Day of Good News!

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

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

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

Am I Picky...or What???

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

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

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

What Time Is It?

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

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

Vanishing Friday

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

First Rainy November Thursday of 2011

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

Wednesday Happenings

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

November Has Arrived!

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