Bidding Farewell to August

Another month, this year, has just about slipped by.  I can't believe that September begins tomorrow.

Woody's exercise for the day consisted of doing grocery shopping for us, running errands with his friend who has no transportation, and working in the yard--mowing and picking up LOTS of hickory nuts so he could mow.

I finished reading the book that I had hoped to finish last night after I blogged.  I ended up falling asleep before I got very much farther in the book.  This morning while Woody was at the grocery store I worked in the kitchen--wiping off the refrigerator shelves.  Later in the day I did a little cooking.  Woody did quite a bit of cooking.  He made coleslaw (that he can eat) and apple zucchini bread (another something that he can eat). Nathan and Woody went to pick up Nathan's RV.  I rested for a while this afternoon.  Later Esther came over and painted a color wheel with her water colors.  Just as she was finishing up Isaac came over and did the Osmo Coding game for a little while till their suppertime.

I think "the neighbors" (Nathan & Kathy and family) had a fairly successful day for their yard sale...at least it didn't rain and just about every time that I happened to look out there was a vehicle or two or three or...that aren't usually over there.  As far as I know they plan to have the yard sale again tomorrow.

We are once again settled in for a very quiet Friday evening...at least, I think it's safe to say that! And, on that note..."I'll see you in September!"

Victory Times Two!

Woody and I have just returned from both Elijah's and Isaac's ball games.  They were played at the same time at the same ball park...different fields!  Woody sat in the stands at Elijah's and the rest of us either sat in the stands at Isaac's or stood in between the two fields. Standing in between let us watch Elijah's from the outfield...and let me get a few pictures of Elijah without the fence between us!  Isaac hit the ball twice in his coach pitch game.  The first time he was thrown out and the second he made it safely to first! Both of their teams won...so we had two happy ball players head home. I think that Isaac was thrilled to finally be on the players' side of the fence in a ball game! Elijah's team won 10-1 and I can't remember the exact score of Isaac's but they won by two runs.

Woody walked four miles this morning.  I had school per usual.  The little boys worked quite a bit on their coding skills by using the Osmo coding app on my iPad.  They enjoy that and on Thursday I let Joseph do that after he does a couple of other lessons with me.  Today Isaac divided his long time between sewing and coding.

I guess I am going to go grab a little supper as I didn't eat before the games. Our busy days continue.
Tomorrow, I understand, is a yard sale at Nathan and Kathy's...perhaps they have some "junk" that could turn into "treasures" for someone!  Hoping the rain holds off like it did for us at the games tonight.

I did get a pretty rainbow picture at the ball game...fodder for a blog another time!

More Comings and Goings

I had an almost usual day of school.  Joy didn't come over to read because one of her friends was at their house.  Elijah read and planned to come over early for his long time (there is a 10 min. gap between readers and long time).  He figured that way he wouldn't miss out on an entire fifteen minutes when he had to leave early.  But in the end he was a bit late because he had gone on an errand with his daddy, Isaac and Joseph.  He almost finished creating a K'nex chainsaw (learning about cog gears). He wasn't able to get something to connect in his build...so took it home to have Graham help him.  Graham at one point was our "K'nexpert!"  I imagine that Graham can help Elijah problem solve better than I!

During school time, Woody drove to the local Farmer's Market because he didn't want to lug home a large amount of corn.  In the end there was no corn so he wouldn't have had too heavy of a load to carry this time.  He came home with okra, a red pepper, and some zucchinis. After he got home from the farmer's market, he went on a four-mile walk.  And, shortly after Elijah went home, Woody headed off to the church for the noon lunch and meeting.  He, again, brought me home the part of his lunch that he couldn't eat.  Once I ate, I headed to the church.  Donna and I did maintenance and got the new order of books ready to process.  She entered the new books into the computer.  I entered one and printed labels and shelved books and checked books out.  The new book order is ready for the next steps in getting them ready for our patrons.  I came home and took a nap!  Woody headed off a little before 5pm to go to church.  He had a meeting set up and then had the last of the special meetings and the culmination of the study that they have been having for quite a few weeks.  So once again Woody and I pretty much met each other coming and going!  He still hasn't returned from church and I decided to write the blog before 7pm tonight.  I think that I am going to go read, as I am almost finished with a book.

A Bit of Shuffling!

Woody started out the day walking four miles.  I started my day with school.  Joseph and Isaac came at the same time today as their parents were attempting to pick up their RV, again.  And, again, they were unsuccessful.  There is still a part or so missing from it being completed!

Isaac sat with Woody and read from his new Bible that he got when he was baptized Sunday, while Joseph had the first part of his school.  Then Isaac joined us and the two boys played a coding game with the Osmo iPad system.  Joseph is always wishing for his older brother's help when he plays when it is just Joseph and me!  So today he got his wish and Isaac helped him get through several more levels.

Esther had her Grammy time and watched a video and then did a bunch of different techniques to do different textures and effects when water color painting.  She had fun.  She had to leave early, but came back to finish this afternoon.

Woody left while Joy was reading.  He had another appointment with his nephrologist.  That appointment was at 11:30am and the lunch meeting/session at church started at noon.  He said that he got there a few minutes before noon.

School let our fifteen minutes early so Esther and her family could go to church for the lunch session. They had Subway sandwiches today...and, again Woody brought the part that he couldn't eat home to me.  He mainly fixed a vegetarian sandwich by taking all the meat off and putting it on the other piece of sandwich that he had and brought that home for my lunch.

Woody made one of his vegetarian pasta salads this afternoon.  A little before 5pm, he headed off to pick up his medicine, go to the prayer room, and then go to the evening session at church. Isaac, aka Zac, came over a little before 5pm so I could take him to his coach pitch practice.  There are two Isaac's on Isaac's team...the only difference in their names is that the other Isaak spells his name with a "k,"  Our Isaac suggested to his coaches that they call him Zac...you hear "zac" at the end of Isaac, but the main reason is that his middle name is Zachariah. When a lot of the little boys were out in outfield fielding balls, I heard Isaac explaining his name to some of the boys and some of them started calling him Zachariah!  I just wonder if he will answer to Zac when the coaches are calling out to him to "move over" or "come in" or "go out!"  I'm just not sure how used to being called Zac he is!  I told him that we should start calling him Zac...he sort of liked that idea.  I'm not sure that I can do it, I get their names mixed up as it is, without inserting a name that I have never called one of them before!  Their practice wasn't quite 1-1/2 hours long.  We came home and got cold water and a snack and then read some stories and played a game on Osmo.  He actually finished a Dick and Jane book. Kathy is doing the children's part of these church sessions, so she can't leave until the children get picked up.

Woody got home before Isaac's family so Isaac told Goosey (Woody) about his practice.  He really did pretty well.  There is still a lot of ball rules to learn as this is his first year to play.  But he has been to a lot of games over the last few years.  I know that he is feeling pretty big to finally be a part of a team.  Isaac left a little before 8pm and now I "guess" we are settling in for a quiet evening.  I think that all the shuffling back and forth is over for today...ready to start up again tomorrow!

 

 

Take Me Out to the Ol' Fall Ball Game!

Today has been an interesting day of musical chairs er cars.  Woody walked four miles.  I guess that didn't involve a car!  School got under way, but I had to go get Joseph, as his mommy and daddy and Isaac had gone to pick up their camper that has had some work done on it.  (But according to Isaac they didn't end up getting the camper because the place wasn't open when they got over there.)  Woody left some time during my time with Joseph to go to the Life Care Center for Bible study and visiting.  I got a text from Kathy before Joseph's time was up that they were still out with Isaac so would I substitute in Elijah for his reading time.  That worked out well and Isaac got home and came over and read during Elijah's time.  Esther and Joy read in their usual times. Joy worked on making a drawstring bag to put the color bean bags that she is making for her Aunt Melany.  Joy's long time was cut a little short because her family needed to head to the church for lunch with the special missionary speakers and for the study after lunch.  Woody also headed off to church at little before noon. He brought me home his lunch since it didn't have anything in it that he could eat...well, maybe he could have eaten the bun on the chick-fil-a sandwich...but he left the sandwich whole for me! I stayed home to try to catch my breath!  I was really tired this afternoon.  Woody headed off to church for the next meeting with the visiting missionary couple close to 5:30pm.  I headed off at 6pm to pick up Graham at church to take him to his Civil Air Patrol meeting.  I swung back home and picked up a couple of cameras, a water bottle and my keys and wallet and waited till I thought that Elijah's ball game had begun...that way I avoided the traffic from the previous game.  I am used to going with Woody and forgot my stadium seat...but survived without it!  Woody kept score tonight.  I sat with Abigail down on the first row.  The rest of the family were up on the top row in the bleachers...I just am not always up to going up to the top any more and more times than not I sit on the first row and play it safe!  But that means that I can't get as good pictures as I can from up at the top.  Abigail was sitting talking to a little girl when I got there.  She introduced to me to the little girl and told me that she is in her class at Montessori.  I guess it has already begun for Abigail that she will find that she will see her students about every time she heads out in Tullahoma.  I know that it happened to me for the 27 years that I taught there!

Elijah's team lost by one point...they had gone ahead in the inning before by one run but it wasn't enough to stop the other team.  A good game all around!  There will be more musical cars tomorrow!

Sunday Blessing

Isaac, our next to the youngest grandson (6-1/2 years old), was baptized this morning.

In telling about me about his baptism after church was over, Isaac told how hard it was to get where he wanted to go in the water in that "white thing" he had to wear...that it floated out from him and he said that the water was pretty deep!

The name "Isaac" means "laughter" and, as you can see, his introduction by Pastor Kevin Ivy met with laughter!  Pastor Kevin told the congregation that Isaac was really 18-years old, but that he was just really, really short! Isaac liked that joke! (There was a box for him to stand on.)

A more serious time with Pastor Kevin asking Isaac if he believed in Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  Isaac answered with a resounding, "Yes, I do!"

Celebrating 100 & 25 Years!

This little munchkin, Erin Elizabeth, our first grandchild, turned twenty-five today.  How can that be possible?!? Time is definitely flying!  Happy 25th birthday, Erin!

This afternoon we headed to church to celebrate one of our church member's 100th birthday.  It was such a nice party for him...lots came to wish him their best.  He is one of the friends that Woody visits every Monday at Life Care.  He has been really looking forward to this event.  Nathan and family juggled for the party.  We got to visit with our friends, the Hastys.  They are former members of First Baptist, Tullahoma and good friends of the centenarian and his wife.

Quite the day to be able to celebrate 100 & 25 years of birthdays!  I still haven't been able to raise Erin on her phone or email or texting.  I will try again after I blog.

Woody walked to and from the library today.  The heat index has gone back up and it feels once again like the season that it is...summer!  I knew that the fall-like temperatures couldn't last too long when it was still August.  But at least those couple of days gave us a hint of what is ahead for us!

I did get almost all of the things moved back into the sewing room.  I just have to reorganize my photo papers and get the into their box and stored back under the printer table.  Speaking of photo paper, I think that I mentioned a while back that someone had asked me for a photo of our church that they could use for a gift for a member of their Sunday School class.  Well, the centenarian was the recipient of that photo all framed with class members signatures on the photo mat.  I got to see the finished project this afternoon and it looked great in its finished state.

I "think" that we are settled in for the evening. It has been a pretty busy day.  It's tiring celebrating so many years of birthdays all on one day!  

Progress

Here's the progress that I have made on Esther's top.  I got one of the front bodice pieces embroidered...now for the other...that is quite a bit of stitching.  I'm glad that the back only had a little embroidery on it!  Besides embroidering, I have been working on putting all the things back in the sewing room that I took out so the internet tech could install wires, etc. The putting back involves a lot of crawling around on the floor...I can only be down on the floor for just so long!

Woody has had a very busy day.  He headed off to the dermatologist before six.  He got there early, but that way was seen a bit early.  He needed to get through his appointment quickly as he had some obligations back here in Tullahoma.  He had to run errands for his friend who has no transportation.  Woody thought that they had to go to McMinnville but all his friends' (and another friend of his) errands were in Tullahoma.  He got back home a little before noon.  He ate lunch and then headed off to do our weekly grocery shopping.  If I were Woody I don't think that I would still be standing!

One of our friends has a wonderful garden...and she generously shares her fresh produce with many of us in our Sunday School class and others.  Tonight Woody and I had an eggplant that she gave us.  It was sooooo good.  This time I dipped the slices in seasoned flour and then in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs with just a little Parmesan cheese and fried them in a little olive oil.  I have a little red clam sauce and I had planned to make egg plant Parmesan for me, but they tasted so good without the sauce that I ended up eating mine sauceless!

Promise of Fall

We have had another delightful day...another promise that Fall is "thinking about" arriving.  I understand that we aren't to get too used to these temperatures and low humidity.  I understand that summer is going to show its face again in a day or so.

Woody has enjoyed the temperatures.  He spent quite a bit of time mowing.  He took a walk later in the morning since it was cooler.  He came home to tell me that we have a beaver building a dam down the street. He actually saw the beaver...usually the only evidence that we see that beaver are in the area is a dam.  Maybe I will be able to get a picture of it one of these days.  He walked six-miles today.

Even though it was nice today, I spent the day inside...per usual for me.  I didn't have school today as Nathan, Kathy and family were gone to attend Kathy's aunt's funeral.  So I got an extra day added to my long weekend of norm. I enjoyed spending it doing the hand embroidery on Esther's top.  I finished the back embroidery yesterday.  So I got up this morning and traced off the front bodice pieces and then traced  the embroidery patterns.  I have moved right along with one of the bodice pieces.  It goes fairly quickly...but then when I look back on the day, I have spent quite a few hours on it.  I guess that is the reason that I tend to depend on the machine to do the embroideries on most garments since the machine is so much faster!  But I do enjoy doing it by hand once in a while.

Woody got a reminder call that he has his yearly dermatologist appointment in the morning...one of those times that it was good that we got the call.

What-A-Wednesday

Tonight's photo I happened to snap out our second-story bedroom window a while back...testing my zoom lens...not bad considering it was taken through glass...probably dirty glass...and it was way out in the yard.  It's a "no-rhyme-or-reason" photo for tonight...just started looking for a photo and this was the first one that caught my eye to share.

Today has seemed in a whir to me...probably because I didn't get the best sleep the last two nights and today I was feeling quite sleepy...just ask my readers...sitting quietly reading with them I just got sleepier and sleepier.  By the time that Joy and I were reading together I was reading words that weren't there...and try as hard as I could...I would do it again a few paragraphs later.  I guess it is quite comical to the grands!  I can remember my mother reading to me and then all of a sudden she started sounding like a run-down phonograph record!  I don't quite do that...something similar!  When I got home from working in the library and sat down there was no keeping me awake...so got at least a bit of that much needed sleep in a nap!

Woody headed off this morning to go to the Credit Union and the local Farmer's Market.  He was looking forward to getting more corn.  He claims that the corn that he got last was the best corn that he had ever eaten.  Corn is one of the items that is okay for his kidney diet...so it is on his menu quite a bit.

This evening Woody is at the Wednesday night Bible study at church.  I started doing the hand embroidery on Esther's top this morning.  I am pleased with the embroidery so far.  I started out embroidering the back bodice because there was only a little bit of embroidery on it.  There is quite a bit of embroidery on the two front bodice pieces.  I figured I would get used to the stitches on the back first.

The entertainment for the morning was a little brown mouse that Peaches cornered...I guess that the children rescued and it got away...down a hole in the ground at the corner of our front porch...it was a cute little thing...Elijah donned gloves and brought it to show to me!  BUT...I do NOT want it any where close to my house.  Peaches, please come back and find it and take care of eradicating all such little creatures from around our houses!  She does seem to be a good little huntress...but not if the children rescue her prey!!!  They rescued a baby bird last week...now that was okay...but a mouse...

Success!

If you read the blog last night, then you know that there was a question as to whether I would be able to post a blog tonight.  We woke up to no internet this morning, but the time that they were to come to move Nathan's internet over here (between 9 and 11am) came and went.  Someone finally showed up at 12:40pm. I left to get my haircut and they were still here when I got back.  It took about two hours to get it all wired and everything hooked up.  But it all seems to be working!

I had a usual Tuesday morning school time.  Everyone came went on time...except for the internet guy!  Esther had her long time.  She has been getting watercolor hints, lessons, and techniques from the computer.  And, if, the internet guy had come when he was supposed to, she would have been able to today.  Instead she painted an interesting three-in-one squash! She thought that it was interesting and we realized that it wouldn't take many colors to paint it so she gave it a try and did a pretty good job...I didn't get a picture of her painting.

 Woody did attempt to do a little in the yard while he waited for the internet guy.  Today was a much cooler and lower humidity day...gives one hope that Fall is in the not so far in the future!

This evening Woody took Elijah to his ball practice, picked up a prescription, went to the prayer room at church, went back and watched Elijah's practice, brought Elijah home and is now ensconced in his chair in the family room.  I'm getting ready to go read the new book that I started early this morning when my allergies woke me up!

Oh, and, about tonight's lead off photo...this is what they caught next door when they set Elijah's traps hoping to catch a skunk...an opossum instead.  Nathan carefully let this little guy loose after everyone got a good look at him.  Now...if they capture a skunk, they will call Tullahoma's animal patrol to come and carry it away and release it far from here!

Monday Meanderings

Both Woody and I did a lot of going in many directions today.  The day started out a bit rainy with more expected as the day wore on.  Woody was on the phone prior to my school day starting.  He was attempting to see about internet service.  We have been floating along on Nathan's internet's tailcoats...using their internet over here.  But Nathan has changed over to a mobile device that provides his internet so they can take it with them when they are on the road.  They're old service is being cut off later in the week so Woody set out to find service for us this morning.  He really believes that he was talking to India with his call and it took a very long time to get it across to them that we "only" wanted internet and nothing "bundled" in with it. Just after Woody got it all settled (?), Nathan came over and said that he was calling about canceling theirs and their provider would transfer it over to us (family) and that way Nathan wouldn't be fined for canceling on their contract early and supposedly we will be locked into a certain price "on-going."  So supposedly what Woody had spent time trying to get was cancelled (both were with the same company).  Time will tell if all this is going to happen. It is supposed to happen tomorrow morning.  I guess my blog readers will know if the transfer was a success "if" I am able to blog tomorrow night!  No blog = No internet!  Hopefully it will be Yes blog = yes internet!

The phone call with the internet folk was taking place while I was having school with Joseph and I ended going up and down the stairs I don't know how many times to see what was happening and if there were any questions.  Woody called them on our phone with a cord...so...he couldn't come upstairs with any questions!
Joseph did ask why I kept leaving!  I think that "things" were pretty settled by the time I started reading with Isaac.  After Isaac came over, Woody left to go to the Life Care Center.  He had Bible study and visited with several of the residents.

It was Joy's long time today and tonight's photo shows her hard at work making the color name bean bags for Aunt Melany's kindergartners.  She got all of them except for two sewn together and turned right side out.  You can see the finished squares toward the bottom of the picture.  I will finish the last two and then next week will begin making the storage bag for them.

After lunch, I started pulling things out of the sewing room that might get in the way of the internet tech.  I'm not sure what he is bringing or how it gets connected, but at least the plugs can be gotten to that are on the wall under the table that I am sitting at right now typing on the laptop and also all plugs and connections on the wall to my left.  I have pulled out a couple of tubs of my leftover fabric and also all my sewing magazine and photography printer paper. I got out the vacuum and dusters and cleaned well under there.  Those items don't get moved very often.  That about wore me out dragging things to another room and then doing the cleaning, but it is done!

This evening it looked like too many children needing to go too many places for just their parents so Woody and I were supposed to help out with transportation.  Kathy was supposed to take the two girls to their volleyball game, Nathan was supposed to take Isaac to his Fall Ball Coach Pitch practice, I was supposed to take Elijah to his Fall Ball Player Pitch practice, and Woody was supposed to drop Graham off at his Civil Air Patrol meeting before he went to the Furnace Room Prayer meeting at church!  Whew!  BUT...first Isaac's ball practice got cancelled because it had started raining.  So Nathan was going to take Elijah to h is practice "if" it happened.  It got cancelled so Nathan took Graham to his CAP meeting.  Woody went to the Furnace Room Prayer meeting by himself.  Kathy and the girls did have their game.  And, I ended up staying home!

Today was the big day for Nathan and Kathy's new air conditioning unit to be put in and that did happen.  They were just getting ready to load up the old unit to haul it away when the rains started again.  Last I checked with them, they were very happy that the temperature in their house was going down along with the humidity!  Not fun to be without air conditioning for four days and nights!  I think that they will all sleep much better tonight!

The other thing that has been happening the last few nights that a skunk has been paying Nathan's and our backyards...well, Peaches, Esther's cat is very interested!  She will follow the skunk when the skunk goes waddling off!  So far Peaches is still sweet smelling...maybe skunks and cats can be friends?

Saturday Doings

It rained during the night and early in the morning.  That made it a good morning for Woody to pull weeds once the rain stopped.  He made his Saturday morning trip to the library and then went to visit one of his new Sunday School boys.  He attempts at the start of the school year to make a home visit to the new boys who have come into his middle school boys' class. So he made his first visit this morning.

I have worked on the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow.  I just found out a day ago that I was needed to teach again this week.  I have also done a little cooking.  I made a salad that mother used to make...Tuna Garden Salad.  It is made with unflavored gelatin and you add cream of celery soup and celery and cucumbers and green peppers all finely diced.  Since I make my creamed soups, that added an extra step...but it turned out the way I remember Mother's tasting.  Woody has never been fond of this recipe so he isn't feeling deprived when I make this one for myself!  I enjoyed it for my supper.  I also made a recipe of oatmeal cinnamon applesauce muffins.  The middle school boys are in charge of bringing breakfast type foods for the start the youth Sunday School time tomorrow.  I have also taken notes from the video for the next PDF file that I need to write for my sewing club.  And, I'm getting ready to trace the first embroidery pattern on the fabric for the top that I am going to make for Esther.  I got the embroidery pattern run off to the correct size this morning...one of the things that I needed to do before proceeding on and I found the pattern piece that I will be tracing around so maybe I will get underway with the hand embroidery soon.

 

Movie Night?

The neighbors (Nathan, Kathy and family) had a movie night planned so came over to our house to escape the heat.  They are still without AC and will be till Monday afternoon. They are getting a new AC unit.  Nathan recently got this screen to use in their programs and decided to use it here for movie night...as, no way, do we have a screen that large!  It meant moving the couch in order to get it set up!  Determination won out and between Nathan and Graham they got it working.

They fixed their supper next door and brought it over here to cook it in our oven so they wouldn't heat up their house any more than it already is!

Four or five of the children came over here this afternoon and played games. A rousing game of Twister was one of the games.

Woody did our grocery shopping this morning and ran errands with his friend who has no transportation.  I put the groceries away.  Today I wrote another PDF file for my sewing club.  At the moment we have the two little boys upstairs as they became disinterested in the movie.  They are supposedly playing a racing game on the Osmo system...but are rather noisy so not sure exactly just what they are doing.  They shared part of their supper, home-made calzones, with me...something that isn't on Woody's list of allowable food items!  While Nathan got the screen and projector set up, I popped popcorn for their movie night.  Then Woody and I both came upstairs to hang out!  Woody is playing Scrabble with the computer and I am blogging and then hoping to read...I'm pretty sleepy this evening.  It has been a rather active day.  

Famous Last Words!

My last sentence in last night's blog: Now we are settled in for a quiet evening per usual.  Well...Woody was in playing Scrabble with the computer in the school room and I was just settling in my chair to read and there came the faintest of knocks on the front door.  Both Woody and I happened to hear the little knock.  Woody went downstairs to answer the door and I stayed at the head of the staircase.  And, what should appear but six waifs...in various night attire...two being carried by big sisters of those one of them never woke up.  And, the rest all eager to tell of what was happening next door.  Their house had smoke in it and there was a bad burning smell.  Their parents had sent them over to our house as they awaited the fire department.  It wasn't long till sirens were blaring.  I guess they checked things inside with something that tells if there is heat/fire.  And, nothing seemed to be actually burning so they went outside to check the air conditioning unit, which Nathan had already pulled the circuit to turn it off.  It was determined that the motor had probably burned out and that all was well and that open windows and fans would have the smoke and smell out of the house pretty quickly.  Three of the children decided that they wanted to sleep over here so Joy, Esther, and Elijah slept at our house.  Isaac just came over saying that it was pretty hot at their house...he had a little folding fan that he had gotten at camp.

Woody walked six-miles early this morning.  The children woke up and headed home to get ready to begin their day.  I had school per usual.  Today was Elijah's long time.  He split his time between K'nex building and playing a "game" on Osmo that has him running a pizza shop...making pizzas that his customers order and then making change when they are finished.  It's a pretty neat app and he enjoyed doing it this morning.  Joseph also had his Osmo day...on our last day of Grammy school in the week, he does his movable alphabet lesson and a counting lesson and then he can choose what he wants to do on Osmo.  Today he did an initial sound word game and also played a game that has to do with coding.  Another fun time for him...something for him to look forward to each week.  With that...my second week of school is finished.

Woody had a doctor appointment this afternoon for lab work.  That appointment didn't take very long.  I made red clam sauce (for me) this evening and had it over angel hair pasta.  I don't know if Woody partook in a little of it or not.  He can have the pasta, but isn't supposed to have tomatoes...but probably a small amount wouldn't hurt him.

Isaac just came back over hoping that I was finished blogging (or is it blobbing!) so I would go down and let him sew a little more this evening.  He already spent a little time over here this afternoon and did a little sewing.  I think that tonight he is escaping the heat!  I have told him that he has to have me with him when he wants to use the machine so he is "patiently" (maybe) waiting!  Guess I will end!  Hoping that tonight will be a quiet evening!

Wednesday

Wednesday is one of our "go-here-and-go-there" days.  Woody started out heading off before school began to go on his walk of the day--two and from the local Farmer's Market.  He got corn and some zucchini...this time he even got a yellow zucchini...a first to see a yellow one.

I got started with Joseph at our usual time.  My readers came except for Elijah. Esther finished the chapter book that we have been reading together.  Joy started a new Nancy Drew mystery book.  We finished the set that Goosey (Woody) and I gave her for Christmas and now we are reading some really old copies that I saved when they got too ragged to keep in the church library.  I figured that they could survive a few more readings and with a bit of tape they are holding together.  I remember discovering Nancy Drew when vacationing at my aunt and uncle's in Massachusetts as a young teen.  I read the copies that my cousin had and then walked down the street to a library and devoured the ones they had on their shelves. I had the best time flopped on the couch on their screened-in piazza.  Elijah had a dentist appointment so he and Isaac traded spots for long time.  Elijah will get his long time tomorrow.  Isaac is really enjoying learning how to work the sewing machine.  There is something about little boys and machines...especially when that machine is run by a computer.  He sewed around a diamond shape and a star today.  Then we got a piece of fabric ready for him to try out some of the decorative stitches on the machine. He chose and stitched several rows of different stitches before it was time for him to go home.  After I got home from working in the library, he came over and asked if he could do some more sewing on the machine.  He did another row of decorative stitches and then discovered that the machine had an alphabet that could be stitched out.  He decided that he wanted to spell names and stitch them out.  I'm glad that he is enjoying the beginning sewing lessons as much as his older brothers and sisters.

Woody mulched and mowed some more today.  After lunch, I headed off to the library at church.  Today Donna, Fran and I got quite a few books ready to check out...another productive work day.  After supper, Woody headed off to church for the Wednesday evening Bible study.  I sat down to catch my breath from a busy day and ended up dozing off.  It took a bit for me to wake up enough to blog.  Now we are settled in for a quiet evening per usual!

Tuesday

I started out the day with school with Joseph and then the rest followed in turn.  It was Esther's day to have her long time with me and she worked some more learning about painting with water colors.  Today she painted a cactus.  For part of the time that I was having school, Woody was outside mowing the front yard.  He spent quite a bit of time outside today.  He also got two packages ready to mail.  This afternoon on his walk to the prayer room at church, he made a stop at the Post Office to mail them.  After school was over, I decided that I needed to make some broth as Woody needs low salt broth for a recipe or two that he makes for his kidney diet.  I had cooked a turkey breast so cut the rest of the meat off and tossed the bones into some water with some carrot, celery, and onion pieces and simmered it for a couple of hours.  It is now in the refrigerator chilling so I can scrape off any fat that happens to rise to the surface...a job for tomorrow and then we can freeze it to use in recipes.  Kathy just came over and said that Elijah and Isaac need to swap long times tomorrow and Thursday so I got things ready for Isaac's next sewing lesson.  Then I realized that I hadn't blogged yet...so here I am!

School: Week Two

The second week of school got off to another good start.  Joseph is coming right along with reviewing lessons from last year.  My four readers are getting back into the groove with their reading.  We're having fun with the stories/books that we are reading.  Joy worked some more on the project for her Aunt Melany's kindergarten art classes.  Today she started embroidering the color words onto the fabrics she chose and cut out last week. I will finish up embroidering the words on the squares so next week she can start sewing them together.

Woody headed off before school even got started.  He had been asked to run an errand with his friend who has no transportation.  He worked that errand in with going to Life Care Center.  He did his usual there...doing one Bible study and talking with several of the residents.

After lunch, I got to thinking about Esther's long time tomorrow and realized that I needed to go get her some more water color paper.  So headed first to Jo-Ann's where I did find what I was looking for.  I added in a pad of drawing paper, too for her to use with her really nice colored pencils that we gave her for Christmas.  After Jo-Ann's I went to WalMart to pick up a couple of things that had accumulated on a list I had been making.  Then made a stop at Dollar Tree as they are the only store in town who carries, as far as I know, a kind of soap that I don't seem to be allergic to.  On the way home I stopped to pick up some prescriptions that I had ordered online this morning.  That is a new service that our local pharmacy is offering and I really like being able to get refills this way rather than having to call in. Often when I remember that I need a refill, the pharmacy isn't open and I have to then remember that I need it refilled AND remember to call when the pharmacy is open.  Now, I can get online and request the refill no matter what time of the day it is.  I thought to ask Woody before I submitted my refills and he needed one refilled so I added his to mine.  It worked great...all three were ready when I stopped at the end of running my errands this afternoon.

Late this afternoon several of the neighbor grandchildren showed up needing me to wield a glue gun for them.  They were making rubber band guns!  So I glued clothespins to the top of a couple of pieces of wood and they were happy.  They came over again a few minutes ago to show me that they had painted them.

Woody made one of his pasta concoctions that work with his strict kidney diet.  He is now at the Monday night Furnace Room prayer meeting.  He worked a little in the yard today.  A little before he left this evening he came in with some kind of squash...I "think" that it is a spaghetti squash.  It is a volunteer that grew from seeds put on the compost pile.  We are always getting various kinds of squash, pumpkins, and gourds in and around the compost pile.  Today Woody has been reading a book that arrived in the mail for the church library.  The author's wife is a former First Baptist, Tullahoma member.  The author won a Newberry Honor award for his first book and this is the sequel.  The author's wife had contacted me to tell me that they wanted to give a copy to our library.Nice to be thought of!  Woody is enjoying it and I am looking forward to reading it, too.  Reading a book first from the church library is sometimes one of the perks of being the librarian's husband!

18th Anniversary, Part 2

Nathan and Kathy arrived home before noon today from their 18th anniversary get-away at a local bed and breakfast...in time for Little League Fall Ball signups.  I'm pretty sure that Elijah signed up and their was talk of Isaac signing up, but I don't know if he did.  Woody came home from next door and said that he was going back next door around 4pm as Kathy and Nathan were continuing their anniversary celebration by going to a concert tonight.  Woody went over at the start of this stint and I will go over closer to bedtime...divide and conquer!

Woody mulched early this morning.  I couldn't find him when I came over around 8am to see if he was ready to spell me after I slept over there last night. I figured he was out on his morning walk.  But when I asked him if he had walked earlier he told me he hadn't.  So I asked him where he was when I came over and he was out mulching.  He didn't go to the library today either since we went yesterday.  I did read some of the books to the little boys for their bedtime story last night.  The favorite of all...I literally had the attention of all but the two girls who were cooking in the kitchen when I read Dr. Seuss' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins!  That was the 2nd book that Dr. Seuss wrote.  I checked out the original copyright date--1938! So he wrote it 80 years ago.  I told the kids that story was older than I was and they all agreed that that was really old!!!!  They liked that one so much I read it to most of them again this morning.  Then Joy read it to herself after breakfast.  I think that Abigail was the only one who didn't get in on the reading of that book!

When Woody spelled me this morning, I came home to work on my Sunday School lesson.  It is at least in teaching form at this point!  This afternoon I spent finishing up an e-book that is due in a few days.  I got that read and just wrote it on my list.  And, guess what!  That was my 52nd book to read this year...so...that means that I have fulfilled my goal of the year of reading "at least" one book a week!  So one goal met for the year!

Well, I guess I had better gather up something to take next door to fill in the time after children are in bed till the parents return later this evening...hopefully they will all settle in a bit earlier than last night.  I didn't push bedtime for any of them last night since it was Friday night...but they have church in the morning so they need to hit the hay a bit earlier this evening.  Esther and Elijah had a "slumber party" downstairs last night...but they did slumber! They are reading the same chapter book with me so last night when they got settled in I read them a couple more chapters in it.  That worked well as they were at the same spot in the book when they each finished reading Thursday.  Since it is a library book, reading it last night moved us along in it so we should be able to finish it this coming school week. Guess I'll go find the book and take it back over in case there is time to read a little more tonight.  It's a cute story about a little girl who is learning to play a ukulele.  Goosey (Woody) checked it out of the library for Esther to read since she got a uke for her birthday.  We got serenaded last night by Esther and her uke.  

Friday

Woody started out earlier than usual with his grocery shopping.  It had rained in the night and I guess he didn't expect it to rain again.  BUT...he came back from his first trip to the grocery store soaked as a down-pour came as he was getting into the car.  He changed into dry clothes and continued his grocery shopping...first finished for us and then ran errands for his friend who has no transportation.  I had a short dental check-up at noon.  

Nathan and Kathy have a get-away planned for this evening.  They are celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary which is Sunday.  Woody and I are overseers.  Woody has been over there for a while and I will go over in a little while and spend the night.  

I have been trying to finish a book that will be taken back into cyberspace soon and I would like to get it finished.  Although, when Woody and I made a quick trip to the library this afternoon, I found out that they have a copy of the book there...so if I don't get this one finished as an e-book then I can check it out as a "real" book.  We made a quick trip to the library so Woody would have some books to read to the little boys this evening.  I found several more books that I want to read...so now have quite a pile of "to-reads."

Last night I finished another PDF file and posted it on our sewing club Facebook page.  I have two more that I have pictures for that need to be written.  There may still be a few after that and then I think that this past year's PDF files will be completed for last year's club (August 2017-July 2018).  Then the videos (2 per month) will start being posted for this year and I will be writing 2 PDF files a month.  Should keep me out of trouble?  Not sure that I mentioned this before, but another "job" may have arisen out of me writing these files.  The head of my club must have said something to one of the editors of a sewing magazine and that editor has asked if I would be interested in proof reading some of the articles for their magazine.  So we will see if anything comes of that. So far I haven't heard anything more from the editor of the magazine, but I will be available if they send me something to proof!  Another something to keep me out of trouble?  It's sort of fun to see the sewing world from another side. 

I have been working on Sunday's Sunday School lesson that I'll be teaching to my ladies' class.  I don't know if I will be able to concentrate on it next door this evening, or if I will just take a book to read...probably should take both!

I guess I had better gather my things to take next door and think about relieving Woody.  There's not much to do these days over there...they pretty much take care of themselves...but the little boys especially Isaac(6) requested having an adult over there! Maybe he thinks that an adult can make him heard by his siblings?!    

One Week Down!

Today at noon closed the first week of school for Grammy's school.  The week certainly flew by!  Joseph had another great day.  Today he did a lesson with sounds and then we turned the rest of his time into Osmo time...an educational app/system that works with the iPad.  He worked with letters, tangrams, and coding for the rest of the morning.  He was surprised when I told him that it was time for him to head home.  Then Isaac, followed by Elijah, followed by Esther, and then Joy came over to read.  Then it was time for Isaac to have his very first official Grammy time and his very first lesson with sewing on the sewing machine.  He did great.  He learned about sewing machine safety and some of the parts of the machine and what some of the buttons do on the machine.  After he sewed a little with no thread (something that machines don't like to do!), I threaded the machine and he sewed, still on paper, but went around a square, learned to pivot at corners and then sewed around a triangle.  He took to it like a duck to water!

Woody walked early this morning.  He and Nathan filled up cars with gas this afternoon.  He has challenged the computer to quite a few games of Scrabble.  We had another hard rain for a little while this afternoon.  I'm glad that we are cycling back into a rainy cycle!  The plants are happier too!  I fixed an eggplant casserole this afternoon...something that is on Woody's strict diet.  After supper I got busy and finished another PDF.  Woody is proof reading it as I type this.  I wonder how many marks I will find on this one!  I'm hoping to have it ready to give to our club leader so she can approve it or give me changes.  Then I will be able to post it to the group.  We are getting closer to finishing the PDF files for the last year's club.  Soon she will post a new video for the new year's club and I will need to start writing for this year's club!  I will be glad when I catch up with the ones we are behind in so that all that I will have to do are the current ones each month.  The latest ones are much shorter than the last couple that I wrote...a good thing!  Well, I guess I will head down and let Woody point out all my errors!

It Rained!

Tonight's blog title is said with excitement as we haven't had a lot of rain lately and our garden has been suffering because of it...it has been hot, humid...BUT dry!  Today's afternoon rain was very much appreciated!

Woody headed off on his walk to the local Farmer's Market to get corn and zucchini. Woody says carrying all that corn back wears him down!  While he was gone school got underway over here.  Joseph had another good morning during his time.  The readers are going right along in their chapter books. While the readers were reading Woody came back from the Farmer's Market.  After that he made Apple Zucchini bread...his major accomplishment of the day!  Elijah had his long time today.  The first thing we did was mend a strap on a backpack that Graham had given him.  Then he got busy learning about gears with K'nex.  He almost has a "blender" put together...and at this point the gears in the mechanism are making the "blades" work.  He almost got it finished.  He plans to come over tomorrow to put the "lid" together.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat and sat for a few minutes...that's when the first rain came through.  That rain didn't last very long and I headed off to work in the church library.  Donna and I, once again, got a lot done.  We're working on the rest of the books  from our last book order.  More new books should be ready to check out after our work session next week.

By the time I got home I was pretty tired after a pretty much non-stop morning and then part of the afternoon.  So I sat...and not long after sitting I was snoozing!  So far this week, I haven't done much once school is over...I'll get used to the new routine...soon, I hope!  Right now Woody is at his Wednesday evening Bible study at church.  Well, as I typed that last sentence, I heard the front door open, so I guess he is home.  Now we will both settle in for another quiet evening in our household!  I think that I will read and work on another PDF file for my sewing club.  I have everything ready to write/compose the next one. And, I've also got to think through Isaac's first long time...he will have his first lesson of sewing on the sewing machine.  I need to go review in their sewing notebooks what I did with the others when I introduced them to the sewing machine!

School Day Two!

We had our second day of school and all went great once again.  Joseph had a great preschool time again today.  We walked outside and checked out the construction that is happening at our neighbors (not Nathan and Kathy's--neighbors on the other side of our house).  Lots of construction and beeping of trucks as they back up and around so we had to go check it out.  We got a lot of work done during his time too.  He and I are reviewing things that he did last year.  All the readers moved along in their reading.  Isaac decided that he wanted to count 100 pennies so after he finished with his first grade work at his house, he came back and counted 100 pennies.  It was Esther's turn for "long Grammy time."  She finally brought Noel over in the outfit that Esther made at the end of the last school year so I finally got to give her the matching hat for the outfit.  I hadn't gotten to get a picture of her last sewing project and told her that I was holding the hat as ransom till she brought the doll over so I could photograph her in her outfit!  We did that and then turned to her lesson for the day.  Introduction to water color painting.  She got water colors for her birthday along with a really nice set of paint brushes so I thought that it would be good for her to get some tips on how to work with them.  I found a couple of YouTube videos for her to watch.  I am no artist...but I can find things that can give her instruction.  She did great!  She learned about blending colors and then painted a pot of lavender.  I had hoped that the picture would show her painting...but that left hand is blocking the view! I think that we will be doing art-type things for a while in her long time.  She is such a good little artist that it only takes a little encouragement and a bit of instruction for her to get the idea and branch out on her own!  

Woody kept disappearing today.  I found out that he was in and out finishing up mulching another section of the garden bed.  I walked out to view it this afternoon...boy was it hot outside today.  I'm glad that I stayed in most of the day!  Woody left a little while ago to walk to the prayer room.  

School's In!

Kathy got the "photo of the day" so I'm going to "borrow" it for tonight's blog.  Here are the neighbor grandchildren scholars! Graham = 11th grade, Abigail (bun) = 9th grade, Joy (hat) = 8th grade, Esther = 6th grade, Elijah = 4th grade, Isaac = 1st grade, and Joseph = pre-kindergarten.  Kathy has been homeschooling for twelve years!  All I can say is, "WOW!"  Abigail had her first day teaching at the Montessori school where I taught for 27 years and where Nathan and Melany went to preschool through kindergarten.  They just can't get rid of the Dorrells at Montessori!  I am anxious to talk to Abigail and see how her day went.  I didn't want to disturb her this afternoon since she still had her own school work to complete!  Learning how to teach at the Montessori school is one of Abigail's electives for her freshman year.

School went well over here, too.  Joseph is my only actual student this year.  He comes over for 45 min. to an hour four mornings a week and he has lessons with the Montessori equipment that I have.  He had a fun time and the time flew by without him realizing that we added a bit onto his time.  He only asked once if his time was about over and then we got busy and he worked the rest of the time.  Isaac has become one of my readers this year.  My readers come over individually and read out loud with me for twenty minutes four days a week.  My readers this year are Isaac, Elijah, Esther and Joy.  After the reading time, it is time for one of the children to have "Grammy long time." That means that they have an hour with me.  Today was Joy's long time and she and I are working on a project for her Aunt Melany's school.  Melany texted me with an "Oh, Mommy" the other day and I knew that she wanted me to do something!  She had seen bean bags with color words on them and made from that color.  She wants to use them to play a color game with her kindergarten children.  Melany is an art teacher at Barfield Elementary, a K-5 elementary school in Murfreesboro.  Anyway, I decided that this project would be good for Joy and me to do together.  Today we looked through my fabric scraps and found all the colors that we need and Joy began to cut out five-inch squares.  Next time we will use my embroidery machine and write the color words on them and then they will be ready to sew together.  Melany is going to stuff them with what she deems best...we just have to do the making.  There is also a drawstring bag that needs to be made to store them in.

All the above to summarize a very good start to the new school year!

Woody walked four miles this morning.  During the time that I was having school, he went to Life Care to have Bible study and visit with some of the residents.  He finally managed to get his crossword puzzles printed out this afternoon.  There was some sort of glitch with the laptop and the internet this morning, but it seems to be back in working order this evening.  I guess I will find out for sure that it is working when I hit publish on tonight's blog!  After supper, Woody headed of to the Furnace Room prayer meeting at church and hasn't returned yet.

Hot August Saturday

Look who I spotted on the tip top of the telephone pole that sits at the edge of the street at the far edge of the shared garden between Nathan's house and ours.  Just sitting up there pecking away at the top of the pole.  From the looks of the holes that we can see at the top of the pole in this picture, that telephone pole has been visited often by a woodpecker of one kind or another.  I frequently spot these bright red-headed woodpeckers on this pole.

Woody got his exercise in today by walking to and from the library.  And, he reported when he got home that it was hot out there.  I have done a little of this and a little of that today.  I have washed and dried a couple of loads of clothes and put them away.  I have done a little cleaning. I got everything put back in the laundry room that had been taken out for the washer repairman earlier in the week.  Trying to get it into my head that school starts on Monday.  I need to get in and straighten up and dust in the school room and also in the guest room where we have sewing lessons.  I have been working on getting all the things put away that I got out to make Esther's top.  Getting all that put away so I can get out the fabric, etc. for her other top that was just a promise for her birthday. I have worked some more on a PDF file for my sewing club.  I've written about six pages of it and still have quite a bit more to write.  This one is one of the longer ones and after a while I just had to put it aside.  .

We did have a good time at Esther's birthday party yesterday.  I think that she enjoyed turning 11!  Kathy said that Esther was next door this morning just strumming away on her ukulele.  She's going to ask her violin teacher for some hints on playing the uke.  She said that her ukulele and her big set of paint brushes were her favorite presents this year.  She got a cute case for her ukulele, too.  Last evening Esther and Joy were invited to a friend's for a birthday slumber party...so Esther got to celebrate even more while her friend celebrated...nothing like ending her birthday with bowling and then learning a little about cake decorating...and, of course, probably not a lot of sleep.  Guess that is a way to stretch your birthday out...stay up a good part of the night!

Well, when next we meet, the first day of school for 2018-19 will be behind us!  It really doesn't seem like it is time to start back to school.  My head still says school should start the day after Labor Day!  

Look Who Is Eleven!!!

Eleven pictures of our eleven year old, Esther-Noel Rose!

Esther sitting on her throne (bean bag chair) awaiting gifts!

Esther and her attendants (gift-bearers)!

Joseph immediately knew what to do with this shirt!

Thank you, Auntie Cheryl!

Another instrument for Esther to learn to play!

Ready to perform!

Here's what Grammy and Goosey gave her along with
another promised top for Grammy to make.
Does she look like she belongs in the 60's?

Cookies and Cream Cake set aflame by eleven candles!

Do you see her little helper?  She did get them out with one blow!
Hmmmmmmm...do you think that Isaac helped?  She kept covering
his mouth so he wouldn't blow...but at the last minute...perhaps she
did have help!

Esther and her siblings and Goosey (Woody)!
Elijah looks like he might be up to some mischief
with that lighter!

Yum!  Abigail made Esther a yummy cake--a cookies and cream cake with cookies and cream ice cream...Esther's request this year!

Happy 11th birthday, Esther!