Sandi Chats

I like to joke that my job is only a "temp job" since I have to be reelected every four years. Job security is hard to come by these days, and this job is no different except that I am guaranteed a four-year run between elections. I began this job in 1992 working as a deputy for the county treasurer. I held that position for 6 1/2 years until that treasurer retired then ran for the position myself. I took office in January 1999 and have held the position for 19 years...and counting. Time has gone so fast, and it sometimes boggles my mind that I have held this position for nearly 20 years. Including those years I served as deputy, this will amount to 26 1/2 years at the same job. That calculates out to be 40% of my life at this job. In contrast, we milked cows less than half that time and it seemed like a lifetime! So this year I bravely stepped out and decided to retire at the end of this term. It wasn't an easy decision to arrive at. What about the finances? What w...

You may recognize the title of this blog as also being the title of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book where Laura describes a winter from her childhood that lasted seven months. This was the winter of 1880-1881 when the Dakota Territory, where the book takes place, was very sparsely settled. The book tells of the hardships of living on the prairie during seven months of blizzards and cold with scant provisions. Yeah, those people were tough!!! We have all heard the stories about the Blizzard of '88 (that's 1888), when many people on the Plains perished due to being caught in a sudden 3-day blizzard. And my folks tell stories from the Blizzards of '49 (that's 1949), which they lived through. How planes dropped provisions to snow-bound residents and how the  "weasels" had to come out and open the roads. The '49 blizzards were a series of blizzards that hit every few days for several weeks, totally paralyzing this area. Fast forward to the current winter that w...

Seems this winter has worn on long enough...can I get an "Amen" for that? And meal planning around warm comfort foods has also worn somewhat thin at our house. We have probably made 10 gallons of chili, 10 gallons of vegetable beef soup and 5 gallons of cheeseburger soup, which are our favorites, plus the occasional bowl of tomato or potato soup. Basically we are just tired of the same old same old stuff! And yet, it is still soup weather and appears that it will be for some time to come! Spring doesn't seem in any hurry to show its face! Last weekend we were in Valentine for the Heart City Jackpot. A lady from the Nebraska Adoptive and Foster Care Parents support group sold concessions at our shoot. On Sunday she made white chicken chili. Now I've heard of it and seen recipes for it, but in my little square box chili must be made from beef with a tomato base and red beans for it to be real chili.  Robbi set up her concessions for breakfast and put that soup on...

We have a policy at our house, we never buy new furniture and we never buy used appliances. The new appliance policy is just so we don't have to replace appliances so often by buying them half worn out. The no-new-furniture policy is a matter of economics. We finally hauled off our old couch last spring. We picked it up at the local "trash to treasures" event a number of years ago. It was butt ugly but built to last, however we managed to wear it out after many years of use. Even after it broke, we propped it up with a 2x4  block for a couple of years. It was finally just time to get rid of it, so out it went! So for several months we lived without a couch. I didn't realize how much I would miss a couch. I had a comfortable easy chair, but by the time I sat down and two dogs joined me in it, and I tried to juggle a drink and a book, none of us was comfortable. One of my guilty pleasures is to lay on the couch. A couch, a good book, a blanket and a Sunday afterno...

I don't know if it's just the long dark days of January or if life really is bearing down on people more than usual, but I've talked to a lot of people recently who just seem to be getting worn down by the ongoing cares of life...the drama, the never-ending responsibilities, the bills, the family situations...and the list goes on and on.  Well, I hate to break it to everyone, but this is called life. It's extremely doubtful that any of us is facing a unique situation. It might be a new one for us, but it's not unique in the whole scheme of life.  But that doesn't make it any easier to bear just knowing that others face these situations. Seems we at our house have been in discouraged mode for a year now...with no relief in sight! Health, finances, and just the ongoing struggles that make up our lives seem to be taking their toll. I wish I could offer some kind of magical advice that would set everyone on a path to peace, health and prosperity, but that...

Recently I had two Facebook posts on my timeline that pointed my thoughts to my parenting skills. One of them was posted by my daughter, April, which said "Tag a mother and let her know that she's the best!!!" Another, which I can't find now that I am looking for it, said something about letting mothers everywhere know that they are doing a great job.  My child rearing years, 32 of them to be exact, are now a memory...a great memory in fact. In retrospect, we tend to remember the good stuff, the places we went, the quiet times at home, and the most precious memories of all, the times when I held them as babies. It takes a little more digging around in my memory banks to recall the tough times of parenting, the times we had to practice tough love, the spankings (I hear a gasp from modern parents), and all the blasted work that went with raising kids. Raising kids isn't easy, and I believe it's getting tougher every year! Kids have a way of worming themselve...

Christmas 2017 is in the books. Actually it was done before Christmas even officially arrived as we had all our celebrations a bit early which left us home alone yesterday.  On a day that didn't even register out of the single digits, that is exactly where I was happy to be! Grandkids Taylor and Merrick are staying for a week's visit. Now that they are in school these visits have to be relegated to summer and school vacations, so I am home being Grandma this week! It's reminding me of those days when we had small children and how much chaos they can create in such a short time! I am truly beginning to feel old. The two daughters who were here for Christmas argued who got some of my dishes when I die! I haven't really felt the grim reaper breathing down my neck but maybe I need to check closer. The way things go around here I will probably break them before I die anyway. One train of thought always comes to mind after having a house full of company...we need a bi...