

Apparently there was a crazy, cable chewing squirrel on the loose!!!

So the nice technician fixed the problem and now the internet is working once again.

Diana thought how cute the little squirrels are but now wished that they would go play somewhere else. 

There was also some sorrow this past week when Diana's handsome husband, Jake, was given the sad news that his best buddy passed away unexpectedly.

He was just 46 years old. Jake will miss him very much.


Diana was always Jake's number one best friend, but now she knew she would have to step up her game. Yet there would be no replacing Jake's one best guy friend and this much she knew for sure.


Jake and Diana's teen daughter Katie has had a few surprises of her own. Diana had to take her shopping with no success yesterday.


They will try again tomorrow.

So what is this surprising and exciting event that Katie and her mother are shopping for?

And what has Katie done at school that may keep her from attending said event?


And what about that clothes dryer situation?


Is Diana still using clothes lines and laundromats?


Find all of the answers to these questions and more
on the next episode of...


"Best Laid Plans"

" Anyone Hear of Starbucks?"

There is a blogger named Ginny. You can find her here 

 http://ginnyskal.com/

You may recognize her as my daughter.

She is a coffee fanatic and when she recently pulled into the Starbucks drive thru,

she wasn't very happy about the menu change.

So she blogged about it. You can read it on the above link.

The Consumerist read her blog and picked up on it. 

http://consumerist.com/2010/09/why-does-my-starbucks-no-longer-advertise-tall-drinks.html 

Then MSNBC picked it up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39064578/ns/business-consumer_news/ 

Then the News and Observer picked it up.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/business/local-blogger-helps-get-tall-back-on-starbucks-menu 

And now, Starbucks has changed their menu back to the way it was.

It only takes one person.

Well at least one frustrated, coffee drinking person, 

to change things!

Way to go Gin!!!

" Best Laid Plans "

Welcome to " Part 2 " of

" Best Laid Plans "

Today we find our "Housewifely Heroine"

Diana,

feeling much better from her mysterious illness. After a long weekend of rest and a movie marathon, her symptoms have all but disappeared except for feeling a bit run down.

This morning we find her sitting in her garden under her favorite and only Maple tree enjoying the beautiful Autumn breezes.

As you can see she is looking much better.....

Although you may not notice it in this photo as she is wearing make-up, she has a secret. A secret that she thought no one else had noticed. A secret that she confided to no one except for her oldest daughter,

Ginny.

Diana knew that she could trust Ginny with any secret including 

"The eyebrow secret" !

It was something that Diana had started to notice for quite some time now. She foolishly thought that no one but her could see it until that one evening. The evening that she and her handsome husband...

had time to spend alone. She was needlessly, a bit embarrassed when he asked her  "Darling, what on Earth have you done to your lovely, lush brows?", to which she replied

" What do you mean dearest?".

"Well Dear, it looks as though you may have went a bit crazy with your tweezing implement." he said.

After a brief wave of dread swept over her, she realized that since he loved her unconditionally, she must confess her secret to him.

As it turns out, our "Housewifely Heroine" had noticed for some time that from her "Point of Arch" to her "End Brow", the hair had been slowly yet steadily disappearing.

"Hair Loss!"

She had thought that she could slip by with the secret going unnoticed and thought perhaps she may have to start penciling in her brows!

She tried it once and thought how unnatural it looked. She had thought of the tattoo route briefly but disregarded it quickly as she thought how silly it would look once she turned completely gray.

So it would be back to the "Drawing Board", so to speak, if she wanted to have any brows at all.

In the meantime her very handsome husband....

still has not been feeling so well himself as he slaves away to keep a roof over his families head.

This wonderful, hard working, hunk of a man has, as of late, felt much older than his 48 years!

Diana is ever so anxious for him to come home this weekend so she can take care of him in a proper manner since she is feeling better now herself.

She suspects that he didn't have enough antibiotics to destroy the strange bug that had invaded their bodies.

There was never any word from the handsome doctor....

about the chest ex-ray results... 

So Diana is assuming that the old adage "No news is good news" applies here.

As our "Housewifely Heroine" sits peacefully in her garden this morning she can't help but think about the new friend she had made this summer, "Mr. Toad".

She came across Mr. Toad quite surprisingly one morning while gardening. She was digging a hole for a flower when all of a sudden he popped out of the ground to greet her. 

They became good friends after that. He would greet her every time she would garden and he would always let her pet him.

She even went so far as to build him a little toad friendly retreat to which he seemed to enjoy. He would hop off every now and then but he always returned.

That is until one day in late July. She had noticed that his absences were becoming longer and longer. "Maybe he has a family in another spot" she thought to herself.

Little did she know that as he hopped out and away from her garden that day......

It would be the last time she would see him ever again. It was with a heavy heart that she hoped he was safe and didn't meet his demise with some gas powered lawn implement!

But life goes on.

And as summer came to an end it was time for school to start once again. This would mark her last child's second year of high school. Diana realizes how swiftly time is going by just by seeing her young teenage daughter turning into a lovely yet sometimes trying, 

young woman.

And although Diana realizes that the inevitable "Empty Nest" was just around the corner, it is not a day that she looks forward to.

So she has been enjoying the moments that she has been having with her daughter Katie. She can see the changes in her. And Diana has been actually happy about her and her best friend coming home everyday for lunch.

Ah yes, one can clearly see the " I am cool and know everything " attitude here. Yet still her mother is seeing the changes. The changes that make a parent proud.

Her youngest daughter will turn sixteen in three months.

Diana remembers turning sixteen. Feeling cool. Knowing everything. Having eyebrows.

Oh what a feeling that was.

Diana felt awful last week as the girls settled for.....

Pizza rolls all week for their lunch. But they didn't complain and Diana has been able to fix them lunch once again.

Things are almost back to normal now. For the moment. It's quite.

A momentary quite that Diana is very grateful for.

As a matter of fact, things are so quite that she fears she may have no more material for another episode of 

"Best Laid Plans"!

Except, 

What about "Homecoming" ?

We will leave you now with an actual photo of the "REAL"  Diana.

You see she is just like everyone one else. Not glamorous at all.

Just a real life housewife with tiny fading little eyebrows!

Notice if you will, that she has cleverly camouflaged them with her hair! 

But it IS ever so fun to dream. 

And in Diana's dream, she most definitely would look like 

this....

Great brows!!!

"Best Laid Plans"

Editors Note: I have decided to revise my own personal soap opera that I had posted last year. It was fun for me to do a blog post or two in the third person. And since one can do whatever one wants to with one's blog, I'm gonna have some fun. So here goes.

"Best Laid Plans"

A continuation.

Part one.

Once again we find our lovely heroine,

Diana,
in distress, usually cool and collected, yet never calm finds herself relapsing from her horrible unknown illness.

Her symptoms were all that one could imagine. The worse that one could imagine. So as her faithful and handsome husband suggested,

she put a call into her trustworthy doctor.

Yet despite taking her handsome husbands advice about calling her doctor, she chose to ignore her wise husbands advice about not working today.

She was so torn. She felt awful physically yet wrestled with the fact that she didn't work last week. She hate's to let her people down. They are so understanding, warm and wonderful.

That is the part that she had to wrestle with. You see she is just a maid . A plain old maid. But in her heart of hearts, she loved her job. Why else would she continue to do it for five years?

It is satisfying for her and mentally relaxing. Yet she disregarded how horrible she felt and ignored her handsome husbands request that she not go. 

When her nice doctor called back, she was slightly and nicely scolded for turning down the steroids the week before. 


As much as she didn't want to, she agreed to take them. Along with more antibiotics. A chest ex-ray was also ordered for her.

She came home from cleaning totally exhausted. When her lovely yet challenging teenage daughter arrived home from school, Diana requested that she drive her mom to the hospital.

Amazingly to Diana's surprise, her beautiful yet challenging teenage daughter agreed, without argument, to take her mom to the hospital and then to the pharmacist to pick up medication.


Fortunately for Diana, her daughter has proven to be an excellent if not a bit too confident driver. She was very patient with her sickly mother. 


She was, if only for a short time,
understandably sweet?!  


So now Diana is taking the dreaded steroids. Still feeling awful. Not looking herself at all....

Will this sickness never end? 


Is she still cooking lunch for her daughter and her mysterious friend?

Is her handsome husband...

feeling any better as he slaves away to keep a roof over his families head?


And what about Mr. Toad?

Yes, what has become of Mr. Toad?


Will Diana

ever look as good as she did in the past?

What will the results be of the chest ex-ray?

 And what about her eyebrows?

Yes what about her eyebrows?


Stay tuned for the next episode of


"Best Laid Plans"


To find out.