Last Day of October

Does it seem possible that it is Halloween? This month has gone by so fast...well...really the whole year has gone by very quickly. Woody and I both got up early this morning. He waited to head out for a walk till the sun was up and had taken a little of the chill off. I got busy and started cleaning up more of the sewing mess...but got into several projects as I was doing that. The reason that it is so hard to get my sewing straightened up...one thing leads to another. I started planning Christmas sewing for my great-niece and then decided while I was thinking about that sewing project I would sew out a few more machine embroidered ornaments. I have two finished and one in the works. So I worked on Christmas on Halloween. Woody worked on the green peppers. He diced them and then flash froze them and then I helped him get them into the freezer bags. So we now have some frozen green pepper to use in several of our recipes. Woody also made Peasant Salad (aka Soggy Bread Salad) and has read and watched a bit of television and, of course, did his cross word puzzle of the day. He is now at the Monday night prayer meeting at church. I am answering the door for trick-or-treaters till he gets home. We never have very many...so far the door bell has rung three times and we have had a total of six children. I'm off to watch Dancing With the Stars!

First Full Fall Freeze

Woody passed the bank sign that has the temperature recorded, when he took his six-mile walk early this morning. It read 27F. Pretty brrrrrrrrrrrrrrry and everything had frost on it...roofs, grass, etc. When we left a little after 8 this morning you could still see frost on a roof here and there and some signs of frost on grass. Tonight's picture is an old maple that is on the "Back 40" (Nathan and Kathy's lot that is behind our house). It is one of the pictures that we took on our walk yesterday.

Woody and I both went to the early service this morning and then went to Sunday School. We both taught our respective classes. We came home and had lunch and then I don't know what happened to the rest of the afternoon...but it is gone! I do know that I was attempting to clean up the sewing room after my last sewing project and at a point got really sleepy and finally gave in and took a Sunday afternoon nap. It ended up being more than a power nap. So I am still facing cleaning up the sewing mess! I need to get it cleaned up so I can mess it up with the next sewing mess--Christmas sewing. Woody watched football this afternoon and read and did his crossword puzzle for the day.

Double the Fun!

A shower for two...double the fun! I had such a good time at the shower this morning...lots of renewing of acquaintances from over the years. But the best was getting to ride to the party with a former co-worker at Ray's Montessori School. It was so good to see her again! We got to do a bit more visiting since I rode to and from the party with her. After getting home I thought of lots more that I wanted to ask her! The shower was for the daughter of the owner of Ray's Montessori where I worked for 27 years. As a matter of fact the reason that I got a job there was due to the mother-to-be. She started going to the school with her mom when she was 18 months old and there were times during certain lessons that her mom wanted me to take care of her (like walk her around outside and keep her occupied)...but...alas...she wanted to have nothing to do with me since her mother was so close...so...I ended up teaching the children who would have something to do with me! And, to think that she will shortly become a mother for the first time...a mother of two, no less! My first year at the school was Melany's kindergarten year there and Nathan was also attending as a three-year-old. Ahhhhhhhh memories of loooooooong ago. Quite a few of the mommies of the children that I taught were at the party today. So I was able to catch up with what some of my former students are doing. Ummmmmmmmmm makes one feel a bit old!

Woody went to the grocery store very early this morning. Then he came home and got started on making French Market Soup. After his soup was finished simmering, he walked to the library and back home again, while I was at the party. Then after I got home we both went on a walk so I could get some pictures of the Fall colors. It was a nice afternoon for a walk...it got to almost 60F but was a bit breezy so a bit nippy. Late afternoon, Woody took Nathan's vehicle to be looked at by an insurance adjuster due to hail damage. State Farm has a tent set up in Lowe's parking lot and they have lines of cars pulling through to be assessed for hail damage. They have been doing this for over a week now. That hail storm really did a number on cars and roofs and siding, etc. in the area. While Woody was doing that for Nathan and Kathy I worked a bit more on tomorrow's Sunday School lesson and also talked to a good friend and blog reader. She called to let me know a way to freeze our green peppers...dice them and spread them on a cookie sheet and slide them into the freezer till they are frozen and then transfer them to a container or freezer bag and put them back in the freezer till they are needed. I'm planning on giving it a try. I do this with canned jalapenos...as I never use the amount that is a can...that way I have the jalapenos when we need them...like today for Woody's pot of French Market Soup and also for our Mexican Corn Bread. When I went downstairs we had a lot more green peppers on the counter than I remembered...wonder if Woody went scrounging through our gardens again as I didn't think that we still had that many...so looks like I will be dicing and flash freezing some of these to use at a later time in some of our soups, etc.

Well, baseball is over for the year and the St. Louis Cardinals made Woody very happy last night! Tonight Woody is watching a DVD that he got at the library today...well, I say he is watching...when I just went down to check about his walk to the library, he was dozing with the movie playing!

Boredom = Good Day for Grammy!

We woke up to rain this morning. The rain started sometime after midnight and continued most of the morning. We got over a half an inch of rain...a nice steady rain. The rain kept Woody from his morning walk, but he did run errands (in the car) and stopped at the community center to spin on the stationary bike for a while. He also stopped at the Credit Union and then went to WalMart. He has covered some of our plants as there is a freeze warning out for the wee hours of the morning. The high today was only 48F. I have stayed in all day...but have still felt the chill that is settling on us once again.

Now...for the explanation for tonight's title. I think that I had better explain since at another time I mentioned that "bored" or "boredom" aren't words that I allow in my vocabulary...or in my children's when they were small or in my grandchildren's when they are here with me. But today when my cell phone rang and I saw that it was our oldest granddaughter calling I was glad to hear that she was bored...that resulted in a nice phone call from her! She was through with classes for the day and nothing else was happening so she decided to call her grammy...made my day! Late this afternoon I made homemade chicken noodle soup...really hit the spot on this chilly day. At the moment the 7th game of the World Series is on TV and that is occupying Woody. His team pulled it out in the 9th last night to make tonight's 7th game happen. Time will tell if Woody is a happy camper at the end of this last game of "The 2011 Series!"

Thoroughly Thursday

It has been another busy day. Busy days seem to be the norm these days. That is a good kind of norm...especially since it doesn't involve doctor appointments. Woody got up early this morning and walked six miles. Later in the morning he walked to the community center and spun on a stationary bike for twenty-five minutes and then walked home. I left before he left to spin. I ran a few errands. Then came home and put the finishing touches on my "twin gifts." I also worked some more on library memorials. Then headed downstairs to mess up the kitchen after Woody had gotten it all cleaned up. We must be on a New Orleans kick...first it was Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and tonight I fixed Shrimp Creole. We're trying to make recipes that use green peppers as we picked quite a few before the frost a few days back. I'm also trying to use some things that have accumulated in the freezerso that bag of shrimp freed up some space and thus the freezer drawer closes a bit easier tonight. We have had a front pass through today...it has drizzled off and on...not a lot of rain...but at the moment I can hear it on the roof. It is supposed to get cold once again. We have had several days of really nice temperatures.

Wednesday Wanderings

It has been a busy day. Woody started out his day by walking his four-mile route. A bit later, but still fairly early, he took in one of our cars to have the tires rotated. A bit later he walked downtown to buy some new shoes. On the way home he stopped at the library and read the Tullahoma News. Then he walked across the street from the library to one of Tullahoma's community centers and spun on a stationary bike for fifteen minutes and then he walked home. He has also worked some in the yard. I did a bit of sewing and then started working on filling church library memorials. After lunch, I headed to the church for our Wednesday work time in the church library...two other workers and I processed books, checked in books and shelved them. It looked like progress is being made on the next phase of the library renovations...at least things had been moved around and we were told that work on one of the cabinets was underway. I came home and we have had supper...still enjoying the chicken and sausage gumbo. I'm ready to put my feet up. My wanderings have worn me out...I don't know about Woody's!

Tuesday...all day!

Woody got up early as usual. He has read and worked in the yard. A little while ago he walked to the prayer room. I have spent the day in the sewing room. I'm back to sewing for babies...this time for real babies rather than dolls...and instead of one baby I'm sewing for two...for twins (no, Nathan and Kathy aren't having twins!). I'm going to a shower on Saturday and I'm getting a gift ready for these two sweet little babes-to-be!