HOUSEWIFE - SHMOUSEWIFE

And Here She is!

2011-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

So I lied... I meant 2012! Will be writing from the road over the holidays. Ho Ho Ho

SHE'S BAAACK...

2010-12-18T16:09:00.000-08:00

Housewife Shmousewife has relocated and will begin posting January 2011! Happy Holidays!

RODEO...

2010-03-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo - 2010 - Monday March 15 - Lady Antebellum Concert Calf Scramble (Calf Scramble - Annual event, 25 teens scramble in the arena for 15 calves that are released. The lucky ones who catch a calf are given a certificate to buy a calf to raise and show at the next years rodeo. )

IS THIS TUESDAY?

2010-03-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

I guess it is a sign of age, but we are just so happy to be back in our own home after three nights in a hotel. A good hotel! Last Thursday night we moved the packed bins to the garage in preparation for the house fumigation scheduled on the weekend. All food, cosmetics, anything “not under pressure” (could I have stayed?), was to be removed from the house. Even the refrigerator emptied, ice

MARCH INTO SPRING

2010-03-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

Just threw out my Valentine roses. March is here, St. Patty’s Day only two weeks away. January and February just a blur! Getting house projects done before the seasonal heat starts. Replacing the awning on the back of the house, it protects us from the hot afternoon sun. The old one is nine years old, worn, torn and nasty looking… we have been measured and chosen a new color; it will be put in

SLURP...

2010-02-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

SLURP… I love to eat, so taught myself to cook. It gives me great joy to work in my kitchen. To ‘chop-chop’ as my sister says. To gather and prepare items for a dish, long loved or new to me, makes me feel happy. My mate has always been encouraging and has been here for the good and the bad… when we were first married he ate to live, I taught him to live to eat, I think one can still do that in

I AM FROM…

2010-02-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

My journal writing class uses Pat Schneider’s book, Writing Alone and With Others. She has terrific exercises to get the old brain working. Our most recent exercise was based on a poem by George Ella Lyon, from her book by the same title, Where I’m From. WHERE I’M FROM I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride… George Ella Lyon You get the idea… in class we had limited time

HOUSTON – SWEETS FOR THE SWEET

2010-02-08T14:44:00.001-08:00

You can find almost anything in Houston. After nine years I have ferreted out some of the best places for desserts, a good thing to know, especially with Valentine’s Day this week.In my own neighborhood, Houston Heights, we are lucky to have Dacapo’s Pastry Café. A full-fledged bakery with award winning pastries, they also serve lunch. Not to be missed are the fabulous sugar cookies. I limit how

Tripping With the Zimmerhoffs

2010-02-02T06:41:00.001-08:00

To travel with friends can either be a blast or a big mistake. The early 80’s we lived in London and became friends with a couple from NY. They had three young sons, we had one, so it worked out great to celebrate holidays together and go on outings, and it was nice. Then occasionally we adults would leave our kids with sitters and get away for a night or two. Often it would be a road trip to an

Tlaquepaque Mexico Part II

2010-01-26T10:04:00.001-08:00

At Casa Fuerte we had been too late for dinner the night before and obviously we were early for lunch. Although the doors were open, not a soul in sight as we entered the beautiful bar. Glistening mirrors and crystal lights, dark rich wood, upholstered chairs and settees, all very inviting. Beyond we could hear voices; so we stepped from the bar into a huge courtyard with a massive tree in the

Tlaquepaque Mexico

2010-01-19T05:31:00.001-08:00

During my November trip to Mexico, my sister and I took a road trip from her home in La Manzanilla to Tlaquepaque. Tlaquepaque is a city, but according to Wikipedia, during the 20th Century the city has been absorbed by the spread of the state capital and is now thought as part of Guadalajara.With some experience driving in Mexico, my sister chose the toll road route. With a bag full of pesos at

Confessions of a Sugar Junkie

2010-01-12T05:59:00.001-08:00

Six or so months ago I was very aware of my sugar intake, which was very, very low. Here I am once again atop a sugar dune. Can’t kick it. Well I can kick it, but find it tough.November vacation, “Oh, its vacation.” Halloween, “What’s a little candy corn?”Thanksgiving, “Ditto”. Christmas? Well Christmas was a whole new ball game… All those holiday cookies I baked. Pumpkin Bread. Then commercial

INTO THE NEW YEAR

2010-01-05T08:22:00.001-08:00

Just before New Years I lapped up every article about the up-coming blue moon, the first since 1997. It was to be lucky for everyone and I was jazzed. Then the day before it was to appear I read, ‘a blue moon’ is a creature of folklore. It’s merely the second full moon in a calendar month. I guess it didn’t matter, fog was so thick in Houston the moon could have been turquoise with purple stripes

TIS THE SEASON…

2009-12-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

The tree stands naked, or almost. A miscalculation on lights, it will take another run to the hardware store to finish up. Saturday afternoon we drove to our local nursery to get our Christmas tree. The car park was nearly empty so we had a bad feeling. Then we saw the last two trees available, one huge, way too big for us, and the other looked as though it had been run over by a car. Seems

La Manzanilla, Mexico – Costa Allegre – Part I

2009-12-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

Just over two hours and my flight from Houston to Manzanillo Airport (ZLO), lands. The walk from plane to terminal is scorching. The entire Costa Allegre has been experiencing higher than usual temperatures. Once I exit passport control I wait in the air conditioned airport for my sister’s flight from California. ZLO is small, clean and welcoming. There are gift shops, a snack bar and taxi stand

HOLIDAY PREP

2009-11-10T08:36:00.001-08:00

I mainly shop online, so keep our UPS guy hopping.As Christmas nears that is where I will be… at my key board.Oregon’s Mill Creek Holly Farm supplies me with beautiful, fresh cut holly each holiday season. They have variegated and traditional green. There is something festive about holly. My mother used it every Christmas when I was a kid, accepting an ample supply from a good friend who had two

GAMES WE PLAY

2009-11-03T05:58:00.001-08:00

I recently uncovered several old journals and thumbing through one I found pages of Gin Rummy scores, games between me and ‘hubby’. It brought back all those ‘cocktail-time’ hands we played. Years ago, if we were home at 5PM we were tableside, sipping wine and playing cards. Most of the time our exchanges were good natured, but if he managed to be winning he could snap his cards in an annoying

COMING HOME

2009-10-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Arrived back to Houston October 3, summer vacation a mere memory.New roof, new hardwood floors, freshly painted rooms and granite counters. If it hadn’t been for the boxes stacked floor to ceiling in the dining room, the guest room and study, I could have enjoyed it all. But I was in a panic; our son was coming to Houston on business, and due to arrive the 17th. That may seem like a good while to

The Green Eyed Monster

2009-10-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

Every so often the green eyed monster pays me a visit. (Three times I remember in forty-four years of marriage.) I am always perplexed by it all. Like last week when I got the following email from my husband. (For those of you who do not know, he is in Houston, our home base. I am in Portland, Oregon where I escape each summer.)‘I have a conference call at 5:30PM and then meeting Tracy (Best not

Summer on the Run

2009-09-20T10:10:00.001-07:00

It is the time of year where you wake and the air feels different. Not yet crisp, but cooler. The light is somewhat filtered, not the glare of hot summer mornings. At least that is the way two or three days last week felt here in Oregon. However, the local weather man tells us there will be a last hurrah; back into the low 90’s a couple of days, then a week in the 80’s. I can cope, but ready

TIDBITS

2009-09-14T07:15:00.001-07:00

Why Men Need WomenMy better half returns to Houston today after two glorious weeks together in Portland. I rarely send him off on a trip that I don’t feel like a mom sending a kid to camp.He was laden down with an extra suitcase this trip… I sent winter clothes home to Houston, we probably won’t return to Portland until next spring, and January, February you even need winter clothes in the bayou

VROOM VROOM

2009-09-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

I love a road trip. To rise early, put on your duds, stuff a few things into a duffel bag and hit the road.Does it really work that way for anyone?A week or so ago when I knew my husband was coming to Portland for two weeks, and our new (used) car would be here, I started planning.“We will throw our toothbrushes in a bag and hit the road. “ I told him. After we hung up (He was still in Houston),

LAZY DAZE OF SUMMER

2009-08-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

Count down until my mate (and old prom date) arrives back in Portland. I feel as though I am standing dockside waiting on the fleet. Woo Hoo!A friend tried to reach me by phone the other day. First she tried the loft, no answer. Then she tried my cell, it was off. We finally connected and I suggested from now on if she can’t find me, try calling Skinnidip, the new frozen yogurt place on N.W.

FIND A PENNY PICK IT UP

2009-08-22T16:59:00.001-07:00

If I have ever doubted we will meet up with those who have passed before us, I no longer do. Last night I was in the audience at Schnitzer Hall here in Portland to see Lisa Williams, the English Medium – Clairvoyant. Many of you may already be familiar with Lisa; she has been on national TV and now has her own shows. (Lisa Williams, Voices from the Other Side and Lisa Williams, Life Among the

EXPECTATIONS

2009-08-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

Dan & Louis Oyster Bar (Portland Oregon) has been in the back of my mind. In the fifties I use to go there with my folks. I don’t remember the actual food, but I probably had clam chowder, my folks the oyster stew. The place was always packed, the hustle and bustle of a good eatery. Now living in Portland part-time I wondered if I could go back. I was leery; should I go back?Then recently I had a

AND SO IT GOES

2009-08-08T08:50:00.001-07:00

George Bush out of office and now Paula Abdul not returning to American Idol? What will I have to rant about!? Well there is still Rush 'what’s-his-name'. Oh, and those damned products that come in plastic domes that take two drinks and a sharp object to open.They pack eggs into flimsy cartons, yet a tiny little tube of Abreva lip ointment comes in a huge plastic dome? Packed so a child cannot

MY GREAT SUMMER VACATION

2009-08-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Glories of OregonMy friend Marion’s Hydrangea Bush in Toledo, Oregon Farmer's Market PortlandTillamook - The Udderside“Cheese-Trees-and Ocean Breeze,” the small town’s slogan, probably coined by a past city council, it pretty much says it all… home of the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory, surrounded by magnificent forests and only two miles from the Pacific Ocean.Tillamook was my home, eighth

PORTLAND EPICUREAN TOUR

2009-07-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Commercial tours give me the ‘willies’, although I have been known to join their ranks from time to time. Yesterday was one of those days. I had read about the Portland Walking Tours and since Portland is my summer refuge, I thought I would give it a go. Of course the one I chose involved food.Culinary Tour: Epicurean Excursion is how it is listed in their brochure. The focus is on tasting

WHEN THE TIDE TURNS

2009-07-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

If you are happy in your life I have to assume aging is a bit easier. At least that is my theory. Then there are those moments…A week or so ago we (being my husband and me) were having lunch at a favorite spot, Clyde Common. It has communal seating but we have no problem with that. On this day we were placed one seat over from a young couple, he being cute in a syrupy Donny Osmond sort of way,

SOLO SUMMER

2009-07-06T09:21:00.001-07:00

Forty-four years of marriage and I still cry when we have a “good-bye” for any length of time. I get an empty, lonely feeling deep in my gut. I don’t go out that first day on my own, not until I know he has reached his destination and is settled in. Then I get on with things. Sometimes the TV is on at all hours, 'crap' shows lighting the room. How many forensic shows can I watch on a Sunday

GLORIOUS PORTLAND

2009-07-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

It is a privilege to spend part of my (our) year in Portland, especially the summer months when Houston’s weather is almost unbearable (to me). One of us is luckier than the other… one of us gets to stay until October.We have been comfortably ensconced in our lovely little loft in the Pearl District just over a week. After months of dealing with house renovations in Houston, and a whirlwind

MY OLD THING IN THE CITY BY THE BAY – SAN FRANCISCO WEEKEND

2009-06-23T08:14:00.001-07:00

In 1975 we were living in Orange, California and I wanted a small car to drive around town, our son was five. We bought a 1974 VW Thing… I loved it. I think the longest road trip I ever made in it was from Orange to San Diego. I took a visiting friend down to the Zoo. You couldn't really have a conversation; the car was too noisy for that. Later when we moved overseas we stored the car in my

TENSION-TRAVEL AND TREASURES

2009-06-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Under the wire now… we depart for the West Coast early Thursday morning.When the house renovations started back in April, all seemed doable. Had things been done to MY schedule it would have been? However, the contractors seemed to have other ideas. So here I am attempting to set up the house and get ready for our trip. With the roofers, floor layers, painters and granite installers there were

W-O-R-D-S

2009-06-03T09:09:00.001-07:00

A big brown poem book was always at hand when I was growing up. Somewhere along the way it was lost, a shame really.‘Little Orphan Annie’ by James Whitcomb Riley, was popular with my sister. I am sure she could (and would) recite it today.Little Orphan Annie’s come to my house to stay.To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth

TIDBITS

2009-05-29T07:56:00.001-07:00

The Wash Cloth WarIn an earlier blog I mentioned friends had commiserated with me on our up-coming extended stay in a hotel while our house is being renovated. Commiserated? Were they nuts?No! Today I wave the white flag of defeat. I want my home back!Yes, the Magnolia Hotel in Houston is four stars. Yes it is comfortable. A Happy Hour where beer and wine are complimentary to guests (limit two

ATLANTIC CITY - ELVIS AND ME

2009-05-24T11:33:00.001-07:00

Over the years, a friend of mine talked of renewing her wedding vows. Her husband would smile, chuckle nervously and hope she would forget the idea. Well, she didn’t…So a couple of weeks ago, along with family members, we joined the “happy” couple in Atlantic City.Vows had been written, the venue secured (Palm Restaurant – Tropicana), and Elvis hired. Elvis? Yep! Elvis (Stingray Elvis) would

TIDBITS

2009-05-12T06:09:00.001-07:00

I didn’t get a Mother’s Day card this year. I didn’t get flowers. I was in Atlantic City celebrating with friends and woke Sunday morning to the following email from my son.You're the writer in the family but since I didn't get a card in the mail to the Caesars Atlantic City I thought I'd try my hand at a little poem. You always did like homemade gifts...My Mother:Would reassure me that kids who

SIGN OF OUR TIME

2009-05-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

His cheekWas roughHis chick vamoosedAnd now she won’tCome home to roostBurma ShaveAcross America in the 1950’s Burma-Shave signs were at their height of popularity. 7000 signs were posted roadside.Recently while doing research on the Fifties Web, I came across information on the advertising campaign.In 1925 Allan Odell pitched the idea of the signs to his father to help advertise Burma-Shave, a

A WOMAN CALLED MOTHER

2009-05-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

She stands packing lunches. Tuna, pickle and homemade cookiesA cigarette dangles from her lips threatening to drop ashShe folds down the brown wrinkled bag topsPasses the sacks to us, her daughters“Go get’um,” she calls to our backs as we make our way down the driveLosing sight of us she wearily retreats back insideCoffee cup refilled the flash of a match lights another cigaretteShe hopes for

THE FOLKS NEX DOOR

2009-04-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Someone who has moved at least fifteen times in forty-four years of marriage, I’ve had a few neighbors. I only remember one coffee drinking, back and forth relationship and that was in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. We had moved from Kenai, Alaska. The moving van had just pulled away, I was up to my skinny-young ass in boxes and my husband walked in, “Just met the neighbors and they want us to come

WHERE I'D RATHER BE

2009-04-23T06:16:00.000-07:00