Debbie Delozier :: A Casual Affair

Last evening J and I went to dinner in Owasso with some friends from Oologah. We made it a celebration as K, who is a 4th grade teacher, taught her last class on Thursday as she is now retired. L is also retired, having retired from his job last year. They have made plans for the entire summer of working around their large property and getting things just the way they want it.

For years (every since our local celebrities moved to this area) we’ve always heard people say “I saw him at WalMart last night” or “we say him at Monterey’s in Tulsa” or “I saw her picking up the girls at school yesterday” and we have never, not once, seen him or her anywhere, until last night at dinner. We decided to eat at Monterey’s (I’m thinking he likes mexican as much as J and I do) and saw there was a waiting line as we walked in the door. We entered and put our names on the list and moved to the side to join the other waiting-for-table patrons. As I looked around the room (I’m a people watcher you know) there he was, waiting for a table with his 3 daughters. I nudged J (K had already noticed him) and I said, “Hey Honey, there’s Garth”. Yep, you’re right folks, there was Garth Brooks close enough to me that I could touch him. No, I didn’t reach over and touch him. We treated him as if he was just a regular nobody person, just like the rest of us waiting in line and no one bothered him. They called his daughter’s name and they all went to their table. A short 2 minutes or so later they called our name and we went to our table. Guess who was at the next table; yep, Garth was right there.

We had a nice dinner with L & K, great company and conversation and finally saw Garth Brooks being just an everyday person. Actually I think we were all a bit more impressed with this decked out Chevelle (I can’t remember what year J said it was) that was sitting in the parking lot. Boy, it was slick lookin’ all shiny black with white accents.

J and I were up very, very late last night (or very early this morning, whichever way you look at it I guess) waiting on the teenager and her friend to get home from Bartlesville. They traipsed in about midnight just jabberin away. J and I went on to bed about 1 or 1:30, I don’t know how late the girls were up.

We woke this morning to cloudy skies. After a bit, the rain began pounding the earth. It poured a while, then quit as quickly as it began, the sun returned and we had a nice afternoon. We made a trip to Tulsa, visited with the young married couple, ate at, what seems to be getting to be our habitual weekend place, Pei Wei and then made a trip through Sam’s to pick up some large quantity of groceries for next week’s lunches.

While we were at home today, J got a bit of the mowing done and I planted the jalapeno plant and the cannas that I had been given. I hope they do well. While I was in the garden plot I noticed my tomato plants are doing very well (I need to be getting some cages around them before it is too late). The cucumbers are doing well, but I’m a bit disappointed in the cantaloupe plants. Two of the mounds don’t have any growth to them at all. That is how it goes some planting seasons you know.

According to the news it looks as if we’re in for some more storms this evening, so I am going to go get a few outdoor things finished up before it starts.

Love and Lighting Bolts

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My lilies are blooming and they are gorgeous. Do you believe they all started with 1 single lily that the oldest daughter brought to me the first Mother’s Day she was away to college? Just look at them now.

It seems I’m getting a little lazy with my postings lately. You know me though, I always seem to have something going. It also seemed like an awfully long week to have had only 4 working days. The 6 yr old that the teenager is keeping this summer was with ME for 2 days this week. Let me tell you, if you haven’t had a young one in the house for a while it definitely takes a bit of getting readjusted to. The young one wanted to be doing something constantly (and I mean constantly). I’m hoping it wears off once she gets used to being here at our house; then again; it’s the teenager’s problem from now on and not mine.

The teenager had tests the last day of school; the last day of her junior year. I guess now she is officially a senior. She said they had quite a bit of fun between tests though. The principal even let some of them (the ones hanging out in the hall after AP English) go to lunch about 10 minutes early.

J got word about his boat today. Things were not nearly as bad as they could have been. The freeze plugs (I think he said 4 or 5) were blown out, which, that is what they are there for I suppose, and there is a crack in the exhaust manifold so they have had to put on a new one. But hey, that is sooooo much better than a cracked block or engine or whatever it is that cracks. So the boat is fixed and we will be able to use it this summer after all. Are we a blessed bunch or what?

We don’t really have plans for the weekend; I think we’ll just go with the flow, end up where ever the wind blows. And speaking of wind. . . One evening, early last week (I can’t remember which one) we had a good old fashioned thunderstorm. We must have also had a gustnado here in Watova because our gazebo was blown around a bit. As you can see, the wind lifted the gazebo off the patio and…

set it right up on top of the edge of the house. Pretty strong winds, huh!

This evening J and I are going to dinner with some friends from Oologah and the teenager is going to a teen club in Bartlesville with some of her friends. She has been wanting to go every since another of her friends began djing at the club on Friday nights, and now that all the pressures of this high school year are gone she is going out to celebrate.

I received some plants for my gardens today. The plants were given to the ladies at J’s office and they were nice enough to share some of them with me. One is a Fresno jalapeno plant, which aren’t supposed to be too hot and the others are canna bulbs. Planting will be one thing I will do this weekend for sure.

I will also be doing some big grocery shopping as next week I have 2 lunches and am also making some things (appetizer type) for a birthday party that a woman in town is giving for her mom in Tulsa. I have also taken on a bit more paperwork for J’s office. Being summer the ladies in the office are swamped with work and the corporate office has asked for some other reports to be done. J volunteered me and I agreed, I’m always looking for something to keep me busy; something to keep me out of the bars, you know.

That, I guess, is the wrap up for the week. We are well and happy; we hope you are too.

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It has been a while since I’ve posted; we’ve been busy living life. As is the custom, we had a cookout planned at the DeLozier family cabin over the holiday weekend. Time was (in the good ol’ days) when the majority of the family could be present for these holiday cookouts. Now that the children have grown up (and we’ve allowed them to have lives of their own, for the most part) they each (some with spouses and offspring of their own in tow) have made their own plans for the holiday. This is as it should be.

Friday I made a trip to the grocery store so that I would have the ingredients necessary to make the foods I had planned for the cookout. I was planning a pina colada pie and a pink lemonade pie and had been asked to make the oriental salad that everyone likes. I had also planned on making my ham and spinach hash with poached eggs for the family for breakfast on Monday morning. I also wanted to get what I could for Tuesday’s Rotary lunch as I knew I would not want to spare the time over the weekend.

I didn’t want to transport pre-made pies on the hour long drive to the cabin so Saturday I drove over and prepared the pies there. That way they could set up and be cold when we needed them. I also dropped off the ingredients for the salad and breakfast. After returning home J and I went to B’ville with the teenager and one of her friends. We had a grand time hanging out in the mall and eating Taco Bueno. Another of the teenager’s friends works at Taco Bueno so when we ordered he gave us a Senior’s discount even though he knows we’re not “quite” eligible, yet, (he better know we’re not eligible yet).

Sunday, after church, on our way to the lake J and I stopped at a place we used to drop by quite a bit and had a bite of lunch. J and the pesto chicken pizza and I had a baby greens salad and Italian Wedding Soup. J said the pizza was good and I loved the fruit, bleu cheese and walnuts in the salad. The soup was good but I’ve had better (my friend Joyce’s for example). Monday afternoon we stopped to eat while we were out and about at the lake and again I had a bleu cheese salad (I love bleu cheese) and a tomato basil soup. Both were pretty good. J had an Italian Ciabatta sandwich. He said the only problem with the sandwich was that it wasn’t big enough.

We had planned on going boating this weekend, but as we all know, sometimes life throws a wrench into the mix. Someone had told J how easy it was to winterize the boat and showed him how to do it himself. Well, unfortunately, it was a little more complicated (according to the mechanic at Hi-Lift) than we were told. As soon as J had launched us off the trailer and took off I, the teenager and her friend began to toodle about the lake for a bit before heading back to the cabin to pick up J. Something went wrong somewhere and I noticed a difference in the way the motor sounded. As soon as I looked toward the back of the boat and saw water coming in out from under the engine hood I began to freak (and I mean FREAK). The teenager (having the forethought to bring her phone) called J and told him we were heading (at break-neck pace) back to the cove and cabin. By the time I made it back to the cabin I was (it seemed to me at any rate) fit to be tied. J said he thought I held it together pretty well considering my fear of water and thinking I was sinking the boat and all. He is a sweet liar at times. At any rate, the boat is now in the shop and hopefully it won’t hurt the pocket book too much and it won’t take too long to fix either.

Today I dressed as soon as I rose as I needed to get to town to get the teenager’s summer charge. The teenager has been asked to watch a little girl this summer and as the little girl is out of kindergarten now she needs to be watched. However the teenager is not out of school yet so I’m filling in for her. The summer charge went with me this morning to do the Rotary lunch. We prepared 2 big, as in huge, cold cut sandwiches with the works, potato salad (purchased because I was playing over the weekend), chips and fudge brownies for dessert. This afternoon we’ve played the 2 games pictured, Bingo and Trouble. We’ve played with a balloon and jacks and had a snack. Hopefully the teenager will be home soon (hope, hope, hope) because I’m running out of things to keep her busy.

I guess I’ve left the summer charge to her own devices long enough as she keep asking me how much longer I’m going to be. So I’m off to blow up some more balloons.

Toodles!!

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This morning I needed to water the garden; the little bit of garden that there is anyway. I was really dreading having to change into work clothes (I always, for some reason, get soaking wet and muddy when I water the garden) and drag the hose out to the back-forty (it seems like the back forty, it seems like I have to walk the forty to get out there). It isn’t the walking out there, it is the d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g of the hose out across the yard, hooking it up to the hose that is hanging on the fence; dragging that hose out into the garden; walking back across the yard and turning on the hose and then walking back across the yard and watering the garden. One of these days (when we get a free moment) we’ll hook a new pump up to the Grandpa’s old pump house and see if there is any water left in that old well. It is on the list for One Of These Days.

Once the hose was in position I began to experience an attitude adjustment. I suddenly noticed all the wonderful outdoor delights coming my way. The clear, fresh water came pouring from the hose, hitting the warm garden dirt and ricocheting back, cold and wet against my skin. I watered the tomato plants, the cantaloupe mounds and the cucumber mounds, finding a wonderful surprise in the last mound.

It won’t be long now and we’ll have cucumbers.

The breeze once again brought that sweet bouquet of honeysuckle coming from the beautiful summery blossoms. Turning from the honeysuckle I caught a glimpse of the grape vines which were beginning to show the fruit they would be producing for us this year.

Once the grapes, the honeysuckle and the garden veggies were watered I unhooked the garden hose from the main hose and began to drag the main hose back to the house. Once I was back up to the house I could hear the tinkling of my smaller windchimes and the deep, resounding tone of my larger chime. I began to release that cold, clear water onto my colorful blossom-filled pots. As I watered the flowers I could smell the earthy scent of oregano from my herb pot. I took a leaf of rosemary and placed it in my mouth, taking pleasure in the fresh, herbal taste on my tongue.

I was finished with the watering and had washed the mud and dirt from my bare feet. I was standing there, wet from the watering job when I realized;  I don’t really mind watering the garden.

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My computer crashed yesterday; gone were my files, my recipes, my addresses, my schedule, my lists. . . and lost I am.

My sweet, ever patient J has fixed almost everything now. It seems all the files were there, they were hiding from me in the dark, far off, remote corners of my computer’s brain. My email is back on the computer but hiding in the dark remote corners of my brain is the password for my account. J has emailed our oldest daughter, to see if she or the husband (as they are the ones who set the accounts up) can get a new password on my mail account.

Lunch for the Rotary Club included taco turnovers with salsa & sour cream, green salad and a butter pecan cake. The meeting was short on members today so I had quite a few taco turnovers left. Knowing teenagers are always (always) hungry I took what was left up to the high school choir room.

After serving the Rotary lunch I went to the church to help out a bit with the funeral services they were having. I did a little dishwashing just to help out the ladies who had put the family lunch together.

Hopefully I will get my mail working again soon. Until then, you’ll just have to call me I guess.

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This morning I do feel as if I am indeed, in bloom. We had a wonderful, absolutely marvelous weekend. Take heed; I’m about to bore you with all the specific features, so turn back now if you are unable to withstand all the wearisome details.

I spent Friday doing errands (plus a little clothes shopping for yours truly, nothing big, just some new day to day clothes), running here and there, picking up this and that. After J and the teenager arrived home we readied ourselves to leave for the lake cabin. Our furry, 4 legged friend, Jade realized something was a miss and being the scaredy cat that she is, hid under the sunroom divan just perchance we might think of taking her with us.

J decided he wanted to take the boat over so after loading the car and hooking up the Impulse we headed east for Grand Lake. We stopped (and, not wanting to cause bad feelings, I won’t mention the name or the town) at a fast food taco place on the way over for a quick bite of supper and before we finished our meal wished we had drove on over to Langley and tried the new pizza place there. We were sorely disappointed with the food at the taco place. I’m not saying this particular chain of taco places is bad because we had eaten at this same fast-food chain in Coffeyville a few weeks ago and liked it, so I don’t know if it was this particular restuarant or what, but the 3 of us (J, myself and the teenager) agreed we would not be eating there again any time soon.

Arriving at the cabin, we are met by J’s mom and dad who were already there. We backed in and unloaded the boat and the unpacked the car. After putting everything away, relaxing and visiting a bit we made our “first” trip to Grove (this is something J and both our daughters seem to have to do every time we go to the lake, they have got to go into Grove for some reason) for groceries for the next day’s activities.

We had a restful night’s sleep and began work bright and early (ha! about 9 am) the next morning. J worked on cleaning up 2 years of grease and grime, mold and mildew (not having been uncovered at all last year) from the boat and I started in on the patio. Dad helped me with the patio clean up a bit too. Mom spent the morning inside making us a yummy lunch while the teenager worked on getting her math homework out of the way so that she could enjoy the rest of the lake time.

I drug out all the patio furniture I’ve bought for the lake over the last few years and began scrubbing everything so that people could use them.

After a nice, refreshing, mid-afternoon shower I made sure the steaks were thawed, sliced the fruit, prepared the dressing for the salad and readied the corn for soaking. For the rest of the afternoon I just piddled with this and that, enjoying the ‘down time’.

About 6:30 I put the corn on the grill and J started the steaks just after our guests had arrived. J being the only one who knew anyone introduced us to Donny and Beth and Tom and Susan. We spent the evening getting acquainted and visiting. We had a wonderful evening of food, laughter and chats.

After a late night we rose early so we could make it back to Nowata for church services. On the whole drive over I just kept thinking how I’d rather have stayed in bed. I kept thinking it was such a long drive back to Nowata and it really wouldn’t matter if we missed 1 Sunday. I am so glad I didn’t listen to that inner (self) voice. After the challenging service and the uplifting fellowship, the hugs and kisses, the glad to see yous, etc, I was so very happy to have spent my morning with my Christian family. I was also asked to be in on some of the planning of our church’s centennial celebration next year. I consider this a true honor, as I have only been a member of the congregation for a little over a year. I definitely feel blessed to be a part of the celebration.

After church, as I didn’t have anything in the house for lunch (having been at the lake all weekend), and J needing a haircut and I needed to do shopping for groceries, we decided to go grab a bite. The teenager wanted our favorite Pei Wei and we thought as long as we were heading to Tulsa we’d give the young married couple a call and see if they would like to have lunch with us. They did so we met for lunch and a quick catch-up visit. After grocery shopping and J’s haircut we headed home for a nice relaxing end to our weekend.

This morning we woke and readied ourselves for the week ahead. J went back to work, the teenager went back to school (only this week and 3 days next week and she is off for the summer). I completed my clerical work, started laundry, made a cake, watered the gardens (flower and vegetable) and took a shower. While I was out watering the gardens the breeze blew by and a fresh, sweet flowery scent caught my attention. Turning I saw that my honeysuckle had bloomed and was presenting itself to me for approval.

I approve:

While I was spending time in my gardens, enjoying the sensory pleasures of the day (birds singing; flowers blooming, attracting butterflies, sending their individual bouquets to dance away on the breeze; sun shining) I felt an inner power, a voice: I have noticed, in my life, when I spend my time, energy, resources; helping and doing for others I am a much happier, joyful and contented being. I realize I find more pleasure in life in bringing pleasure to someone else than I ever have in “doing” for myself. Henceforth, my goal is to live a more outward life in this me-me world. I know I will have slips here and there, fall back into my me-me days, but I have a willing soul and an inner influence to try this outward life.

And, in other weekend news: my niece, Melissa, graduated from KU with a bachelors in Graphic Design and my niece, Courtney, got her first tooth. These are both very big “first steps”. Congratulations to both of my beautiful nieces.

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Last night we attended the Nowata High School Show Choir Spring Concert. Some of these kids are extremely talented. Of course, alot of it comes back to the training from thier marvelous choir director, Mr. Jones, who has taught some of these gifted young people since they began choir in 6th grade (the teenager included). The teenager absolutely loves Mr. Jones; he is not only one of her favorite teachers, he is one of her favorite people.

Most of the solos were done by the Senior class students. Oh my, there were some fantastic solos. The teenager’s friend, Nick sang “Time of Your Life” that absolutely amazed the audience. Nick usually saves his solos for contests (in which he gets top ratings of 1) and this is the first time I have heard him sing. My jaw hung there, open, like I was catching flies. Nick is this big football player guy, and now I know he has this strong, marvelous singing voice.

Another friend, Jason, (all I’ve ever known about him is: he brings my food out to the car when I pull in at Sonic) sang “Let Me Go”. Wow!!! He was amazing. I’m not kidding you, this young man could be a rock star. He has the looks too, girls.

The last solo was our friend, Brandice, whose dad used to work for J. We’ve known her since – well, way back. Brandice has sang at almost every choir concert I’ve been too. She has also performed the national anthem at one of the Tulsa Driller’s home games. Brandice’s song was “A Moment Like This”; and of course all the students and the parents of the senior class were in tears.

The concert was over about 8 pm and J and I hadn’t had dinner yet. We were planning on eating the leftover pulled pork from Tuesday’s lunches and the cranberry chicken salad from yesterday’s lunch. J’s mom and dad had also attended the concert and hadn’t had dinner as of yet. Mom said they were headed home to get some sandwiches when J mentioned we were also having sandwiches if they wanted to join us. Dad decided he’d rather have chicken salad sandwiches (which I’m really glad because I’m wanting to get rid of these leftovers) so they headed on home with us. Mom got to one of the last pieces of the lemon pie and the recipe. I’ll post the recipe here for you a bit later.

As for now, I need to get to the bank to pick up my dishes and then to the butchers for steaks, then it is home to get ready to head to the lake cabin. Ah, rest and relaxation; I can’t wait.

Wishing you a fantastic weekend also.

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The picture is of one of my newest windchimes.

It has been a week. I am totally, absolutely worn to a frazzle. I told J earlier today that I feel like I’ve been marinating, slicing, dicing, grilling, boiling, chopping, baking, plating, delivering or cleaning up since Saturday morning when I put 30 lbs of brisket in the fridge to marinate the day away.

I just returned home from doing the final lunch this week (I think there are people at the bank who think I work there) and I really don’t want to do anything for the rest of the day. I do mean “not do anything”. I think I am going to plant my bottom on the couch and just be a little sluggish all afternoon.

I will have to get up and brush this mop of mine out and put on a bit of face paint late this afternoon as the teenager’s Spring Choir Concert is this evening and I wouldn’t miss that for the world. The choir’s concerts are always so entertaining. The choir director is really great and the kids really love him too.

I was watching the local “good morning” show this morning and there are so many things going on in the area this weekend. In Pawhuska there is a Indian Fry Bread festival that includes food contests, arts, Indian dancing, etc that sounds like a really fun day. Claremore is having a BBQ day (I can’t remember what they called it; something like Boots and BBQ). They are having grilling contests, etc that sounds like a great time and I also think I heard that Tulsa’s MayFest is this weekend with all their arts, booths and other activities that I would love to attend. But as my luck would have it (I’m not really griping here because I’m sure this is going to be a fun time too) we’re going to the cabin because J has some customers, that also have places around the lake, who are planning on coming to the cabin for steaks (etc) on Saturday night. Therefore, tomorrow is another trip to the butcher’s and planning another menu. This one will be quite a bit smaller, just J, myself, the teenager, probably a teenage friend (not mine but the teenagers), and our 4 guests (just a small get together) and maybe Mom and Dad D if they happen to come by the cabin for the weekend (I’ll check with them later just to be sure I get enough steaks).

Oh, I did make the final improvement (well, I think it is an improvement. I’ll have to check with SM later to see what she and the bank directors thought) on the Tres Leche cake. I cut back on the liquid so it wasn’t as moist (it was still plenty moist), added a dollop of whipped cream to each piece (sorry no pictures of the finished cake, they were serving it as I plated it) and on top I place one of these strawberry halves.

Aren’t these beautiful? The secret is letting them macerate in balsamic vinegar with a bit of sugar and, just before serving, adding freshly ground pepper. They are yumm-ee.

It is now 3 pm and the teenager will be home soon. If I’m going to get a bit of rest I best go do it.

Love and Quiet Rest

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I had a fairly rough morning, although it was easier than I thought it would be. At first I thought I would be running up and down the stairs at the bank, from one kitchen to the other, however the upstairs meeting was moved downstairs to the Community Room (right off the kitchen). The Rotary meeting, which usually takes place in the Community Room, was moved to the library office down the hall. This saved me many steps, stair steps. The down-side to this situation: I’m afraid the lunch served to the Rotary may have been a bit on the cool side. But do they complain? No, they don’t, not one little bit. They eat anything I put in front of them and never grumble a bit. As a matter of fact, they thank me. I am truly blessed.

I was disappointed because the oven wasn’t working correctly so the sweet potato fries didn’t crisp up like I wanted them too and it made me a bit frantic for a bit (serving limp, on the cool side, sweet potato fries to 26 people, I was very disappointed). But like I say, they ate them and told me how good they were (sweet liars).

After serving Rotary I began to put the bank meeting lunch together. Upon completing and serving the bank lunch the Rotary had finished eating and I could start doing their dishes. Finishing their dishes the bank members had finished and I could clean up their lunch dishes. By 1 pm I had finished cleaning up the kitchen and was headed home where I could finish cleaning up my own.

Last evening we had a business dinner in Tulsa. J arrived home a bit earlier than usual and packed his bags as he would be leaving directly from Tulsa on an overnight business trip. The teenager rode to the city with him and I followed in my own vehicle. We met RJ, Deborah, Mike, Joanne and Chad about 6:30. We had a nice visit as we all haven’t seen each other (the bunch of us together at any rate) for quite a while. Needless to say, we jabbered away, catching up on the time we’ve been apart.

After dinner we all stood out in the parking lot and laughed and chatted a bit more before leaving. Then J kissed and hugged the teenager goodbye. Then J kissed and hugged me. We stood there in the parking lot, hugging, hating to say goodbye. But we did and he drove off in the rain and the teenager and I headed back north and home.

Now, after a restless night (no J beside me) I’ve been looking at my to-do list. The main chores are: making chicken salad for another bank meeting tomorrow and also the Tres Leche cake (I’m planning one last improvement on this cake) among other day-to-day items. The first step to getting done with the list is starting, so that is what I’m going to do.

Y’all have a great day.

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I finally did it. I got my tomato plants in J’s freshly turned soil. I also planted 4 cantaloupe mounds and 2 cucumber mounds. I might (maybe) plant some bell pepper plants and green beans still yet. As the calendar keeps turning I’m not sure if I will do anymore or not. I have gotten such a late start this year (later than any other year for as long as I’ve been planting gardens) due to the long winter and the many rainy days. My garden is bare compared to previous years and I feel pretty sad about it. I did get the very important, very necessary, the very essential, tomatoes planted. If nothing else, we will have fresh homegrown tomatoes for sandwiches, salads, and (like myself, my girls, my mother and my mother-in-law like to do) to just stand right over the sink and eat with a touch of salt.

Besides the planting I was also able make 2 lemon pies and put them in the fridge and cook 2 pork roasts for tomorrow. Once I finish shredding the pork I’ll have most of the lunch preparations done for tomorrow’s lunches. In the morning I will make the avocado dipping sauce, get the sweet potatoes ready for the oven fries and finish topping the pies. A plate of bread and butter pickles and some sliced onion and ta-da; lunch!

Late afternoon J and I ran to get some lawnmower parts, it seems he just can’t get this one problem fixed. He mows for a about an hour and then the mower starts to slow w-a-y down until he gives up and puts it away.

The teenager just returned from town; she and some friends were having an ice cream attack and needed to make a Sonic run. She is now getting ready for bed which is exactly what I think I will do.

Nighty-Nite; don’t let the bed bugs bite.

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