It's Raining! It's Pouring!

As the evening has settled in, so has the rain.   And, every so often there is a rumble of thunder.  I just looked at radar and we are pretty much covered up with rain...and it looks like it will be with us for a while.  Woody got up this morning and walked six miles.  Then later in the morning he went to the library and also to the grocery store...normally this is just a Walmart day for him, but because we were getting things for our Labor Day "feast," he also went to Kroger.  I got up and got my baked beans ready for the oven.  Finished up the rest of the preparations after Woody got home from the grocery store with a couple of items that I needed before I could complete them.  They baked for quite a while.  I got a call from Janie's Sewing Center around lunch time...my machine was ready to be picked up.  I got the machine AND had a nice visit with Janie and Ed.  This afternoon Woody made the slaw for Monday.  He makes a slaw with a cooked dressing (no mayo).  That is in the fridge getting nicely chilled.  I have everything chopped for the potato salad and will get the potatoes cooked and then put the rest of the ingredients together tomorrow after church.  I want it to have plenty of time to chill.  I think that "things" seem to be going right along for Monday's Labor Day feast.  I enjoyed a talk with my sister.  It seems like since school has started we just don't find a good time to talk when both of us are free.  I also talked with a friend who moved away from Tullahoma earlier this year.  A nice kind of day visiting...whether in person or over the phone!  Woody has been helping to keep the kitchen cleaned up from all our cooking messes.  I loaded the dishwasher a few minutes ago and will head down and turn it on after I blog.  Hopefully we will leave the kitchen cleaned up so we can mess it up again tomorrow.  Can you believe that it is Labor Day weekend...already!  This year is really flying by!

Food for a Sinking Ship!

When I was searching for a new chicken recipe to make I came across the recipe that I made for our supper tonight: Chicken Lyonnaise.  I found out a bit of history about this recipe as it was a dish served on the Titanic.  Hope that our household isn't a sinking ship!  We really enjoyed it...the recipe is a "keeper."  I did add mushrooms to the sauce as I had them and was hungry for a mushroom sauced chicken dish.  Since "lyonnaise" means "with onions" and I put plenty of onions in the sauce, I figured that it wouldn't hurt if I added some mushrooms too.  The original recipe called for skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but there was an option to make it with skinless, boneless chicken thighs.  Since we had the chicken thighs I went with that option. I'm sure that the Titanic chefs used chicken breasts!

Woody got up early and walked six miles trying to beat the August heat that has settled in upon us.  I headed off this morning to meet up with a friend.  She was picking up the pictures that she had made using two of my bird photos.  They were done as wrapped canvases.  They both turned out great!  I then went to her house so I could see where she planned to hang them.  We had a nice visit.  I came home and had lunch and then rested for a while this afternoon.  Just before I started cooking our supper, I got a call that Janie's Sewing Center was ready to have me bring my machine in to have a couple of things tweaked on it.  So I headed off there, dropped my machine off and, of course, had to visit for a few minutes with them.  After I got home I fixed our supper. I cooked to all sorts of  Star War's sounds coming from the family room as Nathan, Graham and Elijah came over to watch one of the Star War movies on our TV.  They didn't quite finish watching it before supper time so they came back to finish watching it after supper.  

Zeroing in on the Weekend

Thursday means the kick-start to my weekend since this is my last day of teaching for the week. By not teaching on Friday, it seems like I have two Saturdays!  Just think...today finished four weeks of school!  The children are doing great with what they do with me.  I love to watch children in the learning process.  It is fun to look back to the beginning of the school year and see how much they have already learned in this short period of time.  Woody, again, walked early to beat the heat.  He walked four miles.  School went as scheduled.  After my last pupil left, I headed upstairs to sit for a while...I can actually say that I didn't sleep...just sat and relaxed for a little while.  Then I headed downstairs to do some food preparation work for some recipes that I plan to make tomorrow and/or Saturday.  As soon as I blog, I will head downstairs to take the chicken stock off the burner that has been simmering for a couple of hours.  One of the recipes that I plan to make called for chicken stock and we were out...so I used the bones from the chicken that I skinned and deboned (part of my food prep).  I will get the chicken stock in the fridge and get dishes in the dishwasher and get the dishwasher running once it is after 8pm (when peek hours go down), then the kitchen is closing for the night!  

Wednesday

We have pretty much gone back to a "normal" day...walks, school, church library, grocery store.  Woody went back to his routine of walking early...trying to beat the August heat. (And it did get hot here today...my car and also a thermometer reading on a bank sign both read 91 degrees as I headed home from the library.) Woody walked four miles and was home before school started for me.  Then as usual for a Wednesday the schedule went as follows: Isaac, then Elijah, then Abigail, then Joy and then Esther and Graham arrived at the same time...Esther for her time with me and Graham for his time with Goosey (Woody).  Esther split her time with me up between cross stitching and machine sewing.  She is trying to finish the bookmark that she is cross stitiching...a hang-over project from the end of the last school year.  Graham headed to his school spot in the family room and got to work on learning more about some of the elements...still studying copper but also studied some about other metals as he was working with coins today.  After lunch, we both planned to head off...me to the library and Woody to the grocery store.  Our leaving got delayed a bit as some of the sewer/road work was happening right at the base of our driveway...so we were blocked in for a bit.  Finally the truck and workers completed what they were doing and Woody and I escaped our driveway before it could be blocked again.  While we were in Nashville they did some work on the places that they had torn up and filled with gravel during the sewer work.  It looks like we may get a new surface on our street.  What a mess our town is at the moment with work trucks everywhere...never know where there will be a road block and/or a detour.  I went to the church library and worked.  Once again Donna and I managed to keep busy for the couple of hours that we were there...library work is never done!  Woody headed off to do his weekly Krogering.  Because I wasn't home he got to also do the job of putting away most of the groceries.  He left a couple of things for me to put away...nice of him!  I was so tired when I got home that I headed to "my" chair.  I was going to rest and catch up on emails, etc. Well...it wasn't long till my eyes closed and I slept hard till just a little while ago. Oops!  Wonder what that will do to how sleepy I am when I should be going to sleep tonight...since that time is only a few hours away.

Three Down! One to Go!

Tonight's photos show the street (21st Ave.) that we travel on as we approach Vanderbilt Medical Center.  It is quite a quaint street...lots of interesting shops and eating establishments.  I was all ready to take a picture of the pancake house as there is always a line out front...but no line today...so perhaps I will capture that the next time.

Woody's day went quite smoothly...but none the less it turned into a very long day.  We left the house a little before 8am and didn't walk back into the house till 6:25pm.  We got to Vanderbilt a bit early so that started things rolling right along.  It didn't take long to have his labs done and his appointment with Dr. Sosman didn't take long.  The main thing that we learned from Dr. Sosman is that the effects of Yervoy (ipilimumab) are cumulative and that side effects often don't start showing up till after the third infusion (today was #3).  So I guess he/we are supposed to be more watchful for side effects this time.  He also told us that Woody would have another PET scan three weeks after the last/fourth infusion.  After Dr. Sosman questioned Woody and checked him out a bit, we headed to the infusion lab. We got there about 1 1/2 hours before his scheduled time. Once again he got called in ahead of time and the ipi was ordered from the pharmacy and things went pretty much on schedule.  He started getting the ipi about the time that our appointment was supposed to start.  We left the infusion lab and got our car and headed on down the road by a little after 3.  We got to Steak and Shake (Woody's reward...what he looks forward to during his infusion!) and got our order in just under the wire for their 1/2 price shake time.  We were back on the road in a timely manner...we didn't linger over lupper (lunch/supper) long as we were ready to get home.  That is when things started to not go as clock-work.  There had been two accidents on I-24 that afternoon.  We knew about them before we left Vanderbilt, but figured that they would be cleared by the time we ate and got on our way again...wrong...guess we should have lingered over lupper longer!  We were in stop and go traffic due to both of the accidents.  I will admit to falling asleep and only slightly knowing that we were stopping and going...but it really made the last leg of our trip extra long.

We hardly got home before Woody was walking out of the house to walk to the prayer room at church.  He has yet to return.  And, this just about sums up our day!  Oh, I didn't get my shirt finished...just didn't have enough oomph to get it finished it last night.  And, we were put in one of the warmer rooms for his infusion so I really didn't need it...hopefully it will be finished when we go again in three weeks!

Monday Muddlings

Monday has rolled around once again.  We got back into routine after the weekend.  Woody went for his walk a bit later than he likes to in this hot, humid weather.  So he didn't aim for any more than a four-mile walk.  Yesterday he walked six miles in the early morning hours and was back long before it was time to head off to church.  All six my grandpupils filtered through school at Grammy's with Elijah coming twice...for his regular daily school time and then after lunch for his longer Grammy time. I believe that he is loving kindergarten!  Abigail also had her long Grammy time.  She sewed the first seam on her dress and decided on what design to machine embroider on the bodice (that special Grammy time (1 hour) goes by very quickly. Between my morning "classes" and my afternoon ones, I put together a meatloaf and got it in the oven for tonight's supper.  After Elijah went home, I was ready to rest for a while.  Then I got busy once again on the shirt that I'm making.  I'm hoping to have it finished to wear tomorrow.  We head back to Vanderbilt for Woody's third Yervoy (iplimumab) infusion.  It is very cold in most areas at Vandy but especially in the infusion room and this shirt is long sleeved so I would like to wear it to keep warm...even though it will be in the upper 80's tomorrow.  I am ready to put in the sleeves...so there is a possibility that I can get it finished...just a goal that I had set for myself...to have it finished before Woody's next Vandy appt...so would like to meet that goal!  But if I don't...no big deal...I will just find something else that has long sleeves to wear!  Woody has a lab appointment, an appointment with Dr. Sosman--those two are in the morning. And, then his infusion appointment is scheduled in the early afternoon.  Hopefully our day will run like clock-work and we can get away from Vandy at a decent hour!  I'll report in tomorrow night on how the day went...the good Lord willin'.

Today is a very special day for our oldest grandchild, Erin Elizabeth.  It is her birthday and she is now 21...that can NOT be possible.  Where have the years gone?  Having a 21-year-old grandchild makes me feel old!!!!

Plumb Tuckered Out!

Woody got up and walked four miles this morning...beating the heat, but probably not the humidity. Today has been quite hot and humid.  Woody did his usual Saturday errands...today grocery stops at two stores and the library.  Elijah popped in this morning all ready to sew on some more buttons!  He has now learned how to sew two-hole and four-hole buttons.  Goosey has a pair of pants that need a button sewn on...so perhaps he will do that the next time that he comes over looking for a sewing "job."  Isaac came over with his mommy and Joseph.  And, when Elijah, Joseph and Mommy left, Isaac stayed.  He hung out in the school room for a while, then in the sewing room while I did a little sewing, and then he went downstairs and played with play-doh while I worked a bit in the kitchen.  I have just found one of his most prized possessions here in the sewing room when I came in to blog--his blankie!!!!! Uh-oh!  Not good...I keep telling him not to bring his blankie over to Grammy and Goosey's house!  They are away at the moment or I would get it him ASAP!  They will be back in a while.  I'm sure that they will bee-line it over here if he hasn't already fallen asleep!

After lunch I headed out to do some shopping...something that I rarely do these days and now I know why! I had a list that involved stops at three stores.  I got caught in a rainstorm while at JoAnn's so stayed there longer than I needed to waiting out the heavy downpour.  Then I headed on to Lowe's where I needed one item, but figured that I might as well look at "things" that I might want to go in our kitchen, if and when we decide to remodel it!  I looked at stove-tops, counter-tops, flooring, and paint colors (didn't look at ovens or sinks).  I wrote down a lot of info so I can check about some of the items online.  Then it was on to Walmart...oh, my...on a Saturday afternoon no less (definitely not too bright of me)!  But I found most of the rest of the items on my list and then was on my way home.  By that time I was exhausted and I could hear "my" recliner calling my name long before I got home!  I got my purchases in the house and then headed straight to sit for a while.  I did manage to get things that I bought put away and the fabric that I bought into the wash (and now in the drier).  I did doze for a little while and now feel much better.  My back was not very happy with my excursion and was trying to "catch" the way it does sometimes...but I do think that my rest has helped.  I probably won't be doing much sewing tonight...though I have gotten underway with the shirt that I am making...so progress, though slow.

I'm late blogging as the internet was acting up...probably because of the rain.  I probably had better post this before it decides to go out again!  And, I think that perhaps as soon as I go down and turn on the dishwasher and get my fabric out of the drier that I will head back to "my" recliner!  Woody is watching DVD's that he got at the library this morning.  A typical low-key Saturday evening at our house! Such an exciting household...not!

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

And, that is a bird "tweet" that I am referring to in the title of tonight's blog rather than a tweet message (I don't tweet!).  Today a friend came over and we went through quite a few of my bird photos looking for several for her to have printed on canvas.  I hope that the ones she chose work.

Woody got up early and did some baking and even cleaned up the mess in the kitchen.  Then he headed out the door (before 7am), handing me the timer (in other words requesting that I take it out of the oven).  He had his annual dermatology appointment in Murfreesboro.  By the time that he got home it was too hot for him to walk so no walk for him today.  He and Elijah made dessert for Elijah's family (blueberry dump cake).  A little before supper I called over there and asked that Elijah come over.  He brought Esther as he knew that he was going to need more hands than his own.  He carried the cake and Esther carried the ice cream!  I'll bet that Elijah made his family very happy by providing dessert!

Traffic has once again been really heavy on Yale Drive.  I looked out my kitchen window and the traffic was backed way up just as the middle school was letting out.  Two of our granddaughters decided to make it an entrepreneur moment, as they set up a lemonade stand.  While I watched they sold several cups of lemonade...smart thinking to make a positive out of so many vehicles passing in front or our houses and at a time coming to a standstill!  Plus it was the hottest day of the year. Good going, Abigail and Joy!

Usual vs. Unusual

If you lived where we do you would see this type of traffic on your street lots of days...unicycles, walkers, dog walkers, etc. You would see very few cars.  That is the reason that Nathan and children can be seen out in the street practicing various skills for their juggling performances. We like our very quiet street!

That has all changed this week, as we have become a detour for road work on the main street that is behind us...but so far behind us that we hardly know it is there.  Well, today the traffic has hardly stopped in front of our house...a steady stream of vehicles.  We are realizing how nice it is to live on a quiet street and are very ready for the traffic to go away. Here is a sample of what we have had go in front of our house today...along with semis, cement trucks, you name it and probably that vehicle has passed in front of our house! The street that is closed behind our house is a path to one of the middle schools in town...so before 8am and 3pm the traffic really picks up. 

We had a normal day of school for Thursday...more reading, counting, button sewing, machine sewing, etc. Woody walked to and from an appointment in downtown Tullahoma this morning...his exercise for the day on this quite hot and humid August day.  I have been doing a little cleaning and am also in the preparation stages for making myself a shirt.  It is now all cut out including the interfacings...so next step is to apply the interfacings so I will be ready to sew when I find the time over the weekend.  

Button, Button!

The big school news of the day was that Elijah had his first button sewing lesson during his school time today.  He was so excited and could hardly wait to go home and show everyone.  Esther mentioned it when she came over to read.  I asked her if he showed her and she said that he showed everybody!  Esther and Graham had their long times...Esther sewing with me and Graham doing chemistry with Goosey (Woody).  Shortly after lunch Woody headed next door to take care of five of the seven while Nathan, Kathy, and Abigail took Joseph for a dermatologist appointment.  I headed off to the church to work in the library.  We completed our book shifting job. After Woody got through taking care of the children, he headed off to do our weekly Krogering. When he got home, I helped put away the groceries. Woody walked four miles this morning.  It is really muggy...definitely the dog days of August have arrived.  They are predicting record breaking high temperatures for the weekend.  It got into the lower 90's today.  We got teased with some fall-like temperatures...but it was only a tease...summer is definitely not going away quite yet!

Shoe Shoppin' With Abigail!

We had a usual day of school...Isaac, Elijah, Esther, Joy, Abigail, and Graham...all finished before noon because on Tuesday no one has a long time.  Abigail asked if I would go shoe shopping with her and her mom after lunch.  It's quite an experience to shoe shop with her!  She had quite a few that she really liked as you can see by the picture!  The ones that she has on are her old shoes and she walked out wearing her old shoes because in the end the ones that she really liked had to be ordered in her size...the purple ones on the foot stool (by the way, these glow in the dark!).  She will have to be patient another week till they come in.  She was real cute when faced with the decision as to which ones she really wanted to get...hard to make decisions when there are so many pretty ones...and they all felt good on her feet!

Woody left a little while ago to walk to the prayer room at church...his usual Tuesday evening trek.

2.16" = 100%

Math problem of the day: 2.16" of rain today (since midnight) = 100% humidity outside right now...and it's not raining...though it looks like there might be more rain on the way.  I didn't have the best night's sleep due to storms and the weather alert on my phone going off due to a flash flood watch and/or warning.  I thought about shutting off the warnings on my phone at one point!  But, then if it had been a tornado warning I would have been glad to be awakened.  I wanted to check radar online, but my iPad wasn't online.  I figured that the internet was off due to the weather.  Some time after the two alerts that I got on our phone our laptop (in the room next to ours) started chirping like a cricket and that is a warning from Weather Bug.  So at that point I realized that we were online or I wouldn't be getting the warning.  By that time I was awake so I fiddled around with the iPad and finally got it back online.  So my day started much earlier than I would have liked.  While I was reading with Graham after lunch, Kathy called to tell us that a cicada was coming out of its "shell."  We didn't go over right then, but after Elijah finished up with his Grammy K'nex building time, he showed me where the cicada had hatched.  I've never gotten a picture of the cicada right next to its shell before.  To think that big "thing" came out of that small shell! I had a usual Monday school day this morning and then my two usual Monday pupils after lunch.  Abigail got underway with the dress that she is going to make during her Grammy sewing time.  She got the skirt pieces cut out and serged around the edges of the two skirt pieces.  I am going to replace the red fabric that we bought the other day for the top of the dress, as after doing everything that I knew to do, it was still "bleeding" after three washes and rinses.

Woody didn't get up as early today as some days...a dark rainy morning...a good one to sleep in a bit!  He went walking mid morning and walked four miles.  The rest of his day has been occupied with crossword puzzles, reading, and watching a bit of TV.  I "told" myself that I would start cutting out a blouse today, but...I am pretty "played-out" at this point in the day!  I have managed to get the pattern tissues out of the pattern envelope...but they are still folded up as they were when in the pattern envelope!  I "may" read through the direction pages and then, again, I may not have enough energy even to do that.

Saturday

Woody got up and walked four miles in the cool of the morning.  Mid morning we headed off to Shelbyville, TN for the visitation for a long time  former member of First Baptist, Tullahoma.  Since Walmart was in our path on our return trip, Woody decided to include me in his Saturday Walmart shopping trip. We Walmarted and then went home.  I got a call from Kathy to come over next door to view the three girls in the wedding regalia that they had purchased this morning.  The three of them are going to be flower girls in their cousin's wedding later in the Fall.  They looked cute in their lacy dresses and cowboy boots!  It's going to be a barn wedding!  I asked Joy which she liked better the dress or the boots and she said, "the dress!"  I really expected her to say the boots!  I have had a weird evening...fell asleep...must have slept really soundly and woke up all disoriented so not sure that this will make sense or not!

Mid-August--Already!

This mockingbird wasn't the neighborhood visitor that got the most attention today.  This afternoon Abigail came in and said that there was a turkey across the street.  Well, it ended up being a turkey vulture...oh, boy...such an ugly bird!  I did get a couple of pictures, but haven't downloaded them from the camera yet.  Woody walked to the library today...a day earlier than usual because he had a book he had requested come in earlier in the week and the library only hold request books for three days.  It was another book for the chemistry studies that Woody is doing with Graham.  They are studying copper, the periodic table, and various and sundry other things.  Graham is enjoying studying with Goosey (Woody). I got up and got ready to get back to sewing my top.  But before I really got underway with it, Abigail came in to arrange the time that we were going to go shopping for the fabric for the dress that she is going to make.  We ended getting into the pattern and seeing if the one that I already had was going to work for her and figuring yardage, etc. that we would need to buy.  I think that it will work with an alteration or two. I then went off to search out the best place for her to find her fabric...since I am so disappointed with our JoAnn's selection.  I found plenty of choices at Janie's Sewing Center (my sewing machine dealership).  A little after lunch Abigail and I sat out on our fabric shopping spree.  She found several things that she liked, then she had the "problem" of deciding which of the fabrics she would use.  The fabric is now ready for me to get it into the wash so it will be ready for her to get started during her sewing time on Monday.  I rested for a while after we got back. And, finally felt like getting back to work on my top, again.  It now just lacks the hems on the sleeves and a little detail work on the side slits on the bottom hem.  It looks like it really will be finished today. Woody has been reading, working crossword puzzles and watching TV and/or DVD's that he got at the library.

Thursday

Woody didn't go walking early today as it was once again a bit chilly. So he waited till later in the morning to make his four-mile walk.  I managed to get our supper into the oven before school started.  This dish has a rather long cooking time in the oven so I decided to use the non-peek hours rather than the peek hours to cook it.  I had five little ones come over before lunch for their various lessons with me.  Then Graham played hooky this afternoon and went swimming with his family rather than come read.  I have sewn this afternoon. I pinned in the hems of the sleeves and the bottom of my top just before blogging.  Once those are sewn in then I just have the neck to finish...so progress.  It's supposed to get down into the 50's again tonight...then a gradual turn back to warmer temperatures.  It only got into the mid 80's today...but 90's are predicted before the weekend is over.  So back to normal August temps.  These short spurts of cool give us just a tease of Fall temps to come.

Mid-Week...Once Again

This morning I got up with several tasks in mind to complete before we started school.  They were all cooking tasks and I did manage to "almost" get them done before it was Isaac's time for school.  He sat in the kitchen with some of his school work (which ended up being a Fisher Price vintage toy...one that his daddy and Aunt Melany played with) while I finished peeling eggs.  I needed the eggs to be cold for the salad that I was making for tonight's supper.  I also had the rice cooked so it could get cold for the same salad. Then I plumped raisins for the blueberry zucchini bread that Woody planned to make.  Woody got ready to make his zucchini bread and he didn't have enough zucchini or eggs (oops...I got to the eggs before him!).  So he headed off to the grocery store for trip #1 of the day...for eggs and then he stopped at the Farmer's Market to get a zucchini and also a couple of cucumbers.  By the time that he got home Isaac had had his school time and Elijah had started on his time. Abigail came next to read and by  the time that Joy got finished with her reading time the house was smelling pretty good!  Woody said that Joy was pretty joyful when he took one of the loaves of bread over to their house. Esther enjoyed her second lesson sewing on the sewing machine.  I think that she likes that it is faster than hand sewing!  After lunch Woody headed off for his second trip to the grocery store...his weekly Wednesday Krogering  and I headed off for my weekly work time in the church library.  We once again worked hard shifting books from one shelf to another...we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are doing this shifting as some of our book shelves were getting overcrowded and we had freed up some space on some of the shelves which will give us some growing space at least for a while.  I had to make a quick stop at the public library on the way home as someone had returned a couple of their books to our library.  When I got home I got busy and put tonight's salad together.  By the time that was finished I was very ready to sit down as my back wasn't very happy with me and was ready to rest and when it starts "catching" I am very ready to head to the recliner.  A short rest and it is already feeling much better.  But I doubt that it needs to do any sewing tonight so I plan to pretty much just rest in my chair and read or watch something on my iPad.  I did get a little more done on my top last night...so slowly but surely it is heading to completion.

Where Were You 14 Years Ago?

Woody and I were in Statesboro, GA at Nathan and Kathy's wedding.  Happy 14th anniversary, Kathy and Nathan!

I had school with all of the children this morning. Woody walked to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of his prescriptions.  Woody went next door before I had finished with the last of my students.  He went over to kid sit while Kathy and Nathan went out on an anniversary lunch date. I ate a quick lunch and then headed off to get my hair cut.  After my haircut I went to JoAnn's to scout out some possible fabrics for Abigail to use for a dress that she wants to make.  I was very disappointed in what was there to choose from...definitely a very poor selection. Since they are a new store, it seems to me that they should have more to choose from than they do.  Woody just returned from his walk to and from church for his time in the prayer room.  Time now to settle in for a quiet relaxed rest of the evening.

And, yes, Nathan really did juggle at his wedding as did most of his groomsmen and their preacher...a juggling ceremony!

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

Just as I sat down to blog the heavens opened up and it is now pouring.  A little while ago Woody asked if we were going to get any rain today...guess so!  Woody got up and walked six miles this morning.  I had school with all six of my pupils today...a busy school day to start the second week of this school year. I told in Saturday's blog that Graham was catching up on his sleep after going to a stay up all night sleepover.  Well, he never stirred till Sunday morning at 7am.  He got more than 16 hours of sleep...and after that was good to go!  The biggest excitement for his family while he snoozed was that they all got to go up in a hot-air balloon.  I'm not sure what he thought when he heard that he had missed doing that!  My sewing project is a little farther along...at least I can say that I have a top cut out.  Not sure that I feel like sewing this evening.  I think that it will sort of be a lazy evening for both of us.  I am heading down to finish cleaning up the kitchen from supper preparations and consumption.  Then I am heading to "my" recliner and either going to read or watch a program on my iPad.  Woody is reading and has the TV going in the background. Oh, and it sounds like the rain is over...that was short lived!

I will add an addendum...when I got downstairs, Woody was busily cleaning up the kitchen.  Nice!

Sleepy Saturday

Woody got up and walked four miles this morning.  Then later in the morning he did our weekly Walmart shopping and made his stop at the library.  Guess it was good that he went to Walmart early this morning as they had to evacuate our Walmart this afternoon due to a bomb scare. Yes...even in sleepy little Tullahoma!  Last I heard, Walmart had reopened, but it was closed for several hours.  I got up thinking that I was going to sew, but instead looked at the fabric and the patterns a little more and then went downstairs to do a little cooking for the weekend.  I ended up making a new casserole from a cookbook that we got as a wedding present.  Several of us on Facebook this week had been discussing that cookbook.  That discussion got me looking through it and I found a recipe that we had never tried...Hominy Ground Beef Casserole.  I made a few adaptations...including making my own condensed tomato soup instead of using canned.  It came out really yummy.  Woody asked if we were having it for lunch and I told him we would as long as there was enough left for tomorrow's lunch!  Leftovers are in the fridge ready to warm up after church tomorrow.  I typed these recipes into my iPad after lunch.  Sometime after that Nathan and Graham came over.  Graham was needing a place to "crash" while his family went to do a gig.  Graham went to a "sleepover" last night that turned into a "wakeover" as he and his friends attempted to stay awake all night.  After he got here, he ate a bowl of ice cream and then went upstairs and we haven't seen him since.  I believe that our whole house did a bit of dozing this afternoon...Woody and I both had a bit of a nap at one point or another this afternoon.  I finally found enough energy to open up one of the patterns that I want to make and found the pieces of the pattern that I needed and have pressed out the wrinkles in those pieces.  So a step closer to getting back to sewing something for myself. Woody has read, watched a DVD or two from the library and taken it easy this afternoon and evening.

Friday Fiddlings

Woody and Graham left a little after 7am walking to Graham's orthodontist appointment.  Sounds like they made it in plenty of time as Graham was the first patient signed in and first patient seen.  They were home a little after 9am.  I got up and started in organizing sewing "stuff."  I have done a little of this and a little of that all day today...hopefully heading in a direction that I will feel like sewing a couple of things for myself. I have a couple of pieces of fabric laying on my cutting table...trying to get inspired by them lying there I guess!  Right now I am just trying to figure out what I want to make first.  I talked to my sister for a while this afternoon. Woody spent time in the kitchen several times today...both cooking and cleaning it up.  He made Blueberry Zucchini bread.  Elijah was over this afternoon for a while.  A thunderstorm blew in about the time that he was going to go home so he stayed till it went by.  He and Goosey (Woody) played a game of Junior Monopoly waiting for the rain to stop.  

89 Degree Activity

What would you do if it was 89 degrees outside and you had just built a fire pit the day before?  Build a fire in the fire pit of course!  Yesterday Graham and his daddy built the fire pit and today they tried it out.  Everyone seemed to approve...especially when the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate (and for some peanut butter) were introduced into the scene to make S'mores.  Even Woody and I were lured over! We sang songs around the fire and told things that we were thankful for along with eating the yummy sweet treat!  It did start cooling off "a bit" before the embers died down.  Toward the end Graham got me to go into the screened-in porch and he attempted to educate me about Lego Star Wars figures with the new book he had just gotten!  I am probably hopeless when it comes to understanding about Star Wars, but he was happy to have an audience to listen to him explain whether said audience understood or not!

My first week of this school year is now behind me.  I only teach four days out of the week.  And, this week only taught three because of Woody's Vandy appt. It went very well...for a first week back.  And, the children and the teachers seem to be settling into a school routine once again.  I was pretty tired when the last pupil went home today...an afternoon nap was very welcome!

  

 Woody went for a four-mile walk before school got underway this morning.  He got back just in time to walk Isaac back home after his school time with me.  This afternoon Woody "kid sat" while Kathy and Nathan took Joseph to the doctor.  Then we all enjoyed the neighbor Dorrell's family night around the fire pit on a rather warm night! We are now in for the night.  And...I'm heading for a shower...I'm still hot and a bit smokey smelling.

Peace! 70's Style!

Here is Graham all decked out to head off to a youth 70's evening at church.  It took a "village" to create his look.  His mother made his wig, his daddy and he made the peace symbol for his necklace, and I created his bell bottoms out one of his pairs of jeans.  He already had a tie-dyed shirt and sandals...and, with all that he was good to go!  I hope that he is having a good time...I'm sure that he is!

We had a busy day around here.  Woody got up early and walked six miles.  I got up early and got lessons ready for today.  Esther had her first lesson sewing on the sewing machine and I needed to get some things ready for that.  I also worked on getting some more papers ready for our kindergarten boy (Elijah) to work on. Isaac started our school day off, then Elijah had his time and  Joy and Abigail read to me during their times.  Then Esther and Graham came over at the same time.  Esther had her long time with me...sewing and Graham is now having his long time with Goosey (Woody).  They are studying copper at the moment.  After Esther left, I grabbed a quick bite of lunch and rested for a few minutes and then headed off to church to work in the library.  We are busy in there shifting books on the bookshelves...quite a job.  I came home a collapsed and haven't done much moving since!  Woody headed off to do our weekly Wednesday Krogering shortly after I left for the library.  He is still feeling fine after yesterday's infusion.

Appropriately enough...this our 1977th blog...very 1970's...don't you think!

Half-Way Point

Here's where we spent 5 1/2 hours today.  Everything went smoothly...right on time or a bit ahead of schedule...EXCEPT for the infusion lab. Woody didn't see Dr. Sosman today as he was away.  So we saw his PA.  The main thing that she wanted to know was if Woody had had any side effects and was pleased that he had had none that he knew about.  I think that we only talked to her for five minutes...one of the reasons that we kept so on time!  We got to the cancer infusion lab a few minutes before the appointment time and they called him in fairly quickly...and that is where it stopped.  It always takes a bit of time as they have to order his Yervoy (Ipi) infusion med from the pharmacy and it usually takes about 30 min. to get it to them.  Well, we think that lunch got in the way of getting it into Woody's cubicle and hooked up to Woody's IV.  The appointment time was 11:30am and the nurse didn't bring it in till 1pm.  And, it wasn't Woody's nurse, but another who happened to see that it had been delivered and since our nurse was at lunch, she brought it in.  Anyway it got underway at 1:08 and it was finished dripping into him at 2:38. And, at that moment he was half-way through with his Yervoy/Ipilimumab infusions...two down and two to go.  This time they didn't make us wait around very long after the infusion finished.  It was a whole different feel this time...rather impersonal...makes a difference who your nurses and techs are.  Today's just did their job, but didn't add any enthusiasm to it!  We both did get heated blankets...which felt so good in the extremely cold cubicle.  The tech couldn't figure out why Woody had to have his vitals taken every 30 min. She asked what the infusion was since most of the patients don't have to have that done except at the start and maybe at the end.  I guess that just shows that Woody is special!  Something that we look forward to during the hours at Vandy is that on the way home we stop at Steak and Shake and eat.  Woody really looks forward to the shake (not for me as I hadn't warmed up enough yet) and I really look forward to a good hamburger and fries.  We pull back into our drive a little after five. We were away from the house for a little over nine hours. Some of our neighbor grandchildren met us as soon as Woody pulled into the garage.  They had something to show us in their backyard.  Nathan and Graham had built a fire pit and benches to go around it after Graham finished his schoolwork for the day.  We sat around it (not lighted as it was in the upper 80's).  I took a couple of pictures while everyone sang "Jesus Loves Me" and dreamed of the day or evening that it would be cool enough to roast a few marshmallows. Woody left not long after we got home to walk to the prayer room at church...so he will get his walk in despite having to leave fairly early this morning.  Me...I'm just glad to be home!    

School's In!

And, so the 2014-2015 school year is underway for the Dorrell's!  This year Isaac continues in preschool, Elijah is in kindergarten, Esther is in 2nd grade, Joy is in 4th grade, Abigail is in 5th grade, and Graham is in 7th grade (at least I think I have all those grades right!).  It was a busy morning and part of the afternoon.  Some read to me (Esther, Joy, and Graham), some had Montessori lessons (Isaac and Elijah), and some had their special Grammy time (Abigail sewed and Elijah had K'nex building time).  I was pretty ready for "my" chair when Elijah headed home!  Woody slept in a bit later than usual so took his four-mile walk mid morning.  The Hasty's stopped by about an hour after school was over for me...they had baby Frosties for us and the neighbors and I also took a picture of them with their grandchildren for a possible Christmas photo.  When Graham got through with his school, he came over to finish up a rocket that he had been making with K'nex.  While he was doing that we got to discussing what he could wear to a 70's themed youth night at church on Wednesday.  So his mommy is attempting to make him a wig and I am turning a pair of his jeans into bell bottoms!  He plans to make a peace symbol and wear a tie dyed shirt.  Hope that fits the bill!  So a busy day was had by all.  The children all seemed to happily roll back into school mode.  We will be heading to Vanderbilt in the morning for Woody to have labs, see someone in the clinic, and then have his second infusion if all is well with his labs.  So a busy non-school day on the horizon for tomorrow. Now I am off to work on these bell bottom pants!  Peace! (Trying to get into a 70's groove!)

Esther Is Seven!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ESTHER!

Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries!

These cherries found their way home with Woody on his weekly shopping trip to Walmart.  Yummy!  I decided that they needed to be photographed before they got eaten.  What made me decide to take some pictures was the one cherry that still had a leaf on its stem.  Before going to Walmart and the library Woody walked four miles.  I didn't get up and moving as quickly as I have been lately as I had a problem with my eye in the middle of the night...and when it happens I have to try to go back to sleep till it stops hurting and I can open it.  Unfortunately this time it happened three different times...so I kept dozing back off till I could open it.  This hadn't happened in some time for which I am thankful.  I woke up with my saline drops in my lap with the lid off...I remember putting drops in, but I must have dozed off again before I got the lid back on.  My eye has been ok after it finally quit hurting...only problem left is blurry vision which usually clears up in a day or so.  Once I got up, I worked in the kitchen cleaning it up a bit...something that I was too tired to do yesterday after I finally got the lasagna done.  Woody had done most of the clean up yesterday, but there were still a few things that I needed to do.  Graham came over with a "bug zapper" trying to get rid of a "family" of fruit flies that decided to take up residence in the kitchen.  He stayed for a while ridding us of quite a few and left me the zapper to get any other strays!  Well...I have used it several times...and, EVERY time that it makes the loud zap noise it makes me jump and yelp!  Not sure that I was cut out to use a bug zapper!  My other major task of the day was to go through our cabinet shelves that serve as our pantry.  I had some time ago made a list of what was on those shelves and my plan was to mark off or add to said list every time I used something or we bought something.  I had kept up pretty well for a while, but lately I had noticed that when the list said that we had something that it wasn't always on the shelves.  The list had been marked on so much that I needed a new one anyway...so...I got down on the floor and pulled things off the shelves and re-inventoried using an iPad app and then transferred the list over to our laptop and printed off a new list.  So cabinet cleaning continues...but this time it was redoing one that I had already done!  Woody has read, watched a library DVD or two and done crossword puzzles today. I rested this afternoon in "my" chair and talked to my sister for a while.  We needed to catch up...we hadn't talked in a few days!  Well, Elijah has just come for me to go over and look at Esther's birthday cake.  Her big day is tomorrow!

And, Thus Begin the Dog Days of August

It has been quite a busy day around our house.  Woody went for a four-mile walk this morning.  Later in the morning he went to get his hair cut.  He had tried to get it cut while on his walk, but the barber wasn't open yet when Woody got there. Woody also worked in the yard a little today...watering gardens.  I got up and continued getting the sewing room back in order after my Esther birthday sewing project.  A friend and I had planned to get together this morning and look at some of my bird photos (so we needed to be able to get to the laptop in the sewing room).  She is thinking about having one of my photos printed on a canvas.  But in the end she wasn't able to come as she woke up with inner ear problems.  After her call, I finished giving the upstairs rooms a "lick-and-a-promise" vacuuming.  Then it was time to get busy on our supper.  I'm not sure exactly when I started, but around 10 or 10:30am and I didn't have dinner out of the oven and ready to serve till 5:30pm.  When things take that long to make I often wonder if they are worth it.  But this ended up being pretty yummy...no-noodle lasagna using zucchini slices for noodles. Nathan helped out by bringing over their meat slicer and sliced the zucchini.  I doubled the recipe that we usually make and shared a pan with Nathan and Kathy and their crew.  They had been away for the last week so it seemed like a good thing to welcome them home with.  I think that it went over "ok" with most...except Elijah had a bit of trouble getting it down...oops...sorry, Elijah!  It uses fresh basil, oregano, and parsley, which we grow so I had to go out and harvest all three of those...then come in wash them and then chop them finely with the Ulu (special Alaskan curved cutting "knife" with a handle that lets you rock it as you chop).  Nathan brought the ulu to me after his mission trip to Alaska many moons ago (his second year of college, I believe).  I really enjoy it for chopping herbs.  Then there was a lot of chopping and slicing of fresh veggies that go in the sauce, thawing and draining spinach, making the meat sauce, grating the cheeses, and finally assembling it all.  I ended up making one extra large baking dish for the neighbors, and then a regular sized baking dish and another small one for us.  At least we will get several meals out of my efforts.  Woody was a great help opening cans and keeping the dishes washed.  There was a point that I wondered if I would get it done in time for two houses on Yale to partake of it today!  I did have to take a couple of short "power breaks" in order to get through. And, after eating my fill of it, I do think that it was worth the effort.  Woody seemed to agree if seconds (maybe thirds) speak louder than words!  So, welcome, August.  I think that this day will end on a leisurely note...anyway I don't plan to do much the rest of the evening and I don't think that Woody does either. Tonight's "dog days of August" photo was taken several years ago...and I may have shared it an earlier time on the blog.  I will say that this is one of my photos that was "saved" thanks to Photo Shop special effects/filters.  It was one of those times that it was just the perfect picture, but the camera just would not focus when I needed it to focus.  But it was just such a pretty doggy picture, that I hated to just delete it.  So I messed around with it in Photo Shop and ended up making it look like a painting.  An example that shows that "photoshop" has become an accepted verb in our language...because this photo was definitely photoshopped.