Another Saturday = Another Cooking Day

As August comes to a close, I have spent most of the last day cooking.  I realized that since Woody had bought quite a few strawberries that he was probably hoping for an angel food cake.  After I did a few things around the house, I got busy on it.  It went together quite easily...gets easier each time.  The only problem is that no time have the ones that I have made turned out exactly right except for one time.  You are supposed to cool them by turning the pan upside down over the neck of a bottle.  Doing that keeps it from settling down and becoming shorter and shorter as it cools.  I got the cake out of the oven, inverted it over the neck of a bottle and then turned my back on it to accomplish something else in the kitchen...probably clean up the cake mess so I could make another cooking mess!  When I turned back around the cake had fallen out of the pan and was hanging on to the bottle.  Not good!  In the end I had to go on and just let it cool on my cake plate.  And, it definitely was more compact and dense this time...but tastes good...so guess that is what counts.  You don't grease the pan so the cake can cling to the sides of the pan when it is rising while it cooks.  I don't know why today's pulled away totally from the sides of the pan when it was cooling.

Graham came over and fixed the lamp beside Goosey's (Woody's) recliner.  We shared a piece of cake  (really two pieces...after all he is a growing boy!)with strawberries poured over it with him.  He approved of the treat whether it came out right or not!  He's not picky!  He did a good job fixing Goosey's lamp, too!  Woody's glad that the lamp is fixed.

I made a couple of easy recipes that I'm going to need midweek this coming week.  I also cooked chicken thighs for tomorrow's lunch.  So hopefully I am ahead of the game when it comes to cooking for the first week in September!  I never stay very much ahead as what I make tends to get eaten...imagine that!  I do enjoy spending time in my new kitchen, but I really need to be working on cleaning the rest the house!  More fun to cook, but...

Woody made his weekly visit to the public library.  And, he ran the errand to get what Graham needed to fix the lamp.  He has spent the rest of the day inside doing crossword puzzles, playing Scrabble with the computer, watching some college football, reading, etc.

First Dinner Guest

Graham came over this evening to share a pizza with me.  He's been showing me some of his 3-D creations on his computer.  He has been working on 3-D models for his 3-D printer...I think that is what he has been telling me!  All this is a bit over my head!  He also filled me in a little on his two college classes.

Today has been a grocery and errand day for both Woody and me.  Woody did some of our grocery shopping while he took his friend to do errands.  I did the main part of the grocery shopping today because I had some specific items that I wanted to be able to choose at the store.  Got everything found and bought and got home to put them away.  Woody did help me put them away.

When I got home from the store, there was an ambulance at the house across from Nathan and Kathy.  We knew that they weren't doing well.  The elderly gentleman refused to let the paramedics take him in the ambulance.  So his daughter needed some help getting him into the car so Graham helped her. Not a lot of dull moments around here.

After all my running around today, I'm tired this evening.  I have come upstairs to rest for a few minutes before I finish in the kitchen.  Just need to sit for a bit!  Of course, sitting can be "dangerous" when I'm tired...don't want to fall asleep at this point in the day!  I need to stay awake for at least a couple of more hours or I will wake up in a few hours and then not be able to get back to sleep for hours!

Woody is watching TV...I could join him, but...he watches a whole lot of news/political programs Friday evening and I'm just not in the mood for news—good or bad and definitely not in the mood for  political programming!  So I will sit upstairs in my chair and try not to get too comfortable!  Reading may be a mistake, too!

Play Ball!

 Well, this is the boy who played his first Fall Ball game...but not a picture from tonight!  This is from  one of their trips this summer when they all got special ice cream floats.  Elijah's was a s'more float. Anyway, I had a picture that I took of him before he left for the game, but the picture got transferred differently and I couldn't get it to transfer to the blog.  Woody went to the game.  I stayed home because I was making English muffins and they weren't in a place that I could leave them.  I'm still working on the cleanup from that kitchen mess, but needed a break so came up to blog.

I had my last day of school for this week.  Isaac got his first long time with me for this year.  Last
week we were at the Baptist Student Ministy Center on his long time day.  We are working on lessons about simple machines.  We have a K'nex education set that teaches about simple machines.  Isaac is working with levers.  Today he built a see-saw.  This set deals with levers and pulleys.  We have another set that deals with wheels and axles and inclined planes.  I learn something each time that info through these lessons.  I guess that this is the third time that I have gone through these.  First with Graham, then Elijah, and now Isaac...perhaps the fourth will be with Joseph.  Time will tell!  So far Joseph hasn't shown much interest in building with the K'nex as the others have.  Of all, though, Graham was the most interested in doing all the builds...he still holds the "K'nexpert" title.

Well, I had better go attack the rest of the mess that I left downstairs.  It's mostly cleaned up, but there is still some to do. And, then I have to make some decisions as to a couple of things that I am going to cook next week and get items needed on the grocery list for tomorrow's shopping.

A Less Adventurous Day!

Thank goodness things were calmer today!  I don't have school on Wednesday this year as my students and their parents have obligations at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries Center.  So today I worked around the house and did some cleaning...mainly in the kitchen.  It has been a little over a month since the appliances were put in so it was time to check the filters in the dishwasher and clean them and wash the filters in the hood.  I also had made a mess in the upper oven when I roasted the red peppers so I decided that I would try out the steam clean cycle on the range.  It worked very well. And, the kitchen is much cleaner!

Woody headed off to pick up his friend and take him to a doctor here in Tullahoma this time.  So he was gone for several hours.

After lunch, I headed off to work in the church library with Donna.  We mainly checked in a few books and checked out a few and then straightened the books on the shelves.  After, I left there I headed to WalMart to get a few things.  Then headed home.  We had soup for supper so not a lot of cooking going on today,

Now we are going to watch Master Chef.

There's a First Time for Everything!

Now what I am about to tell you, I hope will make you laugh.  I guess we can laugh now that we are at this end of this new experience.  We do not think that we ever got a utility bill this month...whether it got thrown away by accident or if it never got into our hands, we do not remember the bill ever being in our hands.  We got a "final notice" last week and Woody immediately paid it with e-pay.  Well, obviously they hadn't gotten the payment as this morning in the middle of Isaac's school time our electricity went off.  We just thought that it had gone out. But when Kathy and Nathan's wasn't
out we began to wonder and I was in the midst of calling the utilities number when Woody
discovered a notice on our front door knob.  Well, I still called and they hadn't received the payment and wouldn't turn it back on till they had money in hand.  So Woody headed off to take care of paying that bill a second time.  We have now actually paid three utility bills in the last few days.  As the day after we got the final notice, we got this month's bill (which had both bills on it).  He subtracted what he had paid the day before and paid the balance.  So I guess instead of being in debt to the utilities we "should" have a credit!  Brother!  What a mess.  I don't know if you are like we are...but we don't think about the bills until they are in hand and then we pay them and forget about them till the next one arrives.  So neither of us had realized that we had missed paying a month.  And, we still don't think that the bill ever got into our hands...but we will just forget it and go on...counting this up to a new experience in our 50 years of marriage!!!  Oh, and the electricity and water was back on by a little after 2pm.  Yes, we were without water, also!

Woody got the oil changed this morning...a planned part of his morning.  The side trip to utilities was
not planned!  I finished out the powerless/waterless school morning next door reading with Elijah and Esther.  We postponed Elijah's long time till the electricity came back on.  He and Joseph came over and he did a kinetic "sand" experiment.  We found one that used cornmeal instead of sand which I preferred in the new kitchen.  I will say that is hard for me to have a big mess made in the new kitchen.  This wasn't too bad a mess, but we still did have cornmeal on the floor, etc.  I have run the vacuum in there, but may mop this evening.  The new rolling island came in handy for the experiment and again this evening when We ended up with three little boys come over with their supper from next door.  Their parents and other siblings are in various places.  Abigail had a volleyball game out of town.  She went with a volleyball team member.  Kathy, Nathan, Graham, Joy, and Esther are at a banquet for the Motlow athletes.  I believe that it is a Baptist Collegiate Ministries event combined with a local church.  Tonight it is at our church.  Nathan, Kathy and the three older children are there to help set up, serve, clean up, etc.  Elijah stayed with us so he could go to his baseball practice.  Woody took him to practice and they are still there.  The two youngest boys and I
are hanging out at our house.  

I have also had an interesting day in the technology area of our household.  I continue to deal with the wifi problem with our stove.  I was contacted last night by email telling me "if this was showing on my range display" then this was the problem.  A new module will have to be installed.  I got a phone call this morning explaining more and arranging for things to be sent.  The module is supposed to be here tomorrow.  Then they have to arrange for a tech to come to install it.  Since we will have a tech perhaps he will do the oven light for me!  All these new experiences are just about too much for me!  Hopefully there will be less excitement tomorrow...and maybe we will be more aware of missing bills after this!!!

Monday Musings

We have both been fairly busy today.  My morning was busier than Woody's.  I had a full morning of school starting with Joseph and ending with Esther. Esther continued to learn her new art form/craft of quilling.  She made her daddy a back-to-school present: a bookmark with a quilled turtle on it. This was Nathan's first day as Motlow College's Baptist Collegiate Ministry Director with college back in session. It sounded like he had a good day.  Tomorrow the BCM is having a banquet for the athletes.  I think he said that there were supposed to be 70 or so in attendance.  Starting off with a bang!

Midafternoon, Woody headed off to McMinnville to take his friend to a doctor appointment.  He got back just in time (6pm) to rest a moment and then head off to the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting.  He is still there.

I decided that I wanted some cornbread so while Woody was gone I made that.  It isn't something that he is supposed toner so at least he didn't have to smell it cooking!  After that I made chicken noodle soup...something that he can eat!  And, it has actually cooled down so it "almost" feels like soup weather!  It has rained lightly off and on during the day.  We really needed the rain.  There is actually a feeling of Fall in the air today.  I'm sure that summer heat will be close on the heels of this cool down, but it is welcome after the heat that we had been having.

We both had phone calls to make today.  Woody had to call his Vanderbilt infectious disease doctor's office to reschedule an appointment.  He was successful.  I needed to call G.E. about my oven's wifi connectivity.  I can turn on the oven from my iPad and it had been working until Nathan did a bit of a change with our router.  When I called today, I found out that they are having some problems if routers are changed...if only they told these things up front!  Anyway, I gave information to a very nice young lady and she said that someone will be getting back to me from the "more technical" department!  So my telephone call didn't solve my problem...but at least it has the ball rolling to get things working again. I also got in touch with our contractor's office as there is a slight problem with the undercounter lights.  They emailed me back and they will send a worker to check on it.  So another ball rolling!  I still don't have a light in the lower oven.  I can't get the glass light cover off and need Nathan.  He was at Motlow most of the day and tonight they have company for dinner so he will get to that "one of these days."  As he will eventually get to hanging the honeycomb shades in the kitchen windows.  He's being pulled in all directions these days!!  He'll get to his "sonny-do" jobs for us when he can find the time...and those jobs aren't keeping me from using the kitchen so I can wait.  I still have one more item for the kitchen that I need to order: a clock for the wall.  I told myself I would do that today, but I think that I have maxed out on my goals for the day and will add that to tomorrow's list!

Kitchen Day!

I have stewed a chicken, deboned the chicken, made chicken stock (liquid gold), roasted red peppers, made red pepper sauce, and cleaned up lots of kitchen messes.  I used my new little rolling island when I made the red pepper sauce (tonight's photo).  After I made one recipe of red pepper sauce, I decided to make another since I had enough ingredients and already had the dishes dirty!  This sauce we use as a spread on a chicken sandwich that we like...Woody could only have the chicken, some of the red peppers and the sauce on his.  I ended up making mine an open-face sandwich and melted cheese on mine using the toaster oven.  We both enjoyed our sandwiches.  Woody enjoyed having something different for a change. The sandwich is supposed to be made on focaccia bread.  I plan to make some, but just didn't have time...maybe tomorrow after church?  When I publish tonight's blog, I'm heading downstairs to empty the dishwasher so I can put our supper dishes in.  I worked hard to get everything cleaned up and then turned around and messed it up with our supper dishes!  I'm pretty ready to hang the "kitchen is closed" sign up and turn off lights!  Enough cooking for the day!

Frenetic Friday

Today has been a very busy day.  We headed off around 8am to go to Murfreesboro for Woody's yearly appointment with his dermatologist.  That was a fairly quick appointment.  Then we headed back the way we came and stopped at The Avenues...not a mall but lots of rows of stores.  I wanted to go into Bed Bath and Beyond to look for a couple of things.  I actually found the top two things on my list—a hamper and a double burner griddle. The hamper replaces the one we bought probably in our first week of marriage.  It goes in the master bathroom.  I have been looking for a while for what I wanted and finally found one today.  I wanted the double griddle because on our new stovetop you can sync two of the eyes to work with griddles and other long pans...like my roasting pan—it should be so much easier to make gravy for our Thanksgiving turkey.  I used the griddle tonight to make French toast.  I had been trying to figure out how to make French toast for Woody since he isn't supposed to have milk products.  I was reading some recipes the other night from a Bed and Breakfast cookbook and found several recipes for apple French toast.  The recipes still used milk, but I decided that I could perhaps use apple juice.  I had seen recipes that used orange juice (but Woody isn't supposed to have orange juice) so I thought...why not try apple juice...and it worked.  The recipe that I found also added sugar and cinnamon to the egg mixture.  Came out quite tasty...so something else to add into the recipes that Woody can have.  I get tired of making the same recipes over and over and he gets tired of eating the same thing...so it was good to add something else into the mix!

When we got home a little after noon, we still needed to do our grocery shopping and Woody needed to take his friend to run errands.  So we divided and conquered.  I did our shopping and he took his friend shopping.  I met up with lots of friends while I was shopping.  Definitely Kroger is a place to meet and greet folk on a Friday afternoon!

I came home and it was time to start cooking.  So I haven't done a lot of sitting today nor a lot done around the house.  But the kitchen is cleaned up for the night and I guess I can now sit!  Woody is sitting in his chair downstairs soaking in the Friday night news shows.  So all is quiet on the western front in our household...at least for the moment.

Ta-Dah!

 

Graham and Woody got the rolling island and stools put together!  Woody decided to get into the box and get everything out and take inventory of the parts.  I left him doing that when I headed to the Motlow Baptist Collegiate Ministry Center this morning to continue going through their library.

Woody had the drawers and one stool together when I got home and the second stool almost put together.   Graham came over a little while ago and put the island together.  He did it so easily!  He loves putting things together!  I guess that started with his love for making things with K'nex!  I am very pleased with the pieces...very sturdy.  And, I can move it to various places in the kitchen where I might need extra counter space.  I like the way it fits next to the food processor lift shelf.  I guess this will be where Elijah and I do his science experiments.  Since we didn't have the kitchen table we did his long time up in the school room and he worked with Snap Circuits and Magformers this week.  But I guess experiments will start this coming week.

This morning the children did their school at the Motlow BCM and the only school I did was give Isaac a pre spelling test.  Tomorrow will be his first spelling test ever.  He's having quite the time remembering all the letters needed in the words and to write them the correct way!  He did pretty well on his last pretest.

A Bookish Day

Tonight's photo shows what arrived by FedEx this afternoon.  It just awaits the young man who said that he would put together "anything" his Grammy needed to have put together!  Now we wait to see just how busy his schedule is!  He carried it in the house for me, but he had another obligation this afternoon and then had Wednesday activities at church this evening.  I have read that this isn't the easiest to put together and that it needs more than the Phillips screwdriver that the instructions say is "only" tool needed...that's the reason that I've enlisted Graham's help...but if he is too busy, I may have to begin and go as far as I can on my own!  I'll try to be patient! This island/cart will go at the window end of the kitchen.  I chose it because it had a drop leaf...I like drop leaf tables (have several), it is fairly narrow when the leaf is down, it has two stools that store/hang under it, and I want to be able to at least prop on a stool at times when I am cooking.  A stool will work well at my food processor lift shelf.  This will give a little more space to prep food as I can roll it up next to any of the counters.  I didn't just want a stool sitting out in the room, so this gives me a place to store two stools. And!  It is going to add a pop of color at that end of the kitchen as the base, legs, and stool legs are red.  So I see this piece as killing lots of birds with one stone!  (Esther read that saying about killing two birds with one stone just yesterday and I had to explain it to her!)

I headed out before nine to go to the Baptist Collegiate Ministry center to weed books for the BCM's new director (Nathan).  Woody planned to be leaving after I left to take his friend to a doctor appointment, but he got a call that it had been postponed. So he had to go give that message to his friend.  I rifled through lots of books...probably most of which college students aren't going to ever open.  We will weed a bunch this time through them and will probably weed a lot more at another time after Nathan sees if any of the books are ever used!  I'm going back in the morning to weed more books.

After lunch, Donna and I worked in the church library.  So I got s double dose of library work today. I also stopped by the place that we bought our appliances.  Our lower oven light burned out...ALREADY!  I had to come home and call in more information...model, serial number, and lightbulb number and size.  I got a message left on the phone, that they had this bulb and that I could come by and they would give me a new one!  I hope that they report it to GE...it certainly didn't last long!  And, it isn't easy to get out and out back in.  I had to get Nathan to get it out for me.  It's a tiny little bulb.  I rarely changed the one in our old oven...and it was just a regular bulb!  I think that sometimes old way is better!

I cooked supper and then didn't feel very well and so collapsed in my chair for a little while.  I may have just gotten too hot, as it is quite hot again today and Woody doesn't keep the downstairs very cool.  And, the afternoon sun was really beating in.  I hope that the shades that are supposed to arrive on Friday will help keep it cooler in there in the afternoon. We have insulated windows, but I can still feel the afternoon build up.  I went downstairs when I felt better and ended up watching Master Chef and then cleaned up the kitchen...so got a late start on the blog.  I'll post and then go down and add a couple of glasses I have upstairs to the dishwasher and then run it and I will hang up the "kitchen closed" sign!

School Day 2

I started off the day with school.  We had a good second day.  Elijah had his long time today.  He worked on circuits, made 3-D geometric shapes with a special Magformers Pythagoras set that we have in the school room.  

While we had school, Woody ran errands with his friend who doesn't have a phone or transportation.  

After lunch, I headed off to get my hair cut.  I took tonight's photo at the lake where I get my hair cut. It was a beautiful day...BUT it has been a very HOT day.  

Last night I did get Nathan's shirts embroidered with Motlow BCM.  So they are finished so he has them to wear  to his new job!  Motlow gets underway next week.  I'm going to go to the BCM in the morning to give them some input about the existing BCM library.  

Esther keeps popping in to work on her new craft skill: quilling.  She came over this afternoon after she was finished with school and has just popped back over.  I guess she is enjoying this new craft.

Back in the School Groove

Grammy School got underway for the school year 2019-2020 this morning.  My school is shrinking in numbers.  I only have four students this year as there are three in high school—Graham is a senior, Abigail is a sophomore and Joy is a freshman.  My students are Esther as a 7th grader, Elijah as a 5th grader, Isaac as a 2nd grader, and Joseph as a kindergartner.  Joseph comes for an hour, Isaac comes for 40 min., and Esther and Elijah each read with me for 20 min. Then one comes for Grammy long time from 11-12.  I only took pictures of the kindergartner and the "long timer," Esther, today.  Esther wanted to learn how to do quilling.  We gave her a quilling kit for her birthday with a promise from me that I would show her how during her long time.  She started a sampler of quilled shapes.  Then decided that she wanted to make a quilling picture.  She came back over this afternoon and then for a little while this evening to complete her first quilled project.  She's always pleased to learn a new art technique!

Joseph settled right back into school mode.  We did a lot of reviewing today.  In the 2nd picture he is 

reviewing the lesson on even and odd numbers.  

Woody had an appointment with his nephrologist this afternoon.  And, doesn't have to go back for four months.  This evening he went to the Monday Night Furnace Room prayer meeting.  He returned a few minutes ago.  I guess that means that we are settling into another quiet night in this Dorrell household.  When I publish this I am going to head into the sewing room to put "Motlow BCM" on another shirt for Nathan. He's gearing up for the new college year to get underway and his new job to go into full swing.  I think that Motlow gets underway next week.

Sunday School Lessons

Tonight's photo has to do with Woody's Sunday School lesson.  He is teaching about the Mount of Olives.  He decided that probably his boys haven't seen an olive tree so I found some photos that I took when we were visiting in Glendale, AZ in November of 2010.  This photo I actually shared on the blog while we were visiting in AZ that year, but it has been so long, I figured that it would be okay to post it again!  If I hadn't just told you, I'll bet that no one would have known that it was a duplicate!  I remember that I took this one because of all the different colors of olives on the same tree...really the same branch.  I printed off a picture of an olive tree and then a couple of close-ups that show the olives.  Woody is also taking olives...black and green to let the boys taste if they so desire..I wonder how many takers he will have!

I have also spent time on my Sunday School lesson, as I am teaching tomorrow.  I am taking a break from putting the final touches on it.  I've taught three weeks in a row...my old brain doesn't kick in for teaching weeks in a row...that is the reason that I am the substitute teacher!

Woody made his weekly trip to the public library.  He got a book that I just finished reading: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.  A very interesting nonfiction read...rather horrifying tale of terrible things=massive numbers of murders that occurred in the Osage Nation in Oklahoma back in the 1920's.  I found out about the book from a post from Cottey College, my alma mater.  They are going to use it in their writing curriculum this year.  It is also being made into a movie that is supposed to be released early next year.  The book was quite eye opening and very sad to think that things like that went/go on in our country/world.

I decided to take a vacation from the kitchen today since we have an abundance of leftovers at the moment.  I "thought" that meant that I would have a very minimum amount of cleaning up to do in there.  Well...WRONG!  Woody decided to make "his" recipe (really your recipe, Connie) for coleslaw this afternoon.  So I had a LOT of dishes to clean up.  I have the dishwasher loaded and am waiting for a last couple of dishes to put in before I run it.  Then I will have to dry mop the kitchen floor and that will be my contribution to the kitchen today!

A Messy Kitchen Day

Back to posting a barn picture!  I like this one because of the rounded roof line...I haven't seen many barn roofs like this one.

My first kitchen mess happened when I made cookies this morning.  The first time for me to bake cookies in either of the new ovens and the first time to make cookies in a convection oven.  Worked very well.  I had read that you should subtract 25% of the cooking time and doing that made them come out perfectly.  What got me heading in the direction to make cookies was that I decided to wipe off the shelves in the refrigerator before Woody got home with groceries.  Doing that I saw a banana that I had stored in the fridge to stop it from ripening more and decided that I needed to make something with it.  And, that recipe must have been "meant to be" as when I mashed it I had exactly what the recipe called for.  I made a recipe that my mother made for us on one of our trips to Arizona and I got the recipe from her: Banana Softies.  I shared with the neighbor's (Nathan and Kathy and family), I ate a couple and put the rest in the refrigerator.  Woody's not supposed to eat bananas nor have things with baking powder in them...so they are out of his sight!  I do plan to make a recipe for some cookies that he can eat.  I had planned to make those until my eyes fell on that overripe banana!

Woody did our grocery shopping at Kroger.  He came home and I retrieved the groceries from the car and put them away.  Woody rested for a few minutes and then headed off to run errands with his friend.  He was away on those errands for a couple of hours of the morning and well past lunch.

My next mess in the kitchen came when I decided what I wanted to make for supper.  And, I still have some of that mess to clean up.  I made pork chops and I'd guess that it was the messiest recipe that I have made since having the new kitchen.  I guess I am breaking the kitchen in and knocking the newness off!  It is about cleaned up, but I need to go back down and use the special cleaner on the stovetop...just wiping it off with hot soapy dishwater didn't seem to get it completely clean.  The dishwasher has run and I have washed the rest of the dishes by hand.  So I guess it is put away a few clean dishes, clean the stove top, and sweep the floor and I will close the kitchen down for the night!

School Ready?

I guess the school room is ready for Grammy school to begin for another year.  I have dusted, vacuumed and straightened things up.  All the Montessori equipment is on the long table that runs down one side of the room.  We bought that table when Nathan started going to Motlow and he used it for studying.  Then when he was through at Motlow, I claimed it to do scrapbooking on...some of that still lingers at the back of the table along the wall and under the table.  Then when Kathy and Nathan moved next door and Graham started doing preschool with me that table ended up being a place to keep the Montessori equipment as I acquired it. The other side of the room has Woody's desk for our BIG OLD computer (not shown in pics...that space didn't get cleaned as I might move something that Woody wants left where it is!  It also has a twin bed that I have set up like a day bed and then a little table for the two young Niger boys to use and the TV tray that the girls use when they do their art.  There is another small table that I put in there when they are doing art.  I did clean the top of the computer desk where I store staplers, etc. The top of our file cabinets are the perfect place
for storing all their art supplies.  It is a room that all surfaces are well used!

Woody took his friend, who has no transportation to McMinnville this morning and part of the afternoon for a doctor appointment.  So most of his day was taken up driving to and from and sitting in the car waiting for the appointment to be finished.  Before he even got home the doctor office was calling here (His friend has no phone either) to make a next appointment.  Woody called them back when he got home and got the information and will tell his friend tomorrow when they run errands together.

Melany, our daughter, had sinus surgery today.  She is home and texted me "owie." Wade texted with me and said that the doctor said that he thought that she would be breathing much better and get rid of her sinus headaches.  Sounds like several of her sinus cavities were in pretty bad shape.  She has been miserable for some time.  Now hopefully once she has recovered from the surgery she will be feeling much better!  Now for her to just get through this weekend...and for those who care for her to get through the weekend!

Shoe Day

Isaac came over to see if I would take Esther, Joseph and him shoe shopping...a tradition as summer comes to an end and school gets underway...Goosey (Woody) and I get them shoes.  We've been doing it since they wore hightop-baby shoes.  So Kathy and I headed off with these three today.  Some years we have taken all seven at the same time...but lately it has been just a few at a time.  Elijah and Joy got theirs a few weeks back.

Woody headed of and of a haircut and ran an errand.  After lunch I went to the church to work in the church library.  Donna and I checked books in and out and shelved the books that had been returned.  We straightened the shelves and got a couple of memorial labels run and put in books.  

I did a little in the school room, but not much.  It's about time to attack it if it will be done for school to start on Monday.  The days are dwindling down!  Time to get my head back into school and away from reclaiming the house after the renovation project.  

It's Been a Long Time!

It's been a long time since we could sit in any chair in the living room or walk freely around in the room without having to skirt around various and sundry kitchen items.  But finally today I got everything cleared off chairs and couches.  Well, there are two cooking magazines on the wing chair...but I had been looking at those.  I got things sorted through...most of what was on the couch had been in "the junk drawer" in the kitchen and I had to go through and decide what, if anything, was worthy of keeping and finding a new place for.  I managed to do just that.  Then I dusted the pieces of furniture that I hadn't been able to get to because of all the extra things on chairs and the floor.  And, last of all I vacuumed the upholstered pieces hoping to remove at least most of the white dust that had been floating around due to the construction.  I need to take the curtains down and run them around in the dryer, but that will have to wait till it isn't so hot.  If I take the curtains down, the. I need to wash the windows and it is just too hot to open up the windows to do that task.  Plus I need to move on to the school room as I need to get that ready for next week—the first week of Grammy School.

Woody has stayed pretty quiet today trying to keep cool...though most of the time he is cold whether it is hot or not.  But as hot as it was today he didn't need to be out and about doing much outside.  He has done his crossword puzzles, read, and watched some TV.

I did do a little sewing. I made a pillow-type case to slip over one of my baking sheets.  Then I put the last of my cooking utinsels that hadn't been put in place in the new kitchen yet.  They were waiting patiently on the couch for me to finally sit down at the sewing machine.  I embroidered some gold sunflowers on a dish towel and made the "case" out of that.  It is shallow enough to slip under the food processor lift shelf.  I will post pictures of what I am "trying" to describe!  This will let me slide them out as if they were on a tray and I can still use the baking sheet when I need it.  Trying to utilize all spaces!

Farm Fresh Start

Here's the farm fresh start to Woody's day this morning...farm fresh eggs given to us by a friend!  I made him an omelet.  I also fixed myself some scrambled eggs.  They were very good.  I think that this was a first for us to have fresh eggs.  Joseph stopped in while I was cooking and was surprised by the color of the eggs.

Brown eggs always bring back a memory of teaching at Ray's Montessori.  One Christmas we were making ornaments and asked the children to each bring a "blown egg."  (One that the insides have been blown out through holes in the ends of the egg.). We sent home a note with what I thought explained it very well.  But obviously not...as we had a mother come in and say that she had looked all over town, but just couldn't find any "BROWN eggs!"  So whenever I see a brown egg, it brings back that chuckle over the interpretation of our note we sent home with the children.

After our breakfast, I got busy and got the dining room table uncovered for the first time since right
after Christmas.  There now stands against the wall just a few things that remind me of the
renovation...part of that is a return to Lowe's and most of the rest is the paint.  I haven't put it away because I need to do one very small touch up.

I almost have all out away that I still have on the living room couch.  Getting sooooo close!  Woody visited with a couple in his Deacon family this afternoon.  Right now he is at the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting.  I am going to call Melany as soon as I post this.  I have my phone charging while I am writing this.  School has started back for Melany and I haven't talked to her much as she has gotten much busier!  She has sinus surgery scheduled for later in the week.  I think that I had better talk to her while she feels like talking.  Later in the week may not be an ideal talking time!

I will end wishing Kathy and Nathan a very happy 19th anniversary!

Saturday

This is one of the red-headed woodpeckers who love the tip top of the light post that is near the road in between Nathan and Kathy's house and ours.  I don't think that I have ever seen one so ruffled.  They are usually very sleek.  Maybe the wind was blowing?  Or perhaps he was preening?  I took this with my long lens...he is way at the top of the pole and I was in our front yard.

We have had a fairly quiet day.  Woodybdid go to the public library this morning.  I did some more dusting...as I clear out things in the living room I can get closer to the furniture that needs dusting quite badly still due to the white dust of construction.  Several pieces of furniture we're blocked by kitchen things that kept me from being able to get said dust removed.  I dusted and also vacuumed in the area today where things for Nathan and Kathy's yard sale had been.  I have been doing a little sewing the last couple of days...well, really not a lot of sewing mainly machine embroidering.  Nathan has be putting "Motlow BCM" on several shirts.  I still have several to go.  And, this afternoon I embroidered some gold sunflowers on a tea towel that I am going to make into something for the kitchen.  Woody watched a DVD this afternoon that he got from the library.  He hadn't watched one in so long that he had to have Nathan come over and get it started for him!  We have both worked on our Sunday School lessons.  And, that about sums up our day.  

Friday

I got up to a yardsale going on next door.  I started getting my discards over to them so they could perhaps be someone's treasures.  Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph helped me carry some of the things over.  They had a good day for their sale and will be at it again tomorrow...so if in the area and looking for treasures from someone else's trash you might want to stop by Nathan and Kathy's.

Woody headed off early and did our grocery shopping and later headed off to pick up his friend and take him to do his grocery shopping and run errands.  I got under way with making an angel food cake to go with the strawberries he got yesterday.  I also cooked some hard cooked eggs so Woody would have some for his salads.  This was the first time that I had plenty of ice to cool down the eggs the way I make them so they are easy to peel.  Usually I just use one ice tray full of ice...but this time I could get plenty and still have plenty of ice left in the freezer.  Saying that to say that I am enjoying my first time of having an ice maker! JusT one of the many things that I am enjoying in my new kitchen.

Woody's been working on his Sunday School.  I worked a little on the Sunday School lesson that I will be teaching this Sunday.  Woody teaches 6th, 7th, & 8th grade boys.  I am substitute teacher for my ladies' Sunday School class.  

Trapper Elijah at it Again!

Look what Joseph discovered was in Elijah's trap this afternoon.  It is right next to their air conditioning unit...hope this little guy doesn't decide to spray!  It might be bad for us too, as it is just a short span from the side of our house and our AC units.  They think that he/she is young...but not a tiny baby.  I also hope that the kitties stay clear and don't grt overly curious!  We have caught skunks before.  When we had skunks under our house, we called animal control and they brought a trap (before a Trapper Elijah had traps).  When a skunk was caught, we would call them and they would come and  remove skunk and trap that was theirs.  The last skunk caught was in Elijah's trap and the city still came and took the skunk away.  Nathan assuming that the city animal control would do the same...BUT...the answer was NO... They no longer deal with wild animals...only domestic...so Nathan is looking into the wildlife folk.  Elijah said that he had set the trap before heading off on their trip, but hadn't put in any food to lure an animal in!  Guess it didn't take luring for this little fellow.

Woody is having one of those weeks...doctor appointment following doctor appointment.  Today's appointment was with his kidney doctor for labs.  He headed off armed with lab reports both from yesterday and from last week at Vanderbilt.  And, it worked!  They accepted the info from both of the and he got to slip away without giving up any more of his precious blood!  While he as out, he managed to run a couple of errands.  This morning he also picked up Abigail from Montessori School.

I had been going to go get Abigail, but got an email from our contractor that included our final bill for the remodeling and one of the ladies from his office was going to come by to pick up the check.  So I stayed home and took care of that!  I wanted to invite her in as she was the one who helped when I was looking at quartz samples for the counter tops.  I figured that most of the time the ladies in the office don't get to see the finished kitchen.  She was happy for a reason to get away from the office in the middle of the day and happy to see the finished kitchen.  So I guess handing that check off was the final "final task" and the kitchen is ALL ours now!

Donna and I worked in the church library this afternoon...we did maintenance and a couple of other jobs.  Woody was out on his doctor/errand trip when I got home, but came home pretty soon after I got back.  We had supper...Woody had his "white" pasta sauce over bow ties and I "borrowed" some of the bow tie pasta to add to my tomato pasta sauce.  I think that Woody wished for mine.  I came upstairs to blog and then was going to go back down to clean up the kitchen...I ended up falling asleep before I got the blog posted...so will post now and then do as planned...head back down to clean up the kitchen...just a bit later than planned!

Just Us!

No workers...and note I have stopped counting days!  Our time is ours to come and go and use as we please!  Here are pictures of what we call "The Bear Bathroom."  It is the hall bathroom upstairs...the one that used to be the kids' bathroom and now is, I guess, the guest bathroom.  It's a tiny space as are all our bathrooms so a bit hard to get a picture.  The child's rocker in the picture my parents bought for Melany when she was 18 months old at the time we moved out to California in 1971.  It has been well used by Melany and Nathan and then by their children.  When we first moved to this house, I decided to put it in "the bear bathroom" to carry out the bear theme.  Then when our kids married and had children it was moved down to the family room.  Today is decided that it was time to bring it back up to the "bear bathroom."  The renovation has me rearranging things in other rooms than just in the kitchen!  I am very pleased with the way the floor has worked out in the other rooms we placed it besides the kitchen.  It really goes well with the woodwork in two of the bathrooms and the sun porch/laundry room.  I put some other things away.  I will get the big pile of "get-rid-of items" when Nathan and Kathy set up for the yardsale that they are planning for this weekend.  I also gathered the cleaning materials together that I had kept in the dining room during the reno process...so I could get to them or the workers could.  So...little by little...

Woody had an appointment to get his monthly anemia and B-12 shots and also saw the doctor at that clinic late this morning.  He got through in a decent amount of time since it was time for lunch.  Woody said that the doctor spent less than five minutes with him.  He has read and also worked on his Sunday School lesson.

Much Laughter—Day 57

Much laughter for several reasons!  First the work is done!  The last spray of paint happened outside on our gutters mid afternoon and the work was complete.  No more workers in the house or outside.  We are thankful for skilled workers and the work they have done for us.  We are enjoying the changes.

Another reason for laughter is these two boys pictured above.  They have laughed so hard using the photo booth on my iPad.  We are sharing some of our silliness.  Do they make you laugh?

Woody made zucchini bread this morning...easier than the last time he made it when we didn't have countertops!  He says that he isn't supposed to eat it so he shared most of it with the neighbors (Nathan and Kathy and family) and I kept a small loaf to enjoy.  The slices that I have had I have enjoyed.  Good cook, Woody!

This evening Woody went to the prayer room while I finished supper and then we ate when he got back.  The boys came over here because their parents and  siblings have gone various ways...some are juggling at Chick Fil A and some are at Abigail's volleyball game.  They will be home soon and my laughing boys will head home.

An Early Knock on the Door—Day 56

This morning I was surprised when workers knocked on the door around 7:30.  It was our painting crew here to paint baseboards amend quarter round.  They caulked and spackled and then left mid morning to come back after lunch when the caulking and spackling had time to dry.  I had the job to find and/or buy paint to do the job.  I found one of the colors, but had to go buy the other color.  They were back around 1pm and worked till around 3pm and got the first coat of paint on.  Some don't need a second coat but some will and they will come back in the morning.  Today marks the end of eight weeks since the renovation project got underway.  Our contractor came by to decide what needs to be done to fix the leaking problem on the outside of the house.  He also came in and addressed the one problem in the kitchen. Woody picked up on this problem...the undercabinet lights were casting
shadows at the outer edge of our counters.  We finally realized that the strips of lights had been placed to close to the lip that hangs down on the upper cabinets.  That was an easy fix as they are peel and stick!  He worked a bit on the outside and got it ready for workers to finish it tomorrow.  Leak should be fixed tomorrow and painting should be done tomorrow.  All the items on my, as the contractor calls it, "punch list" have been marked off.  So I think that the end is as near as tomorrow.  We will both be so glad to have our house back minus workers!  And, just about everyone has told me that an eight-week turnaround for a remodel of a kitchen plus some other things done is very good in the renovating world.  I just know that I am happy with what they have done!  But I am very glad to be on this end of the time frame!  In some ways it seems like forever...and it has taken most of our summer as it started shortly after school ended and is ending just a few days before Dorrell Academy gets back underway.

While the preparation for painting was happening, Woody took his friend to run errands.  I headed off
to buy a quart of paint and then go pick up Abigail. This was the first day of Ray's Montessori School and Abigail started her second year of working there.  Her parents and brother wer out of pocket so I got to go pick her up.  It was fun to go in to pick Abigail up...lots of memories of first days of school there for me as I taught there for 27 years.   One of the current teachers used to pick up her niece and nephews when I taught there...now she teaches there and two of her grandchildren attend there. Two other teachers were students at the school when I was there...they now teach there and their children attend.  One of the teachers taught there when I was there and of course the owner who hired me is still there.  And, another teacher there I taught all her children.  So it is like old-home week when I stop by!  On the way home, Abigail told me that she thought that she had heard some of the other teachers talking and that this is the 50th year of Ray's Montessori!  I know that Melany started school there not many years after it began and she started when she was three...and she is approaching 50 (don't tell her that I told you!). So the 50th year is soon if not this year.

Woody has just returned from Monday night Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  So I guess that means that we are settling in for another quiet night.  "Maybe" I will be able to tell you tomorrow night that the renovations are totally complete!  I hope so!

Happy 12th Birthday, Esther—Day 54

Tomorrow Happened—Day 53

I started to wonder if today would be yesterday's promised tomorrow as our workman didn't get here till around 3pm.  But he DID come and he DID finish the floors  bathrooms!  Now all inside projects have been tackled and pretty much accomplished.  I have been going over things and making a list of things to point out to the contractor...but there are very few things that need to be done and/or touched up,  I had made a pretty thorough list of "problems" and they were fixed already.  So just a couple of  little things.  And, they still have to correct the leak problem outside.  All I can say is sooooooo close!

Woody almost forgot that it was Friday.  I asked him if he wasn't going to go to the store this morning and that jogged his memory as to which day it was!  This happens when one is retired...no clue to what day it is...as there is no need to know what day it is! He took his friend to do errands first and then after lunch did our shopping at Kroger.  I stayed home waiting for our worker.  I will be so glad when waiting for workers is totally over!

Our worker didn't get finished till almost 6pm.  After he left, I vacuumed some and put things back in the bathrooms.  I'm pleased with how the bathrooms look.  I will have a painting job once the other workers are totally done.  That job being the woodwork in all three bathrooms.  The woodwork needs to be done anyway and they added quarter round and it is white,,,so I want it painted the same as the baseboards and cabinets.  So on down the road I will be tackling that job.

Tomorrow is Esther's birthday and I was enlisted to make her cake as she and her family have been on the road for a couple of weeks and just got home late this afternoon.  They had a bit of a problem getting home after Atlanta...the interstate was shut down.  They found out while they were trying to reroute themselves that it was because Vice President Pence was traveling down that interstate to get to an airport.  They finally got back on the interstate but it added about 1-1/2 hours to their travels today.  As soon as I post this I am going to go down and make the frosting and then frost the cake.   My oven is doing a good job of baking.  I also made cornbread today.  We have a new minister for children and families at our church and Kathy is going to take a meal to them.  One of the things that she needed to go with the meal she was taking was cornbread so I offered to make it since they were still on the road.  

Guess I'll go make frosting!

Tomorrow—Day 52

We got a call this morning to say that the worker will be here in the morning to finish the floors...now we will see if "tomorrow" ever comes!  I am also to come up with a list with anything that needs touching up or fixed or whatever to present to the contractor prior to everything being finalized. I have a few things but most have been fixed already.

 I spent part of the day working on emptying boxes and packing/storing most of the items away.  Coming close to having all boxes empty.  It will be a major accomplishment when the last item is out of the last box...and that closet door is closed!

I fixed Woody a chicken sauce to go on angel hair pasta for supper.  I put in lots of fresh herbs...tasted pretty good...using liquid gold /chicken broth.  I had leftover tomato sauce that I made for myself yesterday.  I've got to go back and finish cleaning the kitchen. I stopped to watch Master Chef and to blog...trying to multitask...not doing the best job.

Tonight's photo is one of my favorite Tiger Swallowtail picture.  I'm sure that I have posted it on the blog before.  I like how iridescent its wings are.