Tag Archives: Something About Nothing

Granny Gets Sticky Fingers

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Granny_T-shirtThis blog received a note from Granny this morning. Granny. Granny being Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt from Fuchsia, Minnesota and the super sleuth in the book, Granny Hooks A Crook.

Here is what she had to say. It seems she gets herself into the most amazing situation.

“Just thought I’d check in. I wanted to give your readers little tip. If they want to fool someone into thinking they are older, tell them to spill super glue on their fingers. It does the trick. You will wrinkle very fast and you will stay wrinkled long enough to get your hand in and out of anything you want without them suspecting you are young. For instance if you are reaching into a hole to see if there is a clue inside and there is a camera taking a picture, they will see a very old hand. Perfect.  Unfortunately I don’t have  solution for you to unwrinkled your hand fast so you might want to hide out if your are caught until the super glue and wrinkles subside. Also I advise you not to use super glue on your face”

I also you aren’t misleading anyone  if you are questioned and you tell them you couldn’t help yourself from trying whatever you did. You could use this idea when borrowing candy or cookies out of a cookie bowl or candy bowl. The key line when getting caught and I would use it often is: “I couldn’t help myself I have sticky fingers.

I must go, thank you for passing on my note. I am busy with my next puzzling crime in Fuchsia, Minnesota. If you think I got into trouble with Granny Hooks A Crook, wait till you see what I do next.”

Granny

I want to thank Granny for visiting my blog and giving us her tips for troublemaking and excuses to use if you get caught. I do want to caution you to not pass these tips along to your children, use with caution and this blog is not responsible for any problems related to Granny’s advice. Don’t tell Granny I said this, I don’t think she takes time to read this blog. I would take Granny’s advice with a grain of salt and also caution you that trying this at home is not advised by this blogger.

 

Making Memories!

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IMG_1195Column: Something About Nothing, by Julie Seedorf published in the Albert Lea Tribune January 6, 2014

When I was a little kid, a long, long time ago, my parents would put me in the car, or should I say force me to go on road trips? When I was in my elementary years, I didn’t mind it as much, but as I got to be a teenager I found those road trips boring. My friends were more fun or at least I thought so then.

We visit the Twin Cities quite a bit to see our kids and grandkids. My granddaughter Maggie always has some place exciting that she thinks we need to visit. Most of the places we visit are very citified. We find some unique shops that fit within the culture of a large city.

During Christmas break my granddaughter Maggie and grandson Jake stayed with us for a few days. While my grandson spent quality time with Grandpa, I decided that Maggie and I would take an old-fashioned road trip. She is 10 and still likes road trips. I decided to take her to visit some charming places that definitely have a more rural feel or are special in the midst of us country folk.

Since my granddaughter loves pancakes and hot chocolate we first headed to Bud’s Café in Bricelyn for their famous pancakes. Bud’s is part restaurant and part grocery. WCCO viewers voted Bud’s as having the best pancakes in Minnesota. The restaurant part is distinctive because it has the old — and I would imagine, although I didn’t ask — original booths and bar. The bar is beautiful and so are the booths. We felt like we stepped back in time to a more peaceful age.

I watched as Maggie’s eyes got large when she saw the large pancake that covered the entire plate. She scarfed it down along with hot chocolate. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the friendliness of the waitress and the owner. With our tummies full it was time to head east to Kiester.

We stopped at Tanks N Tummies. It is a former gas station turned into a coffee and sandwich shop. Just a note, they make their own bread.

Maggie was charmed with the interior, which had Beatles posters, the old Coca-Cola machine and a wall where the owner, Tom, let her sign her name on the wall. Not only that but she experienced some great hot chocolate and I, of course, had some wonderful coffee. When we first stopped outside and I told her we were going in, my granddaughter was skeptical. It didn’t look like any place she ever stopped at in the Cities.

She was enchanted by this out-of-the-way, unique store. She was even treated to a viewing of the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium when this grandmother had to explain to her who the Beatles were and that I actually saw them live at Met Stadium back in the 1960s. Tom immediately found some footage on YouTube so she would know who Grandma was talking about and mooning over. Maggie was able to put music to the faces on the posters on the wall.

Since our journey was plotted out to take us to Albert Lea I decided to show her one more quaint place that I like to stop once in a while. We stopped at Goeman’s Store to visit with the owner and take my granddaughter to a place that has been around for many, many years. It is a tiny spot of welcome and conversation in the country. Most of the time, you can’t find that in the city. Old buildings and businesses make way for new and more modern. In the country we embrace the old because it is so much a part of our history.

Albert Lea is a little bigger city or a lot bigger than Bricelyn and Kiester. What were we looking for? Of course, I was looking for coffee and she was looking for more hot chocolate. Although there are many coffeehouses in the big city, many of them belong to the big-name chains and I wanted Maggie to get the feel of a real coffeehouse.

Our vehicle stopped at Prairie Wind in downtown Albert Lea. I enjoyed my pour over coffee and my granddaughter remarked that her cocoa was almost too pretty to drink. Somehow that thought left her mind when she took the first drink. It didn’t take her long to finish it. We sat for quite a while enjoying the atmosphere. For a memory we took Maggie’s picture by the brick walls and the screen with inspirational sayings on it. On our way out she remarked that we had to do this road trip again.

Of course, our journey was not over. We picked up Maggie’s brother Jake when we got back to our Wells community and headed downtown to the Clothes Closet Thrift Shop. We had to end our road trip with some shopping and one of the things all my grandchildren know about me is that I like thrift shops. This particular shop is a nonprofit and gives all the profit to local charities.

We shopped until we almost dropped. It had been a long, but fun day. We came out of the shop with three bags plum full of some great finds and all we spent was $23. My grandson, the Viking and Gopher fan even at 6, scored the best clothes with a Gophers sweatshirt that looked like it hadn’t been worn and a Vikings long-sleeve T-shirt again, almost like new. We had knickknacks, gifts, games and, of course, I had a few new sweaters.

If you find yourself looking for something to do this year, take a road trip. Look for those unknown places that are secret gems in the rural area. You might make memories, you might make some new friends and you might learn something new about the area where you live. It’s that something about the road less traveled that might bring you to a little slice of heaven you never knew existed.

 

Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding

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Happy New Year

Happy New Year (Photo credit: James Marvin Phelps)

Column: Something About Nothing, by Julie Seedorf

I am not a good resolution maker. If I make a resolution I usually break it early in the year.

Recently as I was driving back from an appointment, my thoughts went to the New Year’s Eves in my past. I remembered being a teenager so long ago and celebrating New Year’s Eve with my friends, some of whom now no longer grace the earth with their presence. I remembered the New Year’s Eves as a young married couple celebrating with our friends and partying well into the night.

Now we are usually snuggled in our beds by the time the midnight rolls around. I am sometimes amazed that the new year starts without us celebrating. How dare it begin without us? Shouldn’t it wait until we have our eyes open again? Couldn’t we move the celebration and time from midnight to morning?

In my musings, I also wondered what my 98-year-old aunt would say about her New Year’s past. Did they celebrate? Does she look forward to another year at her age?

As I have gotten older my New Year’s Eve celebration has changed and become quieter and perhaps more thoughtful. There is something very meaningful to contemplate thinking about what has passed and what is to come.

People celebrate New Year’s Eve to ring out the old and usher in the hope of the new.

This year, I am looking at the new year as a new beginning to a new chapter in my life. I have retired from my computer business and hope to write full time as an author and as a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines. It is a scary proposition and I chose the New Year to start this scary new venture. Maybe I will have to add another parttime job to the mix, but it feels good to look at this change in my life at the beginning of a new year.

There is a song called “Feeling Good.” One of the lines in the song says “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day; it’s a new life for me.” We could change that line to say, “It’s a new dawn; it’s a new year; it’s a new life for me.”

Instead of resolutions we could look at a new year as a new beginning for each of us.

We seem to have the idea that a good year is one where everything that should happen to us is good and wonderful. It isn’t. Life is good and bad mixed together. It happens every year, the good and the bad. Some years are better than others, but if we are starting a new year it means we got through, we are tough and there are many surprises waiting for us in the new year.

I am not making any resolutions, but I can tell you the things I would like to accomplish in my own life. I would like to become a better person this year. I would like to be more compassionate, less judgmental and more adventurous. I would like to become less fearful of letting go of the old and trying something new. I would like to eat better, and exercise more. Most of all, I would like to become a person that is a good example for my grandchildren. I would like to make them proud. I would like them to know they are loved.

Will I accomplish all of those things, probably not? Will I know if I become a better person and become more compassionate, probably not? Will I know if I become more adventurous? It will depend on each person’s definition of adventurous. Mine would probably be navigating traffic in the cities. It could be eating liver and onions. Or it might be something so small, that to those that know me, it is not even seen.

No resolutions, just wishes on how to live my life better. Will I succeed? I don’t know.

It is time for each of us to look at the old, start the new and possibly ask ourselves, for this new year, “What would I attempt to do if I knew I could not fail?” We will never know unless we try. I am starting this new year with a different career. It is a brand-new start. That is what I would do if I could not fail. But failure is always a possibility, without trying I will never know. If I fail, I will learn something along the way and then I would have to ask myself, “How can this lesson be failure when with that failure, I have a chance to start anew again?”

A friend gave me a gift this week, and it says;

“Live your dream. Do what you love. Cherish every moment. Be brave. Take risks. Create your own happiness. Have an open mind and heart. Make a real difference. Never give up. Dream big. Be fearless. Make every moment count. Today is the day.”

I will go a little further with that. It is a new year. This year is the year.

The first thing I did, right before the new year to ensure that I will smile? I took a risk. It might turn heads. It might make people cringe, but it makes me smile. My new ringtone for my iPhone, “What does the Fox Say? Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

“Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

“Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!”

Happy New Year!