You gotta give the people what they want

 My SIL (daughter's husband) sings in a band.  Recently he has had several requests for a Dolly song. He gives them Jolene.  Does a damn fine job of it, too!   LOL!

Mid-range Hoarder

 

1.  Glass jars - keep almost all of them, use once or twice then recycle

2.  Egg cartons - save for my sister who has chickens

3.  Citrus Peels - Never keep, toss

4.  Cardboard boxes - I have a mountain of cardboard boxes, threatening to swallow my house

5.  Old towels - use towels until they disappear in the dryer and come apart in the lint trap

6.  Bread bags - used to keep them, now toss them

7.  Old toothbrushes - hell, no. I toss them

8. Tin cans, hell no - toss.

9.  newspaper - keep some for repotting plants, toss  (need to recycle more)

10.  Rubber bands, don't use them, don't have them.

11.  Takeaway containers - wash the very sturdy ones and reuse once or twice then toss

12.  odd socks - don't really have any

13.  shower curtains - no - toss

14.  wood scraps - don't really have any

15.  plastic bottles - no , toss  (need to recycle more)

16.  candle jars - I hate candles (sensitive to smells - migraines) If I get any as gift, I toss them

17.  bubble wrap - recycle

18.  old t-shirts - see number 5 

19.  twist ties - keep some, toss some

20.  mesh produce bags - no, toss

70

 Sister 1956 turned 70 on the 9th.  Family met at a Mexican restaurant in our usual "central" town.  I don't think anybody had to drive more than an hour.  I was late as I was picking up my daughter from work (she still can't drive because of her broken ankle).  I brought the cake.  There is a cake store in our town that has been around since.....1950. I had to go look it up.  Delicious.  I had them ice it with a tie-dye theme.  I need to reach out to a sibling who took a picture of the cake.

The cake from our bakery in town is SO good I would eat it non-stop.  Well, I'd eat the icing non stop.  I refused to bring any home with me.  Daughter doesn't care for it.  Me?  I would request to be buried in the icing if I could.  Either that or a cheesecake (white chocolate raspberry) that a lady near our town makes.  She has about 20 different flavors for her cheesecakes and sells them to SO many restaurants in the area.  We are close to an Amish community and all of the restaurants (tourist attractions) carry her cakes.  A whole one is pricey but so worth it.  They are SO heavy.  One time on Facebook she posted a quick reel of her kitchen.  She had about six Kitchen-Aid mixers going all spread out on her counters.  Her husband helps her.

I stopped in at a dollar store and found a headband (crown) for her to wear.  It was close to the one shown above although hers had gold balls.  This sister does like disco balls though.  She had a big one on her patio for years.  

Brother 1957 turns 70 next year.  They are Irish twins. She was born Sept 9th 1956 and he was born Aug 13th 1957.  Not sure what to plan for him.  Still have plenty of time to plan.  

I had to miss a friend's birthday dinner tonight (I was picking up daughter at the same time as the dinner).  I gave my daughter the option of going to the dinner with me, but she wanted to get home (her work days are long and stressful).  The restaurant was about 12 minutes away.  I've been friends with this group since 1988 so we have had several get togethers.  I don't miss many.  My main excuse used to be migraines but I no longer have those.  Whew!

The Birds

 I am getting the chimney rebuilt today (or recrowned) - something like that.  I'm not very knowledgeable about chimney-related things.  We had a nest of chimney swifts and I guess the noise drove my daughter and SIL crazy.  The fireplace is in the basement so they heard it and I did not.  Until my daughter broke her ankle and I was down there more to help her out and I finally heard them.  They are noisy! And, we had one come completely down the chimney and into the basement and had a heck of a time getting that thing outside. It finally fell into a hamper with a lid and SIL carried it outside.  

When the chimney guy came about a month ago he said he just had to wait a couple of weeks and the baby birds will have left the nest and he could fix it so they would not return to building a nest there.  As we were talking I mentioned that I was planning to get a new roof sooner (or later).  

He said I needed a new crown on my chimney if I were going to do that.  So I said "Well, just put the new crown on when you come back to put the lid on (or whatever he said he was going to do).  That is scheduled for noon today.  It had to be rescheduled due to rain a few weeks ago.  Now, it looks like rain is coming in at about 3 p.m. today.  I hope it holds off so this guy can get his work done.

I will be a basket case the entire time he is up there on the roof hoping he does not fall off.  At least this time both daughter and SIL are home with me.

By the way, Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" traumatized me when I was young.  I watched it on TV probably at eight years old or so and it was terrifying!  I am not afraid of birds, we even had a cockatiel for a few years and I love to watch the baby robins progress in the shrub outside my kitchen back door. 

But I could not catch that bird in the basement.  I had a small blanket I was using and the fluttering of its wings just unnerved me.  Years ago we found two small dead birds in our basement.  We figured they must have flown down the chimney and one of our cats did away with them.  My daughter was not letting her husband or I harm this bird to return it to the outdoors.  It was a Friday evening and she could not help because of her broken ankle.  She was quite critical of our lack of skills at catching said bird.

For some unknown reason they had removed the screen that I kept in front of the fire place. They put it back after that ordeal.