Sophie's Story

      I owe all of you a big apology. Last night I wrote a column and sent it out. It may have been the worst column I have ever written. Part of the reason that it was so bad was that I was writing at 8 PM. I'm not a night or evening person. My best writing gets done in the morning, the earlier the better. By the time evening comes around, I'm starting to get tired and all I want to do is relax, which is not conducive to good writing.    It's been a bit of a busy week. We found out a few weeks ago that the siding we wanted last year was being shipped. The company we hired to install it will be tearing off the old siding next week. There is a bit of prep work we need to do and we have been waiting for someone from the construction group to let us know what we need to do.    Tomorrow is the Easter program at church. We're having it on Palm Sunday as the annual General Conference will be held on Easter weekend. (Conference is always help the first weeken...

      I learned something new a few days ago. A store that sells hair care products that I like was having a sale. While ringing up my purchases that lady that helped me told me they'd taken the sulfites out of their shampoos because they make coloured hair fade faster. I didn't know this. When I got home I checked the internet to see if it was true. (It is.) then I checked the shampoo I was using that I had bought somewhere else. It had sulfites in it. The thing that really puzzled me was that it would be in a shampoo that was supposed to protect colour treated hair from fading.   It made me think of other strange things that I know.   I know that when drinking something from a boot (A boot shaped glass) the toes should always be pointed down. I was told that if you don't do this, you will end up wearing your beverage.    I know how to wind yarn on a swift. A swift is tool that you put a hank of yarn on. It holds the hank so it can be wound into a usa...

     I saw the post on Facebook. Elin, one of my stepdaughters, is going to marry her boyfriend. The wedding will be in the beginning of April. I guess this is how you announce such things now. I knew that she and Chet were engaged, but I've known people who were engaged for years and years. I thought this would be the case with Elin and Chet.    C and I will not be at the wedding. Elin told me that this would be a very small ceremony followed by a lunch. After lunch they will leave for their honeymoon. Elin's been married twice so I wasn't expecting a large ceremony.    I wanted to get her something for her wedding outfit. A good place to look for such things is the Chapel of Love at the Mall of America. I looked over the tiaras, hair jewelry and other things. Then I spotted it. It was in a corner. It was a small rhinestone horseshoe.     The horseshoe has always been a symbol of luck. Since Elin and Chet live in Texas, a horseshoe just...

     Hello! This is Skamp!    Sophie can't think of anything to write about so I offered to write the column for her.    My birthday was this week. I turned 13 years old. I'm not sure how that translates into human years and I don't want to know. I had a wonderful birthday. I got to nap all day except when Sophie thought I looked cute and had to take a picture. She served me Mixed Grill cat food for my meals and gave me some treats. The only thing that would have made it better is if my buddy, Colby, was here to enjoy my day with me.    On Monday Sophie got a shot that made her sick. She got cold at bedtime and took the wool blanket that I was sleeping on to cover herself with. She was nice enough to leave me a corner to lay on but I was still a little irate.  I supposed I should have been nicer.  After all, she didn't know that she was going to feel sick after the shot. She should have though, she is a pharmacist.    Soph...

   When the Covid vaccines started coming out there was also an order of who could get vaccinated first. I had seen it and agreed with it. It made sense. The most vulnerable and those who care for them should get vaccinated first. As we made ready at my pharmacy to give the vaccine, I watched to see which groups were becoming eligible.    I wasn't sure when I could get vaccinated and where. I am a health care provider, which put me high on the list, but I live in Minnesota and work in Wisconsin. Which state's rule do I go by because there are slight differences.   C had registered at a website in Minnesota that would alert him to when he could get vaccinated. He urged me to do the same. (In fact he said if I didn't do it, he would do it for me.) A week ago he was notified that he could make his vaccination appointment. I knew that I fell into the same group as him based on my occupation. I registered at the website.    I felt fairly certain that it wou...

     My adopted niece, Lissa, is pregnant again. It wasn't intentional. Little Daniel has just turned one year old. Being pregnant with him was difficult as it was a high risk pregnancy.     Once they determined that she was going to carry to full term, (She's miscarried a couple of times.) they told C and I the news. A few weeks ago they found out the baby's gender. Later that day, they told us what they were planning to name the baby. Her name will be Alyse Sophie Ann.    C and I had joked about whether they would use one of my names. I didn't expect them to. Kurt, Lissa's husband, comes from a large family. It would make sense that they would give their daughter the name of one of his female relatives. I would have expected Lissa use the name Mary, after her favourite aunt or to give the baby one her her mother's names. Instead, they chose to give her my name.   I was honored and nervous. What would my friend, Micki, who is Lissa's mother,...

   The temperatures are going up and the snow is melting. Assuming we don't get a snowstorm in March or April (which can happen), spring is coming to Minnesota.    That means that there are spring projects to tackle.    The first one is to get the house resided. We attempted to do this last year, but were thwarted by Covid. The factory manufacturing the siding we wanted closed production. Fortunately the company that was to do the installation was kind enough to patch our existing siding to get us through the winter. We're pretty anxious to get the new siding as our house is looking pretty shabby. The woodpeckers will have to go elsewhere to find food.    C has decided that we are going to start painting the interior of the house. It's time. We've lived here for 12 years or so and have not done anything. The first thing to be painted is the guest bathroom. It's windowless and painted brown so it is a bit of a cave. I think that painting the walls ...