Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Chooooooooooooooooo!

I thought that I was better, but after getting home from the church my eyes started itching and my nose started running and I started sneezing again...this is definitely like an allergy attack. I grabbed up my allergy medication that I had run out of and quickly took it and "things" seem to have calmed down. Not what I need at the moment...too much to do since it is 'tis the season!

Woody ran errands (Credit Union, WalMart and Kroger) after he spent time with Elijah (after Elijah's school time with me). School went pretty much as normal...Elijah, Esther, Joy, and then Abigail had sewing. Abigail finished Joy's placemat today. So she will start on her last one tomorrow...Esther's. When she gets finished with Esther's she will have made six. Graham made his own. When I was finished with Abigail's sewing lesson, Woody had returned from grocery shopping. He was feeling a bit done-in so I put away most of the groceries. Then I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed off to the church library. We were in decorating mode in the library today. After several hours of work, the library looks quite festive.

Tonight's picture is what Nathan and Kathy and family's Christmas tree lights look like through some special glasses they have (a bit like 3-D glasses but you don't have to look through both lenses to get this special effect). I put a lens of the glasses over my camera lens and took a picture. The lights turn into snowmen! If you turn your head to one side the snowmen turn that way too...if you stand on your head so do the snowmen...I took the children's word for the latter!

Not sure when I will be blogging tomorrow night. Woody and I will be attending the 11th annual Deacon-Widow Christmas Banquet so either I will be blogging early or late.

Tree Tuesday

Tonight's picture is proof that the weathermen called it pretty accurately...at least as far as when it would start snowing. I happened to be awake a little before 2am and decided that I would look out the window and see if they were right. And, it was snowing to beat the band. I scooted into the next room and got my little camera and gave it a try to capture it falling. It was starting to stick to the leaf piles at this point. When I got up there was snow on the leaves and also on roofs...so next to no accumulation. The grandchildren reported that they went out for a few minutes (Kathy said that they were on their second set of clothes when I called at 9am) and Esther said that the climbing part of their swing set had some snow on it. She giggled and said that they had tasted it. I told her that there would probably be a day this winter when we would get a really good snow that would be more fun to play in. She then flopped on the floor and said that they would be able to make snow angels and she pretended to make one! Elijah didn't come over for school as there was a big truck at their house (they got insulation today) so he stayed to check things out. Esther had her school time and then she and I got the room ready for art. Today they learned several ways to make Christmas/pine trees (the reason for tonight's blog title...sort of wish that it was because I had started decorating our big tree...one of these days!). They drew, colored, and used construction to create several pictures. Then I had several activity papers for them to do with Christmas tree themes...a coloring page, a dot-to-dot, and a maze. I think that fun was had by all. The girls trouped home after donning coats, scarves, and gloves. Graham stayed behind to have his sewing lesson. He completed one of his pillowcases. He did a great job (I hope that he sleeps well on it tonight.)! He now knows how to make European-style pillowcases (those that have a pocket on one end on the inside to tuck your pillow in so it won't come out of the case. Woody has read and watched TV and just generally taken it easy today. He is feeling better and his voice seems to be getting stronger. He'd better be feeling better as he has walked to the church for his time in the prayer room. I sat and rested for a bit after school and lunch and then I got going on doll clothes sewing. A dolly nightgown is taking shape. I'm still not feeling the greatest. Woody still insists that his was allergies. And, mine may be...after all we did have insulation blown in yesterday and I have been stirring up dust as I clean while I decorate and I realized last night that I had forgotten to take my allergy meds the night before and also I have run out of one of the allergy pills that I take (and, didn't feel like going out to get them today)...so all those things could factor into my stuffed up/achy head and my sneezing and my runny nose. Best to just keep going and forget about all those symptoms...I'm trying! The Thanksgiving leftovers are leaving...so it looks like I will have to cook again in the not too distant future. I have enjoyed the days off from cooking. The only thing that I have cooked since Thanksgiving is turkey soup...I'm getting spoiled! Woody got up this morning and made sweet potato waffles...yum. Well, I'd better get back to my baby doll sewing.

Insulating Day

We received a call from the insulation folk at 8am saying that they would be here in a half hour. Woody quickly put in a call to our heat pump folk as they had one more task that needed to be done following the roofing job and preceding the insulation job. Heat pump worker was here very quickly after the call and did his job and as he was leaving the insulation workers were arriving. Insulation work was completed a little after noon. Of course all this put me off schedule with school, as it would have been a bit difficult for us to be trouping up and down the stairs with the insulation hose on the stairs! So Graham came over after he had lunch and he got the two designs embroidered on his two pillow cases. A little later Abigail came over and read to me and then had Goosey (Woody) read her a story and then I walked her home as it had already gotten dark. That was the extent of school over here today. Elijah is doing great after his eye injury yesterday. He woke up this morning being able to open his eyes. He did tell his mommy that things looked fuzzy. This evening when I saw him, he was definitely a different little boy than the one I took care of last night. I couldn't tell that he had an eye injury at all. He was back to playing with his big trucks. Since my day got turned a bit upside down...couldn't really decorate while the workers were here and couldn't really sew, I ended up folding laundry and putting away table cloths and napkins that we used for Thanksgiving and then made a big pot of turkey soup. There was a bit of a vacuuming job after the insulation. I vacuumed in the hall upstairs and then started down the stairs. Then Woody took over and finished the rest of the stairs and vacuumed at the doorway (including our doormat that was covered with little beads of insulation) and also the dining room. When Woody went to heat up a bowl of soup for supper, he discovered that our microwave doesn't seem to be working properly...hard to go back to old fashioned heating things on top of the stove! I've been a bit snuffly and not feeling the greatest this afternoon...Woody still claims that what ailed him was allergies...but I'm wondering if that is the case since my symptoms seem an awful lot like his...oh, well...give it a few days! I spent part of the afternoon working on ideas for art class for tomorrow. Woody left a little while ago for the Monday night prayer meeting at church. Today's weather continued to be quite wet...since midnight Weatherbug says that we have gotten .65 in. (I think that puts us close to three inches in the last two days...rather soggy!). A little while ago the national weather service issued a winter weather advisory for us starting after midnight through 10am tomorrow...possible accumulation of snow! Looks like the insulation job was done just in time! I made another design for hand towels in our guest bath. I have one more to make and think that I will make it after blogging. That will let me accomplish something without too much effort on my part! I have gotten out my Christmas CD's and am presently listening to Josh Groban. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! 'Tis the Season! I love Christmas music.

First Sunday in Advent: Candle of Prophecy

Today is the first Sunday in Advent and Nathan and Kathy and family lighted the first candle: the candle of prophecy. I like having my little camera in my purse, as I didn't know that they were doing this today, but was still able to snap a few pictures. Woody and I sit on the back pew so...Grammy was able to stand up and take a few pictures and not bother others. After the early service, Woody and I both went to our Sunday School classes. I'm guessing that Woody let his co-teacher do most of the talking as his voice still isn't very strong. I taught my Sunday School class. We came home and had a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon. At least it was lazy till I got a call from Kathy saying that Nathan was on the way to the emergency room with Elijah. He had gotten his eye hurt in the church nursery that morning and was going to go get it checked out. He has a very bad laceration of the cornea that goes into the white part of his eye too. He isn't opening either of his eyes for the time being. I went over and took care of him while they went to church tonight. Woody also went to church. Elijah was pretty restless as he can't run and get his energy out the way he is used to doing. He wants to and then realizes that he can't see! He asked me a couple of times to turn on the lights. The doctor said that in a few days his eye should be healed. It is amazing how quickly an eye can heal...praising God for that! He and I sat in the rocking chair and I told him stories and said nursery rhymes with him. But he did want to get up and play with his cars and trucks. He attempted to play with them a couple of times, but it just wasn't as much fun since he couldn't see. I took him a treat of our special jello salad from Thanksgiving dinner and a small piece of pumpkin pie with whip cream. He enjoyed that and snacked a bit more. He had missed a meal and snacks due to naps and his ER visit and was trying to make those meals up this evening...plus it was something to do that he could do with his eyes shut...though his grammy did feed him! I'm off to get the school room cleaned up and ready for tomorrow. I didn't clean up after their Thanksgiving art lesson on Thursday since I was getting ready for our Friday family Thanksgiving celebration. It was a cleaning/straightening job that could wait till after our celebration and I haven't had the umph to do it yet...so now it is time that it should wait no longer to be done! It started raining last night sometime after midnight and it has hardly let up since. Weatherbug says that we have received 2.17" so far today. I know that it was soggy under the stepping stones as I walked over to Nathan and Kathy's earlier. We're so glad that our roof is done as it is supposed to rain tomorrow too (the day they said that they were coming to do the roof...but showed up on Thanksgiving instead).

Ahhhhhhhhhh Traditions!

It has been our tradition to get out the Fisher Price Nativity on the day that we have our family Thanksgiving celebration. This year this happened as soon as Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex arrived. Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther and Elijah watched in anticipation till they pulled up in front of our house. Since there was still time before the meal would be ready, I gave them permission to start getting it ready...that was all it took...my OK! I tried to snap a couple of pictures in between preparations for the meal. Elijah really didn't remember it since he was so small last year. He was a bit overwhelmed when they were all getting into the boxes...as a matter of fact he wandered away after a while. But...when it was all opened and set up and the older children had left it, Elijah went back out to enjoy it all by himself. He's the first that I have caught, at least, crawling up on the coffee table to get closer. He really likes making the angel sing and figured out very quickly where the on/off switch was. He also likes the ladder that is on the side of the inn. When he had some of the people sleeping on the roof, he made sure that the ladder was there so they could climb down when they woke up! It was good to see the enjoyment that they all seemed to have. I like the way they have most of the animals and people all lined up outside the stable so they can see baby Jesus. It will see many changes in set up over the next month.

Woody's allergies are still making him feel not the greatest. The medicine that he is taking makes him sleepy. He's hoping that it will help him get over what ails him. He's not talking very loudly today...resting his voice too, I guess. He did go to the library and to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. He went next door for a short amount of time to watch the children. I have have done about as little as I possibly could today...trying to recover from all the activities of the week. I did manage to finally place an order for some gifts online today. This evening I am watching a vintage Christmas DVD here in the sewing room while I get my computer to stay online and while my sewing machine stitched out a design on a towel. I decided that I wanted a couple of new Christmas hand towels for our guest bathroom...so have one new one finished...so an accomplishment! But I couldn't face getting back into decorating mode today...a lazy day! We have both enjoyed leftovers. I had my favorite leftover...a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes for lunch. Woody has had a couple of his favorites...turkey sandwiches and also the broccoli casserole.

We Are Thankful for...(part 2)

We are thankful for family and a new roof! We had our Thanksgiving family gathering (all 13 of us) today for our noon meal (well 12:30 pm...I said that we would aim for noon and eat sometime between noon and 1pm...I hit it exactly right...right between the two times!). We all probably ate too much, but enjoyed family fellowship and lots of good food. The top picture shows the younger children's table in the kitchen...note that Goosey (Woody) fits into that category! Sorry that I cut off Nathan's head. He, Melany, and Woody were serving the children's plates. Then the rest of us big folk gathered in the dining room. Works well. Everyone pitched in either prior to the meal or after and helped me get the food ready and/or cleaned up! Erin and Wade peeled the potatoes. Wade is our official potato masher and Melany is our turkey carver. Before the end of the day, Melany cut all the turkey off the bones and I started in making turkey broth for our traditional turkey soup. Kathy, Woody and I joined in the effort of the clean up...Woody washed most of the dishes, Kathy dried them, and I put them away. I also got the food into the refrigerator. Those who weren't in the kitchen were helpers by staying out of the kitchen! Alex entertained the little ones for part of the time that we were working. After Melany, Wade, Erin, and Alex left, Woody, Kathy, Elijah and I picked up toys. Pumpkin pie seemed to be a hit...that is what Melany, Graham and Abigail chose for their supper. Melany's cookies were also a hit. Joy, Esther, and Elijah chose two of those for their supper. It ended up being a backwards meal as most of them decided to eat something else from the leftovers after their dessert! There was quite a bit of game playing...everything from Scrabble and Chess to Princess Uno. Erin and I escaped upstairs and worked on turning one of her drawings into a design for me to stitch with the machine.

The roofers arrived around 8am and left probably sometime around 3pm. We were all thankful that we have a two-story house...the noise was much less downstairs than upstairs. I guess we will now wait for the next rain to see if they did a good job!

Woody is still not feeling the greatest...allergy problems. His voice is pretty scratchy so he pretty much just sat back and observed. He did play a game of Scrabble with Erin and Alex.

I cringe when I notice what today's date is...one month from today...and I am so "not ready!"

I'm hoping that tonight's blog goes through...one minute I'm online and the next I'm off...not sure what is going on, but am too tired today to try to figure it out!

(I was finally able to post a picture on yesterday's blog.)

We're thankful for...

We're thankful for roofers who showed up on Thanksgiving Day and got our roof underway. I was also thankful that it was happening the day before our family celebration so we wouldn't have to listen to all the thunking and banging overhead...but...the roof didn't get finished...as a matter of fact no shingles have been placed on the roof so we will probably hear quite a bit of noise overhead tomorrow.

Woody went on a walk this afternoon as it warmed up nicely. I have managed to make three pies amongst all the confusion. You still wouldn't know by the way the house looks that we will be having eleven join us for our family Thanksgiving. I have done some more decorating and I keep trying to get things straightened up but interruptions happen...for example tonight's blog...I have been attempting to blog for more than over an hour...more like two and my internet connection keeps coming and going. I will attempt to add tonight's picture when it is behaving better. Right now I had better go work some more on the dining room so we can eat in it tomorrow. Woody has read, napped, and watched football today...and has done a few dishes to help me out in the kitchen!

Ahhhhhhhhh I was finally able to post a picture. I love this picture of Elijah and Esther watching the roofers out Abigail, Joy and Esther's bedroom window. See why we call them "the neighbors!"

Five Little Turkeys!

Tonight's blog title isn't referring to the grandchildren, but to their art picture/card that they made for their parents. There is a little saying that I printed out and then Abigail cut and glued it to the top of the picture. It says:
These aren't just any turkeys
As anyone can see.
We made them with our hands
Which are a part of us.
They come with lots of love
Especially to say,
"We hope you have a very
Happy Thanksgiving Day!"
They each drew beaks, feet, etc on their hands and then some drew clouds and flying birds and grass and then of course a couple of little girls had to add a few hearts. After they finished up their picture/card, we went downstairs and I showed them pictures that I had taken at Plimouth (correct spelling for the historical area located in Plymouth, MA) Plantation the two times that I have visited there. We talked a little about the Mayflower and also about the Plantation itself. Then I read them a story book that combines a modern Thanksgiving in Plymouth, MA with the first Thanksgiving. After that they helped me read a Thanksgiving rebus story. Then we sang a couple of Thanksgiving songs that were set to the tune of some familiar songs. When the Thanksgiving lesson was over, Abigail stayed to have her sewing lesson and Graham started on a treasure hunt that Goosey (Woody) had buried and written clues for (an idea Goosy got after Graham's sleepover last week). In the end Graham included Abigail and Joy in the hunt. They finally found it buried in the backyard...a roll of quarters. Graham took the quarters home to check to see if he needed any of them in his quarter collection. He brought the ones back to Goosey that he didn't need in his collection. I think that the plan is for Goosey to add the quarters back in to make up the $10 roll and then get another roll the next time that he goes to the Credit Union.

No walk for Woody today as he has a bit of a sore throat and congestion probably due to allergies...he often has problems at this time of year due to the leaves. I have continued to decorate and have started the cooking for our Friday family Thanksgiving meal. At the moment, I have the bread drying in the oven for our dressing. I have read recently that it is dressing if you don't stuff the turkey and stuffing if you do stuff the turkey with it. So ours is dressing since I cook mine in the crockpot. This year I am not using one of the dried bread crumb mixes as a base...attempting to do it the way my mother did...drying my own bread and making my own crumbs. In the past years I have depended on Pepperidge Farm or Stove Top! No cornbread stuffing form us...again, bread stuffing is the kind that my mother always made...so I continue that tradition. I'm just not a cornbread dressing/stuffing fan. Truthfully I don't think that I had ever heard of cornbread dressing until I moved to TN. I guess tonight I will make our Autumn Salad (a gelatin salad that has dark cherries, whole cranberry sauce, and pineapple in black cherry and raspberry jello), a major favorite of almost all in the family. Tomorrow I will make the pies (pecan and pumpkin). Now when it comes to types of pies, the pecan pie isn't a part of my growing up heritage, as Mother always made mincemeat and pumpkin for Thanksgiving. I started making pecan at Woody's request. One time during his college days, Nathan was visiting AZ at Thanksgiving and his comment to my sister was, "Ya'll don't have any pecan pie?" And, my sister told him that they didn't and that his mother (me) never had pecan pie when she was growing up either! Over the years I have blended the traditional Thanksgiving food that I grew up with (that leaned toward my mother's New England heritage) with family favorites of ours. At Thanksgiving we don't vary the recipes...all tried and true...we have been serving the same dishes made from the same recipes for over 40 years. Now I'm just hoping that our turkeys thaw before Friday! This is the first time in some years that we are using frozen birds rather than fresh ones...so have two birds thawing on the bottom shelf of our refrigerator. Woody heard a suggestion last week to cook two small birds rather than one large one...so that is this year's plan...if and when they thaw!

Christmas decorating is coming along...but still a long way from finished. I will have to get to a point that I say that "enough is enough" till after our Thanksgiving celebration.

Wishing a wonderful day with family and friends to all who read this and are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow. Remember to count your blessings!

In the Driver's Seat!

Here's Graham in the driver's seat of my machine. It was raining when it was time to go over to sew in the hem so we decided to stay here and use my machine and stay dry. He got the hem on the other end of the strip of cloth and got the fabric split to make two pillowcases. Then we got the embroidery design all ready to sew out the next time. We had great time in art today...we learned a couple of ways to draw turkeys...we used all kinds of art mediums and then in the end we got out the paint and mixed up some brown paint so they could put their hand in the paint and make hand turkeys. They will finish those tomorrow (paint didn't dry quickly enough today). Tomorrow the four oldest children are coming over to have a lesson emphasising Thanksgiving and they will finish their painted hand turkey then.

Woody got up early and walked to the prayer room this morning since storms were predicted for this evening. We have had rain, but strong storms never developed. After he got home from his walk to and from church, he went next door and invited Elijah to go to the grocery store with him. They bought our Thanksgiving groceries. So our cupboards are no longer bare! I went to get my hair cut after lunch and then came home and got going on the decorating...again. When I head downstairs in a moment I will take down another box and see what I find inside it! It's a lot like Christmas...wondering what is in each box! I still haven't found the corner tree skirt. I can see the box that I think it is in...but there are still quite a few large boxes on top of it...eventually I will get to that box.

All Joy Wants for Christmas???

Joy lost her top front tooth last week...her first tooth to come out when it was supposed to (with only the help of a teenage cousin)...the two bottom ones the dentist pulled due to her permanent ones coming in and the baby teeth not getting loose. Doesn't seem like she should be old enough to be losing teeth...she should still be a toddler...shouldn't she???? I'm sure that she wouldn't agree with my thinking! Woody got up and went for a six mile walk prior to the rain starting. He was almost home when the first drops started. I had school this morning with Elijah, Esther, and Joy and then had sewing with Graham. Graham is making a pillow case from scratch (well, from fabric!). I had made pillow cases for Woody by this method before and I couldn't figure out why the fabric was so wide...it is wide enough for two pillow cases...so he is going to make two! This afternoon Abigail came over and read. Later in the afternoon Joy wandered over and hung out with us for a while. Before she came over I planned tomorrow's art lesson. I think that the rest of the week we are going to have abbreviated school times as I really need to have some more done around here before Friday when we have our family Thanksgiving Dinner...and somewhere in there I guess I will need to cook, too! We are trying to empty out our refrigerator to make room for our "feast" foods later in the week. Tonight I made Spaghetti with Italian meat sauce. We hadn't had it in a long time and it tasted pretty good. Woody went to Monday Night Prayer Meeting at church. I have done a bit more with my decorating...mainly put away some things and cleared off some surfaces in preparation for Christmas decorations. Still a long way to go to be finished with decorating.

Behind the Scene

As you can see as I move farther away from our Precious Moments Nativity Scene...the more chaotic the room becomes! This is sort of a "picture" of why we need to stay close to the "reason for the upcoming season"... to keep chaos and confusion out of our lives of everything that is going on around us at this time of the year! I cleared everything off the china cabinet/buffet this afternoon and then dusted and polished it and then opened up boxes and placed each character carefully into the scene for my Precious Moments characters to portray the Nativity for another Christmas season. We have been adding characters to this scene since 1981...so our 31st year to use the original pieces of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds and the four little sheep. In some ways it seems like yesterday when I came across this set at Castner Knott here in town and in others it seems like a million years ago...funny how time can be perceived! After I purchased the original set we started adding additional pieces when we found new ones and others were added by family members as gifts. This will probably be the only day that the wood on the buffet shines and reflects the Precious Moments characters...as it will gather dust all too quickly and I don't do a lot of dusting once I get decorations arranged. I figure that the floor of the stable where Jesus was born was pretty dusty/dirty...so the farther into the season the more realistic my scene becomes! I handed Woody the box that has our Christmas snowman cookie jar and had him exchange our year-round elephant cookie jar for the Christmas one...no cookies for it...yet...probably no baking of cookies till after our family Thanksgiving! That was his decorating job for the day! Now to put the boxes in front of the china cabinet back upstairs and then to find places to store or use in other places the items that are now residing on the dining room table that don't belong there! What I have started is quite a "process!" And, now you have a view "behind the scene" of what a mess it can be prior to everything finding a place...either as a decoration for Christmas or a place to be stored till after Christmas. You should see the hall upstairs...and all boxes haven't even been taken out of the Christmas closet yet. 'TIS THE SEASON!

Woody got up early and "I'm pretty sure" that he went on a walk, but I forgot to ask him so I don't know how far he walked. We both went to the early church service and then went to Sunday School. He taught his sixth-grade boys' class. He read, watched a library DVD and watched football this afternoon. He has now gone to the evening church service. He just returned...and he walked six miles this morning. It started raining a little while ago. I think that we are supposed to get quite a bit of rain over the next few days. (Probably so much for roofing this week...time will tell!) Erin called us this afternoon. She needed to use a computer lab to complete a project and it was locked..."deadlineitis" was getting to her, I think! I did suggest a possible solution, but don't know if it worked out or not. The sound of popcorn popping is calling so enough "words" for tonight!

A Little Bit of This...A Little Bit of That!

Woody got up first and made us Sweet Potato Waffles. Graham headed out the door pretty soon after he finished eating as he is a member of a Lego robotics team and they were competing today. His team came in second for design. A lot of raking, blowing and mulching of leaves happened between Nathan and Kathy's and our yards. I'm about the only member of the family who didn't participate in one way or another in the yard today. Woody and I did find the ornament hooks so I was able to finish decorating the corner tree and I brought a few more things down and put them in their places. We went through Thanksgiving recipes and put items that we will need on the grocery list. Woody walked to the library and mulched a lot of leaves...his exercise for the day. A little girl minus one of her front teeth by the name of Joy came over this afternoon and enjoyed finding what had been decorated so far over here. She and I carried her part of the K'nex upstairs to be stored during the Christmas season. Woody and I have both done some reading. I finished another book. Our shingles did get delivered this morning. We are now supposed to get our roof done this coming Tuesday. I think that it is supposed to rain that day.

Mission Impossible!

My mission impossible: starting decorating; Graham's mission impossible: getting over here without the girls or his little brother seeing him! I decided yesterday that I wanted to get started on my decorating today. This means lots of cleaning and since I was having to clean up after installation of our heat pumps I decided that this was a good time to "get started cleaning and decorating. Those who know us and those who have followed the blog over the years know that I do quite a bit of decorating at Christmas time...it takes me quite a long time (the older I get the longer it takes me!). This year I am having my ladies' Sunday School class here for brunch the second weekend in December so I really need to get started on it and sort of want to have at least part of the mess out of the way next week when we have Thanksgiving. Today's mission was to get Mr. Snowman out and in front of the fireplace. He is a good draft blocker of the cold air that manages to get by the flue in the chimney (this air leak is something that we hope to correct in some of our energy saving efforts) and out our fireplace doors. The other mission was to get our corner tree up in the family room. That has been Graham's job ever since we have gotten it (I don't even know how to put the tree stand together.). So we plotted a plan to get him over here. It was time for the next sleepover so we called it a "Mission Impossible" and I slipped a note to Graham telling him to sneak over to our house after he finished lunch and his school work and to make sure that none of his siblings knew about it. Nor let his cousins and their friends who were visiting know either...too many girls for him anyway! I had gotten approval from his mommy before suggesting this. So Graham says that getting away from home without any one of the girls or his little brother knowing was the hardest thing for him. He finally managed an escape and came over and knocked on our back door to sneak in. We have had fun. He and Goosey (Woody) made his mission note self-destruct...they burned it on the front porch (Grammy did not know about this part of the day till after the event!). Then Goosey and Agent Graham went up to start the mission impossible of getting the tree out of the Christmas closet. Graham got it put together and then our next impossible mission was finding the box with the ornaments in it for that tree. The one mission that we haven't accomplished is finding the ornament hangers...oh, well, we will find them eventually! Graham got the ornaments on the tree that had loops, etc. already on them.

Woody walked his four-mile route today. He also worked on blowing and mulching leaves. He blew all the leaves off our driveway so the shingle truck could see the driveway to negotiate it to drop off the shingles. I did a LOT of cleaning this morning...cleaning some the vents in the floor, mopped the kitchen floor, and did a lot of vacuuming both up and downstairs(cleaning up bits and pieces of plaster, etc. that the workmen missed...they did clean up...but it needed my touch!)...even vacuumed out the fireplace (that is a creepy job to me...never know what might be lurking...lots of spider webs...I hadn't done this job in a while...only one live wasp!). Anyway, I have sort of pushed myself today! We had ham stuffed potatoes and Italian corn for supper. Graham said that it was a good meal. Woody made us Blueberry Dump Cake earlier in the afternoon. We won't ask Graham how many helpings he has had both this afternoon for a snack and evening for dessert...TOP SECRET!!!! Graham was disappointed that we didn't have any broccoli! Graham is very much into "spy stuff." We have been looking up items on the internet this evening...items that he has added to his Christmas list! It has been a good day for Mission Impossible! Only negative part of the day Woody's work on clearing the leaves from the driveway was for nought...shingles weren't delivered. We got a call from someone who has something to do with the roofing to see if they had been delivered and if they get delivered in the morning then we are to call to see if there is time for them to get a crew together! Eventually this job will get done! I've got to stop Graham wants to see if I can find a map for Treasure Island to print out!!!!!

A Hallmark Moment!

I just love this "Hallmark Moment" that I captured this evening as we were walking over to the neighbor's house to "kid sit!" Reminds me of a Christmas card. Their tree is up, but out of the picture to the left of them...if that had been in it then it would be the perfect Christmas card! You can see part of their Christmas village on the shelf that Nathan just built for Kathy.


We have had a busy day and once again much progress has been made. Both heat pump units have been connected and are working. The workers worked for about two hours inside today and then the rest of the time outside. Some other workers were looking at our house and Nathan and Kathy's this afternoon. I'm guessing that they are the siding people. Supposedly the shingles will be delivered sometime tomorrow and then the roofing is supposed to happen on Saturday. I don't know when the siding and other repairs are supposed to happen.


We had school pretty much as usual today. Elijah and Esther had their school over here and then I went over to their house and had Joy read to me and finished some of her school work and then Abigail and I sewed. Abigail finished her Mother's placemat today. She has plans in her head for the next one she will make...Joy's. Graham and Abigail came over to the house to finish up their school work while their parents and other siblings went grocery shopping this afternoon. Graham was going to go on a walk with Goosey, but the wind was blowing so much that he felt that he wasn't dressed warmly enough so he came back and stayed with Abigail and me while Goosey (Woody) walked his four-mile route...Goosey came back and got more layers as he said that the wind was really making it cold. We went next door at supper time to take care of our five youngest grandchildren while their parents went on a date night...their mommy and daddy are needing to get in some Christmas shopping minus the children. I came over to the house to take my supper medications and to blog. I am heading back to get little ones into jammies and then read stories. I think that the plan is that I will read bedtime stories to the girls and Goosey will read bedtime stories to the boys.

Progress!

Woody got up early and walked seven miles. He cut his walk a bit short as he knew that rain was on its way. As it was, he ended up walking in the rain for about half his walk. The heat pump team arrived around eight and got busy. They pulled their van up next to our garage and did some of their work in the garage and came into the house through the garage. They went to work at the head of the stairs cutting a hole in the ceiling for the air return. Their work kept us blocked from the school room. Elijah did come over and I did a little school with him in the family room and then he and Goosey (Woody) read for quite a while along with checking out the noises that were coming from various areas of the house. We did have a thunderstorm while Elijah was over here and he isn't too fond of thunder...but it was sort of hard to distinguish real thunder from the noises that the workman were making. I stewed a chicken and made chicken broth. When it was time for Abigail's sewing lesson I went over to their house. She will finish her mother's placemat tomorrow. After lunch, I went to the church library and worked for quite a few hours. Definitely we made progress in the library. We emptied a lot of boxes and filled up a lot of shelves. We still need the doors on the front of our cabinets, but it is looking quite good. I stopped at the pharmacy on my way home to pick up two of my prescriptions. While I was gone, there was a lot of progress made on the heating/cooling system. The downstairs unit is all connected and is working. And, the new digital thermostat is all set where Woody wants it. I haven't heard it come on yet. They lack a bit of getting the upstairs unit hooked up...they had to do more to get it connected as we hadn't had a separate unit for the upstairs before. But we are definitely seeing progress...as in a light at the end of the tunnel as far as being able to heat and cool our house. It is turning colder so we will be glad to have heat both up and downstairs shortly...sometime tomorrow unless something unexpected happens in the installation. While I was gone, Woody got a call from the roofers. The shingles are to be delivered on Friday and the roof is to be put on Saturday. About an hour ago I had 5 little cherubs and 1 larger cherub (Nathan) come over with cookies that they had made. Yummy...homemade gingersnaps...reminded of my mother...she made the best gingersnaps...and the ones that the neighbors made were very good. Abigail read to me while they were over here. Graham and Woody worked on his multiplication this afternoon while I was at church. We have had a busy day. The day has worn me out. I'm ready to go find a comfy spot and read!

Workers Arrived!

The heat pump workers arrived shortly after my alarm clock went off. Woody had walked to the prayer room early in the morning since it was supposed to rain this evening. And, things got into full swing pretty quickly. They have worked in the attic, on wiring, poured two cement slabs, and probably done lots more that I don't know about. The highlight of the morning was when the cement (mement according to Elijah) truck arrived. I managed to get through school lessons including art class and Graham and I had gone downstairs to start working on his next sewing project. But when the cement truck pulled up Graham said that he would go get Elijah! All the kids (big and small) enjoyed watching the cement truck and the workers as they poured the slabs and smoothed them, etc. Some watched close up and some watched from an upstairs window. Elijah and Joy got to stand on the truck as you can see by tonight's picture.

I find this kind of day rather confusing and tiring...but it looks like we will ahve new heat pumps in a couple of days. Nathan and Kathy had their hail damage insurance adjustor and roofer insurance specialist at their house today. They got assessed for even more damage than we. Woody did talk to the roofer (same company that we are using) and he said that they delayed the roof job due to the rain. The shingles are supposed to be delivered tomorrow and then roofing should start Thursday????? We will see!

Disappointing Day...for me at least!

Well, no workers, no work on heat pump, no shingles delivered. This just rolled off Woody's back...but for me when I gear up for something...it is hard to gear down! We received a call this before 8 this morning from the heat pump workers that they were a day behind. Well, that is all good and well...BUT surely they knew Friday when they completed their day that they were a day behind...so I feel that we should have been called Friday evening and not early this morning. Then we were told last week by the roofers that our shingles would be delivered today...hasn't happened and it is pretty dark to back up our narrow driveway this evening. I don't know if they are going on weather report for tomorrow which is for rain and thus didn't deliver because they assume that they won't be roofing tomorrow. Anyway, no call from them. Anyway, I have not been the happiest of campers today.

Woody has gone to Monday night prayer meeting at church and I forgot to ask him before he left as to how far he walked today. He has done a lot of leaf blowing and leaf mulching with the lawn mower...so he has gotten quite a bit of exercise today. I had school with Elijah, Esther and Joy and then had sewing with Graham. Graham finished his "Compost Boy" placemat today. This afternoon Abigail came over to read to me and for me to read to her...at a point Joy and Graham joined her for the listening to stories part. I took down our shower curtain today and ran it through the wash with some towels and then let it drip dry. I then mended a tear in the vinyl (I have a special teflon foot that lets vinyl slide under the sewing machine foot). I then headed off to try to find some new shower curtain rings that would slide better along the rod. I was successful and have the curtain hanging back up and it does slide better. I also bought an iron...as a seamstress I go through irons way too quickly. I have bought many expensive irons over the past years to not have them last long enough (in my opinion) so decided to just try a middle of the road iron this time. Time will tell if I like it, but it is better than the one that I had that had decided to spit some ugly colored water at very inappropriate times.

It has been quite windy today...it has been raining leaves. Woody had the whole front yard blown free of leaves earlier today and by this afternoon it was totally covered with leaves once again. It has been unseasonably warm today...I feel the predicted storms in the air and in my bones.

Mild and Breezy November Sunday

Woody got up early and walked his 6-mile route. We both went to early service at church and then to our Sunday School classes. Woody taught his 6th grade boys class. We came home and had lunch and sort of took it easy this afternoon. Late afternoon Woody decided to start making his soup choice for this week, Meatball Mushroom. He made the meatballs, sliced the mushrooms, peeled carrots, chopped onions, etc. and then I came down and started lending a hand as this recipe has a lot of adaptations in it. We used longer cooking barley than it calls for and also our rice cooked for a different length of time...so had to figure out just when to add each of the different ingredients. I also stretch and thin it with a white sauce so had to make the white sauce. This recipe takes a bit of time. It is quite a hearty recipe. It wasn't finished when Woody left for church. He just came home and had a bowl and said that it was "good and filling." We're gearing up for our week of work on the house. Wondering if the weather is going to cooperate...rain predicted for Tuesday, the day that the roof is supposed to be put on...oh, well, we will just go with the flow! Tomorrow is supposed to be the beginning of heat pump and other energy updates. "Should" be an interesting week...time will tell!

View From Our Porch

At least this was the view from a porch a couple of days ago. The oaks are really beautiful right now. We have less leaves today thanks to Nathan's hard work. He spent a good portion of the day blowing leaves from his properties and ours. Woody spent a lot of time mulching the leaves with the lawnmower...that was his major exercise today...he said that was enough exercise for the day! Woody went to WalMart and then came home and picked up Esther and took her to Kroger with him. When they got home from the grocery store they found out that Esther's family was home. They ended up coming home late last night rather than waiting till today. So Esther headed home thus ending our sleep-over! Graham came over and spent some time with us. After he had been here for a time, he realized that it was the "Build and Grow Program" at Lowes...but Graham remembered too late and Goosey forgot until he was reminded. They hadn't thought about it since they weren't supposed to be home to go to it. Woody waited for me to finish a book before he headed off to the library. He was talking with several of the grandchildren and asked if any of them wanted to go to the library and got three takers...Joy, Esther, and Elijah. So he gathered up car seats and the children and headed off. Graham and Abigail stayed here. Abigail came over and read me a story and then I read her one. Graham watched a favorite PBS show and then entered a K'nex.com contest guessing how many pieces it took to make a certain structure. This afternoon, I finally made the potato soup that I had been wanting to make. I finally had all the ingredients after Woody went to the grocery store today. After I got that made and sampled a bowl of it (worth waiting for!), I was ready for a rest and flopped in the recliner upstairs and started reading my next book. Read for a while and then took a short nap. Woody took breaks from mulching and watched some football this afternoon.

11/11/11

Special Day! 11/11/11, Veterans' Day AND Esther's Sleepover!!!! We have had quite a day. Nathan brought Esther over to the house and he had hardly left till we were upstairs deciding what ART she would do first. When I said that she could paint, that definitely was her first choice. She painted two pictures and then she decided to do a picture with oil pastels. That satisfied her "art desire" for a while. I started making a list as she and I were going to go shopping after we had lunch. At lunch Goosey (Woody) commented on her shirt which read: "Daddy's Little Princess." Goosey asked her where her crown was...well, she told him that she didn't have one right then and we told him that was what was above the words on her shirt...but Goosey still teased her a bit. Well, the Dollar Tree was one of the places that we needed to stop and what was one of the first thing that we saw...but this crown/tiara and wand! Well, we decided that it would be fun for Esther to go back into the house with a crown on and show Goosey that she now had a crown! And, for a dollar, that seemed like a good idea! So she held onto her tiara and wand while I got the other things that I was looking for. We were shopping for gifts for a 10 to 14-year-old girl to put in the shoe box that we are giving for the Project Christmas Child sponsored by Samaritans Purse. My Sunday School class decided that we would each fill at least one box to add to the goal of 300 shoe boxes that our church has set. So Esther and I had fun choosing things to put in the box. We mainly chose art supply items...guess since Esther was along helping me choose that shouldn't come as a surprise! But that is what I would have chosen anyway so we were on the same wave length!

While we were shopping, Woody took a 4-mile walk. When Goosey came in from his walk, he noticed Esther's crown right away and talked about her crown. One of our errands was to stop at the church and check to see if the church library had a video that Nathan needed. Esther found a video there that was called the "Crazy Mixed-Up Sleep-Over"...well, we definitely had to get that one for her to watch! So when we got home from shopping she watched that. Then she made a birthday card for her little friend. Then it was wait and wait till it was time for the swimming birthday party. She and I watched the clock hands move minute-by-minute the last half-hour prior to time to leave for the party! She had a great time at the party...eating pizza and cupcakes and swimming! She was one tired little girl as we left the party! Her eyes barely stayed open for her bedtime story.

We've had a great 11/11/11. Hope that you have too!

Thoroughly Thursday

Woody didn't walk first thing this morning as it was quite chilly...37F for a low this morning. It only got to 53F today and it has already fallen to 43F this evening. It is supposed to get down to the upper 20's tonight. Brrrrrrrrrrrr! Woody walked four miles in the late morning. This afternoon Woody spent time talking with a neighbor who was curious as to what we had found out our about hail damage. I got up and did some cooking. A friend and I took supper to a friends this evening. Then I got busy working on doll clothes. I have managed to make a t-shirt top and am now working on a pair of pants to go with it. So at last I am underway with my doll clothes sewing. At one point this morning Esther, Abigail, Joy, and Elijah came over. They were helping Esther move over here for her sleep-over tomorrow night. She has a birthday party to attend tomorrow evening (a swimming party) and her family has a gig out of town tomorrow night so she is going to stay with us. She is pretty excited. Her main plan of what she wants to do while she is here...ART!!!!!!!!!!! I'll fill you in on how the sleep-over is going when I blog tomorrow night!

Black and White!

Well, our hail damage is all in black and white and official due to the men who drove these trucks up to our house today. One belonged to the insurance adjuster and the other to the roofing insurance specialist. The initial inspection by the roofing representative (black truck) started a little before 10am and he didn't leave till almost 1pm. The insurance adjuster pulled up (white truck) around 10:30am. They had worked together before so they worked like a team and came easily to an agreement as to how much damage we have. We will be getting a new roof, new siding on one side of our house, new gutter helmets, a couple of new down spouts, wrappings on some of our new windows, a new cover for our chimney (we requested that it be bird and squirrel proof!),and probably several other things that have slipped my mind at the moment. I picked out a color for our shingles and was able to provide exact kind and color our siding is due to a couple of photographs that I took when the siding was done last year. I emailed those pictures to the roofing specialist...from my computer (in the sewing room) to his iPhone (in the front yard)...worked so easily...technology can come in so handy at times. My head is spinning. But all paper work has been signed and the insurance has already cut us a check for part of the settlement and the biggest surprise of all...they will begin the work next Tuesday! Next week will be a busy one at "this old house"...new heat pumps (and other energy saving features like more insulation in the attic, etc) being installed (beginning on Monday) AND now all this work...roof will be the first item done(on Tuesday). I was exhausted just thinking about all that was going to be done...and then I needed to get to the library as soon as the roofing specialist left...but I did grab a bite to eat and then headed out.

We were so excited to find the cabinet installed in the library. It lacks its sliding doors...but it is in...so progress! We've been waiting on this since June. I spent a good portion of my time trying to get the swags on the windows in the library to hang right. I stood on the new cabinet and on a ladder for quite some time with my arms over my head trying to get them to look better (the curtains not my arms!). I have improved the look...just not sure that my fix is permanent enough...but for the moment they definitely look better. All three of us worked on processing books and emptying boxes and rearranging books, etc. I did remember to stop at the pharmacy to pick up two of my prescriptions on the way home from church. And, discovered that it is almost totally dark at 5pm! Now that I am home I really am tired...feel wiped out! All I can say that the black and white of the day didn't allow me to get to my colorful plans for today...doll clothes sewing! And, I think that I am just too tired to do much sewing tonight. Seems like a good evening to read...as long as I don't fall asleep!

Woody walked six miles this morning to beat the rain that was predicted to come in later today. We did get some rain but not as much as was expected, but I think that the cold front is approaching. It is supposed to drop down into the mid to upper 30's during the night and not get out of the 50's tomorrow. Woody also worked some in the yard today...and, of course, talked to adjusters and signed and initialed lots of paperwork. He and I sat on the glider on the front porch while the adjusters were checking things out and then conducted our "business meeting" there and got everything in black and white.

Looking Up!

The sky was absolutely beautiful around noon today. I looked out our back windows when I was heading to the washing machine. The sky was just so blue and the clouds were so white. So I grabbed my camera (I think that my wash is still in the drier and some more still needs to be washed...now that I think about it!) and went out the back door and just sat down on the back steps and started shooting up into the sky through the trees. Tonight's blog picture is my favorite...it sort of looks like the trees are forming a canopy over our back yard and letting the sky and clouds peep through. My looking up to take pictures eventually lead me to look at our siding some more and I found several more places that the hail damaged. We have an insurance adjuster and a roofer scheduled to check things out tomorrow. We thought till today that there was only one hole in the siding...but I found several other breaks and a few more small holes. We also now see that our new window ledges put in when we got new windows have hail dents in them. That storm really did a lot of damage in our area. During daylight hours, if you are outside, you can hear hammering in the distance as folk are getting roofing fixes. We will find out tomorrow if we will be needing a new roof. I know that we will be getting some siding pieces replaced.

Woody has done a lot of work out in the yard today...raking, mowing, sweeping, you name it! He also walked to the community center and spun on a stationary bicycle for thirty minutes. I have continued to work on Christmas ornaments. I completed four more today and am calling it quits for the moment on ornaments...I think that I may have the number that I need for gifts this year. While the last ornaments were stitching out I got busy putting away all that was out due to making the ornaments. It is so good to have one end of my sewing machine cabinet cleared of all the spools of thread that had been residing there till I finished the ornaments...easier to leave the thread out than to have to keep getting it out over and over...lots of the thread colors were repeated in the different ornaments...lots of reds and greens. After I got the thread put away (including all their bobbins), I got busy putting away fabric remnants that I had been using for the ornaments that had applique on them. I was in the midst of doing that when I stopped to blog. Another thing that I have done while putting away...I got out a basket to put the notions in that I'm going to need for my doll clothes sewing (elastic, Velcro, little buttons, etc. Next I will be putting my machine down flat in the sewing machine cabinet...I prefer to sew flat-bedded, but the machine has to be raised up so the embroidery arm can move while I have been making the ornaments. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to hit the ground running and start making Christmas gift doll clothes.

Woody just left to walk to the church for his time in the Prayer Room. I'm going to go grab a bite to eat and then continue to sort and put away fabric until it is time for Dancing With the Stars. While I am watching that I will get the washer and dryer going again...some of my multi-tasking has fallen by the wayside today!

Day of Good News!

First good news was that we heard the leaf truck in our neighborhood. Woody got our leaf blower going and blew more to the road...he did our side yard which meant that he needed to blow some of our neighbor's leaves to the front of their house. Then he blew what was in our yard to the road and then blew what was in Nathan's yard to the road. Good job done. We're always glad to get the huge piles of leaves picked up. Of course there will be several more pick ups during our "leaf season" but it is always good to get that first huge mass of leaves gone.

Our next good news came by way of a phone call. We found out that a friend who had back/neck surgery last week was breathing on his own and was alert and communicating with his family.

Woody did make his French Market Soup today. I didn't end up making Potato soup as I was missing an ingredient. Woody went for a 4-mile walk this afternoon which entailed getting a hair cut. I have been working on doll clothes for my niece. I have some cut out. Now I have gone back to machine embroidering Christmas ornaments so I can get that mess cleaned up so I will have more room to do the doll clothes sewing. Woody has gone to Monday night prayer meeting and I'm about to head down to watch Dancing With the Stars.

Am I Picky...or What???

Tonight I found myself opening up a can of soup...one of those soups that is advertised as being "just like homemade" or some such. And, it was one of their healthy varieties...approved by Weight Watchers, etc. Well, first thing...there was very little solid in it and then after I heated it and tasted it...it was just way toooooooo salty to my liking. So I drained out all the solid and placed the broth in a pan and added 1 cup of water and then peeled two potatoes and cubed them and then boiled them in the broth. When they were the way I like them (not mushy...as were the vegetables that came from the can), I added the original solid veggies and the two pieces of meat (probably a bit more meat than that in it...but not much!) and reheated it all. It ended up being a decent tasting bowl of soup...and by adding extras to it, Woody can have some when he returns from the evening service at church. So...for a bowl of canned soup (a supposedly quick meal)...it took 20 minutes or more to get it to my liking...so answer to the title of tonight's blog...guess I am picky! I think that I should stick to "my" soups! Woody started beans soaking before he left for church, as he plans to make French Market Soup and I plan to make a potato-ham soup tomorrow.

Woody got up early and headed out for a walk and got confused about the time when he found it light. It took him a few minutes to remember about the time change. It got light early this morning...and boy did it get dark early tonight! I woke up early due to the time change, but messed around doing little things around here and just about didn't give myself time to get ready...usually I hit the floor running on Sunday morning and just have time to get ready and head out the door. Today I had too much time on my hands and didn't hit the floor running! We went to the early service and then to Sunday School. Woody taught his 6th-grade boys' class. We came home for a little while and then headed out the door to go to a benefit chili lunch at a sister church in town. Shortly after we got back it was time for Woody to head out the door again for the monthly deacons' meeting. He came home and was able to watch a bit of football before it was time for him to leave again...this time for the evening church service. Lots of comings and goings today...especially for Woody. While Woody was at his deacons' meeting, I talked for a while with my sister since we were an hour closer to each other!

I think that I'll call tonight's picture: "Light at the End of the Road"

What Time Is It?

I have started changing clocks so it is hard to tell exactly what time it is at our house. I don't change the computer clock as it will change on its own...but others I have to either move hands or push buttons. The top clock is a bit hard to read anyway...but it is reading what time it will be this time tomorrow and the computer is reading the time that it is now! Confused? We will be tomorrow and for the next few days till our internal body clocks get used to the new time. My sister and I look forward to "moving" an hour closer to each other. AZ doesn't change times so tomorrow we will be just an hour apart...so much easier to make calls, etc. when we are only an hour apart.

Woody got up early and I slept in later than usual. Woody didn't go walking early due to the temperature and the fact that it was very foggy. He made an early visit to Kroger and found out that they are just stocking the shelves around 6am so he ended up having to go back later as he couldn't get all that was on the list. He has been to the library and restocked me with books. I have been reading quite a bit lately...at this rate I may end up making the goal that I like to reach each year...a book a week. I often read more than 52 books in a year and then there are years when I read quite a few less. This year it looks like I will be close to averaging a book a week. Woody went on a 4-mile walk after lunch and has since read, watched a DVD, watched some football, and just relaxed. I have spent most of the afternoon near my sewing machine. I'm still plugging away making Christmas ornaments. I made the list of how many I need this year and I still am a few away from that number so the machine will keep chugging them out. So far I have made three this afternoon and am about to start on my fourth one...then I think that it is about time to stop and read for a while. Listening to the machine stitch between 600-800 stitches a minute can get to one after a while!

Vanishing Friday

Today has just sort of disappeared without me accomplishing much. Oh, well, there is always tomorrow to do "something!" Woody didn't walk early this morning as it was drizzling so he walked his 4-mile route after lunch. Graham came over late this afternoon and worked some more with Woody on some tricks to remember the multiplication tables. I made Sweet and Sour Chicken for supper. And, I ran off work sheets for Esther for their next trip...so she will have work when the others are working on their lessons in the camper. I just came back from next door to see how the girls had rearranged their room and also to see a decorative shelf that Nathan had made for Kathy. Very nice! Woody ran errands today...to the Credit Union and to WalMart. He had to get a new blood pressure machine...ours broke. He has to send an email of three blood pressure readings to our primary care physician each Friday. She is checking to see how the new medication that she put him on is working. Seems to be working well.

First Rainy November Thursday of 2011

Woody woke up even earlier than usual and went on a six-mile walk before the rains came. I woke up earlier than I usually do...really too early. So I read for a while and then went back to sleep till my alarm woke me up. Elijah and Esther got their school time in before the rains arrived. It started raining while I was having lessons with Joy. After she finished, she and I walked back over to her house under the same umbrella. I took the sewing over to Abigail and she sewed two seams that she needed to do before the next step. Then she and I walked back over to our house...but this time we both had an umbrella. She spent the rest of her sewing time over here working on the next step on her mom's placemat. The afternoon proved to be a lazy afternoon for both Woody and myself. He took a well deserved nap since he had awakened so early this morning. And, I spent the afternoon finishing a book (and, dozing a time or two over it). About the only thing that I accomplished today in the house was wiping off several shelves in the refrigerator. I decided that I wanted to wipe off the shelves prior to Woody's next grocery trip (refrigerator is a bit bare at the moment so not a lot to move off the shelves). When I clean the refrigerator I can't help but compare it to cleaning out our old one that survived almost 40 years!!!! For one thing it is nice to have a light to be able to see what needs to be cleaned! When we got the refrigerator I told myself that I would wipe off the shelves before each weekly grocery shopping trip...well...I haven't lived up to that "commitment," but they do clean off very easily when I do commit to the job. Woody has spent quite a bit of time on the computer today...but was only successful with part of what he was doing because we kept losing the internet signal. He and Nathan did something tonight to try to make it work better...hopefully I will have it long enough to post this! Seems to be staying connected at least for the moment. I have started reading another book...it's just been one of those days that it was good to find a comfortable chair and cover up with a fleece throw and read a good book and sip some hot tea!

Wednesday Happenings

It has been a lovely Fall day today...nice temps and pretty blue sky. Nathan and Kathy and some of the children raked/blew a lot of leaves today. The children loved jumping into them. Esther jumped in once and came up minus a shoe. It took a while to find her brown shoe in amongst the brown leaves...but find it they did! School was in full session today. Elijah came over just as the garbage truck was making its rounds so part of his school time was taken up watching the garbage truck from one of our upstairs windows. Esther came over and did a great job with her lessons. Then Joy followed up and did a great job with her reading. While I was working with Esther, Graham came over and worked on multiplication with Goosey. Goosey shared a bunch of funny and tricky ways to remember the multiplication tables. After Joy read to me she went downstairs and let Goosey read to her. Abigail then had her sewing lessons. Today she began on her fourth placemat. This time she is working on one for her mother. After Abigail's sewing lesson I had lunch and I relaxed for a few minutes until it was time to go to the church library to work. Once again three of us got quite a bit done. From what we hear one of the cabinets is being worked on. We are looking forward to having it in place and ready for use. While I was gone to the library, Woody walked his four-mile route. He has read, watched TV and a DVD and, of course, worked his daily crossword puzzle. It has been a busy day and I will admit to being tired!

November Has Arrived!

It has been a busy day. Our neighbors pulled in last night after being away for a week. This time they went all the way to TX! School started back in full force. Elijah came first, then Esther, then Graham, Abigail, and Joy joined Esther and we had our art class and then Graham had his sewing class. They used a new medium in art today--oil pastels (glorified crayons--smoother than crayons and blendable (and probably not washable like most of the rest of our art mediums)). We talked about illustrating a book. I read them a story and didn't show them the pictures and then they made an illustration for that story. Then I reread the book and they got to look at the pictures and then they told about the illustrations they had drawn. In sewing Graham worked some more on his placemat. He cut it out, sewed it together and turned it and then sewed around the edges so all he has left to do is some stitching/quilting that will hold the front and back together. Woody had some trouble getting on the internet this morning and then a bit more this afternoon. I "think" that we are on at least for the moment! When Abigail finished her school work at her house, she came over here and read some to me. And, after Graham finished his school work at his house, he came over here and worked on his multiplication tables with Goosey. I stayed with Elijah this evening till Kathy and the girls came home from gymnastics. Nathan took Graham to his Lego Robot "class." I'm home now and getting ready to go down and watch Dancing With the Stars. Woody walked to the prayer room after I went next door to play with Elijah. Woody came over and rescued me before he left for his walk to the church. I pulled the blinds down from one of their windows. Elijah told me that I had broken it! We got it fixed...at least for the moment! Elijah and I had fun playing with all his vehicles. We had them lined up on the road on his quilt. Elijah hasn't yet decided whether he is driving in the U.S. or Europe! He has quite a good vocabulary and it is fun hearing him say what type of vehicle each of them is..."big rig," "limousine," etc. We even put something under the quilt so that there was a bump in the road. He had fun running the cars and big rigs over the bump.