Final Friday in September

How is it that I am once again saying that it is the final day of a month?!? The year is just flying by. It seems that I just blinked since I welcomed the month of September! Definitely it feels like October weather so I guess it is time. This morning I helped Abigail a little with preparing a couple things for her slumber party. Her mama got called for jury duty and had to go this morning to the first "meeting" of this coming month's jury pool. The slumber party is happening as I type. I'm hoping that they are having a great time. I can't imagine that everyone isn't as Abigail really made lots and lots of plans for it. She was so excited. Woody changed his day around a bit and decided to do our weekend grocery shopping today rather than tomorrow. He went to Kroger and WalMart. He has also done some work out in the yard. We are now settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household. And, with that the gentleman in tonight's picture bids farewell to September.

Thursday Things

We started out the day quite cool...down into the mid 40's and only got into the upper 60's...quite a change for us. I always look forward to the cooler temperatures forgetting that the weather change messes with my Transverse Myelitis...now I won't know if my aches and pains are that, gout, or just plain arthritis! Oh, well, we just plug along. I had a regular school morning with the children. Esther started on a cross stitch project. She seems to enjoy handwork more than machine work. She was pretty happy to get into my cross stitch supplies to plan her next project. Abigail came after lunch to read. By then I was ready for my rest! I did rest for a little while. Woody went for a walk after lunch...he waited for the temps to rise above the 40's! He walked four miles. He has also worked out in the yard some today. I got into old photos from my college days. The class above me at Cottey College is having their 50th reunion this coming year. They are using FaceBook to make some of their plans. I was reading about a skit that they wanted to resurrect and I happen to have some old black and white photos of that skit...pretty poor quality...but better than no photo of it! So I spent some time trying to figure out how to scan with the printer that we have now. The printer/scanner sends scans to the computer, but I can never find where they are sent...so I finally realized that I could scan to a thumb drive so I did that and have been playing with the photos in photo shop. I will send the scans to two of the people who are planning the reunion and they can do with them what they want. We had spaghetti squash tonight with our leftover marinara sauce. Abigail is so excited she is planning/getting ready for a slumber party for her 13th birthday. She decided that she wanted to shampoo the carpet in their living room area and their vacuum/shampooer decided to quit on them. So I have just gotten back home from helping her shampoo their carpet using our shampooer. She and I took turns running the machine. It may be cool, but I got rather warm running that machine! It really felt good going out into the cool evening! Woody is downstairs reading and/or watching tv. I am going to go plop as soon as I publish this blog. I have been looking back through my fall pictures from other years. I thought that I had chosen one that I hadn't used, but when I went to download it, the numbering on it looked like one that I have probably used...oh, well...if I don't remember, you all probably won't! I do try really hard not to repeat pictures. This photo was taken on our way back from Vanderbilt last October.

Fall Greetings From Our House to Yours

It has been a beautiful fall day here in southern Middle Tennessee. When Woody walked by the sign on the bank down the hill from us the temperature 45 degrees. We haven't seen temperatures that cool in quite a while. Woody included the prayer room on his walk today as he didn't go last night because of the meeting at church. He walked a total of six miles. Later in the morning he went to the local farmers' market and Kroger for our Wednesday groceries. He got some really good apples at the farmers' market along with zucchini and some interesting tomatoes...a strange color...purple was in their name. But I was glad that I knew that they were supposed to be that color as they looked like they might be bad when looking form the outside...and even on the inside a little...but they tasted good. We had salads with lots of fresh goodies for lunch. I used my new spiralizer for some of the veggies in our salad. After lunch, I headed to the library. Donna and I were glad to find the three computers talking to each other once again...it took two tries by the tech person, but the second time he got them working. Donna, Fran and I got quite a bit done once again...well, I ended up not getting a lot done for our library as we had a lady come in who was taking over the library position in her church and needed some advice. It was suggested that she come to our church and talk to us. We do probably have the largest church library in the area outside of Nashville and Chattanooga. When Donna was entering books today she said that she was about to enter the 8,000th accessioned book...what that means that our books are numbered (as they are in most libraries) when they are entered in the computer (or back in the old days when we were just entering the info on the card catalog cards)every book is given a number and that number isn't to be used again...even if the book is weeded out. When you delete a book, its accession number is deleted too. I am saying all this to say that we don't have 8,000 books in our collection as we have weeded many out over the years, but that from the first time that a book was entered way back when the library was first started (early 70's, I believe)till today we have processed 8,000 books! I'm not sure what our total book count is...probably at least a thousand or maybe more less. There is a way to find that out in the computer, but I didn't have time today to go looking for that number. As we were just about to leave today I decided to print something and the printer came to a "screeching" halt (This printer had also been moved when the workman were changing some things in the library... same time they unplugged the computers and didn't get them plugged in right). The noise was quite alarming. We finally figured out that the paper tray hadn't been put in right and that it was still printing. I decided that I would attempt to put the tray back on another day! I came home and made marinara sauce and then spiralized some of the zucchini that Woody had bought and steamed it for a short time for our "pasta" tonight...I think that they call spiralized zucchini, "zoodles." We both really enjoyed it in place of regular pasta. By the time that I ate supper, I was beat from my long day. I think that I skipped over our school time this morning. It went on as usual. Abigail worked some more on her skirt. We are starting to see the finish for her skirt. She plans to come over Friday morning for a while and we are going to work on it then, if plans go as we made them today. Since I was beat, Woody cleaned up the kitchen for me. He also planted the pansies that may be seen on the steps in tonight's picture. I'm hoping that the cooler temperatures will be a friend to these pansies.

Objectives Accomplished

I think that Isaac's sleepover was a success. He had many things planned that he wanted to do and I "think" that we accomplished them all. The only thing that we hadn't done by this morning was paint. He brought his own paints and paint brush and enjoyed painting this picture at the end of his school time today. He is painting his name at the top of the page...the "s" didn't exactly cooperate with the paintbrush and there wasn't quite enough room for the "c" but he got them all up there so that I would know that Isaac painted it! Shortly before his mommy and daddy and the rest of the crew got back home from Bible study and juggling practice, he asked me when it would be time for him to go home. I think that he was ready...but it wasn't long after he had gone back home that he came back and asked how much longer till he could have another sleepover! I'm glad that he had a good time. This afternoon, after I read with Abigail and Joy, I took a nice rather long nap. Grammy was tired out! Woody walked six miles this morning. He was able to go later in the morning since the weather has decided to be more fall-like. Last night at the ball game it even felt a bit chilly. Woody did some mowing today. I don't know if I have mentioned before this, but he is back to doing some of our mowing again. I even worked a bit in the yard. I sunk a pot of mums in one of our gardens and then picked up some things in our yard this evening and even raked a few leaves. Woody and I both headed out to Elijah's ball game a little after 5 and when we got there only Nathan and Kathy and family and perhaps one other family were there. It was obvious that the ball game had been cancelled...but Nathan and Kathy hadn't gotten the word. We headed back home and Woody sat down and watched the news for a few minutes before it was time for him to go to a meeting at church. He is now home and has settled in for the evening in front of the TV with probably a book in his hands. I am thinking about sewing a seam or two on this blouse that I am attempting to make for Joy...not much progress being made on it! I don't have much energy this evening, but surely I could at least sew two seams and top stitch them!?! If not I will sit in my chair and read. I got a book that I ordered. A cyber-sewing friend (internet friend) of mine wrote the book. It is a book for preteens and teens, but I am enjoying it. It is the second in a series and I have the first one too. We rarely buy books...we are library types, as we just don't have enough room to house all the books that we read. But I do purchase books by authors who I know from time to time. This one I will read and then pass on to Graham and Erin who both also read the first one. I will end with a picture of two little boys enjoying a neighborhood cat. The three little boys and Esther keep enticing it to come play with them.

Extra Tidbit

Nathan (our son for those who might not know) was called a while back by a pain reliever company to see if they could use a clip from one of his YouTube videos...one where he is juggling bowling balls under water. He had no objections...especially since they were going to pay him to use it! He signed whatever he needed to and then it was just wait to see the commercial when it came out. Last week Woody spotted him on the commercial. It is an Advil commercial for their liqui-gels. This is a very short commercial and they really pack a lot of action into about 15 seconds. Just don't blink too many times while watching it! His small bit is on the part where the word "stronger" is on the screen. I hope that this link works! I still haven't seen it on TV but Woody has and Kathy's parents have. I thought that some of our blog readers might enjoy seeing it. So here is the link (well, the link doesn't seem to be clickable...but you can copy and paste it and it will take you to the commercial): https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ANW6/advil-liqui-gel-what-bad-back

Sleepover!

Well, for some reason the blog won't let me post the pictures that I chose for tonight. I may be able to add them later. This is the big day...Isaac is finally getting to have his sleepover that he has been waiting to have for so very long. He has been pretty excited. We are up a bit late as we didn't get home from Joy and Esther's last Fall ball game. Once again their team won. Playing Fall Ball has been a good experience for them. Isaac joined us this afternoon as soon as Elijah's long time was over...as a matter of fact he was looking in the living room window a bit before Elijah's long time was over! I made a cake last night and one of the first things that Isaac and I did was ice the cake. We cut our pieces for our dessert and then took the rest of the cake next door so they could have a treat too. I'm not going to say that I fed Isaac the most nutricious supper...but it was the menu he planned...how could I resist going along with his menu!?! He wanted hotdogs, french fries, and carrots. We made carrot spirals with my new spiralizer so that was fun and he likes carrots. When he ate the pieces that didn't get spiralized he said that he could already see better! After supper we headed to the ball game. Isaac kept wondering when the game would end so we could go on with our sleepover plans. It did end and we were on our way home for a bedtime snack of popcorn and then a bath and then two stories and then teeth brushed and then tucked into bed. I think that he will be asleep quite quickly, he has had a big day! This is the first time that he has slept over here with out another sibling or two. Woody walked four miles this morning. Later in the morning he went to the Life Care Center and had Bible study with Jeff and then visited with several others there.

And, finally the pictures posted! And, since they have I will say "good night." My recliner sounds pretty good at the moment. Woody is downstairs watching the debate. I "might" stick my head in and see what is happening. But I'm just not sure that I am up to listening to it tonight! I'm sort of glad that I had other responsibilities...like Isaac this evening! I believe that Isaac is off to dream land! We have big plans for in the morning since tomorrow is his long time with me.

More Fall Ball

I'm blogging in between ball games. Elijah had a 4pm game and Joy and Esther have a 7pm game. After today we only have two more games for Elijah and two more for the girls. Fall ball is winding down and Fall just arrived! And, as Woody said on our way home, "The way the temperatures are we might be able to have Fall ball on into November!" Woody did his usual Saturday errands...library, Walmart, and Kroger. I put the groceries away and I'm not sure what I did with the rest of my day up until we headed off for Elijah's game. I did spend some time looking through a folder that had things in from my sixth grade year. A friend posted on Facebook about a memory and that sent me back to look at what Mother had saved from that year in school. I found several interesting things...among them some black and white photos that I took when I went on a trip with one of my friends and her parents. I did spend quite a bit of wasted time trying to set up my negative scanner...never did get it to work. Well, Woody is calling that it is time to go. Elijah's team went crazy with their hits this afternoon and won their game something like 18-1...quite a game for our team! Now we will see how Joy and Esther's game goes.

More Fall Doings

Woody walked four miles this morning. Before he got back from his walk, Joseph had come over to play with the animals (a basket of small plastic farm animals and a basket of zoo animals). Kathy said that she had been putting his visit off since 6am! He stayed and played for quite a while. Isaac came and spent time too. This afternoon, Isaac and I hatched a plan for next week...a sleepover at Grammy and Goosey's. The plan is for his sleepover to happen on Monday night. He is carrying a little piece of paper around in his pocket where he is marking off the days till Monday. He came over a little while ago and showed me that he had marked off today already, since they don't let him go to bed with a pencil! I had told him to mark it off when he went to bed tonight or when he had bedtime stories! After lunch, Woody and I headed out to find some mums to add to our outside fall decorations. We found some very pretty ones...and they were on sale, too. Before put them around the yard where we want them, Woody had Isaac water them. I went outside a little while ago and put them in place. We will leave them in their pots while they are blooming and then plant them in the ground after that. Three of the mum plants from last year survived and have bloomed once already. I cut them back and they have buds on them again. After our trek for mums, I came in and decided that I was ready to make our first soup of the fall. The weather is still too hot, but I found one that sounded good that I wanted to try and we had the ingredients. It is Chicken Alfredo soup. It was pretty tasty...though, it really still is too hot for soup yet. I got hot making it and hot eating it! I sewed some last night after I blogged, but so far today I haven't had time to even turn the sewing machine on. I'm not sure that I have enough oomph to do any sewing tonight...as usual...time will tell. Woody has been working on helping me get the cooking mess cleaned up for which I am very thankful. At the moment he is reading and watching TV. I'm planning on going in and finishing watching a show that I was watching on my iPad...pretty typical low-key Friday evening in this Dorrell household. Oh, as you can see in tonight's photo, the driveway is back in service. Woody took down the barrier this afternoon at the point when it had been two days. We drove the car back into the driveway when we got back from mum purchasing.

It's Fall, Y'all!

First day of Fall meant that I got out my Fall decorations. This picture shows the new pumpkin (white with fall leaves) that Cheryl, my sister, sent to me this year. I got it in the mail yesterday...perfect timing! Before decorating got under way, several other things happened. Woody left for a four-mile walk before I awakened this morning. I was still groggy when I got a phone call from Elijah. He wanted me to come next door to take a picture of what they had captured in one of Elijah's traps...A SKUNK!

Nathan called animal control and late in the morning they came and carried it away. I'm not sure if they have brought the cage back or not. Elijah had been trying to catch the squirrel that keeps eating their bird food. They had bird seed inside the trap...not something that they thought would attract a skunk. Esther, Elijah and Joseph helped me get out my varioius pumpkins and put them on the kitchen table. They also helped bring some books down from upstairs that I needed to raise up the pumpkins that I placed on top of the china cabinet. After decorating, I roasted in the oven some of the okra that Woody got at the farmer's market. That was part of our lunch today. Isaac and Joseph played over here off and on late morning and then again in the afternoon. I got out some homemade play doh and that made them pretty happy for quite a while. I rested for a while and then got back to my sewing. I managed to do a little before the girls' ball game this evening. It ended up being a very exciting ball game...at least for our team. Esther got hit by a ball and made it to base...she must learn to get away from those inside balls! Joy's last at bat she made a base hit and drove two runs in...and ended up being batted in by one of her team mates thus scoring the final run for tonight. We won 10-0. Joy just beamed when they handed her a ball at the end of the game...her first time to hit and score during Tullahoma Fall Ball. Way to go Esther and Joy!

Today has been a GREAT start to Fall!

Summer's End

I don't think that it is going to feel like fall when it begins tomorrow...but according to the calendar summer's last day is today. Woody heard on Huntsville, AL TV today that they had a record breaking 100 straight days of 90 degrees or above. We here in southern middle TN haven't been quite that hot...we have had some days in the 80's. And, it doesn't seem like we will be getting much cooler over the next week...very summery. Woody walked six miles this morning. Later in the morning he did his usual Wednesday errands...Farmer's market and Krogers. He bought a whole lot of okra at the farmer's market and got some of the best tomatoes. Some he bought from a lady who had won for the best tomatoes at the County Fair. They really are good! I spent the morning with my sewing. I got Joy's birthday surprise cut out and then this afternoon after I came home from working in the church library, I got interfacing basted. So the pieces are ready to be brought to the machines. This afternoon Donna and I worked in the library. We had been going along for a while checking books in and getting others ready to put info into the computer and then work sort of came to a halt...when we discovered that the main computer and the other two computers in the library were no longer "talking" to each other. We had been waiting for some work to be done in the library that relocated the CPU for the main computer and the printer. Well, that got done between Sunday and today...and in doing so the computer was unplugged...well, it didn't get plugged back in correctly and we have no idea what else to do other than what we tried. We called in someone from the ministerial staff and he couldn't get things "talking" again either. He sent out an SOS to someone on the tech committee. Here's hoping that it won't be too long till that person can come in and see what wire needs to be plugged where! Donna and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes...alway something to keep us on our toes...or...from getting our work done! We had our driveway sealed today...smells lovely (not) outside our house at the moment. The drive is cordoned off for the next couple of days...hope that we don't need to get the car out of the garage. (We do have one parked on the street.) Woody had been meaning to have it done for a while so another maintenance upkeep job around here done.

Tuesday Tracing

The above jumbled "mess" is what I face when I trace a pattern from Ottobre Magazine, a kids fashion magazine (they also have a womens magazine, but I mostly use the childrens) from Finland. There is a pattern for every design in the magazine...but you have to work to use them! I have to trace the correct lines from that page that you see with all the jumbled lines. Today I was tracing all the pattern pieces that were outlined in black...each pattern is multi-sized...so have to interpret what line to trace also for each pattern piece once you have found the black. And, everything is in metrics...that takes me a bit to figure conversions! I am not a metrics kind of person. The pattern I was tracing has 8 pieces so it took me a bit of time to find each piece and then trace around the shape and add markings. After I trace the lines from the pattern sheet then I have to add seam allowances. I do have all the pieces traced and have found the interfacing that I want to use. I am ready to clear the cutting table and lay out the fabric and get to cutting. This has pretty much been a sewing related kind of day for me. The phone awakened me this morning and it was a call from Mood Fabric in New York City. I had made an order a couple of weeks ago and had gotten all but one piece that I ordered...according to the invoice and an email the fabric had been sold out before they filled my order. Last night I was looking at some other fabric at their site and found the fabric that I hadn't gotten and it said "to hurry almost sold out." Well, I shot off a question that if it was "almost sold out" why had I been told that it was sold out? The phone call this morning said that they had tracked some down and were sending it to me. Messages like that I like to get! Made my day! That was the fabric that I had wanted the most out of what I had ordered. So I guess in this case the squeaky wheel got her fabric! I am looking forward to its arrival. Meanwhile, I will sew on what I got from Mood Fabric the other day. I'm making something for Joy for her birthday with one of the pieces...shhhhhh...it's a secret! Woody got up and walked six miles this morning. He found so many aluminum cans that he had to stop picking them up as the bag he took with him was full. We have both spent time this afternoon reading. I did manage to make us a casserole for our supper. Woody walked to the prayer room at church this evening and has yet to return. After I blog, I may lay out the pattern on Joy's fabric and get started cutting it out or at least get the cutting table cleared of tracing materials and get the fabric ready to put the pattern on...maybe even pin the pattern pieces on and then cut it out in the morning. I guess I'll see just exactly what I feel like doing when I get back in there...reclining in my chair and reading may be all that I get accomplished this evening. Only time will tell!

Signs of Fall?

I'm not sure that you can see what Joseph is looking at so intently in Graham's hand...but it is a little garter snake. Graham found it when wandering around on the outskirts of the ball field the other night. After that Graham was quite the "Pied Piper!" A lot of smaller children were following him around trying to get a closer look at this little snake. I guess that perhaps this little snake is a sign of fall as snakes are most active in spring, early summer, and fall. We have a tree that is dropping leaves like crazy...though that may be due to drought conditions for so long. Speaking of drought conditions...I guess we, here in southern middle TN, are trying to make up for lack of rain. In the last day-and-a-half we have had a little more than 3 1/2 inches! I was awakened in the night with a really loud boom...we had some of the loudest thunder for a while and lots of rain. Woody managed to sleep through the storm. I guess thunder storms are a sign of fall as they come when cooler air meets warmer air. The temperatures still say summer though. I was looking for a recipe last week. I found it, but I also found a recipe that I hadn't made before. It was Gingered Pumpkin Pie. I decided that it sounded good. It was a little different than my traditional pie in that it had a crumble topping made of ginger snaps. I decided that I wanted to make it...I get in the mood for pumpkin pie as fall nears. So yesterday afternoon I made the pie. It is really quite tasty...though I want my traditional pumpkin pie recipe served with whip cream for the holidays! I think that I figured out something...a bit of a mystery for me for a while. I make my own pie crust...you would too if your husband said that you made the best pie crust in the world! This pie crust turned out really flaky and good...except that it didn't taste good to me. I had this problem in the past thinking that it was an ingredient in the crust...as it tasted "rancid" to me. In the past I blamed it on the Crisco...but this time I had a brand new can of Crisco (I rarely use Crisco for anything except for making crusts so in the past I thought that it had sat in my refrigerator too long...as I don't make pies all that often...just ask Woody!) So yesterday I decided to blame it on the flour...we had the store brand...but it was a fairly new bag and I keep it in the freezer...but made the decision to get Gold Medal next time. But there was a clue that the crust wasn't bad...Woody raved about how good it tasted. It tasted so bad to me that I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for hours! I decided to get on the internet and see if there is a cause of things tasting to bad to a person. And, I came to the conclusion that it may be due to one or two of the medications that I take. Two of my medications have side effects listed of causing some foods to taste bad. I also have a problem with the taste of some breads, some salad dressings, and some barbecue sauces...these can really ruin the taste of a sandwich or a salad! I had wondered for a while if the bad taste of some things was med caused...but hadn't associated it with pie crust before. I am rather disappointed...because eating pumpkin pie and having the nice texture of a flaky crust just isn't the same as just eating the filling. I guess all these things are not that bad to have to do without...could be much worse! It took a cough drop to get rid of the bad taste last night. And, there you have my "taster mystery" perhaps solved due to a fall hankering for pumpkin pie! Another sign of fall is that I am having a Fall Break from school this week. I had planned to get busy on sewing, but all I have done is try to get things ready to be able to sew...been working on putting things away from the girls' projects that they have finished. Woody walked four miles this morning. Later in the morning, he went to the Life Care to have Bible study with Jeff. This evening he went to prayer meeting at church. We are now settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household...thinking that with all these signs that just perhaps fall will really arrive...but don't think that it is going to feel like fall when it is officially ushered in later in the week!

Baseball Promise

We were into Elijah's second game and it started sprinkling a little. Soon there was a beautiful rainbow. It is one of those rare occasions when I am in Tullahoma and there is a rainbow that I am able to get a picture since there were no trees surrounding me like there are at home. I decided that the first promise that came from the rainbow was that Elijah's team won both games. They were behind in the second game until the rainbow showed itself! The other promise that I got from the rainbow was that tonight's baseball games would finally end! Three games in a row was a bit much...rather hard on the back and the bleachers got really hard! The girls' team lost their game. One positive about the length of time that we were out at the ol' ball park was that the temperature was very pleasant and there was a breeze. We got to the ball park a little before four and didn't leave till almost nine. Grammy is tired! And, Goosey (Woody) said that it was about his bedtime! Woody walked four miles this morning before he headed off to do the usual Saturday errands. He went to WalMart, Kroger and the library. I washed and dried and put away a couple of loads of laundry. At the moment I'm not sure if I did anything else today or not! Memory of the early part of the day seems to have left me! I am looking forward to my recliner!

Friday

Here's Joseph with his zoo animals. He loves playing with them dearly! When he comes over to see us he asks most of the time to play with either these or his farm animals. He came over for a short time this afternoon and he got these out and brought them into our bedroom where I was working. He gets them out and talks about what they say and their names and if they are a daddy or a mommy or a baby. Today he enjoyed the mama kangaroo and the little Joey. They were hopping all over the place! I have Friday's off from school, but I turned this into a work day for the church library. I spent quite a while this morning writing letters to families telling them about memorials given to the library or thanking the donors. Then I decided that I would write the over due letters. I just writing those before logging in to blog. I still have to print them. And, this afternoon I worked on the Sunday School lesson for Sunday that I will be teaching. Woody walked four miles this morning. He has been reading, working puzzles, and watching TV. He also did some work in the yard today. He, too has been working on a presentation for his small group for Sunday. We had yesterday pot roast leftovers for supper so I haven't had to cook today. It's still staying very hot. According to Weather Bug it got o 90 today. I guess we need those quite warm temperatures to remind us that it isn't quite Fall yet! I have stayed in trying to keep cool! Well, I need to go work on my Sunday School lesson some more as I want to have the lesson finished before our three ball games tomorrow! If I'm late blogging tomorrow evening...figure that we are still at the ball park!

A Happy Camper!

Esther is a very happy camper as she finally finished the dress for her doll, Noel. Isn't it pretty! She did a great job with some help from me here and there. Doll clothes are pretty tedious for such little fingers. She has learned a lot of patience...we started working on the dress before school let out for summer and today we finally put the last stitch in it. I think that both doll and doll mommy were quite pleased! While I was having school this morning, Woody went on his walk. I didn't ask him how far he walked but I think that by the time that he was away from the house that it was four miles. He is next door taking care of seven grandchildren while their parents have a date night. I got busy as soon as I finished lunch and got a pot roast going in our crock pot. We hadn't had pot roast in a very long time. I cook potatoes, carrots, and onions with the meat...so a complete meal in a pot.

Wednesday Comings and Goings

Woody walked six miles early this morning. He headed out the door to run Wednesday errands about the time that school started for the children and me. He went to the Credit Union, Kroger and the local farmers' market. We had a usual Wednesday school day. Abigail continued to work on her jeans skirt. She embroidered two more designs on it. After lunch I headed to church to work in the library. I noticed the clouds and decided to run my one errand before I went to church as it looked like it might rain and it wasn't raining then. I stopped and bought some machine embroidery thread for Abigail's project. We ran out of thread in the middle of a design this morning. I made my purchase and headed on to the church. We worked on getting books processed...more books ready to check out. Lots of new children's books. And, big drops of rain were coming down as Donna and I headed to our cars. So I was glad that I had done my errand when it was dry! I came home and was ready to just sit for a while. I did some hand sewing this afternoon while I rested in my chair. While I was at church, Woody did quite a bit of reading with Joseph. There was a big stack of books on the couch and not on the stairs...the way I knew that they had been doing a lot of reading. When I left, they had just finished reading Old MacDonald (still Joseph's favorite), but Joseph had gotten up and gone to get two other books...but lots got added to those three by the time that I got home from the library. Joseph had gone home...but the evidence of his love of books was still here! I just heard Woody plop them back on the stairs...ready to be read tomorrow!

Summery Tuesday

At the moment we are wondering when Fall will get here...it is just around the corner according to the calendar...BUT...according to the temperatures it doesn't seem much like it is close. But I know that it won't be long and we will be longing for warmer temperatures! Tuesday Isaac is now spending the morning with us...his long Grammy time. We have school for the first part of the morning and then he gets to choose what he wants to do. The morning goes by very quickly and he stayed past the time his mommy came to get him as he had just started to use my Ipad when she arrived. Joseph joined him and stayed till it was lunch time. Abigail and Joy came over after lunch for their reading time. Abigail chose to use her time today to work on one of her subjects. Joy and I continued reading her book. When they finished, I was "finished!" And, was ready to collapse...ended up taking a nap. Supper was easy tonight...last night's leftovers. Woody went for a four-mile walk this morning. Then later in the morning, he went to visit one of his deacon family members who is a shut-in. They had a nice talk. After supper, he walked to the prayer room at church and hasn't returned yet. We seem to be keeping busy these last days of summer! There are no ball games until Saturday and then there will be three games back to back...Elijah is playing a double header and Joy and Esther have a game! Should prove interesting...hoping that the temperatures are fall-like for those games!

Views From the Stands

We have just returned from tonight's ball game. Joy and Esther played tonight. We were in the stands that you can't get above the fence. So I decided to take a shot at tonight's waxing gibeous moon. And, I also got a few shots through the fence of Joy and Esther...Joy heading to first base after being walked and Esther heading back to the dugout after her at bat. Woody headed out for his walk just a little before it was time for my school to start. We had a regular day of school. Woody went mid-morning to have Bible study with Jeff at Life Care. Joy and Elijah had their long times with me...Joy before lunch and Elijah after. Joy finished her picture that she had been making using different stitches on the sewing machine. Elijah continued with his simple machine lessons about levers. Today he made a 2nd class lever = a wheel barrow and a double 1st class lever = scissors using K'nex. Next lesson we move on to pulleys. I rested for a few minutes after I finished with Elijah's time and then got busy with tonight's supper. While I rested Woody skinned and boned the chicken thighs. I made a recipe that we saw on The Chew the other day. It turned out pretty good. It was Mario Batali's Chicken Milanese Parmesan. I think that I prefer eggplant parmesan, but this is a recipe worth adding to those I have that use chicken thighs. By the time that we had eaten and I had sort of cleaned up the mess in the kitchen (I still have more of the cleaning to face when I finish blogging), it was time to head to the ball park. Woody dropped me off at the game and then headed back into town to go to the Monday night prayer meeting at church. He got back in time to see the last couple of innings. By the way the Blue Raiders (Joy & Esther's team) won 4-1. Good game girls...and boys!

Remembering

Alarming News at the Neighbors' Today

Look what was parked in front of our neighbors' house today. The alarming news is that they were getting new smoke detectors installed in their house. Our local fire department is having a campaign to get more smoke alarms into homes. If you make an appointment they will come and install them in all the rooms that need them. They got one installed in each bedroom and a couple downstairs. Nathan thinks that the best thing besides the fact that this service is free is that these free smoke alarms come with a ten-year battery. Joseph and the rest think that the best thing about the visit is that the firemen turned on their lights and siren for them before they drove off! I think that Graham is planning fire drills...he has the ladder to drop down from the upstairs windows stored in his room. Wonder how many days till I see little ones escaping from an upstairs window?!? I'm glad that there wasn't more alarming news than new smoke alarms to be reported! Fun to have a fire truck visit under these circumstances! Woody walked four miles this morning. Then later in the morning he ran our usual Saturday errands with a couple of hospital visits and a visit to another nursing facility added in. Abigail called this morning wondering if she and Joseph could come over. She wanted to work some more on her skirt. We spent most of the morning getting the rest of the designs picked out and then placing them where she wants to stitch them. So she will be ready to stitch out a machine embroidered design or two the next time she has a sewing time. She is getting pretty adept at finding the designs on the laptop and getting a template printed out and then transferring the design to a thumb drive and plugging in the thumb drive to the machine so the machine can read it. By the time she gets this skirt done she should be an expert! By the time I got the groceries put away, a load of wash going, and lunch eaten, I was ready to rest for a while! Since my rest that turned into a nap after I read about one page in a book, I have managed to get the load of wash dried and put away. Now I am going to go in and look over my Sunday School lesson that I'm going to teach tomorrow. Woody is downstairs watching the University of TN/VA Tech game. We are actually getting some rain...haven't heard rain on the roof in quite a while. I am also hearing some rumbles of thunder. Maybe the ground will get a good soaking. Today Woody and I both worked some on cleaning the front porch. He blew leaves off and I got spider webs out of the nooks and crannies and wiped off some of the furniture and then started my Fall decorating. Last year when I was doing the decorating for Fall, my sister, Cheryl, was here visiting from AZ.

Another Little Pumpkin Picker!

Joseph helped Goosey (Woody) pick two more pumpkins this afternoon while I was resting. I found them outside our bedroom door when I got up from my rest...and a little boy not far away heard the door open and asked if I was going to take his picture! I grabbed my little point and shoot and he told me that I had forgotten my camera! He has gotten used to me taking pictures with the bigger camera at the ball games and didn't see the smaller one in my hand. Today is my day off from school activities and I sort of lazed around this morning...did a little reading and caught up on emails, etc. Woody went for a four-mile walk this morning. Mid morning Joseph, Isaac, Esther, and Kathy came over with a purchase that had the little ones all excited. They had been to an estate sale and found a set of zoo animals to add to the ones that we have. Isaac and Joseph stayed and played with them for a while...Joseph till almost lunch. After lunch they were back to enjoy them some more. Abigail came over after she got her school work done for the day/week and asked if she could machine embroider another design on the jean skirt that she is making. So she did that while the little boys played. Joy came in while the machine was stitching and I didn't know that she was here till her mother texted to see how many were over here! Joy came to work on a drawing that she had started this morning when she came over for a while. Joseph and Goosey went to the drugstore together to pick up a couple of prescriptions that we needed. Joseph played with the zoo animals along with the farm animals till it was almost supper time. At the moment, Woody is downstairs watching the news and I came upstairs after I finished eating and decided that I would blog a bit early for a change. We are now settling in for another quiet Friday evening.

Another Evening at the Ball Park

We have just returned from Joy and Esther's game. Their team was ahead for a couple of innings...then the other team tied it up...then the other team went ahead...and that was the way it ended! Joy took one for the team tonight...got hit by a pitched ball so she got to first base the "hard way!" Woody and Graham took care of the announcing batters and keeping the score board again tonight. Woody likes doing that. Woody walked six miles this morning. I had a usual morning of school with five of the seven. Esther is very, very close to finishing the doll dress. I'm pretty sure that she will finish it next week. Joseph spent the morning with Woody after he had his school time with me. He headed home when it was lunch time. Abigail came over for her reading time after lunch. Then...I took a nap so I would be able to go to the ball game! We are now settling in for a quiet rest of the evening per usual!

Wednesday Doings

Today has pretty much been a routine Wednesday. Woody headed off to the local farmer's market and then to Kroger before I got underway with school. Joseph and Isaac had their preschool time with me. Then Elijah, Esther, and Joy read with me. Then it was Abigail's turn to have her long Grammy time. Today we got brave and really deconstructed the pair of capris that she is going to turn into a skirt. We cut up the seam of the inside legs. She had a machine embroidery design all picked out. She chose the colors that she wanted to use and she was able to get the design all stitched out in "her time"...progress! Hopefully we will get this done before she outgrows it! Woody made me a green salad for lunch. I ate it and a nice juicy pear and then headed off to the church library to work. I stopped first at the public library to return some books. My plan in stopping there first was that the one book that I still wanted but couldn't renew any more would be back on the shelf by the time that I went back after working at the church. By making that stop at the public library, tonight's photo is what greeted me one block from the church...and it was a long one. I had to wait on it for at least five minutes. We got a lot accomplished in processing...lots more new books both for the grownups and the children are ready for circulation. I did stop at the public library on the way back and was disappointed that the book wasn't back on the shelf yet. I decided that I would look around and find another book or two. By the time that I had selected two, the library worker was coming toward me with the book cart ready to shelve returned books. I spotted the one that I wanted and asked her if I could have it from her cart. She nicely said that, "Yes, I could shop from her cart!" So I was happy to have the book that I wanted back and also a couple of others to read...mission accomplished. I came home and pretty much promptly sat down and fell asleep...much needed nap. We have now had supper and are settling in for another, as usual, quiet evening. I think that I will start one of the books that I checked out today...didn't even get a page read before I fell asleep this afternoon...maybe my nap will let me read for a bit tonight!

Our Little Pumpkin Picker!

Last week Kathy and I talked and we decided to let Isaac have a longer time at school on Tuesdays. Kathy has Bible study at church, Joseph goes to the nursery, and Nathan and the older children have juggling practice at the church. Isaac would have gone to the nursery, but today we decided to try letting him spend the morning here at the house. We started out with our normal routine of school activities. When he got through with those he got to choose more things that he wanted to do in the school room...something that our usual length of time limits. Woody walked four miles during part of Isaac's school time. When Goosey (Woody) got home he and Isaac went out to the volunteer pumpkin patch. These pumpkins grew from our compost pile. We have decided that God is a much better gardener than we are! There are still a couple of good sized squash, perhaps a spaghetti squash, and also a pretty gourd. Carrying two in proved to be a bit heavy for Isaac so he gladly gave up the heaviest for Goosey to carry. Isaac and I are working on finishing a rather long version of Hansel and Gretel. He had a snack and then headed back up to the school room. He painted a picture (Paints don't come out all that often...so that was a real treat!). Then he decided that he wanted to do some gluing so made a picture for his mom using torn paper and glue. He still had time and decided to go back and use the Montessori equipment. We had a great morning. After lunch, I headed off to get my hair cut. When I got back home, Abigail and then Joy came over to read. Joseph came in to play while they were reading. He got our the farm animals and took them into the family room with Goosey. Elijah had a ball game this evening. Woody and I left early so we could stop at Dairy Queen to take advantage of them giving away free small Oreo Frappes. I didn't think that Woody would get one because he does NOT like coffee flavor. I'm not fond of it either, but I do like coffee ice cream and that is pretty much what it tasted like to me. Woody said that it wasn't his favorite, but that it was drinkable! I'm wondering if the word "free" helped it to go down! After our treat, we headed to the ball game. Just prior to the ball game starting, they were asking for a volunteer to man the score board and announce the boys' names. Woody volunteered and recruited Graham to go up with him. Woody announced and Graham kept the scoreboard.

Elijah played first and seems to be getting the hang of all that he is supposed to do when covering that base and home if necessary. He gave the ball two pretty good smacks at his at bats. And, crossed the plate twice scoring two of their runs. And, while playing first base made all the outs in one of the innings to get his team, the Tarheels, back up to bat.

It was a very close game, going back and forth as to which team was ahead. In the end the Tarheels were the victors by one run!

Woody dropped me off at the house and circled back to the church to go to the prayer room. He has yet to return. We have had a pretty full day!

Part of Labor Day Spent Under the Lights

More baseball pictures! Tonight Joy and Esther had another game. Esther drew a walk and ended up on 2nd base when the next batter made a hit. Joy hit a ground ball to the 2nd baseman who made a force out at 2nd for the third out of that inning. Esther was the casualty of the evening when a ball grazed her hand/fingers on her second at bat. She and her mom went to the concession stand and got ice for it. By the end of the game she seemed to have shaken it off. And, their team won! Woody walked four miles early this morning. Later in the morning he went to The Life Care Center and had Bible study with Jeff. He also made a stop at the hospital to visit a friend. I had a usual Monday of school. Joy just about finished the picture she is "drawing" with the sewing machine. After lunch, Elijah came over for his long time. Woody went outside with Elijah after he finished with me and they worked on playing first base. Because we had school today and because we had a ball game this evening, we didn't attempt to have a family cookout. Yesterday I made my first attempt ever at cooking a rack of ribs. I did them in the oven and they turned out quite tasty. I made a rub and cooked them really slow wrapped in foil. Then upped the oven temp and cooked them for another 50 min. basting them with barbecue sauce every 10 minutes. We enjoyed them again today and there are still some to enjoy tomorrow.

Batter Up!

We have just returned from the ball park. Tonight Elijah played his first game of Fall Ball. Fun was had by all. I have put up a sequence of one of Elijah's at bats. He made a hit all three times that he was up to bat. His team is made up a lot of very young players just coming up to coach pitch from t-ball. So there is a big learning curve. Elijah is one of the oldest on the team. The first inning he played short stop and the rest of the game he played first base. He has a lot to learn playing infield positions. His team lost but lots was learned and lots of fun was had! Again, it was quite pleasant sitting in the stands. I was brave again and sat at the top of the stands so I could shoot over the fence. Woody walked six miles early this morning. Later he ran our Saturday errands to WalMart and the library. I decided that today was a day that I was going to put away a lot of fabric that had piled up from various projects that the girls and I have done. I didn't just put it back in the bins, I also straightened the bins so I can see what is in them...not just a jumble of fabric any more...at least till the next time we paw through them. What I was working on is fabric that we have made something from, but there is still enough to use for another project. There is a lot of that fabric around here...so several tubs...stripes and plaids/checks in one, solids in another, prints in another, knits in another, and fleece in another. Then I have some plastic shoe box size containers that I put the smaller pieces in that can be used for applique and other things. I did actually throw some away today. I'm glad to have them neater and not various piles sitting around in the sewing room and on the cutting table and under the ironing board, etc. Now I have some larger pieces that are big enough for garments to put back in the sewing fabric closet (guest room closet). I take these out of the closet when we have guests who need that closet and the hangers and I hadn't put them back on hangers. I will get to that at another time. I "might" even think about doing some of it tonight. Woody did some cooking today. He made his quinoa burgers (a veggie burger). We had them for supper...not my favorite! I am still in favor of beef in my burgers! After supper, it was off to the ball game. The month of September will include many evenings at the ball park!

Early Morning Thoughts

I took tonight's photo many years ago...October 2001. I titled it "Sunrise Fishermen." It was taken on a trip that I took to Ocean City, New Jersey. Very early this morning when I was trying to go back to sleep, I turned on an app that has "white noise" and chose the ocean waves sound, this is the scene that was brought to mind. This is one of those trips that probably not one of you would expect me to take. At the time I had made friends with many sewers across U.S. and around the world in a sewing chat room. I had met several of the ladies when they were in our area. One of them decided that we needed a long sewing weekend and came up with going to Ocean City, New Jersey. She had a friend who loaned us her shore home that was a block from the beach...and the plans got underway! Seven of us got started making plans of our own to get to Ocean City the second week in October (This was all planned before 9/11 happened and the date for this was one month after that horrible day, but we were able to carry out our plans anyway with just a few travel changes...I had to add a train ride into my itinerary due to direct flights to Atlantic City being cancelled.). One in the group came from Washington state, one from Virginia, two from New Jersey, one from Pennsylvania, one from Canada, and me from TN. I had met two of the ladies before when they came to Alabama for a sewing conference...the others I had just chatted with in our Tuesday night chat room! My mother wasn't very sure about me heading off for this adventure. I think she thought that there might be an ax murderer amongst the bunch! But Woody gave me a "thumbs up!" We had the very best of times getting to know each other, sewing together,eating together, and walking the beach together. I just happened to wake up early the morning that I took tonight's picture, noticed the sun was just rising, dressed quickly and slipped out without awakening anyone and walked the beach taking pictures. This was taken with my original digital camera...many, many mega pixels smaller than the ones I have now, but I am still very pleased with it and the others taken on this trip. So there you have one of the braver, more adventurous times in my life! I had a marvelous time! Now back to the present! I woke up way too early (thus tonight's memory) and never did go back to sleep. I heard Woody head out the door for his early morning walk. He walked six miles in quite pleasant temperatures and lower humidity. I had Thursday school on Friday. Esther had her long time with me today. She is getting very close to finishing the dress for her doll. It is very pretty. She is happy. While I had school, Woody made mini banana muffins. His group in Sunday School is responsible for the snacks this coming Sunday morning. After lunch, Abigail came over and we read together. I had trouble staying awake...just ask Abigail! So after she left, I took a nap. We had leftover Eggplant Parmesan for supper and now we are settling in for another quiet evening. Woody's watching TV and reading and I think that I will go read for a while and maybe cross stitch. By the way another reason to be thinking about this serene beach scene is that it could be affected by Tropical Storm Hermene over the weekend. I'm glad I was there when it was so serene!