The Great Thimble Shortage of 2023

 

Thirty-eight years ago when I returned from my honeymoon in the Bahamas with a small thimble in hand, little did I realize that thimble collecting would become a lifetime pursuit.

Each time we would travel somewhere new I would bring back a thimble from each place we visited. It was never a problem locating them as they were quite plentiful no matter where I went. 

Fast forward to this vacation where I was barely able to locate two thimbles. The story was pretty much the same where ever I went. Apparently store owners are not able to get their hands on them anymore. 

Just like my new car second key fob that I had to wait nine months for, thimbles are no longer included in the supply chain. Thimbles and spoons are sparse I’m told, but don’t worry shot glasses are plentiful. Sadly, the aging Baby Boomer seems to be the only one interested in these simple souvenirs. 

My obsession began with that first thimble, but today I have thirty-eight years of thimbles resting contentedly in a printer’s tray taking up very little room in my library. 

I must admit I was quite disappointed not to return with several more thimbles. I’ll be curious to see if this trend continues as I continue to travel to new places. I’ll keep you posted. 

Ruidoso- Day 6

 

The best part about leaving today was getting to view the two young bucks who showed up close to our deck this morning. 

Our drive home was peaceful, and although we left a day early it allowed Chuck a day off before he had to return to work on Tuesday. 

We did not have to rush out the door at zero dark thirty to get home in time to pick up Ginger and Bluebonnet. We enjoyed listening to our audio book, and stopped for lunch in the Allsup’s parking lot. 

We couldn’t get over how green the pasture was since we had left. Apparently it had pretty much rained every day. 

Most of all getting to sleep in our own bed was best of all. 

Ruidoso-Day 5

 

After another enjoyable morning eating breakfast on the deck we headed out to Roswell about an hour away to check out the aliens. 

Roswell is a fun place to visit, but not a place you really want to spend to much time at. Prior to our visit Chuck was very open to the idea of aliens unlike me who have never truly believed believed. 

The night before we had checked out an episode of The Why Files on You Tube about Roswell. Much that was included in the International UFO Museum centered around what we had watched the night before. 

After visiting the museum Chuck left pretty much a non-believer. I think “hokey” might have been the agreed upon term for this out of this world experience. 

The museum, to be honest was a little underwhelming. We checked out the gift shop, and was disappointed that we could not find a Roswell thimble.

We left and checked out a few other souvenir shops still on a thimble quest, but came up empty handed. We returned to the museum gift shop, and picked up alien pencils for the boys, and a Roswell poker chip for my printer’s tray. 

For lunch we knew we wanted to check out the space saucer shaped McDonalds. We enjoyed our lunch surrounded by the alien paraphernalia. We had taken the opportunity to get plenty of alien photo shoots, and made sure to get a selfie in front of the Welcome to Roswell sign on the outskirts of town. 

We headed back to Ruidoso listening to our audio book. We had seen a pottery shop on the way to Roswell, and had made a note to stop by on our way back. We picked up a beautiful piece of pottery for the house. (when we arrived home we discovered that the pottery was missing its lid. After contacting the owner he dropped it in the mail.)

When we got home it had just started to rain, and it rained for a couple of hours. We were trying to finish up Season Eight of Suits, but kept having to pause the tv because we couldn’t hear over the rain hitting the metal roof. While we were watching tv two male elks made their way past our porch area. I was able to get several close up photos. 

We ate dinner at the house, hung out in the hot tub, and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. We had made the decision earlier to return home on Sunday, so Chuck could have another day off before heading to Dallas on Tuesday for work. 

We will have another leisurely breakfast on our beloved deck, and try to get in the road by 11:00 so we can have daylight for most of our travel. Overall, we have had a wonderful time, and didn’t realize how much we really needed to get away. The cooler weather, beautiful landscape, and relaxing atmosphere has been picture perfect. 

Ruidoso- Day 4

Today’s breakfast was sausage biscuits and fruit. While eating breakfast and drinking our coffee we only saw the hummingbirds and the chipmunk today. However, later when I was closing the blinds to the back porch there were ten wild turkeys pecking around in the back. 

As we left for the day the three wild horses were peacefully munching our neighbor’s grass, and as we left the neighborhood we saw some elk including a little baby. So needless to say we did get our animal fix today. 

We headed out to Capitan to visit the Smokey the Bear National Park. We had visited it once before, but we calculated that it was probably thirty years ago. We enjoyed checking out all the Smokey the Bear memorabilia, and pursued the museum waiting to watch the film after a group of school kids. Outside we visited Smokey’s grave. 

We decided to go ahead and eat lunch at the Smokey the Bear restaurant first, and then return to watch the film. The last time we ate there Chuck had dined on a delicious steak, but it appeared steak was no longer on the menu anymore. He had tacos, and I chose a corny dog off the Cub menu for kids, and 65+ seniors. 

After returning to the museum we watched the film and spoke with he park Ranger a little about the fires in the area. 

Then we traveled a short distance down the road to the Lincoln Historical site, and learned about the Lincoln County Wars, and got to visit where Billy the Kid had been jailed waiting execution. He was able to escape, and killed two deputies in the process. The display gave a step by step your of the tragic events, and was quite informative. 

On the way home we picked up more ice, and settled in for the evening. We enjoyed another episode of Suits, and had pizza for dinner. We also watched a Why Files on Roswell in anticipation of out trip there tomorrow. 

After dinner we tried out the hot tub, and watched a beautiful sunset. We watched one more episode of Suits, and plan on watching My Big Fat Wedding 2.  That will leave two more episodes of Suits for Sunday night, and we will be through with Season 8. Hopefully we can catch Season 9 on Prime. 

Ruidoso-Day 3

 

Today was a glorious day! After sleeping on an extremely comfortable bed in the other bedroom we woke up rested and refreshed. 

As we ate our breakfast out on the porch we were greeted by our hummingbird friends, a family of elks,  three horses including a foal, a flock of wild turkeys, and a chipmunk. We spent quite a bit of time drinking coffee and enjoying our animal menagerie.

We hit the road and traveled to Alamogordo to visit McGinn’s Pistachioland , the home of the world’s largest pistachio. The highlight of our visit was the pistachio orchard tour, and the yummy pistachio ice cream we ate afterwards. We enjoyed talking with some other couples who were visiting as well. I learned so much about pistachios and how they are grown that I was in pistachio heaven when we left. I’ll never approach a pistachio in the same way again. 

After leaving we continued down the road to White Sands National Monument. We viewed a fascinating video about how the sands were formed by gypsum broken into tiny white particles by the high winds. We drove through the park to see the sand dunes, and even had an opportunity to get out and walk onto the dunes. It was quite an impressive landmark. 

We made it home in time for dinner at Casa Blanca where we enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal followed up by some wiggly, jiggly flan. 

We’ve got another fun day planned for tomorrow, and I can’t wait. 

Ruidoso-Day 2

We woke up this morning trying to figure out exactly what time it actually was considering we had traveled into a new time zone, and our phones had not automatically updated.  Either way, even with the Fred and Ethel bed, we slept much later than usually. 

We got ready, and enjoyed a continental breakfast outside on the porch. Even though we had to wear a jacket our coffee sure good as we enjoyed the breathtaking view before us. Before we hit the road I packed us a picnic lunch for our trip to the Lincoln National Forest. 

Luckily, it was only about five minutes away. We drove around for a few minutes, and then double backed to the hiking trail. We hit the trail, and enjoyed walking through the forest spotting a Stellar Jay, the western cousin of the Blue Jay, along the way. Luckily,  trail was an easy one for two sixty plus hikers. After our hike we drove over to the picnic area, and enjoyed our lunch in the beauty of the forest. 

We stopped by the Ranger Station to check out the gift shop, but found it closed for lunch. We decided we would return later in the day.

We headed next to Sudderth Drive to visit the local shopping boutiques. We had a great time checking out the shops, and buying souvenirs.  Chuck got a cool tee shirt, and after much looking we finally found the required thimble for my collection. We also purchased a Christmas ornament, a really cute wood carved black bear, and a book of Aesop’s fables, and another Golden book for my collection. 

After leaving we drove to Grindstone Lake where I snapped a quick photo before we returned to the Lincoln National Park gift shop. We were able to pick up some Smokey the Bear gifts for the boys, and the park Ranger gave us three little Smokey the Bear license plates for the boys bikes. 

We left the gift shop, and stopped by Albertsons to pick up some more groceries for the house. We had decided we didn’t want to eat every meal out, so we picked up a couple of dinner options, and some eggs and sausage for breakfast. 

After returning home we were able to meet our neighbor who was out feeding his chickens. He told us he was from Lubbock and had retired and moved to Ruidoso with his wife. He said they really enjoyed the outdoor activities found in the area. 

We went inside and watched another episode of Suits, and then hung out on the porch enjoying the cooler weather and the beautiful view. After a dinner of yesterday’s leftovers we played a game of Scrabble, and returned back inside to watch a little tv. 

Ruidoso-Day 1

 

Our trip began around eight when when after packing the car we headed off to De Leon Donuts. Sadly, when we arrived the place was closed. We found out later that their fryer was broken. We continued down the road to Gorman where we were able to pick up some kolaches, and some cream cheese filled donut holes. I learned after several attempts the best way to experience their cream cheese goodness was to devour them whole in one bite.

Our drive was quite pleasant as we made our way to Ruidiso. We were only on the interstate for a short period of time, and most of the drive was traffic free on the back roads. We stopped in Brownfield for lunch at Long John Silvers, and were able to fill up the car with gas for $3.39 a gallon. We quickly learned when we crossed into New Mexico that gas was going to be a whole lot higher in price. 

The terrain along the way was pretty flat through Texas. We did see a few mesas that reminded me of our past trips to Lubbock. Once we passed Roswell, though, the New Mexico landscape began to boast the Sacramento Mountain Range. We arrived to Mountain Time Zone, and stopped by the rental office to give them a copy of Chuck’s driver’s license.

The temperature was noticeably cooler in the high fifties, and we were thrilled to have escaped the heat of Texas. We continued on to our rental which was about five minutes down the road. As we climbed up the hill that led to our place we were excited to see that the view did not disappoint. It wasn’t long before we were sitting on the porch gazing through pine trees, and admiring the mountain in the close distance. The clouds hovered around like a foggy mist. Even with a light rain everything seemed just perfect. 

Our rental was absolutely gorgeous. Brittany had done a wonderful job choosing not only a place with a view, but also a cozy little get away.  We learned later, after speaking with our neighbor that the whole place had recently been renovated. The interior was a designer’s dream, and we wasted no time getting settled. 

Later we changed out of our shorts into jeans and long sleeves for dinner. We had gotten a recommendation for dinner at a place called Casa Blanca. However, when we arrived the place was closed. As I checked the internet I discovered that the majority of the town’s restaurants were closed not only on Tuesday, but also Wednesday. We found that quite odd, but later we learned that we were visiting during the low season, and getting reliable help seemed to be a challenge for most of the restaurants. 

We ended up eating dinner at a lovely  place named Cafe Caliento. We both chose burgers, although two different types, and fries, and they were absolutely delicious. We did notice, though, that the prices were considerably higher than Stephenville. We also knew from past experiences that eating every meal out gets old pretty quickly, so we knew that a trip to the grocery store would be in order. 

After we left we stopped by an Allsups for some after dinner ice cream. We’ve both gotten quite spoiled to this habit. The man who worked there directed us to a small market around the corner where we picked up a box of Bluebell mini ice cream sandwiches. We returned home and settled into a relaxing evening of watching our latest Netflix obsession, Suits. 

All was well until Chuck came to bed later that night. I had noticed that the mattress was not going to win any awards for extreme comfort, but as soon as Chuck got into the bed he proceeded to roll to the center. It was quite reminiscent of an old I Love Lucy episode. I moved closer to the edge and fell back asleep, but we did get a good laugh the next morning when we sent Brittany the infamous scene of Fred and Ethel preparing for bed. 

Rome Wasn’t

 

According to Wikipedia, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” means “…the need for time to create great things.”

We live in an instant gratification world, and having to wait is not something most of us relish. However, often times in order to do the best we can we have to be resigned to the fact that it might take time. 

It’s easy to give up too soon, to become frustrated or bored, and not want to continue. I’m guilty of this. I prefer tasks that can be accomplished quickly, and because of this I shy away from things that take time to complete. In junior high I preferred cooking to sewing in home economics class. Chances were I could whip up a meal quickly, but it would take days, dare I say weeks, for me to finish sewing an outfit. 

In teaching our children we need to remind them that it is okay to work on a project over a series of days vs quickly throwing something together in a few hours. Hopefully the satisfaction of a job done well will encourage kids to remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” 

In fact, it might even be a good idea to show pictures of the architecture of Ancient Rome, or perhaps the Egyptian pyramids, and learn more about the time that was required to build them. 

Separate Realities

 Recently I finished reading a book by Richard Carlson entitled You Can Be Happy No Matter What. Now I did not choose this book off of the library shelf because I was so unhappy. Rather it was a short, little book that I thought I could read quickly, and perhaps glean a new blog post from. Little did I realize that the principles taught in the book had the potential to be life changing. 

One thing in particular really helped me to make better sense of the world in which we live. For many years now I’ve been totally perplexed as to why different people can look at the world from such different points of view. Many a time I’ve walked away scratching my head, and sadly not even wanting to search for common ground. 

I really wasn’t proud of that, and after reading this book it enlightened me on how each one of us actually has are own separate reality. This can be evidenced when two eyewitnesses of the same accident report what they’ve seen as completely different. How could that be?

Well it turns out that these separate realities are due to different thought processes. These individual thought processes are based on core beliefs, past experiences, temperament, and childhood influences to name a few. Even in the same family no two people are exactly alike. 

I remember my parents commenting on how differently my youngest sister, who was fourteen years younger than me, had been raised compared to me. Being the first born, my parents were quite diligent about the rules, but fourteen years later they basically were just plain tired. All those little things that seemed so important with me suddenly didn’t seem quite so important any more. 

Knowing that each of us lives in our own separate reality made me think about a teaching tool I used often in the classroom called a Venn diagram. As I thought about my husband and I, although we had many common interests, and shared common core beliefs, the way we view the world is very different. Now I think about that small sliver of intersection when seeking to understand how differently we approach the world, and realize the other two circles are much larger. 

Now I understand why my attempts to convince others to join my side in online debates basically have fallen on deaf ears. Unless, someone is truly interested in understanding your point of view, chances are they will dig in their heels, and stick to their guns. 

I remember a line from the Prayer of St. Francis that really made sense after reading this book. “…Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand.”

I’ve actually found myself more peaceful in not having to defend or convince others to think just like me. See how the concept of separate realities might benefit you and your relationships with others. 

Achieving Your Goals

 

“There are tons of paths that could help you achieve your true goal.”

Noom

This sentence intrigued me with the word “tons.” Although ton is a unit of measurement for weight, it also can refer to lots, many, an abundance or plethora of something. 

I think sometimes when it comes to our goals we are too quick to limit what we can or cannot do. We may even fall prey to the idea of false choices where we limit our options to one thing or another. 

When we challenge ourselves to come up with many options or ideas we may be surprised by our results. Our ability to achieve our goals shouldn’t be limited, and “the world is your oyster” should be our mantra. 

So instead of giving up or losing motivation take a little time to brainstorm as many possibilities as you can. Remember in the rule of brainstorming we are not to judge any idea at first glance. Allow you mind to run wild,  and then go back to narrow down the best ideas. 

You might be surprised with what you come up with.