This old gal…

Had a craving…a family favorite…a daughters of mine family favorite…a New Year’s Eve staple…along with…and dare it be said…mushrooms…stuffed mushrooms…

Mama me so lucky…those girls of mine always opting to bring in the new year together…making snacks together…playing Yahtzee together…

Whipped up a batch of that favorite Buffalo Chicken Dip…had been a few years and apparently one of us forgot she typically uses less wing sauce than listed in the recipe…

Because this was hot…super hot…steam up the glasses hot…but it was worth it…mouth burning sweaty brow worth it…

Because it brought back memories…the special time with those sweeties of mine memories…the stay up til midnight eating snacks memories…

Because sometimes in life…those memories are all about the food…four girls in a house on Elm Street food…buffalo chicken dip and stuffed mushroom food…

Well-loved tattered old recipes that tug at the heart food…find them…dust them off…and for old time’s sake…indulge…
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And those daughters of mine…agree…

Those daughters of mine…

Humored their mother’s obsessions…themes more like…for each year’s classroom…things for the walls…bulletin boards…doo dads for the desk…

Often purchased at Hobby Lobby…gifted by students and friends…owls…pirates…Mary Engelbreit…safari…farm animals…llamas llamas and more llamas…

And now…it would seem…that need for thematic fun…teaching or not…still exists…squishaboos…vintage glass…cats…cats…and more cats…

And now we have the mushroom…that family of mine celebrating with glee…that mushroom themed gift sent along in their Christmas card…

Because sometimes…you just have to find a new obsession and have fun with it…and then use it to promote your other…new obsession…

Which just might or might not me…rambling…rambling…and more rambling…
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And that family of mine…agrees…

This husband and I…

Went to Walmart in Texas around the beginning of the mushroom obsession…happened to walk through the gardening department…spring starting earlier down there…

And what to my wondering eyes should I see…at the end of a display…surrounded by trolls and turtles…the cutest little mushroom ever…

Shiny…perky…perfect…but logical me resisted…don’t need it…don’t have room to pack it…begrudgingly left it behind…

Fast forward a couple of months…spring hits up north…wandering the garden center of Walmart when what to my wondering eyes should appear…again…

Still don’t need it…but now…don’t have to pack it…

And so it is in life…sometimes you just can’t say no…and sometimes…a mushroom loving gal…doesn’t have to…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

This old gal…

Walked into Heaven…Natural Life Heaven…a cute little shop never seen before…Natural Life here…Natural Life there…Natural Life…everywhere…

Are you wearing a Natural Life top…asked the shop girl…why yes…yes…yes I am proud me bragged…Natural Life socks…yep…Natural Life headscarf…ditto…

Natural Life…a favorite online store…soothes the hippie soul…the Bohemie soul…the old gal obsessed with fun quirky colorful soul…

Rarely find products in stores…that’s because…explained Shop Girl…they set high standards for vendors…

We chatted…about Natural Life…her sister…those daughters of mine…teaching…her parents…that new healthy tea business of hers…

And so it is…in life…you never know what you may find…when you least expect it…

Shopping Heaven…a new friend…and maybe…just maybe…the perfect quirky Old Gal fun-gi souvenir…
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And that husband of mine…agrees…

That mushroom…

And all his current merch…can be a fun-gi…but one of us has to brag that’s she’s done a pretty good job resisting…

This is kind of cool…nope…would be cute in the garden…nope…could change the entire kitchen decor…nope nope nope…

Things are fine the way they are…don’t have mush-room for any new doo dads…but that doesn’t mean mushroom infatuated me…can’t gift…mushrooms…

Lucky daughters of mine…on the receiving end…they…returning the favor…at birthday time…

And so it is…in life…it doesn’t have to be all or nothing…sometimes it just needs to be enough…to make your heart…happy…
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And those daughters of mine…agree…

Every now and then…this old gal…

Is drawn to something…an object…idea…theme…owls…sugar skulls…llamas…cats…

It’s a pull…a tug…happens without thinking…see an item…say oh that’s cute…and then suddenly…they seem to be…everywhere…

And so it is…with the mushroom…mushrooms here…mushrooms there…mushrooms mushrooms everywhere…

And old gal me…can’t get enough of them…not because they’re cute…they are…not because they’re fun…they are…but because…they are a flash…from the past…

Childhood days…1970s days…brown and orange days…mushroom decor days…

A flash from the past…that feels right…feels comfortable…feels…like home…
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And that husband of mine…agrees…

This old gal…

Was walking in Texas when what to her wondering eyes did she see…little pieces of leaves bobbing up and down…seemingly moving in a straight line all by themselves…

Stopped and investigated and found hundreds of tiny ants working together hauling pieces of leaves to their underground nest…

Marveled at how hard they worked…how they came together as a community…each doing their part to build a better little ant world…

Thought about this being a lesson for humanity…celebrating these ants and their amazingness for like all of five minutes…and then moved on…

Until wouldn’t you know…months later…a summer storm raging outside…Saturday morning kids’ shows on the TV…and a segment came on about the leafcutter ant…

Cuts leaves…hauls leaves…takes them to their nest to turn to fungus which they later eat…amazing…powerful…the only known farmer ant…

And there it was…the Aha moment…simple minded me loves the Aha moment…when pieces come together…

Kind of like a community…or a bunch of little ants…who want to make the world…a better place…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

And so the story goes…

Speaking of being perfectly imperfect…one of us…and she shall remain nameless…found those missing puzzle pieces in the wastebasket stuck to a big piece of wrapping tape…

Apparently one of us…and she still shall remain nameless…wrapped a box to be mailed…on top of the yet to be finished puzzle…taking a couple of pieces along for a ride with the excess packing tape…

How this happened…is a mystery dear Watson…a mystery indeed…
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But imperfectly perfect me once again has a perfectly perfect tiger puzzle…and for that…she is perfectly happy…

This old gal…

Put in the final piece of that tiger puzzle only to realize it wasn’t actually the last piece…the put it in-the picture’s complete-run your hands over the entire thing and say ahhhhh-piece…

Because apparently two pieces were missing…and puzzle doer me…was devastated…

Had gotten so wrapped up in it all…those colors…the beauty…it had just seemed so perfect…picture perfect…and without those two pieces…it came up lacking…

And caused a quandary…can’t sell it…can’t even take it to Goodwill…what’s one to do with an imperfect puzzle?…throw it away?…

And that’s when puzzle doer me knew that she loved this puzzle…perfect or not…and it wasn’t going anywhere…

And so it is…in life…we all fall short…have flaws…but we are perfect still…perfectly imperfect…loved for all those quirks that make us us…

Perfectly imperfect…can’t think of a more perfect way…to be…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…

This old gal…

Decided to do the old sort and purge with books and puzzles…part with those read and completed…

Came across one in the closet…never opened…been there for years…not sure where it came from…a gift to that husband of mine before realizing he wasn’t a puzzle fan perhaps…

Put it in the to go pile…it looked hard…not really into tigers…have other puzzles more appealing…but then puzzle doer me felt guilty not giving tiger puzzle a chance…

And so she did…just to get it done so she could get rid of it…and something surprising happened…magical really…

Puzzle shunning me was sucked in by the colors…the brilliant mesmerizing colors…driven to work on it…driven to complete it…driven to see…the finished product…

And the finished product was so stunning…so beautiful…that that tiger puzzle may not be going in the good-bye pile after all…

And so it is…in life…sometimes the universe knows what we need…what we are looking for…and we’ll never find it…unless we give the unexpected…a chance…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…