Can You Believe...Six Months From Today Is...

CHRISTMAS is six months from today!  My mouth about dropped open when that fact was brought to my attention earlier today!  We are having enough trouble coming up with birthday presents (another birthday is very close) much less thinking about Christmas!  I guess we will put it on the back burner for a bit longer! But it will be here before we know it...probably in a blink of an eye...the way days are flying by these days.

Woody didn't get up to walk as he knew that it would just be so humid that it wouldn't be a pleasant walk no matter how early he walked!  He went to the Life Care and had Bible study with Jeff and then visited with several others.  He made Apple Zucchini bread today...a kidney friendly recipe!  This evening he is at the Furnace Room Prayer meeting.

Three children came over a little while ago...Esther, Elijah and Joseph.  They have decided to use the Osmo iPad system.  They were doing car races not sure which one they are doing at the moment...all is quiet. They are playing in the school room.

I did do a little hand sewing on my shirt this afternoon.  I still have some basting to do before I attach the sleeves.  Instead of actual sewing today, I have been working on something for the Facebook Sewing Club that I belong to.  The head of the club asked me if I would be interested in helping her create PDF files for the techniques that she will share in the coming year's club.  It doesn't seem possible that there is only July left in my year's membership for the club.  She has decided that she will continue the club for another year.  She tries to have written sheets that go with each of the videos and that is where she finds herself getting bogged down so she asked me today if I would be interested.  So I have been trying to figure out if I can create them the way she wants them.  I did a trial one and it seems to work.  She is away till tomorrow so maybe I will find out then if it will work for me to do them.  It will be quite a bit of work, but it sounds like fun to be on that side of the club helping in the background,  Plus she will wave my membership fee for the year, if I do this for her and, I'll be one of her administrators for the club...sounds like a plan to me!!  I hope that my iPad app comes through for me when I need to go more into detail than I did  in my trial one today.

I made another kidney friendly recipe for our supper: Pasta Primavera...not bad, but not as good as a tried-and-true recipe that I have made in the past...one thing that it has going for it is that it is a fairly quick to make recipe whereas my other recipe is not!  Easy is nice at times!

Unlikely Visitors!

Look who popped in for a visit this afternoon!  A very tattered little lion in flip flops and a little clown in some new duds...new wig, nose, tie and shoes...if I understood correctly.  It took the little clown a bit of time getting up the stairs!  The lion beat him by quite a bit!  I understand he had to crawl up the stairs.  When little clown saw his picture on my camera, he was quite pleased with how he looked!  He said that he knew how the suit, tie and shoes looked but didn't know how the wig and nose looked!  I see a new program featuring a clown or two or...in future programs.  Nathan is probably creating new stories around clowns as I type!  Little clown realized before he left that he was wearing all the primary colors.

Woody got up and walked a "long four miles," according to what he told me when he got back this morning. He went to the library and ran an errand or two later in the morning.  He continued to work in the yard...when it wasn't raining.  We didn't have as much rain today as the last two days but still had one fairly heavy rain.  Graham is on a "survival" camp out with his Civil Air Patrol group...hoping that they didn't get too wet with the passing storm.  We didn't have too much lightning or thunder with this one, though I did shut off machines and unplug them at a point when I heard a rumble or two.  I sewed most of the morning and have quite a bit done...it actually looks like a shirt, but without sleeves, side seams, a hem, or buttons or buttonholes.  I still have to hand stitch down the facings before I move on to the rest of it.  The hand sewing will take place in my recliner.  Woody did some cooking this afternoon.  He cut up and cooked two large cauliflower heads.  After they were cooked I made a recipe that he had found for "Almost Mashed Potatoes."  Well...not exactly mashed potatoes, but not too bad either.  My main complaint for them is that they have raw garlic in them and I just can't take raw garlic in things...next time I will either saute or roast the garlic or substitute garlic powder!  There is potential for them to be a passable side...but for me to really like them I will have to make a few adjustments!  I should have known as I don't like the hummus recipe that Woody makes and the reason is the raw garlic that is in that recipe.  So I will tweak it...if I am going to eat them!

After lunch, Joy came over to invite us next door to enjoy one of Abigail's famous cheese cakes.  She was experimenting.  Our new pastor loves cheesecake and he challenged Abigailr to make a peanut butter cheese cake.  He said that Cheese Cake Factory used to have one on their menu but no longer did.  So Abigail accepted the challenge.  I wish that I had gotten a picture of this one.  She used crushed Oreos for the crust and then had a peanut butter cheese cake and a topping of chocolate and Reeces peanut butter cups.  Quite a concoction...a very rich concoction!  Abigail is a good cook and she loves to make cheese cakes so it was easy for her to accept the challenge!  They cut a nice piece and put it in a "to-go box" to take to the pastor at church tomorrow.

For my breaks from sewing today I have been reading.  I have been doing a lot of reading lately...finishing books rapidly one after another.  Woody, too, has been doing a lot of reading. I think that he finished three books this week.  Rainy days are good for reading (storming or not)...and sewing (if it isn't storming!).  I am closing in on my yearly goal of reading 52 books in a year for my goal of a book a week.  Lately I have been reading a book often in a day or at most two...I'm getting really close to reading 52 before the year is even half over!

"Squish! Squish!"

Tonight's blog title is the sound that my shoes made when I walked out to the garden where Woody was weeding.  Woody had checked and we got two plus inches today!  So we have gotten over four inches of rain in the first two days of Summer!  It really came down in torrents for a while today.  There has been some pretty rough weather all around us.

I did get started on my sewing today.  I actually got to spend quite a bit of time at my sewing machine and server...that is until the storms started blowing through one after another.  When the lightning and thunder started my machines got turned off and unplugged.  We would think that the storms were over and soon we would hear thunder rumbling again...and then the rains would arrive...again.  I'm not sure how many storms blew through this afternoon.  Kathy, Esther, and Elijah needed a ride home when they got back into town from camp, as Nathan and the five children that were here at home with him had a juggling program.  Woody waited out the storm a bit before he headed to pick up Kathy and the two children she had with her.  It was barely raining when he headed off to get them.  He misunderstood the directions as to where to pick them up so had to come back home and have me redirect him...by that time another storm was blowing in.

Woody did our weekly grocery shopping and picked up a couple of prescriptions for us at our pharmacy.  We experienced something new this time...online prescription refill request.  It worked as the prescriptions were there waiting for him to pick up.  Woody turned around as soon as he got the groceries in for me to put away.  He had to pick up a friend who has no transportation and take him here and there to grocery shop and run errands.  Woody did lots of running around town today!  He was able to spend some time outside weeding in between storms...taking advantage of wet ground for easier weed pulling.

I guess at this point that our summer can be classified as "a wet one!"

Very Rainy Welcome to Summer!

My new birdhouse in the rain 

Chicken Sculpture Pecking in the Rain

A very rainy welcome to Summer, as in, 2 inches of rain!  It started raining in the early hours of morning and continued to rain all morning and even into some of the afternoon.  Woody didn't realize that it had started to rain till he opened the door to go out for his early morning walk.  He went out and came back in right away and decided that it was too rainy to head out on a walk...umbrella or not!  He did work in the yard later in the afternoon after the rains passed us by.  I'll bet it was easy weed pulling after getting all that rain!

I got up early and was probably back at my sewing before 5am.  I thought that I would be at my sewing machine most of the day.  Instead I wrestled with trying to chevron herringbone stripes so they would match. It has not been an easy task...rather hair pulling at times!  I think that I have the important places matching now.  I had to cut one of the pieces again as when I sewed the back yoke seam they just didn't match correctly.  I did finally get the back yoke sewn together correctly and I am satisfied with the way the stripes chevron.  Then I had to work on the front yoke matching...not for sure that is right and won't be till more into the sewing...perhaps when I know it will be beyond the undoing/redoing stage.  The problem with that is matching when the fronts overlap.  I finally decided that I had it good enough since those edges fold back when worn so how well the edge and overlap match will probably never be under scrutiny!  I just ironed on the interfacing for the front yoke...still have to trim those.  Then it will only be the front pieces lining/facing and the interfacing for the front edges that need to be cut out.  I don't think that they cutting job for this shirt will ever be done...except it will have to be as the fabric left is dwindling!  I still have enough to recut front yoke pieces if I have to.  Now I know why I kept procrastinating making this shirt!  It has been a pain due to the kind of stripes and the changes that I decided to make in the pattern.  I hope that I like what the end results are!!!!!

Report from the campers = they are having a great time.  It does look like they did get some rain this afternoon. They are in Kentucky.  I hope that they didn't get as much as we did!  The teen hikers are glad that they went hiking yesterday rather than today...though I guess the falls would have been running fuller today than yesterday.  Graham said that the falls didn't have a lot of water.  Graham and I put Velcro on the back one of his name strips for a Civil Air Patrol vest.  He has a survival-type hike planned for Saturday.  Again, I hope that it isn't too rainy for him and his fellow CAP members.

Wednesday Efforts

Woody didn't venture out farther than our yard today.  He worked in the yard for his exercise today.  He continues to work on gardens--both ornamental and vegetable--weeding and mulching.  He has done crossword puzzles and has read and watched TV.  It has been another hot and humid day.  We got a few sprinkles a couple of times today...really not enough to even wet the sidewalk.

I continue to work on my sewing project.  I sewed the collar together this morning...got tired of just cutting out so decided to do a little machine sewing.  I am having to match so each piece has to be cut out individually...so if I need two of a pattern piece I am having to cut that piece twice instead of once if I had the fabric layered.  I just have the sleeves to cut out of the main fabric.  Then I need to cut out the yokes on the bias.  I still have several pieces of interfacing to cut out.  Both the sewing machine and the serger have been threaded with the color thread that I need to make this blouse/shirt.  So once I get it all cut out...I will be able to "just" sew...and "should" be able to move right along!  We'll see!  I am still reading a lot so I intersperse reading with cutting.  I can't cut too long or my neck and back get to bothering me.

This afternoon Donna and I worked in the library.  Donna got another book entered and we both did maintenance...books checked in, books checked out, books shelved, cards filed, and books on shelves straightened.  Once again we didn't work as long as we sometimes do...but...consider it summer vacation!

Graham, Abigail, and Joy went with the youth today to hike at Fall Creek Falls State Park.  I checked in on them a little while ago to see if they had survived and had a good time.  All three looked pretty tired.  Sounds like Esther and Elijah and Kathy continue to have a good time at Kid's Church Camp.  Sounds like they are kept busy from morning to night.  Nathan continues to work on projects next door.  He's got their vegetable garden looking really good.  He was hampered in what he could do today as he needs Graham's help to be able to do several of the things that he wants to do.  Isaac and Joseph kept pretty close tabs on their daddy today.  We only saw them briefly this morning while Nathan took the teens to church for their outing and then one other time to get something that they left.  Nathan says that they are becoming pretty good little weeders.  I wonder if that is because they know how to "grow like weeds!"

Better Late Than Never!

I attempted to get all the fathers in the pictures: Woody, Wade, and Nathan.  The older folk ate at the table in the kitchen and the younger kids ate in the living room/school room.  The mat on the floor that three of them are eating on came from Ethiopia. Instead of tables woven mats spread on the floor are what many African families eat on. Nathan, Kathy and children experienced this type of dining in Uganda and after they got home they wished that they had gotten a mat for their family. I think that Nathan and Graham brought it back for the family when just the two of them went to Ethiopia a year or so after the whole family went to Uganda.

We have had another busy day.  I took Abigail to Montessori this morning. I walked through the school and turned on the lights for old times sake then headed home after saying hi to Pat.  I think that Abigail enjoyed her first experience at Montessori as a "teacher" very much.  Pat called me this afternoon and said that Abigail is just a natural!  Nice to hear!  Abigail dearly loves to work with children.  This should be a super experience for her.

I have spent quite a bit of time getting pattern pieces ready to be cut out.  I have changed some things about the pattern so had to make the appropriate adjustments.  At this point part of the pattern pieces are pinned on.  Some of the interfacing is cut out.  So I guess I am underway.  Cutting out a pattern is not exactly my favorite part of a sewing project...it is about my least favorite part of sewing!

Woody has stayed around the house most of the day.  He made a cake and I made the frosting and frosted the cake.  As soon as I blog I am going to go get a piece of cake.  Late afternoon, he walked to the prayer room at church.  While he was away I iced the cake and then went next door and sat on their back porch for a while in their porch swing and talked with Nathan and the children that are home at this time.  It sounds like Kathy and the kids are having fun at Kid's church camp.  I saw a few pictures and those showed happy faced children...a good sign of having a good time!  Tomorrow the children who are classified "youth" at the church = Graham, Abigail, and Joy are going on a summer hike.  Nathan may get roped into driving as, I guess, there have been quite a few sign up at the last moment.  If Nathan goes, then I would guess that Isaac and Joseph will stay with us.

Well, I'm glad that I finally got to share some of our Father's Day doings.  The computer was cooperative about opening up the camera software tonight.  I didn't have to restart it...maybe it just needed a little rest last night when it wouldn't open it up for me!

Busy Day After Father's Day

I was going to post a couple of pictures from our Father's Day celebration yesterday, but the computer doesn't want to open up my camera software without being shut down...and I just didn't want to wait for it to shut down, open back up and then download the photos...maybe tomorrow!

We did have a very nice day celebrating Father's Day yesterday.  Melany, Wade, and Erin joined us over at Nathan and Kathy's for a nice lunch.  The two younger generation families hosted Woody and me!  The food was yummy and the company was great as well! The only one missing was Alex and he had to work.

I made an eggplant casserole to go along with some of yesterday's leftovers.  They attempted to cook items that are on Woody's "ok" list.  Let's just say we ate well and continued to eat well today!

Woody got up this morning and walked six miles.  He knew that he needed to get an early start since it was predicted (correctly) that it would be another hot one today. Once again it got into the 90's.  Nathan took in one of their vehicles to have the AC worked on and Woody followed him so he could take him home.  Abigail came over and asked if I would take her to get her hair cut which we did.  She just got it trimmed.  The young fellow who cut her hair told her that he had never cut anyone's hair that was so thick before!  Kathy and Esther and Elijah left early this morning for Kid's Church Camp.  So the children were in and out at various times of the day.  Nathan always gets busy on various "projects" when Kathy is away...at least this time they aren't pulling up flooring!!!  He gave Abigail a sewing job to do.  So I helped her to do what he wanted this afternoon.  That sewing made Joy think about something that she wanted to sew so she got busy choosing fabric and getting it sewn/cut into the shape that she needs.  Isaac came over and played with my grandfather's blocks while they sewed.  After supper Nathan had to take Graham to his Civil Air Patrol meeting and the two little boys came over and played for a while.  So it has been a lot of "in-and-out" today!

I got a bit later start on the eggplant casserole so Woody said that he would eat after he went to the Furnace Room prayer meeting.  He is home and we have both eaten now.

I did attempt to get started on the blouse/shirt that I am making for myself...fabric is pressed, fabric is laying out flat on the cutting table, pattern pieces have been ironed smooth...but that is as far as I have gotten.

We do have the first upgrade for our kitchen.  Nathan and family gave Woody a motion detecting light switch for the kitchen.  Now when we enter from the dining room we don't have to walk very far till the light comes on!  I like it...except...that it doesn't detect my motion when I am chopping things on the counter top...or stirring things on the stove...or sitting at the table eating.  It will go off after so many minutes and then I have to walk toward the center of the room again.  I finally overrode the automatic and turned it on...and this time I remembered to put it back on automatic when I left the room.  The motion sensor light switch was suggested by a faithful blog reader/best friend and we appreciate the suggestion very much.  It has always bugged me that we couldn't turn on the light at that end of the kitchen when entering from the dining room...and now we take two or three steps into the kitchen and on comes the light!  Nice!  I am glad that Nathan and/or Graham listened to me when I told one of them about the suggestion.  Graham did the installation.  He's quite handy with things like this.

Oops!  I just realized that I walked away from the blog.  I heard Abigail outside hitting the volleyball against their house and I needed to arrange a time for her to come over here in the morning.  I'm going to take her to my place of work for 27 years--Ray's Montessori School.  She is going to be volunteering there when school goes back into session after the summer break.  Abigail is going to get her first taste of Montessori in the morning as they are having a summer session with some of the children heading off to public kindergarten.  I think that the car can still find the way there!!  This is part of Abigail's high school freshman curriculum--a unit on early childhood education as one of her freshman electives.  Abigail loves to work with young children.  This should be right up her alley!  She is excited about goin for the first time in the morning.  She will be working with "my boss" of 27 years aka Nathan and Melany's preschool and kindergarten teacher. So Abigail will be working with her daddy's first teacher!