I hate widowhood pretty completely, but "the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations are really damn good days." -- Ray Wylie Hubbard

Well, I'm trying for it anyway.

This house is about 2100 sq. ft.

When Lyman was alive, we'd talk about how we needed the office, the kitchen, the fireplace, the bedroom and a bathroom.  You could knock that up in 1000, 1200 sq. ft, including the porch for the birds, maybe less.

I'm taking to the notion of  "rightsizing." I've never lived alone (long term) in an abode so large.

I'm less enthralled with the notion of painting cabinets again. It has to be done, in the office and the kitchen. Too expensive to hire out.

The condo at the coast was 950 -- two okay bedrooms, two small baths, a decent sized kitchen, small dining and living areas. Knock out the second small bath for a larger closet. That was a good size.

So, I'm not starving yet, but I do need a job, and I need to start a new career. My family is long-lived, so I can reasonably expect to be alive until 85.

My current job, until I can find something to buy beans and pay electricity, is to sell this house, and decide what to do next. My last job was being Lyman Gore's wife. That took some resources and most of 19 years.

Employers don't much care about that.

That's a tasty cake, without a complicated recipe, and moist.

MIL's chocolate cake

MIL's chocolate cake, a photo by Janis Gore on Flickr.

Happy birthday, Girl!

Ahem. My MIL has a birthday on March 5.

I have traditionally baked a cake for her on that day. She likes chocolate. Whatcha got?

UPDATE: Never mind. She wants Italian cream. She'll be 93.

Well, thinking it over, I don't want to make an Italian cream. I'm doing Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate.

Keep your exquisite chocolate. This is what she grew up with. She didn't actually demand the Italian cream. She just said it was always good.

Mo' rain

Mo' rain, a photo by Janis Gore on Flickr.

Have I done something to deserve this?

If so, I repent right here. We're talkin' two more days of this this week.

Maybe we all will come out of drought this spring.

UPDATE: 1.7"
2.57" now at 6:20 p.m.

Ariat boot

Ariat boot, a photo by Janis Gore on Flickr.

My Valentine, for a few years, has been my mother-in-law.

Her son might be deceased, but she is still my mother-in-law, and she is alive. She'll be 93 on March 5. So I took her a card, a small potted flower, and a box of chocolates today, as I have every year she has been at Magnolia House.

Happy Valentine's Day, Girl!

Note: One's love and one's Valentine can be two separate persons.

Lyman and I would just cook something special together. Sometimes. And that man loved his mama.

Wild Magnolias