The Calm After the Storm

Well...not too long after I blogged last night we had a tornado warning issued...phone blared the warning and then the town warning siren went off. I headed downstairs and Woody didn't follow because the siren wasn't going off any more. It sounded and then stopped almost as soon as it started...but today I heard that perhaps our warning signal got blown down...not sure about that but would make sense as to why it stopped so suddenly. My friend across town said that their warning siren sounded throughout the entire time that we were under the warning. I have borrowed the pictures I am posting tonight from Kathy's Facebook page. She, Nathan, and some of the children drove around to see what had happened in the surrounding neighborhoods. Some of these pictures are just a few "blocks" from us. One subdivision not far from us had a tremendous amount of damage with downed trees...many of which didn't take the best path and clobbered houses rather than falling just into yards. There were a lot of driveways blocked by trees and/or power lines. There is still power outage around town due to so many snapped power poles. We on the other hand in our neighborhood had only a few branches down. And, then the other extreme...there is a subdivision on the other side of town that has been closed off to vehicles entering it...and a good many can't leave due to all the downed trees that have blocked driveways and roads and lots of damage to homes. We have a lot of friends who live in that area. Due to power outage, it hasn't been easy to get in touch with folk. I just got a call about one of our Sunday School members. She and her husband have a big mess to clean up but damage to their house was minimal...window breakage. Since we have lived in Tullahoma, this is the first time that I can remember a tornado actually touching down in Tullahoma...there have been some touch down in the outlying areas but not in town directly. So I guess we had excitement last night that can last for a good while...I choose quiet evenings! I was texting with Kathy when the main part of the storm went through here...we just heard a lot of wind and LOTS of hard rain about the time that it was wreaking havoc in other parts of town...and folks were hearing the ominous train sound of an actual tornado. Woody checked the rain gauge today and we got FOUR INCHES just last night! I guess last night's rain was a start to making up for our drought conditions. The Weather Service has said that our tornado was either an EF1 or EF2 with winds up to 105 mph. We are thankful that there were no lives lost in our community. Our day has been pretty calm and followed a usual Wednesday routine. School for me, grocery shopping for Woody, and work in the church library for me, and a four-mile walk for Woody. And, now we really are settling in for a calm evening!

Under a Watch

Last night we had a good rain...tonight...we are under a tornado watch (just means that conditions are right for one to occur...warnings are what we don't want...that means that one has been spotted on the ground!). I had a modified Tuesday schedule for Grammy school today...Joseph and Isaac had their individual times and then Esther had her long time. She got underway with her newest cross stitch picture. I dusted in the sewing room while she stitched. I decided that today was a good day to attack the kitchen. The first thing that I did was to wipe down the shelves in the fridge...well, that meant that I saw the turkey broth waiting for me to skim the fat off and then make some kind of turkey soup. I had all the ingredients for one so spent most of the afternoon making soup rather than cleaning. I think that we enjoyed the results of my efforts at supper more than if I had "just" cleaned! I made Williamsburg Turkey Soup, a recipe from Southern Living magazine many years ago. A pretty good way to use up the scraps of meat that aren't the best for sandwich making. After supper, Woody headed off to the prayer room at church. He walked four miles this afternoon expecting that it might be raining tonight...so he drove to the prayer room rather than his usual walk. It is now raining quite hard so glad that he drove! He came home and then headed out a little while ago to make some visits for our church's White Christmas. We take food to church in white bags on a designated Sunday in December for those in need in Tullahoma. There is an attempt made by all the deacons in the church to visit each family prior to taking the food to them...making sure that someone will be home on the day of delivery, finding out how many in the family and if there are any dietary restrictions, etc. I think he is glad that he took his umbrella...it is pouring at the moment. We didn't find out how much rain we got last night because the rain gauge was laying down rather than standing in its stand. Woody got it repositioned so maybe we will be able to find out tomorrow how much we get tonight. It is so good to have the rain...just wish that it didn't have to come with storms! I was wiping down the kitchen cabinets before coming upstairs...guess I should head back down and complete that job and listen to the rain and the thunder. I will take my iPad downstairs as it seems to be what is alerting me to the storms at least at the moment. A little while ago, a voice comes out of the iPad telling me that there is a tornado watch in our vicinity...that came from an Alabama television station weather alert and then shortly I got a drop down message from a Nashville television station...but wouldn't have known about that one if I hadn't been alerted by the unexpected voice coming from my iPad! You can now say: "Lois is hearing voices!!" Weatherbug is blinking a warning too...so guess that we have gotten initial alerts...to be watchful...until midnight according to Weatherbug...just another night of possible severe weather in middle TN. Not as quiet in our household tonight due to rain on the roof and rumbles in the sky...just don't want to hear the Tullahoma siren! The siren means head to a safe place in your house as a tornado has been spotted on the ground near us. Will report tomorrow night how our evening goes...hopefully "things" will just move on through without problems.

Fully Adorned!

Today we have two trees in full adornment...one out and one in...now the one out may be totally bare tomorrow...hopefully the one inside will look the same tomorrow as it does today. I knew that I had better get a picture of our Japanese maple today as we are due for rain and high winds this evening. It is raining as I type...we have had so little rain lately that it is a very welcome sound on our roof! And, I had to post a picture of our Christmas tree as I am so very happy to have it completely decorated. I had a lot of help over the weekend...Isaac and Joseph stuck with it the longest. I did have to do a little rearranging as a couple of the lowest branches were pretty heavy with ornaments. I didn't think that it would be noticed...BUT "little" Joseph went in search of a cupcake ornament that he had hung and it was no longer there...oops...Grammy found it and we put it back on "his branch" to his satisfaction! I had school this morning and then got busy on doing little jobs around the house that need to be done before my Sunday School party on Sunday. Today I did jobs that will hopefully not get undone and have to be redone! Woody got started putting boxes back into the Christmas closet. He did a lot of coming and going today. A little after Joseph and I got underway with school, Goosey (Woody) went on a four-mile walk. On the way home he circled by our pharmacy and picked up a prescription for me. Then midmorning he headed off to do Bible study with Jeff at the Life Care Center and also visited with a friend while there. This afternoon he decided that he would go to the library since he didn't get to go on Saturday. This evening he went to the Monday Night Prayer Meeting at church. He is home and we have battened down the hatches against the elements...ready for a quiet evening...except for the sound of rain and wind.

Happy Turkey Day to You from the Dorrells!

We had a nice day despite being four people short...Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex weren't able to come due to a stomach bug. We cooked in the morning, ate, cleaned up, and now the turkey carcass is being made into broth...trying to figure out just where I will put it...refrigerator is pretty full! And, about all I can say is that I am TIRED! 'Tis the Season!

Busy Day in Pictures

Thanksgiving Progress

Happy Thanksgiving 2016! We have had a rather quiet day in comparison I would guess to many who are reading our blog. Today all I have done is make a little progress towards our family Thanksgiving on Saturday. I made our traditional Autumn Salad, a gelatin salad with dark cherries, whole cranberry sauce, and crushed pineapple...a favorite especially with the children. My other accomplishment towards Saturday's meal is to cube and dry the stuffing bread that I made the other day...now two loaves of bread = two bags of dried bread cubes. The rest of the day I have done a little of this and a little of that...trying hard to work on the tree, but can only work on it so long till my back starts hurting. I also took a good nap this afternoon...needing the rest for two reasons: didn't sleep well last night and need to be rested for making pies tomorrow! Woody got up and went for an early six-mile walk. When he got home, he made us sweet potato waffles for breakfast...our Thanksgiving fare for the day. The rest of the day we have been working on eating leftovers to make space in the fridge. He has worked behind me in the kitchen cleaning up the messes either he or I make. Guess I will head back downstairs and hang another ornament or two or...'Tis the Season!

Wednesday...All Day...I Think!

Google has changed some things about the blog...so I'm not sure what we will end up with tonight! This hasn't seemed like Wednesday to me...first didn't work in the library this afternoon...then Nathan and Kathy and Kathy's family had their Thanksgiving today...so they were in and out using our "double ovens" = their oven + our oven = our double ovens. It smelled a lot like Thanksgiving over here as we cooked their sweet potatoes, dressing and warmed their smoked turkey. I spent the morning getting the living room ready for the tree. That means moving a couple of chairs, lamps, etc. and vacuuming really well.Woody went for a four-mile walk around 8am and then after he got home he headed off to do our grocery shopping. This afternoon I heard Woody out running the leaf blower. After lunch I hemmed a couple of dresses and fixed another dress for Kathy's oldest niece. Then it was time for me to think about getting the tree downstairs. Before I got all the branches carried downstairs, Nathan came over and asked me to be photographer for some family pictures. I managed to get all 24 of them into the picture and hopefully everyone was happy with their expressions! Just before I came up to blog I finally got the last branch downstairs, the trunk into the stand and the top of the tree on and all the rest of the branches are all sorted acoording to size. Now to get enough energy to shape them and get them on the tree. I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! (Will let you know tomorrow night!) I will be doing a little cooking tomorrow while the rest of you probably feast with your families! Enjoy your day with family and friends!

Bread's Rising!

By the time that the computer uploaded the photos from the camera...tonight's photo and title was in the past as...the bread is now baking! I guess Thanksgiving cooking is underway. This is "Savory Stuffing Bread" to use to make our dressing for our family Thanksgiving feast. I will cube this bread and dry/toast it in the oven and it will be my "Pepperidge Farm" stuffing for my dressing recipe. I guess ours is dressing rather than stuffing since I don't actually stuff the bird with it. Dressing vs. stuffing is always a big topic of conversation on cooking shows at this time of the year. I have more time than most to get ready for our feast day as we don't celebrate till Saturday. So I am plugging along with my decorating and getting underway with a little of the cooking. I don't have as much to make this year as I have farmed some of the dishes out to the Proctors and the neighbor Dorrells. I have made great progress on my decorating. Just moments ago I packed up the last of the boxes that were on the dining room table. I have washed all the cups and saucers and have them all back on the little decorative shelf. They look so pretty and shiny! The angels have all found places up on top of the china cabinet. The only "major" job leftin the dining room is to polish the spoons in the spoon rack. I have them lined up on the table and the rack is all dusted...now to go get my fingers grubby with polish. Nathan and Kathy are entertaining Kathy's family for Thanksgiving. Since they would have quite a few more than usual around their table, Woody offered to make Peasant Salad aka Soggy Bread Salad (what Nathan named it quite a few years ago). It is a raw vegetable salad with feta cheese crumbled in it and a hearty loaf of bread cubed and tossed in along with balsamic vinegar for the dressing...very tasty. He got that made and one of the children carried it over to their house and they had it as a side with tonight's dinner. Woody got the kitchen all cleaned up following his cooking so I could attack the bread recipe. Graham came over mid afternoon needing assistance in sewing patches on his uniform. He is a new cadet in the Civil Air Patrol USAF Auxiliary. He is quite excited over his uniforms...so far he just has his camouflage "BDU" (Battle Dress Uniform). My next job besides probably sewing on more patches will be to teach him how to iron a shirt using spray starch! After getting the three patches sewn on, then I set to work on making the bread. The house is smelling great...and I just checked and it was ready to come out of the oven...so one item finished...off the check list...which I haven't even started yet! In the late afternoon, Woody walked to the Post Office and then to the prayer room. He is now home and we are both settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household. I guess I am off to rest for a few minutes before I attack the spoons. That job will be very satisfying once they are finished as there "should" be a big difference in appearance once I have gotten after them with the silver polish...at the moment they are almost black...I haven't had the time or energy to polish them lately and it shows! They usually get a good polishing "at least" at this time of the year. My other task of the evening is to get items onto the grocery list for Woody to get on his weekly Krogering adventure. So guess I had best get busy so I can get those two tasks completed tonight.

Spectacular View from our Front Porch!

The tree across the street is absolutely beautiful as well as the "carpet" that is below it! It is just breathtaking to walk out and see the vibrant color of this tree. Nice view! We have had a pretty busy Monday. I started out the day with a modified school schedule. We aren't doing Grammy long time this week since it will be a short week due to Thanksgiving. Joseph and Isaac had their usual time with me and then the rest: Elijah, Esther, Joy, and Abigail read outloud to me from the various books that we are reading. I read a bit longer with Esther as we were at a very exciting part...literally a cliff hanger and we had to make sure that the heroine of the story was rescued! After lunch I got back to work on the decorating. Over the weekend I got the shelves above the kitchen cabinets all decorated...so today it was time to tackle the dining room. Esther and I had already gotten out the Precious Moments nativity scene so that meant that it was time to climb up and down the step stool multiple times putting angels on top of the china cabinet. It's almost finished...but I just found some more angels that I hadn't gotten downstairs with yet...so will probably attempt to squeeze them in...hopefully without toppling any of the others! One of the major things that I will do after I finish with the angels is get all the boxes and tissue off the dining room table...put out the few things that I use as a center piece and pretty much be done with getting decorations out and placing them places around the house. Well, now that I think about it I do have the decorative cup and saucer shelves to dust and add a Christmas touch or two...then it will be time for the tree/s! I still have to decide if I am going to do the corner tree in the family room. I am now feeling the crunch of getting totally decorated and cleaned up as we made the decision in the Sunday School class yesterday to have our Christmas party at our house on December 4th...oh, my...less than two weeks away. It's a good thing that I got an early start on my decorating! Woody went to the Life Care center this morning to have Bible study with Jeff and to visit with some other folks there. Later in the morning he went for a four-mile walk. This evening he went to the Monday night prayer meeting. I made up a concoction for our supper. I spiralized many veggies and Woody helped me cut up some others then I cooked them on top of the stove and added some sweet Italian sausage pieces. Really yummy! We are both settling in for the evening. Woody is challenging the computer to Scrabble and I am about to go down and place a few more angels. My chair is beginning to sound very comfy to me...it has been a long busy day. Here's a closer look at the beautiful tree across the street:

Tuning Up for the Season!

Well, I guess I can say that things are coming along. The carolers have taken their places in the living room and have been tuning up for the upcoming Christmas season. Today I got the shelves above the kitchen cabinets adorned with snowmen, trees, and other Christmasy things. Here's a close-up peak at just a small section of those:

I just add Christmasy things to the apples and cookbooks that are up there year round. I made lots of trips up and down the step ladder. I guess that is what made me so tired. I took quite a long nap this afternoon. Not what I meant to do as I was really trying to make great strides today. "Maybe" I will do a little more after I finish the blog...perhaps at least pack up some of the everyday items. I had packed up most of the items on the dining room table, but today added what I took down from the top of the kitchen cabinets. I am ready to work on the dining room and then things will pretty much be done except for the Christmas trees. I want all the boxes upstairs in the hall before I bring down the trees...one mess at a time...ha! ha! Definitely a big mess around here...but it will b worth it and I will really enjoy it once it is all done. I enjoy doing it, too as there are so many memories with each item that is brought out...48 Christmases of memories! Woody delivered the breakfast cookies to the church this morning and then went on with his usual Saturday errands--WalMart and now a stop at Aldi's (new store in town) has been added along with time spent at the library. He walked four miles this afternoon. Today has definitely been a crisp Autumn day temperature-wise. It has already dropped to 39. When I walked next door a little while ago, I actually pulled out a fleece jacket...first time for a jacket this season. Since I had a jacket on, I moved the green car out of the driveway so we can use the white car in the morning. Woody thought that we might appreciate the heated seats in the morning on our way to church! Guess I will go pack up some things. I had a "'tis the season" call from my sister, Cheryl, today. Years ago when we didn't call at a drop of the hat like we can now...we called our phone calls between AZ and TN "'Tis the Season" calls...we called a lot more during the Christmas season. We have continued to make these calls even today when we can call at about any time that we want...times have changed! Guess it is time that I start ending the blog with: 'Tis the season...because 'tis!

If Your Grammy Sews...

If your grammy sews, you might end up with boxes and boxes of empty thread and ribbon spools that you can spend the afternoon building with! When I empty a spool, I pop them into a bag that hangs on the sewing room door and when I think of it I take them downstairs and add them to the boxes that are in the toy closet under the stairs. Esther happened to spot the boxes today and decided to build with them and Elijah joined in with Isaac watching. They have left part of their creation on the floor in the living room with the promise that they will come back tomorrow to finish. Now we will see if they do! I just got finished baking some breakfast cookies for the workers who are getting our church's Night In Bethlehem: A Living Nativity set up. Our Sunday School class was asked to bring refreshments tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that the memories of the class are better than mine...I almost forgot and I was supposed to be the one to remind everyone last night. Well, here's hoping that at least a few read their email tonight! I just pulled the last cookie sheet out of the oven. I have once again had a very busy day working on the decorations. Isaac and I have gotten quite a bit done including packing up a lot of the things that need to be put away till the Christmas decorations come down. I am about done in for the evening. I sat down in my chair "thinking" that I was through for the evening and thenremembered my baking obligation. So now I am looking foward even more to my chair! Woody has had a busy day. He got busy with the leaf blower when the city leaf vacuum truck was spotted in our neighborhood. He got a lot blown to the road. Good to get them up before the rain tonight...though we aren't supposed to get a lot, we will be thankful for each and every drop! We have had so little rain that I almost feel like I am once again living in AZ! Woody's other arduous job today was to call and find out about a new prescription plan D for Medicare for me. Our pharmacy called a little over a week ago and said that Medicare was no longer going to accept the company that I had my prescription insurance with. I think that company is being sanctioned by Medicare/the government for false claims or something. So we had until Dec. 7 to get a new drug plan into place for me (Woody and I didn't use the same insurance co.) Woody had been spending a lot of time on the computer the last few days trying to figure out which companies might work for my meds. He finally narrowed it down to two and he called them today. He then narrowed it down to one and got me signed up. So I "think" that my meds will be covered come January. If it isn't one thing it is another...and Medicare or whoever didn't make this task an easy one! I made a pot of Stuffed Spud Soup late this afternoon. It sounds like it is going to be "soup weather" by the early hours of the morning. It has been another warm day...currently it's 61 and it supposed to get down to low 40's over night, and barely get to the 50's during the day tomorrow...then tomorrow night it is supposed to get down into the 20's and then not get out of the 40's on Sunday and by Monday morning supposed to be in the lower 20's. Brrrrrrrrrr! My bones will not be happy! But I really can't complain since our warm weather has lasted so long into November this year. The Weather Bug symbol is flashing on the bottom of my computer screen. It's telling that there is a "freeze watch" until Sunday morning. It will be our first hard freeze of this season. I guess it is time to go take the last batch of cookies off the cookie sheet and let them cool so I can get them ready for Woody to take to the church in the morning.

Highland Rim Road Trip

After saying yesterday that I didn't need to go anywhere to get beautiful pictures of fall foliage, today Woody and I headed off on a road trip...but not just to see leaves...though I did enjoy looking at all the beautiful colors along the way. Today was my six-month check-in with our primary care physician for lab work and to see her. Today I actually got to see the doctor rather than her nurse practitioner. She wanted to talk to me about starting on a medication due to my gout and high levels she noted in my last lab work. My levels are more than twice what they should be...so one more pill to take. She is edging me onto the medicine slowly...I start with one every other day for a month, then go to one every day for a month, then one one day and two the next for a month and finally two a day until I go back for my follow-up visit. I am putting that last sentence into the blog so I can come back and refer to it...rather confusing! I do have it on the calendar on my iPad and also on the paper that the Dr. wrote the instructions on...but figure that I needed them in as many places as possible! The problem with this med is that it can bring on gout attacks so she is trying to introduce it into my system slowly till I get to the amount that she wants me to take. The trip to the doctor took the whole morning as it is about a 45 min. trip one way...and today's visit in the office wasn't as quick as it usually is. So we didn't get home till after 11:30 after leaving at 8am. School got cancelled except for Esther's long time with me. She came over after lunch. She looked through cross stitch books and decided on what she wants to cross stitch next. We chose the colors for her project and then she helped me put out the Precious Moments Nativity. (Obviously I didn't get that nativity put out last night after I blogged as I said that I might!) Isaac, Joseph, Esther, Elijah and Joy were in and out during the rest of the afternoon. Woody walked four miles on this very warm November afternoon. We are supposed to have another quite warm day tomorrow and then the bottom is supposed to drop out temperature-wise. This has been a busy day and I haven't had a lot of time to just sit except when riding in the car...so "my chair" is sounding very good to me at the moment. Woody is downstairs enjoying the evening in "his chair."

No Need for a Fall Road Trip!

At this time of the year fall color is just everywhere including our front yard. The sun was hitting the leaves just right when Isaac and I were walking back to our house from his. So we headed inside to get one of my cameras and then came out capture the up close beauty. And, I didn't even have to take a trip to see the leaves! It seems like it has been a very busy day...pretty typical for a Wednesday. Woody headed off to do our Wednesday grocery shopping before I got underway with school. We had a usual Wednesday school morning...Joseph had his time, then Isaac, then Elijah, Esther, and Joy had their times to read out loud with me. Abigail had her long time. She wanted to learn how to make a t-shirt using mainly the serger. She got the "T" cut out and then sewed the shoulder seams. So it is on the way to becoming a t-shirt. This sewing project "shouldn't" take too long. I ate lunch and put away the groceries that Woody hadn't put away. Then it was time to head off to the church library. When I left Woody was out watering his garlic bed. Donna and I worked on getting the latest book order processed. We got most of the work done...I think that all we have left is to cover the paperback books with Contac paper. While I was at church, Woody went on a four-mile walk. Shortly after I got back home, I got underway again with the Christmas decorating. Isaac came over to help me again. I packed up some things that need to be put away till after Christmas and worked some more on getting some things out. The Byers Carolers are happily singing away in the living room. One table of them still isn't arranged...when they are "in position," then "just" the tree in the living room will be left to do in there. And, what a job that is...but really my favorite part of decorating. I did get the buffet part of the china cabinet cleared so I can put out the Precious Moments Nativity. I "might" have enough energy left to put that out tonight. Woody is cleaning up the dishes after our supper. The dish washer is washing the neighbors' (Nathan and Kathy's) dishes. (They found out that they have a leak and the plumber hasn't graced them with his presence yet...they were hoping that he would come today.) They have quite a few dishes just with one meal...preparation dishes and then dishes for nine! I'm not sure that our dish washer has been this full in a long time! We have settled in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household...doubt that it is this quiet next door in the other Dorrell household!

Beautiful in Middle Tennessee!

Tonight's photo shows just a little of the colors that surround us here in southern Middle Tennessee at the moment...so many beautiful trees! I got my hair cut today and this is the photo that I captured of Lake Tullahoma while I waited my turn! Today was Isaac's morning to spend with us. We did school for part of the time and then we dove back into the decorations. We did unload several boxes, but when I look tonight I just see a bigger mess! One of these days I will be able to sit back and enjoy the decorations (at least I hope I will!). After lunch I headed off to get my hair cut. Abigail came over to read after I got back and then Joy had her turn. The rest of the afternoon and evening I have gone back and forth between the decorations and resting...more resting. Woody and I took advantage of a buy one get one free Blizzard for a treat today. Since I am decorating I decided to get in the Christmas spirit and had a Candy Cane Oreo Blizzard. It definitely made me think of Christmas. Now to get just enough done that I can have the mess downstairs put away so we can have Thanksgiving next week. I am having trouble realizing that we hit the mid way point of November today. I will have a few extra days to continue my decorating next week as we don't have our family Thanksgiving until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I would like to have the decorating done except for trees and everyday decorative items put away before that Saturday. I don't care if we have the trees up or not and I don't care if the upstairs hall is cleared...just want to be able to walk around downstairs without tripping over boxes and getting tangled in tissue paper! Plus it would be nice to have tables uncovered so we can sit at them for our meal! I hesitate at putting the trees up as each of them has toppled on one Thanksgiving or another when I had them up prior to our family Thanksgiving! One year the BIG living room tree fell and another year the corner tree in the family room went timber...so trees could wait and probably should!?! Woody got back a while ago from walking to and from the prayer room at church. We are now settled in for the evening.

Obscured

Well, my view of the super super moon is rather obscured by the surrounding tall tall trees and their branches and leaves. I was able to get a enough of a peek to be able to post this picture. Woody is at Monday night prayer meeting. We had supper a little before he left. I was cleaning today and had to move the waffle iron and got hungry for waffles so we had breakfast for supper...buttermilk whole wheat waffles and chicken with apple sausage links. Pretty good for a change of pace! Isaac has once again spent most of the day with me. He was a great help with making the waffle batter. He told me that he is a "good little baker!" He got a nibble of one of the waffles before he headed home for his supper. Isaac, Elijah and I have done more decorating. They do enjoy getting into the boxes finding all sorts of treasures and then helping me decide where to put them. I didn't get much rest this afternoon...they are pretty good task masters! Elijah also had his long time with me. He has finished with the K'nex study of levers and pulleys and we got under way with the study kit about wheels, axles, and inclined planes today. He is getting great at following the instructions...I can pretty well sit to one side and hand him a piece once in a while. While the boys and I were working, Woody went on a four-mile walk. Before lunch, he went to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff and then visit a couple of friends who reside there. I had a usual day of school. Joy continued to work on a plaid shirt for her doll. She set in the sleeves today...not an easy task. She learned about "frog stitching" = "rip it, rip it, rip it!" We finally got both the sleeves in...I think that she would have had a lot less trouble on a regular sized sleeve over these doll-sized ones! She is very close to finishing now that the sleeves are in. It is definitely feeling fall-like now that the temps have dropped. Over the weekend I changed over my closet to fall/winter...it had become a little of both due to the temperatures going back and forth. I wonder if I will be dipping back into my summer/spring clothes again in 2016. At the moment short sleeves are far from my mind and in a good place in a different closet! They are predicting the temperatures to really drop the first of next week...down into the upper 20's. Brrrrrrrrr! We are still very dry...needing rain very badly. And, the prediction is that we won't get much rain with the approach of the next cold front...maybe a little...a little is better than the none that we have been getting. I guess I have earned a little time in "my chair!" The last couple of nights I have been using "my chair" time as a time to hand finish the Christmas ornaments for the neighbor grandchildren. Four are complete...so "just" three to go!

Pretty Fall Saturday

Woody and I have just returned from taking Erin home. We had a pretty drive through the country on our way there (well, we enjoyed the scenery...not sure that Erin liked the curvy roads). We ate supper with Wade, Melany and Erin and visited for a while and then headed home. I managed to do a little more decorating this morning...not a lot...seemed like a lot was going on around here...the neighbor grands spent time over here before Erin left. Isaac was really sad to see his cousin Erin leave! Woody ran Saturday errands and after lunch walked four miles. And, now that we are home we are settling in for a quiet rest of the evening. There is a freeze warning in effect for our area for the wee hours of the morning. All I can say is "Brrrrrrr!" We have been so spoiled by the above normal temperatures!

It's Happening!

Well, we have gone and done it! We started decorating for Christmas today. I'm wondering if I have lost my mind. I keep thinking that I'm like the stores...ignoring Thanksgiving. But I figure that I had better strike while I have the help. Esther and Elijah have helped the most. They made many trips up and down the stairs and also helped me clear all the surfaces downstairs except for the dining room (the place where everyday things go until I find a box to put them away in till after Christmas. They even dusted and did some of the vacuuming. We decided, that since Alex (19) isn't really "into" the tradition of the Fisher Price Nativity any more, that we would go on and let them put it out today while Erin is here. Tonight's pictures show them "all" working away at putting pieces where they wanted them to go. I was snapping pictures of them putting out the different parts of the scene when I realized that Joseph wasn't in the pictures. Woody had been reading to him so I scurried out to get him to join in the fun...well, the bottom picture shows you the state that I found him. He fell asleep while they were reading about "the big bad wolf!" He slept till it was time for their supper. Woody managed to get away from the fray and walk four miles this afternoon. He has helped me several times to right the kitchen after our various meals of the day. Erin hasn't felt the greatest...her reads were high...reason = her pump ran our of insulin during the night! Well, she got her reads back down and she is fine now. I'm waiting for a time when she visits that we don't have extreme highs or extreme lows...seems like we almost always have one extreme or the other or both! I fixed supper with Erin's help. After supper I came up to rest a bit and decided that I would blog. Now it is time to go down and put the dishes in the dish washer. Woody was getting them ready for me to load when I went down to get the camera. I don't think that I can do much more with decorating tonight, but at least we are well underway with the task. The children have had so much fun getting into boxes...almost as much fun as Christmas morning! Joy came over and asked about when I would get the Christmas books out and I told her that they were out. She headed upstairs and disappeared for quite a while. When I went upstairs she was stretched out in the hallway reading some of the Christmas books. Isaac helped me get the books out so I stopped and read him one of them after we got them on the little bookshelf. It was a bit of a challenge to find all three boxes for the Fisher Price Nativity...which meant that I got out a lot more than I probably would have if those boxes had been front and center. Well, off to put dishes in the dishwasher. And, I can't believe that I am saying this but...'tis the season!!!!!

Things Are Hoppin'

It seems like we have had a super busy day. It started out with me having a regular morning of school. Erin was up and at um before I was today...that is good as sometimes it is hard to pry her out of bed and with her diabetes "hard to pry out" could mean that she is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too low. So far so good with all her "reads." I'm trying to just leave her alone and let her deal with it...but I have had "to scrape" her up off the floor several times too many when she got waaaaaaaaaaay low. She "should" be able to deal with it all herself...but sometimes her other ailments (aspergers for one) get in the way of her being able to deal correctly. We are having a very pleasant visit. She was a big help getting supper...she loves to cook. We had red clam sauce over zoodles (spiralized zucchini). Very good! She made the sauce and made salads. She and Abigail took turns spiralizing the zucchini...I called that job a "Tom Sawyer job!" Before lunch I told Joy, Esther, and Elijah that since Erin was here that we could start decorating for Christmas (gasp!) tomorrow IF all the toys in the living room got put away nicely into the toy closet. I told them that I knew that they didn't get them out, but that it would be a great help if they would put them back. Joseph got a little over enthusiastic playing a couple of days ago and really enjoyed a LOT of toys from the toy closet without putting one back before he got another. Right after lunch, Esther and Elijah and Isaac and Joseph showed up to do the job. The little boys gathered the toys up from the family room and brought them out to the living room and Esther and Elijah organized the toys and got them back in the closet in very short order...and nary a complaint that they hadn't been the ones to make the mess. Now to see if I have opened up too big a can of worms about decorating...I just feel like I need to take advantage of Erin being here to help get boxes out and down the stairs. Abigail spent part of the afternoon with us as the rest of her family had a gig tonight and Abigail had a volleyball banquet. Two of her teammates and their mother picked her up. I hope that she is having a great time. This afternoon we got the finishing touches done on Abigail's skirt. She tried it on and she looks really cute in it. Woody walked four miles today. He has slipped upstairs a couple of times today to challenge the computer to Scrabble. He also has helped me get the kitchen cleaned up. I have the dishwasher running and I am about to head to my chair...I'm sure that it has missed me today...not much time to sit!

There's a Chill in the Air!

According to a weather forecast that I heard, it is supposed to be down to the lower 30's by Sunday. We have been spoiled by all the warm temperatures. Now if it would just rain. I had a usual Wednesday school morning with the children. Abigail and I worked on her skirt...so close to being finished...that sewing hour goes by so fast. Woody headed off to do his usual Wednesday Krogering and now that we have a new store, Aldis, he also made a stop there. Isaac spent the morning after his school time working with our Lego sets and then went home for lunch and was right back. He and Goosey (Woody) held down the fort while I went to the library to work for a couple of hours. We had a new order of books to start processing so Donna and I stayed busy doing one thing or another during our work time. I came home and got busy fixing dinner for Melany and Erin. They arrived a little before six and had supper.Melany headed back home a little while ago and now Erin is ensconced in "her" room. The dishes are washing and I am ready to collapse. My chair is sounding very good about now.

Election Day 2016

We voted early so we have just had to listen to tales of long lines at the polls! Woody chose to walk to the prayer room early this morning so he could be home to watch the returns this evening. He also did an errand in downtown Tullahoma on his walk. Today is the day that Isaac comes over when school starts and then stays most of the morning. He enjoyed his time so much that he came right back after lunch and stayed till almost supper time. He was my "little shadow" while he was here. He played in the guest room while I got things ready for our guest who is arriving late tomorrow afternoon. Our oldest granddaughter, Erin, is going to come spend a few days with us so I needed to get fabric and sewing projects out of the guest room. Isaac is becoming quite the little Lego builder. We have very few Legos here at our house since we have always been the K'nex building place! When Isaac came over today I mentioned to him that when he finished with his school time that he might like to see the Lego sets that we do have: some Lego dinosaur sets and two very small vehicle kits...one a train and one a bulldozer. He got interested first in the train engine which was already/still put together. Then he carefully took it all apart studying each of the pieces and where they went. I was really surprised and proud when he told me that it was back together...maybe it takes very small fingers to be able to easily work with these really small Lego pieces! Later on in the day he got interested in the dinosaurs. When I got the bed cleared off for Erin...he took over that space and spread out instructions and Lego pieces over the whole bed. Isaac's really big news today is that he started reading pink strips today. These are lists of three letter words. He did a great job! After Isaac went home, we had soup for supper. Then I sat down in my chair...and just woke up a few minutes ago. Now to get going on really getting Erin's room ready for her visit! I also have some preparation work to do on Abigail's skirt before she comes tomorrow for her sewing time. So I guess I had best get busy. Woody has challenged the computer to quite a few games of Scrabble today. Now he is ensconced in front of the TV for the duration of the evening. I just heard a tap, tap, tap on our front door. It was Joy coming over to use our kitchen for a cooking job tomorrow. Her kitchen was busy! After a bit I convinced her to use our food processor...she was grating zucchini...much faster with the food processor. I told her that I thought that she would have been here all night if she had done it by hand. It is her turn in the kitchen tomorrow and one of the things she is going to make is zucchini bread. Well, I'm off to finish with the guest room and then do some work on Abigail's skirt. We have a lot of toys on the living room floor (Joseph enjoyed himself over here too), but I guess that Erin will overlook those if she has "her" room ready! I guess I may stick my head in to hear election results once in a while too. I was trying to "live stream" them on my iPad...but the delay or whatever was driving me crazy before I came in to blog. My main feeling about this election...ready for it be behind us! Tomorrow is another day!

The Eyes Have It!

This afternoon I took Abigail to her eye appointment...and while eyes were covered and doc had his back to me I couldn't resist snapping a picture! We have had a relatively busy day...or at least it seems so. The first days of any time change seem very long to me...yesterday seemed the longest day ever. I kept thinking that it was later than it was when I looked at the clock and then I realized that it had been an hour later the day before. Today we went back to a normal school schedule...Joseph, Isaac, Elijah, Esther, Abigail, Joy (long time), and then after lunch Elijah (long time). Elijah started his long time a bit early because Abigail and I needed to leave before Elijah's usual long time was over. Woody ran errands as well as going to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff. He also got to visit for a whle with another friend. Woody and I both made corn bread this evening. He got the ingredients ready to be combined and then I took over and mixed them together and put it in the oven and took it out. It really tasted good with the Spicy Vegetable Beef soup. Woody has just returned from the Monday night prayer meeting at church. I have gotten the dishwasher going. So now we are ready to settle in for another quiet evening. I haven't had much time to rest in "my chair" today. I think I hear it calling my name!

Turning Back Time

Before coming upstairs to blog, I moved the downstairs clocks back an hour...now to set ones upstairs...including my watch! Whoopee! That moved me an hour closer to my sister one and only sister, Cheryl, in AZ...a state that doesn't change time. As I say each year...it is just so much easier for phone calls, etc. when we are only an hour apart...so for a few months we will live closer to each other! Since I went to Sew Super Saturday I don't know exactly what Woody did during the day. I know that he did his usual Saturday errands including groceries and the library. He also took a walk...I'm guessing that he walked four miles. I'm too lazy to walk back downstairs and ask him. My sewing extravaganza was a lot of fun...but also very tiring. I really missed the breaks that I take to sit in my recliner that I can take when I am at home. I pretty much sewed nonstop except for lunch from a little after 9am until 2pm. I cut out the last few pieces for the quilt that hadn't been cut (my friend cut the pieces, but this morning one of the colors was missing so we had to make a quick trip to the quilt store), I sewed all the pieces together, had help with the pressing of seams, and then we sandwiched the quilt (backing, batting, quilted top) and pinned it...and that is where I stopped because I didn't have the color thread that was needed to quilt it. I probably could have found someone in the room that had the color...but by that time I had sewed enough! Woody came and picked me up. He transports me there and home, as I can't very easily hoist my machine. This time I took the machine that the children sew on...my original computerized machine (still heavy) that I now consider to be the neighbors as I have given it to them...but it resides over here due to sewing lessons. It was much easier to transport the machine this time since I now have a rolling case to transport it in, thanks to one of our blog readers! (Thanks, Connie, it really came in handy!) Woody made a big pot of Spicy Beef Vegetable soup while I was gone. It really tasted good for supper. I headed straight upstairs after getting home...so glad to see my chair! I sat down and it wasn't very long till I was sound asleep...busy day for me! My back is really hurting so I am heading back to my chair as soon as I push the publish "button." I think that I will look through the goody bag that I got...lots of fun sewing things in it.

I'm Packed!

Does the title make you think that I am going somewhere? Well, I am, but just in downtown Tullahoma. I'm going to "Sew Super Saturday" in the morning. One of my quilting friends started inviting me quite a few years ago. She has since moved away and now another frind who is a member of the same quilt guild has continued inviting me. I have my machine all packed up along with (hopefully) all the sewing notions, etc. that I will need. It starts at nine in the morning and goes until 4pm. I will actually be quilting this time (not exactly "my thing")as the whole group who is gathering is making quilts to give to agencies in the city/area for children who have traumatic things happen to them...perhaps a fire or perhaps a car accident. I will be helping to piece together a top for one of these quilts. Woody walked four miles this morning. A little while ago he and Nathan went to visit a friend and I went next door to take care of our seven neighbor grandchildren as Kathy is away. We are both home now and ready to settle in for another quiet Friday evening. Tonight's photo shows Joseph "reading." He really loves books these days. He was having fun telling me and Isaac about each of the pictures in this Golden Book picture dictionary. One of his favorite books when he comes over here these days is one that was his daddy's when he was a little boy: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. Boy are there a lot of things to talk about in that book. It was a big favorite of his daddy's all those many years ago.

Warm Fall Thursday

We had a chance of rain today, but so far haven't seen any! Woody got up early and walked eight miles. This is the first time that he has walked that far since before his surgery. He also did more raking and leaf blowing. This time he was assisted by the neighbors...they were trying to get as many as possible to the edge of our front yards as the leaf pick-up truck was in the neighborhood. For a while both our front yards were leafless...but I'm sure that won't last for long. That's the first stop in our neighborhood for the leaf vacuum truck this fall. It will make several more trips by before next spring. I spent a part of the morning working on the Sunday School lesson for Sunday. I have an all day sewing event on Saturday so there won't be any time to do any last minute studying for it so I needed to get the studying and note taking done before Saturday. It was a good "job" done. The neighbors (Nathan and family) are back. They had been in Florida for a gig and then made a stop at Kathy's parents'in south Georgia. They got home yesterday. This morning they headed off for another gig. This one was at Melany's school. Isaac told me that they got to see Erin as well as Aunt Melany. Isaac and Joseph played over here for a little while after lunch. I was working in the sewing room trying to decide on machine embroidery designs that I am going to use on a Christmas present for my great niece. They played on the floor in here. Joseph discovered the knob that makes my sewing/office chair go down...that proved to be great entertainment for a little while. It really got two little boys to giggling really hard when they saw Grammy and her chair go down! I still haven't turned on my sewing machine. I keep telling myself that Christmas is getting nearer so I need to get busy on these last gifts. I am so glad that I did so many ornaments early this year. Woody just returned from taking care of the neighbor grandchildren while their parents went on their Thursday night date. I think that we are both settling in for another quiet evening.

Wednesday

I guess you can see that I found some pretty leaves at the church today. The sun was shining just right as we were leaving from our library work time. I spent a lot of the morning continuing to wash and dry the fabrics that were given to me. I have them all folded neatly on the guest bed and will see what the girls think about them...whether they want to make something out of any of them. A lot of these may find another home! I have a few that I want to keep...mainly ones that are off-white that I can use to line bodices, etc. Other people's fabrics just don't always appeal to another person's tastes! The main fabrics that I have used that belonged to someone else were my aunt's and my mother's. I guess our tastes ran in the same direction...familial likes?!? Woody headed off to do our Wednesday grocery shopping this morning. I put away the groceries when he returned. We had lunch and then it was time for me to head off to the church for our Wednesday work session in the library. We didn't have a lot to do today...mainly maintenance (checking books in and out and shelving returned items). The main bugaboo today was getting the printer to print...but finally I guess we held our mouths just right and it worked. Next week we should have some new books and DVD's to process as we are waiting on an order to arrive. For anyone who loves books, being able to choose and purchase books can be a dream job...as ever so much more is spent stocking the library than I would ever even think about purchasing for my personal use...for one thing we are maxed out in our many bookshelves here at the house and we rarely if ever purchase books for ourselves. Both Woody and I are "library folk" through and through. I really think that we would have to be since we both read so much. Woody worked in the yard some. I know that I saw him blowing leaves a time or two. He has also been gathering all the rakes that we have between the two households and putting them in a location where both households can get them when needed...at the moment that place is against our chimney...well, that is definitely between our two houses! Shortly after I got home from working in the library, Woody and I headed off to take advantage of free Dorrito Taco Locos...this is a World Series promo for Taco Bell. On the way home, Woody drove through Chick Fila's drive through and got me a Coke using a Chick Fila gift card that is almost used up...but has enough for a coke or two. And, I like a treat of a Coke now and then. So we had a free meal. Woody added a bowl of my chili to his meal...the Coke and taco were plenty for me. Woody waited till this evening to go on his four-mile walk for the day. He returned a few minutes ago...so we are now settling in for the evening. He is at the computer in the school room challenging the computer to a game of Scrabble. I'm not sure what I plan to do with the rest of the evening. I do know that the last two days of going pretty full tilt on cleaning has caught up with me...today I am not moving so fast. And, I still haven't gotten any time to sew. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day...to quote Scarlett!

It's November

As I typed tonight's title, I was reminded that I needed to turn up the page on the calendar in this room...while the photo was loading I did just that. I have had another day of working in the house. I continued with what I was doing yesterday...working on the masterbathroom and bedroom. That turned into wandering into the sewing room (because I was putting away some sewing items that were on the cutting table in the bedroom) and attacking the mess in here. I had lots of thread to put away after all the embroidery designs that Abigail put on her skirt. All thread is put away and and things are straightened, vacuumed, and dusted in here...ready for the next project to mess them up. I spent some time choosing machine embroidery designs that I want to use on some baby burp cloths that I plan to make for a friend's new grandbaby. I got the sewing machine hoop out and the diapers that I will use to make the burp cloths...but the machine hasn't been turned on...so no stitching...yet! I also joined an Instagram photo challenge today...it has taken me quite a while to figure out just what I am supposed to do...not sure that I have it figured out yet...but at least I got a photo posted for today. It is a sewing photo challenge. I have never been too fond of Instagram photos...so not sure how I will feel about the ones that I capture daily for the next 21 or so days. Woody has worked in the yard...the leaves are starting to fall as well as the acorns...at times it sounds like we are under fire when acorns bombard our roof. It's enough to make one jump when it is late at night! I managed to clean out the drawers and under the sink in our bathroom...a job that was overdue. I threw away a lot of out of date items. And, once again we can see what is in each of the drawers...for how long is to be seen! But they look good at the moment at least. I have yet to get downstairs to do much cleaning. I got the bed made again in the school room after the sleepover. Tomorrow I'll get the one in the guest room remade. I started another mess this afternoon. Someone gave me a large bag of fabric that I hadn't had the heart to face yet, but decided that today was the day to do it. So at the moment my chair is surrounded with piles of fabric that I have sorted through. The piles can't stay there as this fabric hasn't been washed and the dyes are getting to me...so I will need to get it into the washer and drier...several loads as some of it is quite a large amount of yardage. Woody has returned from his walk to the prayer room at church...his usual Tuesday walk. It is still way above normal for temperatures and way below normal for rainfall. It certainly doesn't feel like November. Woody and I walked the Tullahoma Greenway again on Sunday. Tonight's picture of a cattail is one that I took on our walk.