About Me

My photo
Davison, MI, United States
I am a middle child,born to middleclass parents.Two older brothers,one younger sister.I am married,and have 3 children, Elizabeth who is married and has 3 little boys. She is lucky enough to be able to stay home with them. Her husband, Alan is a Dr. of Physical Therapy. Jonathan who is single and has just finished college and is still trying to figure out life. Katherine, who had a brain tumor and died at the age of 11, 18 years ago.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Off With Her Head!



I have not written since early April. I have no real excuses but I do know that I have kind of fallen down a rabbit hole. From what I have read while wandering the tunnels of said rabbit hole, I have discovered that I am experiencing what many beginner bloggers experience. I have gotten caught up in trying to find out the secrets to being a successful blogger and have been sucked into a vortex instead.  


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Do you realize how many blogs out there are just about how to blog better, faster, more successfully, how to get the perfect photo, what to copy-write, what to do when someone steals your stuff- writing, blogging, pictures, how to make money, make your blog more attractive, more ways to become famous, how to attract thousands of readers and find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Well, that is exactly what happened to me.  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bits and Pieces




I have some housekeeping issues to take care of so bear with me.  Read the whole thing through. This is filled with bits and pieces for several groups of people.


Open statement to fellow bloggers-
I wanted to let anyone that got a notice that I unsubscribed from your Facebook blog page that I moved you over to my email or RSS. I was finding that I couldn't keep track of them.  I also left some unsubscribed-not because I didn't enjoy your blog, but when I first discovered that blogs existed, I kind of went overboard and subscribed to everything under the sun. If it was mom related then it was for me. I have slowly realized that I don't fit the demographic of most of them. I gave my daughter the names of some and  I have let most go.


I need to trim things up so that I am reading for inspiration, help with writing and help with the knitty- gritty of how a blog works and all the little stuff you have to figure out.


I also was spending too much time reading other blogs and not writing. There is so much material out there to help, I finally have figured that I need to absorb what I have and not keep searching for more.


Post Easter- Wow, did Pastor Phil do a great job Sunday talking. It was powerful and amazing. And Mark Dusseau- the music in the second service just rocked. Everyone was getting moved and clapping.  It was great. What a celebration!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Our Katherine

This was her favorite picture.
She thought she looked
sophisticated. She also
liked the fact that her hair
was getting long.


Today she would have have turned 30 years old. My baby wanted to be an archaeologist.
She also would have gotten a kick out of the fact that it was also Easter.

Katherine Victoria Porter was born April 8, and didn't want to wait for Dr. Heitsch to get there. He came rushing back from his home tearing off his coat, gowned up and just in time caught her as she came rushing out to meet the world. We never knew exactly how much she weighed. The nurses aide had never helped deliver a baby and didn't know how to use the scales. She recorded weight that was 2 pounds heavier than the nursery nurses recorded. The delivery nurse was already to deliver the baby when the doctor arrived.


She started out life quite differently than most babies. I knew almost immediately that something wasn't right. Right after we brought her home, I was holding her and there was something about her color and her eyes that told me that something was wrong. My mother told me that I was lucky to have two children that were bright and that Katherine was maybe just average.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Renovations


I have been struggling with an issue for a while about this whole “blog” thing. I have called it Unaccounted For, So Far for a reason. I feel I should have accomplished more with my life by this point, that I still have things to do.

Yes, I am a mother, and I worked hard at raising my kids to be adults who have good values and I am very proud of them. I have worked hard to be a wife that is loving and supportive to my husband. I was a good daughter who helped my parents with the unexpected crises and struggles that came during their declining years. I helped them to remain independent for as long as they safely could. I helped them ease into their final days with sensitivity and love so that they would meet God and join each other and their other loved ones again. I am not saying that I was perfect at any of these, but I tried hard.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly...



I have been struggling with how to write this post for well over a week. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to write about this, but the longer I put it off, the more I felt convicted that I needed to share. I even spoke to my pastor about what I was contemplating writing about and I asked for his permission to quote from his series that he just finished. He told me to go for it, that he trusted me.

 I am going to look at the past again; however, there is a purpose to it. This isn’t just a nostalgic stroll through my memories. This one is serious, so if you are looking for a happy trip down memory lane, then you might want to change the channel today. Please come back another day. However, if you have an open heart and mind, then I want to share with you what is on my mind.

About a week ago, I was listening to Pandora Radio. (For those of you that don’t know, this is a program that you can download onto your computer or device of choice. You get to pick the music. If all you want to listen to is Irish Folk music, then that is what you will be listening to). Well, I was listening to a category that I had set up that played folk music of the 60’s. A song started playing-If I Had A Hammer, sung by Peter,Paul and Mary. I have a feeling that some of you have no idea who this group is or what they did. You may even know that they were a folk trio from a long time ago.  Others of you know exactly who I am talking about.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Catching Up and Waking Up

I have a tendency to procrastinate and thus, have not posted anything about what has been going on in my life for the last few weeks. Here is a recap to bring you up to date. These are in no particular order, so don’t go psychoanalyzing why I wrote about one item before another. I don’t have these written down. They are just coming off the top of my head:

1. My insomnia- it is somewhat better but, I am still having issues, just not every night. I see my neurologist later this week and I am pretty sure that the medication he gave me is the cause of it.

2. I went through six hours of testing last week to get a better idea of what can be done for my brain in terms of occupational therapy. I got to the Hurley Rehabilitation building at the corner of Longway Boulevard and Dort Highway and I was promptly told that someone had climbed onto their roof and stolen the copper piping out of the air conditioning units.  They wanted to get me out as soon as possible before the building got too warm.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Shh, I Am Reading



Used book sales And Used Book Stores are heaven for me. You see, once I start to read a book in a series, then I need to complete the series. I carry a list of missing titles with me. I have also been known to buy the same book three or four times, forgetting that I had already read it. If you haven't noticed yet, the bookstores (they shall remain nameless.) in our area are carrying fewer and fewer books. If you are lucky, you might find the latest book by an author.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

zzz...


Sleep is something that most of us take for granted. I know that I have. If I have been awake, I usually know that I have something on my mind, I’m sick; I’ve had too much sugar, too much tea, too much diet coke. Or, I am so absorbed in a book that I can’t put it down, or a movie is on that I can’t seem to turn off.


Now, I have no sleep again.  It is four something in the morning. I am awake. I am pretty sure it is the medication that my Neurologist prescribed. It was to help me stay alert during the day and help me with my energy level.

Sleeping as a child, I used to have issues. I had nightmares a lot. I walked in my sleep. My brother Jeff also walked in his sleep. I once climbed over the open stairwell railing and fell down the flight of stairs, landing five steps from the bottom step. When I landed, I broke the front of the step off that I landed on.I broke my tailbone and hurt my back. I think that I was in the third grade when that happened.

Friday, March 16, 2012

My Husband Is Doing Something That He Doesn't Want To Do


My husband is doing something that he doesn’t want to do. He is doing it anyway, because he loves me.
We added onto our house 12+ years ago, doubling the size of the house.  At that time, we had the builder paint most every room white.  And that is exactly what they did. Most every room is white, with stained wood trim.

In the past year (yes, we were kind of slow on the uptake) we noticed problems in the master shower.  Now, I will admit, that I am not a great housekeeper. Paul does most of it since he retired. I cook. I would describe my style as relaxed, very relaxed. Stains started to appear in the grout in the shower, mainly in the ceiling. I tried halfheartedly to make them disappear, but then grout started to crack and fall and tiles started to crack.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Every Book Is A Children's Book If The Kid Can Read-Mitch Hedberg


Every book is a Children’s book if the kid can read! - Mitch Headberg


One of my earliest memories was walking to the library in Lapeer. From my house to the library was ten blocks and it also meant crossing Nepessing Street, which was the main street in downtown Lapeer.  It had a lot of traffic and there was not light anywhere along the stretch to the library that was convenient to a little kid. I am probably talking about eight or nine years old when I first started going to the library without an adult. Of course, I usually had my sister (two years younger) to haul along with me. Sometimes I would have the wagon so we could haul our books home in it. However, my sister usually would want to ride in it and I did not want to pull my sister. I just wanted to go to the library. Almost every time we went, she would tell me that she was going to run away if she didn't get her way and I would have to chase after her or bribe her with a promise of candy from the North End Store; or I would threaten her with something awful like the fact that I would hide her doll, Flossie (named after "Big Grandma" as opposed to "Little Grandma", but that is another story). I could also threaten to hide her “blankie”.  My sister carried a “blankie” for much too long.  It was really just a rag of the original blanket.  On the way there and on the way back to our house, we had special spots that we tried to always s stop at.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Short? Sweet and Sour

I have spent a great deal of time working on my blog and I realized that since I am new at this, I need to take my time and learn the process as I share.  So I will attempt to post approximately three times a week.  This one doesn't count.  It is more of a "To whom it may concern" kind of notice.  My daughter thinks I am obsessing and she is probably right, my husband thinks that I am getting too frustrated when I can't figure something out and my son-I am not sure that he has even looked at it.  But I know that he realizes that I am getting frustrated. So, the learning curve will have to keep me in check for a little while. I also need to stop collecting blogs that help with blogs and just cull them and find a few that will help me in ways that I can understand easily.

Friday, March 9, 2012

I Admit I Am A Bibliophile (Bookaholic)

"A Room Without Books Is Like A Body without a Soul." - Cicero. I truly believe that books are as important as air and water to the human body. I also will warn you that this is longer than it should be. But, if you know me very well, or have known me for very long, you will know that books are important to me. I don’t mean, “Oh, I enjoy a good book now and then.” Or, “ Isn't it nice to go to the library occasionally. I so look forward to those visits.” No, books go way beyond that kind of thinking for me. You will also know that I am a little on the O.C.D. side when it comes to books.

If you were to enter my home, you would most likely find books in every room. Of course, if you look around, you will probably find some dirty laundry, dirty dishes or stuff that just has no business being where you see it too. I would call myself a casual or comfortable housekeeper. And to be honest, most of the housekeeping gets done by my husband. He is much better at it than I am. But, let’s get back to books.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Things You Might Not Know About Me-Part 2 (Revised).


(Don’t ask. It was ugly. The original is in blog heaven and I can’t call it back. Clearly, I have a lot to learn). I did learn an important lesson tonight. Make sure that you have a backup copy somewhere. I had my handwritten copy however, I had made changes in the wording as I typed it.  I now have a copy.

Here is more stuff from my life that you probably don’t know.

1. I used to pretend I was riding a horse when I rode my blue Schwinn two wheeler. When the street was repaved, I would ride my bike all the way to Nepessing Street, gliding along. It felt like I was flying.

2. The first time I ever saw a hummingbird was in a cemetery.

3. One time the leaves that had been raked into the street from our yard. The city would come along with a truck that would suck them up and carry them away. My sister and I were home alone.  Someone drove by and dropped a cigarette out of their window and set the leaves on fire.  We ran outside and started beating at the leaves with a rake.  Luckily the leaves were damp and smoked more than a full-out fire.

4. I have a phobia about memorizing. (More about this later).

My First Love Affair Part 1

This is one of my memories told in my own rambling way.  It isn't the end of the story, but it is the beginning. I hope you enjoy it.


We had a piano.  It was one of those giant old upright pianos. It started out living in our dining room before my dad built cabinets along the south wall of the room for china and all manner of other stuff.  I don't remember it not being in our house so, it probably was there before I was.  At some point my mother told my dad to paint it.  So he did.  He used a couple of colors (or several, I am not sure).  Anyways, the piano turned out looking like a beige faux marble art project.  And it was clear that he was in a hurry because there were drips that hadn't been smoothed out, spots that were thicker than other areas and it just didn't look good.  Of course, by the time he had painted it, the piano no longer lived in the  dining room.  It had been relegated to the "back room". You will just have to trust me that I will tell you about the "back room" at another time.  The main thing that you need to know is that it was not even close to being in tune, ivory was missing off several of the keys and it was in a cold room.


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Things You Might Not Know About Me

I have been unfaithful to my promise to blog on a regular basis. Please forgive me and I hope you will give me another try.  I have excuses but I am not going to blame them.  In spite of life and also embracing life, I am just going to start back up.  This is a list of things that you might not know about me.

1. I once played keyboard in the opening act,Taffetas,for a Blood, Sweat & Tears concert.


2. I was a child model. (Anyone remember Wendy Wards)? Hey, it counts.

3. I had an imaginary friend when I  was little.

4. In high school, I used to decorate the heads of straight pins with faces and sayings.

5. Pepper, Peaches and Cream, Smokey, Blue Boy, Marmaduke, Einstein, Watson, Nandi, Velvet Passion, Blueberry-the names of cats past and present that I have lived with.