Early Celebrating!

Look who will be sixteen in just a few days!  It doesn't seem possible that sixteen years have passed since I first heard his cry over the telephone shortly after he was born!  The family celebrated his birthday tonight.  And, of course, fun was had by all!

Woody made his weekly visit to the public library.  He didn't take a walk today since he is still coughing, but he did work in the gardens some more today.  It's so nice to things blooming.  The temps today really feel like spring is approaching.  There is the feel in the air of storms to come. It is predicted that during the night we could have some severe weather...I'm hoping not too severe.

I made potato soup this afternoon...it was almost too hot for soup, but the temps are supposed to drop down a bit lower after this front goes through.

Woody just announced that the skating exhibition has started so guess I will go get the last serving of ice skating for a while!  I have enjoyed the Olympics but I am ready for them to end.  Ready to go back to not watching so much TV in the evenings!  I have made more progress on my Cottey memory book.

 

File Fiddling Friday!

The last several days I have been going through some file folders that contain memorabilia from my two years at Cottey College.  Six weeks from today, if all goes as planned, I will be in the midst of my 50th reunion at Cottey in Nevada, MO.  Nevada isn't pronounced like the state...but the first "a" is long...so "Nuh vay duh."  I am going through the things that I saved and that my mother saved from my two years there...quite a bit of "stuff!"  I have been sorting through things and deciding what would be fun to share with my classmates at the reunion...I know pictures...but the pictures that I do have leave something to be desired by today's standards! Most are black and white...and I'm rather glad that they are as the colored ones haven't held up all that well.  In the end I have sorted through everything and have sorted them by months that we did the things in...luckily I saved the calendar that Cottey gave us at the start of each year with some activities on the calendar so I have a calendar page to separate each month and its items.  What I am really pleased to have is the letters that I wrote home...they give a pretty good history of my time at Cottey.  I am so glad to have them to reference when I am trying to document daily  college life back in the late 60's...my what a change from today...for one thing...very few letters today to refer to when looking back at what you were doing at a certain time...there is quite a change in the economy, too...if only college cost today what it did back then!  Anyway, I am having fun going through things and "trying" to remember some of it!  Some memories have definitely faded!  I went to town and bought two notebooks that I will put items from my first year and second year in...so I will have a couple of scrapbook-like notebooks that my friends can go through if they would like. Lots of memories filed away...just trying to bring some of those memories back to the surface so we can share them and hopefully some of my friends will fill in some of the blanks of my memories!

I got up fairly early and decided that I would complete the pinning of Joy's quilt...well, I ran out of pins so had to wait to finish until I went to the quilt store to get some more.  BUT when I got to the quilt store she was out...so...what to do!?!  She suggested that I spray baste them with special fabric glue...I happen to have some of the special spray glue for fabric so will try that...and, if that doesn't work I will just quilt from the center out (where the pins are and when I take pins out I will put them in the spots that need them near the edge of the quilt.  After failing at the quilt store, I went on to Office Max and was successful in finding the color notebooks that I wanted (baby blue for my first year and navy for my second year at Cottey...I think that the navy one will also contain pictures that I took when I went to my reunion back in 1985.  On my way back home I stopped and picked up a prescription...glad that I didn't forget to get it filled as I keep having twinges in my ankle this afternoon...and am hoping that it isn't gout. The med I picked up is three months worth of the medicine that I take for gout everyday...don't want to miss any right now as I want to be able to walk when it comes time for the reunion!!!  If the twinges get worse I will be heading for my gout rescue med...never need gout, but REALLY don't want it now while I am anticipating my reunion.  I came back home and have continued on with working on my Cottey "scrapbooks."  I am putting items in protective sleeves and all those that I had filled to this point are in the notebook in some semblance of order!

Woody did our usual weekly shopping at Aldis, WalMart and Kroger.  I put the groceries away.  He has also worked some outside...cleaning up the leaves from the gardens...pretty much a job that has to be done by hand and not a rake.  What he has done looks good!  We had leftover casserole for supper tonight so no cooking for me today.  I guess the Olympics are winding down now, but I will head downstairs when I post this and see what events are happening tonight.  I know that Woody watched some events this afternoon.

 

Thoroughly Thursday!

And, another week of school is over for me...seems like the school week goes by so fast.  Joseph came over first, then Isaac followed.  Abigail, Esther, and Joy each had a turn at reading.  Joy is just about finished with her first Nancy Drew mystery.  She seems to be enjoying them.  She asked for mystery books on her Christmas list so Woody and I gave her the first four or five in the Nancy Drew series.  When she gets through with those I have many very old copies of Nancy Drew stored away in the school room...should give her mystery reading material for a while!  Elijah came over for his long time.  Today during his experiment time he made two different kinds of edible slime...one with gummy starbursts and one with regular starburst squares.  The experiment worked and was yummy to munch on !  He also learned how animals stay warm in icy cold water.  He put a layer of Crisco on one of his fingers and plunged it into ice water and he couldn't tell that it was cold at all, but when he put in one his fingers without the Crisco he could feel how cold the water really was.  We talked about the layer of fat that some animals have to keep them warm.

I got the pinning underway on Joy's quilt...have the middle done and a little way out from the middle...a bit more to go.  Yesterday I stopped and bought machine needles that I need to do the quilting.  I'm hoping that I can get underway with the quilting over the weekend. This afternoon I put together a casserole for our supper.  Now I am ready to finish cleaning up the kitchen and then watch some more Olympics.

Woody didn't walk today as his allergies are bothering him and he is coughing.  Today the pollen level is pretty high...guess Spring is really on its way if pollen levels are once again rising.  I think what has gotten to him is raking leaves.  He is often bothered with allergies when he does a lot of raking...probably allergic to the dust on the leaves and leaf mold that is on them when they are wet.  He has done crossword puzzles, read, watched TV and started getting things ready to work on our taxes.

And...They're OFF!!!!!

Abigail's braces are off January 21, 2018!  Woo! Hoo!

Look at that smile!  She has been through a lot starting back on March 1, 2013 when she went for her first orthodontist appointment.  At the start they mainly waited on teeth to fall out and come back in.  But she was underway with a major transformation...as her teeth alignment was such that she couldn't close her teeth together to chew...and today she can!

Here's her picture on that first day back on March 1, 2013:

The next photo is Abigail a few days before she got her actual braces...this was the end of January 2016:

And, here she is the day she got her braces...February 2, 2016:

A picture yesterday of her last day in braces!

So over a period of five years the orthodontist has worked with Abigail doing one thing and another to make her teeth move into the perfect position they are today!  She had her actual braces on for just a few weeks over two years.  She is a very happy girl today...getting her braces off...getting to chew gum once again, etc!  She will be getting retainers...but for the moment she is totally free of anything on her teeth!

I only had Joseph for his school time today.  He and his family went on a home school field trip to an ice skating rink.  When I heard that they were going to all attempt ice skating, it brought back memories of an ice skating trip that Nathan took with the church when he was in high school.  We got a phone call that long ago evening saying that Nathan had fallen and that he would need stitches...should they have him stitched up there or could they bring him home to have him stitched at the hospital here!  We chose here.  The thing that Nathan learned that night was that blood bounces when it comes in contact with the cold ice on the ice skating rink!  Well, when Kathy, Graham and Joseph reported in after they got home from their field trip...I tongue in cheek said...so no one ended up having to come home for stitches...and Graham steps forward with a very swollen lip AND a busted up chin...but not in need of stitches.  I guess he is his father's son!!!!!  They all had fun despite Graham's injury.

I worked on getting Joy's quilt sandwiched smoothly. (Missed your assistance, Connie!)  I think that it's now ready to be pinned so I can start quilting it.  But I think that I have crawled around enough on the floor for one day!  I went to the church library to work for a couple of hours today.  Donna and I got a good start on the newest books we bought recently.  We had had someone give us a Billy Graham book and finished processing that today and decided it was appropriate to make a window display of books about Billy Graham and books written by him to remember him.  What a great man of faith!  Woody walked to the Post Office to mail a package to my sister for her birthday.  (Be on the lookout, Cheryl!).  Woody hadn't made that long of a trek in a while and he said that he was ready to sit in his chair for a while after his walk!

My Least Favorite Thing to Do!

Tonight's photo gives a "hint" as to where I went today...the dentist...not exactly my choice of places that I like to go...I have a real fear of dentists that my logical self can't talk me out of!  But I survived...now as for the tooth that I had him look at...well, that won't survive.  He has referred me to an oral surgeon because of the location of the tooth and the fact that he figures that it will break when it is pulled.  Also there is a chance that the roots go up into a sinus cavity and that could cause a problem but a oral surgeon would be able to take care of that problem if it should occur.  There...I have said it...now I will forget about it till I have the appointment made with the oral surgeon...then my anxiety will probably go up again till it is over!

I had school this morning...a typical Tuesday.  Joy had her long time and got the back to her quilt sewn together.  We have started making the quilt sandwich...the quilt back is on the bottom, then the batting...we have smoothed that out.  I have been clipping threads on the quilt top before it is layered on top of the batting.  It won't be long till it gets brought upstairs to the sewing room and the quilting can get underway.  After school was over, Woody became my chauffeur for the afternoon.  First he drove me to the Drivers' Licensing place.  I needed to renew my license before my birthday and needed to get a new picture (oh, boy!). That little errand took about an hour.  Then we came home and I stewed till it was time for my dental appointment.  Woody has worked off and on raking leaves on the side of our front yard...he did some raking in the morning and then some more prior to my appointment.  He drove me to my appointment (just couldn't go it alone! My phobia about dentists is that bad!).  We came home and it was time for supper.  We had leftover chili...think that it was better tonight!  Abigail came over a little while ago to finish up a sewing project that she has been working on because she missed her sewing time yesterday since they were on the road.  While Abigail was sewing, Woody left to walk to the prayer room at church.  Woody has been on the go today!

I guess I will go "chill out" watching some Olympic ice skating and other winter sports after my stressful day!

Warm Winter Monday

Our temperatures are rising above normal here in Middle TN...even as cold blooded as I am decided that it was too warm for a sweatshirt today...a one-clothing-layer-day!  It got up to 75 today.  And, it is supposed to be the same or warmer tomorrow.  It felt nice to be able to go outside and pet the kitties today and not be cold.  They were enjoying the warmer and dry day...though they put plenty of muddy footprints on me...so still not dry underfoot for them.  Georgia and Peaches' mother is almost home.  They should be pulling in from a trip to Arkansas in just a little while.  Woody has gone to the Armory with Graham's uniform so Graham won't be late for his Civil Air Patrol meeting...just squeaking in for that meeting!  After Woody meets up with them, he will head to the church for the Furnace Room Prayer Meeting.

Woody walked four miles this morning.  After lunch he went to the Life Care Center.  I spent some time with the kitties when he went to Life Care.  We are still having a lot of extra cats lurking around here which doesn't make me the happiest of campers.  I looked out once this afternoon and saw three BIG cats (not Esther 2 kittens) asleep on different chairs on our front porch.  These cats are not welcome here...but they don't seem to get the message!  I chased them off once this afternoon and Peaches came running to me with her tail all puffed out...she "almost" looked as big as the grown cats!  Guess she was trying to defend her territory since they were in her front yard at that time.  She did come running straight for me and not for the big cats...but she was brave enough to pass by them, though.

I made chili for our supper.  It is still simmering on the stove.  It will be ready when Woody gets home from prayer meeting...a bit later supper for us than usual...we are early eaters most days.  Guess we will eat with the Olympics tonight!

Rain, Rain, Rain!

Here's the picture of a couple of this year's Dwarf Dutch Iris that I couldn't post the other night due to computer problems.  The computer happily took the photos off my camera and loaded them onto the Passport external hard drive.  So definitely the computer is being lots more cooperative since it went in for its "spa treatment."

Woody got up and walked fairly this morning.  It was probably a good thing as mid morning the heavens opened and we had rain, at times heavy, for most of the rest of the daylight hours.  It seems to have stopped for the time being.  Woody also went to the library this morning and then stopped at a grocery store or two to get some things that we didn't have on the list yesterday...or that had cropped up that we needed after his weekly trip yesterday.  He made muffins this afternoon to take to Sunday School in the morning.  It is his boys' Sunday School Class's time to provide morning snacks.  He made banana blueberry muffins.  He had made some earlier in the week so I can vouch for the fact that they are good!

I decided that a rainy day was a good day to sew.  So I finished the sewing project that I had attempted to start yesterday.  I also looked through some machine quilting outlines that Joy might like to use when we get underway with the actual quilting.

Woody is in charge of Esther's kittens today.  He went over to check on them and found that they were in need of food...so he gave them some more...BUT the kitties were no where to be seen!  I ended up going out in the rain to look for them.  I walked all over the back yard calling "kitty, kitty, kitty" and no replying mew came back.  I know that they go under the shed that is in their backyard, but got no response from them when I neared that building.  I happened to look up and saw Peaches meowing at me from outside the gate of their fence...on the side toward our house.  She came up and ate and drank and then asked for some attention.  She didn't have the inclination to tell me where her sister was.  But I decided that perhaps they had sought shelter from the rain under our house...and sure enough when Peaches and I approached the vent where we have seen them go in before there was Georgia's little eyes and nose peeping out at me.  Peaches asked to get down from my arms and she went under the house to join her.  I decided that they were pretty smart to have sought out and found a quite dry place.  I went over just before dark and they were back curled up in the basket on their back porch...so I guess that they came out once the heavy rain stopped.  It is almost dangerous to walk across the yards they are so saturated with water.  It is actually slick underfoot since there isn't much grass on the ground at the moment...so mostly walking on dead grass and mud.  I think that they are good for the night...either in that basket or in their kitty house.

I came home and decided that I wanted/needed to make something for supper...and decided that I would make something that I had been thinking about making for a while...a recipe that Mother made occasionally but I have never seen her recipe for it...Hamburger/Macaroni Goulash.  I looked up recipes for that type of concoction on the internet and made one that seemed to remind me of the one that Mother had made.  It turned out pretty good...good enough to remind me of Mother's but a bit different but still quite tasty.  Woody said that it hit the spot.  I grated cheddar cheese on mine and he shook Parmesan cheese on his. The best part for me is that there are leftovers enough for another meal...always like to cook once and eat at least twice off a recipe!