Sophie's Story

           Coming home after the end of a 12 hour shift on Friday the 13th, C and I were sideswiped on the interstate. Our car spun into the oncoming traffic before C was able to guide the car onto the side of the road. Stunned and in shock we sat there for several minutes before we were able to call a tow truck and highway patrol. The driver of another car had seen the accident and called highway patrol too, but wasn't able to get the license plate number of the car that hit us and then sped away. Thankfully we were not hit during the spin or as we sat at the side of the road. We are pretty sure the car that hit us was speeding and most likely didn't have it's headlights on.          It wasn't safe for us to get out of the car to see how badly it was damaged. When the tow truck arrived we were able to get out. I went to look at the car. It was better than I expected. The back fender was damaged along with a side panel and a bit of ...

           On Sunday I decided to spend part of my day cooking. There were a few things that I wanted to make to prepare for the coming week. All of them were things that I had not made before. I enjoy trying out new recipes. Today I'd like to share how my food turned out.          The first thing I made was white bean soup. I've always wanted to try making a bean soup with dry beans. Most of the recipes I found required ham which I don't eat. I try one recipe many years ago. It turned out very bland and I threw it away. This one had lots of spices in it. I thought it would be worth a try. I had everything except celery and a bay leaf. I left the celery out as C doesn't like it. An online search told me that I could use sage in place of the bay leaf. Knowing that C likes sage, I put some in the soup.           I decided that it would be best to let the soup cook in the crockpot on low. As the day went o...

           The winter storm  that was predicted to hit our area is definitely here. These days you never really know if a storm is going to come or be as severe as predicted. We already have several inches on the ground and the snowfall is continuing to be heavy.           C and I bought everything we might need yesterday. The stores were crowded with people shopping for supplies. Costco was very busy as well, it looked like people thought they would be snowed in for weeks by the amount of food and other supplies I saw in many of the carts. C and I enjoyed some pizza in the food court while we watched the line of shoppers head toward the exit doors with their purchases.          Days like this are a precious gift to an introvert like me. I get to stay home all day and get some needed down time. I can relax. I have an entire day to do almost whatever I want.          One of ...

           The swimsuit that I bought shortly after we got married no longer fits the way I would like it to fit. It's not bad, I could still wear it, but I wanted to get a new one. Something a bit more flattering to my figure. Something cuter.           I started out by ordering something online. When it arrived I tried it on. Despite carefully following the sizing guidelines, it didn't fit. That meant only one thing. I would have to return it and shop for another one in a store. I don't like shopping for clothes with so I knew that this was not going to be fun. However, there was no other way. I didn't want to keep ordering things.          Part of the challenge I have with swimsuits is that a traditional one piece doesn't work for me. I need a bit more coverage on the bottom. I also don't like to show a lot of skin, so traditional two piece suits don't work either. The best ones are the kind that hav...

           One of the things my mother always told me was that I was a messy kid. For some reason putting things away was not something I cared about. Mom tried to teach me to put things away by hiding toys that I didn't put away. (I thought we might find  two lost dolls when we cleared the house after my parents moved out, but I think she may have thrown them away.) Once my brother got into high school, he moved to a bedroom downstairs and my sister and I got our own rooms. My sister is much more organized than I am and was getting irritated by all my piles of stuff.          It got a little better when I got older. I lived in the dorm when I was in college. Out of respect for my roommates and people visiting, I kept things put away. It helped that I tended to have less stuff to leave around.          Once I got a place of my own, I kept things fairly tidy. The fact that I didn't have much helped a lot...

           This week I started a month long break from Facebook. This is the second year I've done it as part of my observance of the season of Lent. I remember how good it felt last year and how I planned to limit my use of that platform. After the month was over I slowly went back to my old habit of mindless scrolling.          Last year I remember it being hard to stop looking at it. I had to hide the links on my phone so it would be harder to get to it. Over time it got easier.           This year it seems to be no problem at all. One thing I knew I needed to do was find something to replace the time I spent scrolling. I haven't found a new knitting project to start yet and I didn't want to spend my time staring at You Tube videos. I was looking for something on a the shelf under my coffee table when I found a book of word search puzzles.           I opened it and saw t...