Will our April Showers Bring May Flowers?

I guess we will start counting our flowers as May flowers starting tomorrow!  I cannot believe that April is already over.  We have had a nice day today...storms have left us.  I had school with Isaac and then Elijah and then Graham and Abigail read to me.  Then it was Joy's turn to have her long Grammy time.  Today she read and then she sewed.  She is making a placemat for Isaac.  Abigail made placemats some time back for her mommy, daddy, Joy, Esther, Elijah and herself.  Graham made his own.  And, now Joy is making Isaac's.  Perhaps Esther will make Joseph's when he is ready for one!  After a quick lunch it was time to head to the church to work in the library for a couple of hours.  We got a lot done and best of all...without too much confusion!  I ran errands on the way home--public library and the pharmacy.  While I was away Woody went on his daily walk.  When I got back, he still wasn't home so I figured that he had walked farther today and I was right.  He said to call it eight miles.

Stormy Nights!

Last night as I was blogging the storms were starting to roll in and tonight as I sat down to find a picture for tonight's blog another storm rolled in...thunderstorm...hopefully tonight we aren't going to face tornado sirens!  Last night I think that our town warning siren went off two or three times.  The third was the time that the tornado was actually on a path to us...BUT...praise the Lord as it got here it dissipated.  I keep picturing Nathan and Kathy and their seven all in their pantry--very close quarters!  Woody went on a four-mile walk this morning.  And, he has worked in the yard today.  I had school...a normal Tuesday.  Art was fun today.  We made homemade puffy paint.  Each of the four made a color and then shared the colors to paint their pictures.  Then we popped the pictures in the microwave for 30 seconds and the paint puffed up and dried all at the same time.  A fun project...another one that I found instructions for on the internet.  Woody drove to the prayer room at church tonight due to impending storms.  He is next door at the moment.  I'm going to join him momentarily.  Kathy and Nathan have a meeting.  They will be coming over here to conduct their meeting via phone and computer and they need it quiet (not always guaranteed with seven children!) .  Goosey (Woody) and I are in charge of bedtime story time.  They are all pretty tired as they had a late night due to the storms...they all had a sleepover in their living room so they would be close to their safe place in case of a tornado.  Our thunderstorm seems to have passed on and we just have rain at the moment...light rain at that.

The Calm Before the Storm?

Truthfully we have had a pretty calm day weather-wise here...expected a day of rain, but the rain has held off till just a few moments ago.  I am going to blog quickly as there is no telling what the weather will hold for us as the evening goes on.  There is a tornado on the ground just a bit south of us.  The ones that have "popped" up in Alabama are heading in our general direction.  Praying for everyone to stay safe--though this afternoon's tornadoes in Alabama have already proved to be killer tornadoes.  I have never seen radar as I saw earlier...the weatherman was actually pointing out that debris showing in the radar that the tornado was on the ground could be seen on the radar.  Woody walked early this morning getting ahead of the storms.  Melany's school in Rutherford County let out two hours early due to predicted storms.  Yesterday was the anniversary of the devastating outbreak of tornadoes a couple of years ago...so the possible severity and devastation is high on everyone's minds.  We have been warned for days about this storm.  My phone just gave me a warning (a first) guess I'll head downstairs.

The Lost is Found!

First problem of the morning...at least for me!  Woody lost his key to the new car.  He had a recollection of taking it out of his pocket and putting it "some place."  Now just where that "some place" was...was the problem!  He did a lot of looking and then left it to me to find it while he went to the grocery store, the library and ran some errands.  Thanks a lot!  Before he left he pulled his dresser drawers away from the wall to make sure that the key hadn't fallen behind or under it.  Nope!  But I suggested that he leave his dresser out so I could vacuum behind it...something to do after I looked for the key.  Woody went upstairs before he left and I went downstairs...I stuck my hand down the side of the cushion of his recliner and voila!  There it was...so found it before he even left to run his errands!

I then went back upstairs and vacuumed in our room and left the dresser for Woody to put back when he got back home.  Then I went downstairs and started taking things off the top shelves in the cabinets to the left of the sink.  I got those cabinets all done...so now "just" have the drawers and the lower cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen.  And those are really deep and have LOTS of stuff stored in them.  Another day!

I rested for a while and then started tackling the cooking task of the day--Chicken and Sausage Gumbo.  This takes lots of hours of simmering...I just had a taste a few minutes ago.  Pretty good...worth the effort of all the steps!  Quite spicy using that new salt-free Cajun Seasoning mix that I made and  Andouille sausage.  This recipe is very close to what we had years ago when visiting in New Orleans...they used Andouille sausage in theirs...a rather spicy sausage.  Hopefully the effort of making this will feed for us for several meals, as I'm not sure when I will have enough energy to cook again! At the moment, I'm hurting from the top of my head down to the tips of my toes! Part of the hurt may be my body telling me that there are storms approaching. We are already being warned about potentially dangerous storms the first several days of the new week. I have worked and worked on getting the kitchen cleaned up...but there are still some dishes left over from what went into the dishwasher.  Not sure that those will get washed tonight...unless a kitchen fairy flutters in!  I still have to get the gumbo put away along with the rice (they're cooling while I blog)...then I will collapse! The recliner and the heating pad sound pretty good to me at the moment!

Woody walked his 6-mile route today and did quite a bit in the yard.  So with all his morning errands and walking and yard work, he has had a busy day too.  He is relaxing with a DVD movie that he got at the library today. We haven't heard back from the NIH appointment scheduler about his next appointments.

Pretty Friday

Another pretty day here in Middle TN.  We did have some rain during the night, but a while into the day the cloud cover had blown away and it was a pretty blue sky day with pretty white clouds.  Woody spent a lot of the day outside working in our gardens and doing some mowing.  This afternoon he went on a six-mile walk.  I have once again spent most of the day inside...best for me during this high pollen time.  We had some ripe bananas so I made a double batch of Banana Bran muffins.  I have put some in the freezer so we can have them for a quick breakfast or snack.  I did finish the book I was reading and finished the cross stitch part of a picture that I had been working on...now just have some backstitching to do.  I didn't sleep the best last night so that has meant several dozing times for me during the day.  After one of my rests I put together a salt-free Cajun Seasoning blend.  We had run out of the store bought one that we had been using and at the moment none of the stores in Tullahoma have the salt-free kind...so I decided to make my own.  I only made a half-recipe so if we don't like the flavoring then I can either try to order what we had been using or try another recipe for it.  I will be using it in Chicken and Sausage Gumbo.  It should liven things up as there were quite a few different peppers (black, white, red) in it!   Woody is watching a library DVD and I am either going to go finish my cross stitch picture or read an e-book that I checked out from our library's R.E.A.D.S. program.  Tonight's picture is of the dogwood that is in the front of our house...taken today.

Last April Thursday for 2014

Another beautiful day for us in Middle TN.  It was rather chilly early this morning so Woody put off his six-mile walk till this afternoon.  But it wasn't long into the morning that he was outside working in the gardens.  I had school with Isaac and then Elijah and then read on the front porch with Graham.  Abigail chose to read inside.  Then it was Esther's turn to come over for her long Grammy time.  She read one story in her school reader and then she got busy on her cross stitch book mark.  She completed one whole motif today--a rose. She's doing a great job with her cross stitching.  Today she found out that backstitch is pretty easy to do.  Next she will start stitching a bunny and then next a blue bird and then we will make it into a bookmark.  When Esther was just about four stitches from finishing the backstitch around the rose, her daddy pulled into the driveway.  He was returning from Nebraska.  He flew out early yesterday morning and was back by noon today!  He did a ministry program at a church in Omaha yesterday.  Everyone was excited to see him back home.  Woody and I ate lunch with them and heard about his trip.  Then we had a short show put on by the children.  Then Esther and I headed back over here so she could put in the last four stitches.  After lunch I got to work making our supper...well, I had really started it before school...just got going on the next step in making split pea soup.  Woody says that by definition it is as thick as pea soup...but this time it is much thinner than my pea soup usually turns out.  Still tasted like pea soup.  My sister might even have eaten this pea soup since it isn't very thick.  She wasn't fond of Mother's pea soup as it was "as thick as pea soup!"  Now, I on the other hand, really liked Mother's.  I was about done in by the time that the soup had finished it's last simmering time.  I ate a bowl and have pretty much sat in "my" chair ever since! I am hoping that my eyes will stay open so I can read for a while.  My book is due on Saturday and I don't think that I will be able to renew it so I want to get it finished.  I am going right along in it so think that it will be no problem to have it finished by the time that Woody heads off to the library on Saturday morning.  Woody is relaxing in front of the TV this evening...not sure if his eyes are staying open or not.

What a Wednesday!

"What a day" refers to a couple of things about our day... it was an absolutely beautiful day and it was also a very busy day.  Woody started out his day with an early morning four-mile walk.  Then by 8am we were in the car heading for McMinnville.  I had my six month check-in with the doctor mainly for labwork.  That was a pretty quick appointment and then I proceeded on with Woody to run his Wednesday errands.  We stopped at the Credit Union in Manchester, then headed back to Tullahoma to run the rest of the errands.  First we stopped to buy ink cartridges for our printer, then went through a car wash (I think that was a new experience for me...rather a weird feeling when the walls start moving (or whatever started moving) making it feel like the car was moving.  After getting the car washed, we headed to Kroger to get our Wednesday Kroger deals along with our senior adult discount.  On the way home we stopped at the library so I could return a book and pick up one that I had requested for Graham. Once home we unpacked the groceries, ate a quick lunch and then I head off to work in the church library.  While I was gone, Woody hung out with Esther and Elijah.  They went on another frog hunting excursion...but were unsuccessful this time.  They were walking back from their frog journey as I came home from the library.  Joy joined them for a while over here.  Then Joy and Esther and I sat on the front porch for a while talking and looking for different kinds of birds and trying to play Joy's flute that she got in Uganda.  We fixed a quick supper.  Then I came upstairs to rest for a while and pretty soon I was awakening from what I will call a "power nap."  I went downstairs a few minutes ago to get my camera so I could download (or is it upload?) a picture for tonight's blog and it looks/sounds like Woody is also taking a "power nap."  As you can see from tonight's blog photo, things are greening up here in Middle TN!

Earth Day Birthday!

Joseph is three months old today--
Earth Day 2014
Such a happy little one!

Woody walked four miles early this morning. He also puttered around in the yard.  School started out with Esther reading to me.  Then Joy came over to read.  Then Graham, Abigail, Joy and Esther had Earth Day art.  I had a recycle bag in the middle of the school room and once they got here I dumped all the "stuff" out.  It was all stuff that either we recycle or things that we might have thrown away and they used these items to make a picture.  I think that it was a success! Here's part of what they had to choose from:

Graham is adjusting the high waterfall in his creation.  Quite a bit of glue and tape was used...but most of what went into the pictures were things that could have been considered trash.  Joy kept singing a recycle song that she knows.  After the art, Abigail had her sewing time with me.  After lunch Isaac and then Elijah came over for a short time of school.  I rested for a little while and then made a new recipe: Banana Bran Muffins.  Woody just returned a few minutes ago from his walk to and from the Prayer Room at church.   

NIH In Near Future?

We have had another beautiful day here in Middle TN.  I spent much of it inside continuing work on my kitchen cabinets.  Today I attacked the bottom shelves of the upper cabinets on the left side of the sink. It was a job of moving our dishes that we use fairly frequently down and cleaning off the shelves and the Rubbermaid dish organizing compartments that they are "housed" in.  These Rubbermaid dish storage compartments have been in use for years and they have started to show that they have been used a lot and have had heavy dishes on them.  They were cracking in a couple of places, but these work so well that I didn't want to get rid of them so it seemed that they needed some sort of quick fix...so it was decided that duck tape was the answer...so off to Lowes we went in search of white duck tape...and found it...along with camo and zebra and polka-dot duck tape.  I could have gone really wild with what I chose...but really preferred that the fix not show! Hopefully this fix will let us use these dish organizers for several more years to come. I got all the dishes put back in and those bottom shelves are clean.  Now...for the top shelves in those cabinets...that will mean lots of up and downs on the stepladder...and THEN it will be the lower shelves...LOTS stored in them...not looking forward to crawling around on the floor to pull everything out to clean those...thankfully another day! Woody has spent quite a bit of time out in the yard today...mowing gardening, etc.  He went on six mile walks both yesterday and today.  I made one of our old favorites for supper tonight--Sweet and Sour Pork...pretty tasty!

Now to explain tonight's questioning title.  Today we got an email from Woody's Fellow at NIH.  It was really to the scheduler and she sent a copy of it to us.  She was asking the appointment scheduler to set up scans, MRI's, etc. for Woody for sometime in May.  So now we wait to hear an exact date so we can begin to plan for another trip to Maryland.

He Is Risen!

Giant Egg Hunt Excitement!

Here are the neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and family) heading off to a giant egg hunt at a church that is just a ways down the road from us.  They were excited then, but talk about excitement when they returned home! (Note that Isaac is riding in the stroller on the way there...but below is the photo of what he rode home!)

 He won the prize bike for boys in his age group!  Wow!  Talk about excitement all around! He still has to learn how to pedal so Graham and Elijah assisted him home.

  

He was pretty excited, but his real excitement must have been the candy as later in the day Kathy was quizzing him on what he had gotten in the morning at the egg hunt and all of a sudden he said "candy" and headed off to ask his daddy for another piece!

Note that after they got home Nathan is still pushing the stroller, but now it is loaded with loot that they got at the egg hunt!  What a fun and exciting day for our neighbors!

Woody made his usual Saturday trip for groceries and also a stop at the library.  Later in the day he went on a four mile walk.  And, as can be seen in the  photo, he puttered around outside today...working in the gardens, sweeping off the porch, etc....a little of this and a little of that...enjoying a very nice day outside while enjoying the grandchildren's antics.  Elijah has become quite a little speed demon now that he can ride his bike without training wheels.  Shortly after they got back from the giant egg hunt, he headed over to get his bike and came back to show off his biking prowess...he learned hand signals yesterday...so today he was showing off that he can ride with just one hand on the handlebars...guess you can guess what I see happening next!  "Look, Ma, no hands!" (But he hasn't shown us that...YET!)

Good Friday

Today has been a rather "crafty day" for me.  I woke up and decided to read which I did till a munchkin (Graham) came over needing change for two dollars.  They were filling eggs for their Easter egg hunt.  For their egg hunt some of the plastic eggs are filled with a coin or two, some with jelly beans (if the girls didn't eat them all!), and some have notes in them (promises of special times with either their mom or dad or perhaps a day free of chores, and extra story at bedtime, etc.).  They love these notes.  The parents put the children in charge of filling the eggs...fun time for the children and a big help to boot!  Not long after Graham left with the change, Esther came over wanting to pop the balloon that she had wrapped gluey string around last week in art.  Joy had done hers yesterday.  They really came out great!  Once Esther came over to do hers then one by one the rest came along with Elijah who hadn't done one because he was at Bible study with his mom that day.  He wanted to make one so I got things that were needed and he made one that should be ready to pop tomorrow.  While I was helping Elijah with his glue string egg, Abigail started checking things out in the school room...mainly in the craft area.  And she found the friendship bracelet loom that had been a pickle present.  She decided that she wanted to do a bracelet...well, I had never done one.  Her Aunt Melany had helped get them started before...and, I think that it was Joy that she had shown how to do it.  Anyway, we decided to give it a try.  We had written instructions, but Abigail wanted to watch a YouTube video on how to...but I wanted her to work on following written directions.  Well...it took many tries and several start-overs...and I finally, I think, understood, but Abigail still wasn't sure so I gave in on the YouTube video.  We have worked on it for several hours...and she left just a few minutes ago with one started and she "thought" that she had it.  Time will tell!   My craftiness has me to an end for the day!  I did manage to continue in the kitchen, but didn't do a lot.  Today's job was to organize one side of the pull out drawer in our freezer.  I had done the other side a while back and decided that it was time to find out what might be hidden on the other side.  For the moment I know what is in it and where things are...that will probably be short lived! Woody read Elijah a library book about trains. Elijah was VERY interested and really enjoyed listening to it...and it was quite a long book...but he took in most of the details.  Woody walked to the library to return some books...found that the library was closed for Good Friday...but hopefully they will give us credit for turning in the book as it was overdue (one of my books...oops!) and it couldn't be renewed.  On the way home he stopped at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for both of us.  He has done some work in the yard.  Later in the afternoon he went on his usual four-mile walk.  We are both settling in for the evening.  I'm heading to my chair and my book as I need to get these books finished.  They are both books that I had to request and might not be able to be renewed.  For some reason...no matter how good the book is lately...when I sit down to read...my eyes tend to close...and no matter what Dr. Seuss says...I CAN'T read with my eyes shut!!!

"Goosey, let's go look at my onions."

This morning after Elijah had school with me, he went to find Goosey (Woody).  He found him down in the kitchen.  Elijah slipped his little hand into Goosey's hand and said, "Goosey, let's go look at my onions." And, of course Goosey didn't hesitate!  I grabbed up my camera and took this out of our sunroom window.  They're checking out Elijah's part of the garden.  Goosey had a surprise for Elijah...radishes were coming up too.  I had a normal Thursday school day.  Esther worked some more on the bookmark that she is cross stitching.  She was very pleased when she finished one of the motifs, a butterfly.  After lunch, I got back to work on my kitchen cabinets.  Well, really I started on them before school started.  I took down glassware that isn't used very often and put it in the dishwasher along with some other things from those cabinets and got the dishwasher going before school so they would be clean and ready to put back on the shelves after school.  I "just about" have all the top shelves of the cabinets on the right side of the sink finished.  There is still some extra "stuff" that I have to decide whether to keep or not, or if those shelves are the best place for the leftover items that I want to keep.  The glasses, punch cups, and other glassware that I washed today really sparkle...they are squeaky clean!  I got in the mood for a muffin that would go with supper...so found a recipe that I hadn't tried before--Bran Cheddar Muffins. The reason that I decided to try this was that when I was cleaning the cabinet over the oven where we keep cereal, crackers, cake mixes, etc., I found a box of unprocessed bran that I had forgotten we had...so when I saw this recipe that used it, I decided that it was time to use it.   By the time I got the muffins put together and into the oven and cooked a couple of pork chops my kitchen was a mess once again.  So I have been reloading the dishwasher plus doing some dishes by hand...hadn't quite finished when I decided that it was time for a break and past time for me to head up here to blog.  I am about "done in" for today!  Not much more work left in me! Woody kid-sat for a while this afternoon over at their house. Later he went on a four-mile walk, while I was still working on the cabinets and getting underway with tonight's supper.

Dogwood Time in Middle TN

At the moment as you drive through town or the countryside the dogwoods are very evident and absolutely beautiful.  This morning I had a friend come over to make some plans.  As she was leaving we were talking about how beautiful the dogwoods were...and I noticed that the sun was just perfect to take pictures of some dogwood blooms.  My friend said that she would be looking for the picture in the blog...well, here it is my favorite of the ones that I snapped.  I also took my camera with me when I went to the church to work in the library.  After working I wandered around and snapped several photos...future blog photo possibilities!  While I worked in the library, Woody went on his daily four-mile walk.  Woody was still on his walk when I got back.  Not long after I got home, I heard several little voices that we hadn't heard in the neighborhood for about a week.  The neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and children) had returned from their latest excursion...this time in Alabama.  They started out last week having several gigs in some schools and churches in Alabama and then rounded out their week with a side trip to the beach...their Spring Break trip!  Esther filled me in on a lot of what they did...sounds like they had a fun time.  The beach was a big topic, but also a new science center that they stopped at today on the way home was much enjoyed.  Isaac came in looking for Honk Honk (what he calls Goosey/Woody because Goosey honks at the children like a goose).  I explained that Honk Honk was on a walk so he settled for playing with blocks instead of playing with Goosey.  Abigail came over to collect the mail.  Elijah came over and headed straight for the K'nex. I was able to snap several pictures of Joy, Esther and Isaac checking out how their gardens in the backyard.  Isaac has some onions and parsley in a barrel on our back porch.  He likes HIS garden...he especially likes things if he can put "my" or "mine" in front of whatever it is!  I made a new potato recipe to go with a couple of other veggies (asparagus and cauliflower) for our supper.  The potato recipe needs some of my tweaks to make it a bit better...but I will try it again. Woody did some Wednesday Senior Savings at Kroger today when he did what has become our "Wednesday Grocery Day."  Well, it is time for me to go rest and perhaps do a little cross stitching.  I am almost finished with what I am working on.  I hadn't done cross stitch in a while and what I am doing is picking up pieces that I had left unfinished some time back and finishing them.  But I will admit that I am sort of itching to start a new piece...one of my downfalls when it comes to needlework...the love of starting something new!  But for the moment I am attempting to be "disciplined" and finish some of my UFO's...UnFinished Objects in needlework talk.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I think that this squirrel is trying to figure out just what is going on with the weather...one day warm, next day rainy, and then the next day starts out with snow flurries...I missed it, but Woody said that it was really snowing quite hard early this morning.  And, the temperatures never rose very high today...maybe it got into the low 50's, but the wind was blowing so it felt even colder than it was.  And, tonight we are supposed to have a freeze!  Woody wore his heavy coat both times that he went on a walk...his first walk was back to the brake place to pick up our car and he hasn't gotten back yet from his second walk of the day...to the prayer room at church.  I have stayed in today and attempted to keep warm.  I did do a little more on my cabinets.  I started on the other side of the kitchen and started working on the upper cabinets and got all the lower shelves done on the right side of the sink.  The most difficult part of those shelves was that two of the four shelves contain "tupperware" containers...enough said! I can say that "for the moment" they are neat and straightened out...but just give it a few days and a couple of times of needing a container to royally mess up those two shelves again!

Progress!

This morning Woody took our older car to have its brakes worked on and then he walked back to the house...walk #1.  I got up and got to work in the kitchen.  Over the weekend I had completed cleaning one more of the cabinets.  So had two left on the refrigerator/stove/oven side of the kitchen and I decided that my goal for today would to be to finish that side of the kitchen.  One of the cabinets just had to have one shelf done...but...it was the one with all the spices, lazy susans, etc.  When I got that one done (with all the spices back in alphabetical order), then the cabinet left was the one directly over the refrigerator...one that I rarely get into.  And, boy could you tell that 1) it was over the refrigerator and 2) it was rarely used...lots of dust inside it.  There isn't really much up there...an old fashioned oil lamp for emergencies, some stacking cake plates AND silver pieces that were wedding presents (back in the day before crystal became a popular wedding gift!).  Well, those silver pieces slowed down the process as I did feel that if I was going to clean the dust off of them that I should probably polish them...what a job!  But I now have some pretty pieces all polished and hopefully stored better so they aren't so black when next I see them!  I know why crystal overtook silver in popularity! Lots easier to clean!  So one side of the kitchen is completed as far as clean kitchen cabinets and drawers!  Wonder if  I'll be up to continuing on to the other side of the kitchen tomorrow!?! After lunch Woody went on his 2nd walk of the day...his daily 4-mile-walk.  I talked on the phone with a friend while I made a pot of chili for our supper.  That about sums up our day...now for a little dancing...with the stars that is!

Apple Blossom Time

I was outside for a little while enjoying the beautiful day and took my camera/s along to snap a few pictures around Nathan and Kathy's and our yards.  This apple tree belongs to Graham.  His Aunt Melany gave it to him for his birthday when he was five.  It is definitely doing well...just covered with blooms AND bees!  Woody went to the grocery store before I got up this morning.  I got groceries put away...eventually.  Everything cold was put away first and then we both headed to the library.  There was a book at the library that I had requested and they won't let anyone but me check it out.  I ate my lunch on the front porch and read.  I was trying to get finished with one book as I need to read the ones that I have gotten that I requested...two came almost at the same time...I had been waiting for them a while and then they both show up at almost the same time.  Anyway, I just finished the one that I had been reading so now I'll start reading one of the ones that I had requested.  Woody went on a four-mile walk this afternoon.  I read some more and then decided that I needed to get going on our supper...sort of one that I made up as I went along.  I made homemade cream of chicken soup and then browned some chicken breasts, added long grain brown rice to the soup, poured that over and under the chicken, and popped all into the oven.  It cooked up really yummy...we ended up with chicken and "creamy rice" with broccoli on the side.  Tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself (sometimes after I have gone to all the effort of cooking, the results are no longer appealing to me).  While the chicken was cooking, I loaded the dishwasher and got it running and then after supper I washed the few dishes that were left over that we ate on and ones that didn't fit in the dishwasher.  Woody is downstairs watching TV.  I plan to either read or cross stitch and rest my tired back.  It has been a really nice day here...actually reached into the low 80's.  We had a storm last night shortly after I blogged so we got more rain...but by this morning all cloudiness was gone and we had a blue-sky-quite warm day. It was a warm enough day that I actually drank iced tea on the front porch rather than hot tea!  And, even though I live in the south I do not follow the stereotype...no "sweet tea" for me!

Friday Sunset over Tullahoma

This is the scene that greeted me as I closed my curtains a few minutes ago.  Looks like the day is coming to a close. I sort of took it easy today...read some, did a few things on my iPad and did some cross stitching.  I did manage to clean out the drawer under my oven...so the kitchen cabinet and drawer cleaning continues.  As I clean in the kitchen plans/dreams are forming in my head as to what I would like to do "if and when" we decide to redo our kitchen.  I have even pulled in one of my friends to help me do a little dreaming.  Woody says that it is okay to dream!  It will be fun passing ideas back and forth!  So dreaming and cleaning...well, it makes the cleaning a bit more fun!  Also I figure that "if" we do this task that it had better be very well planned out, as I know that if you "fail to plan then you should plan to fail"...so I figure that this dreaming is part of the planning!  Woody went on a four-mile walk today.  One of the benefits of this walk is that he bought tomatoes at our local fruit and vegetable "stand."  It is good to see it opened again after it being closed for the winter.  The tomatoes that he got look fantastic for first tomatoes of the season...even the owner said that these were really good for first tomatoes.  I have managed to get a load of wash going...so hopefully I will remember to go down once the washer has finished and transfer them to the drier.  I'm going back to my reading and Woody is watching a library DVD movie.  So looks like we have settled in for the night.

Thoroughly Thursday

We have had another beautiful spring day today...we could get used to days like these!  I had the morning off from school so did a little of this and a little of that.  One thing that I did was bake a ham and in doing so needed our roasting pan which meant taking out a lot of the baking dishes to get to it...so I decided that today was the day to clean out that cabinet.  Once I got everything out, I wasn't sure that I felt like putting it back...but did manage to most everything back in.  I put a couple of things in the dishwasher and knew right where they were to go...but I did forget about one item that I had in the dishwasher and...well, I think that I will just find it another place in another cabinet!
Woody tookNathan over to Winchester so Nathan could pick up their RV.  Esther and Isaac rode over there with them and then rode back with Woody...leaving Nathan to his own devices to get the RV back home.  While they were away, I headed next door to get a few 11-week-old smiles from Joseph. Mid afternoon we had a "Hasty baby Frostie drive-by"...a nice cool afternoon snack...gave me enough energy to get back to putting everything back in my cabinet. Woody went on a four-mile walk this afternoon...this time a long four miles. I need to get busy on my reading as the library called to say that they had another library book that I had requested.  Seems to take forever at times to get books we request and then all of a sudden they all come at one time!  Guess I had best get back to reading...or doing something!

Joy's Braver Than I!

Joy went to the dentist this afternoon and came back looking like a walrus!  Shortly after she got home she gave me a thumbs up sign saying that it had gone well.  She stayed with us this evening instead of going to church activities.  She needed to stay quiet so she came over here and watched some of the new children's DVD's that were recently purchased for the church library...a perk for being the church library director's granddaughter!!!!  She had two bottom baby teeth removed in anticipation of braces in a few years down the road.  (The length of the root on these baby teeth was unbelievable!)  I made her some pudding for when she starts feeling like eating something soft.  I ended up making two packages as she asked for one flavor and I made the other!  Oh, well, I am sure that there are several mouths next door that will gladly help her eat that other flavor!  We had a normal school day this morning.  As soon as Joy finished with her long Grammy time (reading and sewing), I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed on to the church library.  While I was gone Goosey (Woody) and Elijah went on a walk...the "short" four mile route.  Woody said that it took a bit longer with Elijah along!  I'll be that it was an interesting walk...anything with Elijah becomes interesting!  This morning after Isaac had his school time, he and Goosey headed of to do our Wednesday grocery shopping.  All-in-all it has been a typical busy day around here! Joy's dental experience today brought back some memories of me...I had to have teeth out in order to get ready for braces too when I was about her age.  I wasn't as cooperative as she!  And, that bad experience has rolled over to me dreading anything that has to do with a dentist.  Joy handled it much better and seems none the worse for wear!  I hope that she has a good night's sleep.

A Weed Among the Flowers?

I couldn't resist tonight's blog title!  This is the picture that Woody chose to send off with his monologue about one of his memories of his junior year.  We attempted to make a movie of his memory, but it was just too large a file and I'm sure there was a way to make it smaller, but I think that it would have just taken too much time for me to figure out...it would probably be his 60th reunion by the time that I got it right!  Anyway, we had the idea yesterday that he could just send a still picture and then just do an audio recording of his memory.  So Nathan obliged with a mic already hitched up to his computer and Woody read his memory rather than having to memorize it! He got it attached to an email to his classmate and one task accomplished.  I still have to scan a couple items of memorabilia to email.  It has been a busy Tuesday.  We had school and today was art day.  We did a messy art project today...running embroidery floss through glue and then gluing it to a balloon...hopefully when dry and they pop their balloons the end result will be a pretty Easter egg.  Abigail worked on getting to know all the things that their sewing machine will do.  She enjoyed working with various decorative stitches and seeing different ways she could stitch them out.  After lunch Elijah read to me and then Isaac had a little school time.  He tired more easily from it than he does when he comes in the morning. After Isaac headed home, Woody and I went out and took above picture.  Then we came in and got the photo ready to send in an email along with the monologue.  Woody walked to the prayer room at church this evening.  He just got home a little while ago.  Graham spent some time with me this evening.  We are trying to finish up a library book that we are reading together.  Looks like we will finish it during his reading time tomorrow.  I am now ready to go plop in my recliner.  For some reason a feeling of extreme tiredness has crept over me in the last little bit!  I'm ready for my heating pad and my recliner!  I will end tonight's blog with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our daughter...I won't reveal her age...as that just ages Woody and me!

Happy Birthday, Melany!
This was taken right around her 2nd birthday, when we were living in Sunnyvale, CA...not long before we moved back to Tullahoma.

Monday...Again!

Mondays just seem to continue to roll around...and they seem to come faster than ever.  Today before we even got underway with school, Woody headed out on a walk.  This time his walk had an ending point...a meeting in downtown Tullahoma.  Shortly after he walked out the door, it was time to start school.  Isaac came over first and did several lessons before Elijah joined us.  Elijah read and then did a couple of things with Isaac and then the two boys headed home to tell Joy it was her turn.  Joy came over to read and then Esther came over.  Graham had his long Grammy time and we chose to read during the whole time as we are trying to get through a library book before it is due.  Just as Graham was finishing, three little ones popped back in the door. Kathy had asked us earlier in the morning if they could come over for a while.  They had a good time watching a DVD and/or doing some things on my iPad and playing with play doh.  While they were here, Woody and I started planning to accomplish something that he wants to do...make a movie of a monologue that he has written about an experience he had in a school play his junior year in high school.  This is his high school 50th reunion (how in the world could that much time have passed since high school days...for him...not me...not yet at least!).  Someone in his class is gathering materials and remembrances to put together a video to play at their reunion this summer.  He is downstairs right now practicing what he has written for this monologue...when he has it down pat I will video him saying it.  He still isn't sure if he will be going to the reunion or not...it partly depends on when NIH schedules his next appointments.  We still haven't heard from them.  His reunion is in the St. Louis, MO area.  I'm not all that excited about going...but he has been a good sport twice and gone to two of mine...my 10th and 20th.  These days I'm just not all that excited to go to reunions and find that my friends parents are there...or at least people that look like their parents did when we were in high school!  I told him that the reason that I would look forward to going was IF he would take me to the St. Louis Zoo while there.  I want to take animal pictures!  Time will tell about whether we go to the reunion.  Now to get the monologue videoed on my camera...and then see if we can get it emailed to his classmate!  But first I must head down for a little dancing...Dancing With the Stars, that is!

April Saturday

Woody went to the grocery store and to the library this morning.  He has done some gardening and also helped Graham plant some seeds.  Just before supper, he, Graham, Esther and Elijah walked to a pond down the street to retrieve some water that had algae in it for an experiment that Graham was planning to do.  I have sort of taken it easy today.  I did some work on some pictures.  Then I worked on the Sunday School lesson.  And, I fixed our supper. I have felt chilly all day. And, to think, a couple of days ago I "thought" that soup weather was over and I was wearing short sleeved tops, and had the air conditioning running in the car..  Well, today felt like soup weather once again and I pulled a sweat suit back out! Woody said that it wasn't all that bad outside as there wasn't much wind today.

Can't Be Many More Days!

The dogwood is thinking about breaking out into bloom and our first tulip opened up today.  That can only mean one thing around here...it must be getting close to Melany's birthday...and, these flowers are good predictors...as it is only four more days till our daughter will have her ??? birthday.  I won't say her age, as saying her age, really shows mine!

We woke up to some stormy weather early this morning.  But the storms never developed into more than a thunder storm passing through...nothing severe for us at least.  Woody didn't do as much outside in the gardens today since it was rather wet.  He did go on a four-mile walk this afternoon.  I made a pan of granola today...good snacking and good as breakfast cereal too.  Abigail came over and she and I worked in the guest bedroom.  We are setting up their sewing machine (my old machine) in there so it will be more convenient when we are having sewing lessons.  I have spent some time watching a movie on my iPad and doing some cross stitch.

Just a little while ago Nathan, Kathy and the older children went off on their "couch to 5K" training and left Isaac and Joseph with us.  So I got a little baby cuddle time in!  Joseph is getting freer and freer with his smiles!  So sweet!  Isaac played a Thomas the Train app on my iPad for a little while and then we went downstairs and he played with the Fisher Price little people and FP school bus.  And, of course he had to go down the little slide several times along with Mr. Bear.

The warm temperatures disappeared when the storm came through so once again it is a bit chilly.  Maybe this is Dogwood Winter?  I want to get all the winters behind us it will stay warm.

Four-Year-Old Bliss!

I had school with Isaac and then went to find Elijah for school and found him helping Goosey (Woody).  Now if you were a four-year-old boy...which would you choose--school or helping Goosey with watering the gardens?  He chose the hose work...surprise! surprise!  But we did make a deal that he would come read to me after he had lunch and before he had screen time...which he did.  Graham and Abigail each had a time of reading out loud with me.  Then it was Esther's time to come have her long Grammy time.  She read a story out loud and then she got busy on her cross stitch.  After that it was time for lunch.  After lunch I sat out on the front porch with Woody...such a nice day.  Then we were joined by Esther and Elijah after their lunch.  The  neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and family) brought us baby Frosties!  Mmmmmmm!  As Elijah said, "this is a good way to cool off on a hot day."  Woody spent a lot of time out in the gardens today.  He got Joy's garden ready to plant some green bean seeds in.  Joy came over in the afternoon and planted the seeds.  I spent from mid afternoon till supper time in the kitchen...and I'm still not finished.  I decided that it was time to sit down so came upstairs to blog.  I roasted a chicken for our supper.  Then I sliced off the rest of the chicken and now I have the bones and some veggies slowly simmering to make some liquid gold = chicken broth.  I almost have the kitchen cleaned up from the cooking mess...dishwasher is going...and cooking pots and pans have been washed...except for the pot that the broth is simmering in.  I will go down to strain the broth and get it in the refrigerator and then put the pot to soak...don't think that I have any more dish washing energy left in me!  As soon as I get the broth put away, I look forward to coming upstairs to read and rest my weary back...and probably my eyes!  Woody went for a four-mile walk in the late afternoon before we had supper.  It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here in Middle TN!

Beautiful Spring Wednesday

Once again we have had a gorgeous day.  Woody has enjoyed puttering around in the yard some more and he waited till this evening to take his walk...a walk in the cool of the evening!  I had school with Isaac, Elijah, Graham (reading), Abigail (reading), and then Joy had her long Grammy school time.  Joy checked out the new location for their sewing machine and is learning to thread the machine.  Then she chose several of the decorative stitches on a scrap piece of fabric.  Plans are underway for her next sewing project: a placemat for Isaac.  As soon as school was over, I had a quick lunch and then headed out the door to go work in the church library.  We are in the beginning steps of  processing some new books.  By the end of our work time I had turned in so many circles and worn so many hats that my head was spinning.  But we decided that we got more done than we felt like we got done! On the way home I made a stop at the public library to pick up a book that they had on hold for me.  Perfect timing as I just finished a book.  And, with that said, I am heading back to my recliner to read aforementioned book!

Oh, we did get an email today from Woody's Fellow at NIH.  She said that she would be consulting with the team to decide when they want him to come back for scans, etc.

A Beautiful Day for Tricks!

Such a fun day!  I have been working on some April Fool's jokes for a while...especially once I realized that we would have art on April Fool's Day.  I had to take the parents in on one of the jokes. I took little individual boxes of cereal and carefully opened them up and then switched the bagged contents and then glued the box flap back down.  So...this morning when the children got to choose their favorite breakfast cereal treat they didn't find what they expected in the box.  I think that joke was a hit.  Around 8 we had a knock and then the doorbell rang and it was several of the neighbor children with a plate that was filled with food with a napkin over it...they were bringing us some breakfast!  What a treat...but it turned out to be play food.  Now the joke was on us!  And, so the day went...back and forth with jokes.  A fun day for one and all!  We did manage to have some school in spite of all the fun.  Esther and then Joy read to me first thing this morning.  Then we had art...which consisted of a maze that was unsolvable...no way for that poor doggy to get to his bone!  Then we made seed packets to put doughnut seeds in...didn't you know that doughnuts grow from seeds?!?  Ahhhh!  Then...April Fools when you open the seed packet and find sugar coated cheerios!  They played that trick first on Goosey (Woody), then their Daddy, then Elijah when he got home, and then Joy gave a packet of "seeds" to her speech teacher.  After the seed packet trick, we settled in and drew a picture where things were very mixed up...like dogs flying and trees in the air, airplanes upside down, etc.  After all that fun, it was time for Abigail's sewing time.  We are trying something different.  My old sewing machine that I have given to Nathan, Kathy and family that had been residing at their house, has come back to our house for sewing lesson time and has taken up temporary residence in our guest room. It's a rather heavy machine, but portable enough for it to be taken back to their house when they have the need.  This way we won't have to run between houses to press or to get things that we have forgotten, when we are sewing.  Abigail and I organized and then cleaned the machine and then she started on a project.  After school, I ate a quick bite of lunch and then headed off to get my hair cut.  Tonight's photos were taken of Lake Tullahoma and some pretty flowers next to the driveway where I get my hair cut.  Then it was back to the house where Isaac drew a pretty picture for his mommy and then headed home for a nap.  Then Elijah read to me.  By that time it was time to start supper...but...I needed to rest a bit.  After sitting for a few minutes, I did manage to head downstairs and get a big pot of soup to simmering. (If the temperatures continue to stay as warm as today, this could be our last soup of the cold weather season at this end of the year.)

Woody has done quite a bit of puttering around outside today.  He has cleaned up his garlic bed and done various other things in some of the gardens.  He has also raked some leaves out of the ornamental gardens.  He went on a four-mile walk while I was getting my hair cut.  Then this evening he walked to the prayer room at church.  He is very much enjoying the warmer temperature and pretty day.  Today it actually got up to 80.  Woody said that if the days continued to be as warm, he would have to rearrange his walking to a cooler time of the day.  He said that he was pretty warm by the time he got back from his walk this afternoon.