What I Have Learned in 26 Years of Marriage

Wednesday was our 26th anniversary. What did we do? Nothing out of the ordinary. And that in itself is one of the things I like best about our marriage. Each day with each other is special. What have I learned over these many years?

Here are generalities for both husbands and wives:

1. Don't sweat the small stuff. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. Recently I have been saddened to hear of people my age or slightly older passing away and leaving spouses and children. The little tiff you might have had, or the grudge you are holding because "I'll show them!", WILL NOT MATTER if the Lord decides to take your spouse home. Of course, we can't be thinking about death all the time, but we CAN be aware that no one is guaranteed tomorrow, and treat your spouse and family accordingly.

2. Don't treat strangers better than you treat your spouse. This is a biggie. In the course of a day don't you smile at strangers? Talk politely to them? Hold doors open? Say please and thank you? Then why do we treat the very ones we love the most with less respect? The stranger you might have smiled at and said a kind word to may or may not remember you next week; your spouse and children have nothing BUT memories of you. Make them count.

3. Try to start the day with a smile for your spouse. I learned this the hard way. I am NOT a morning person. Well, at least not until I've had the equivalent of a pot of coffee. I have found that the mood you get out of bed in is generally going to set the tone for the whole family for the rest of the day. Keep that in mind if you wake up grumpy and snapping at everyone. I may not feel like smiling, but I do it anyway because I sure don't want to ruin the rest of my day or anyone else's.

4. Make the extra effort. Whatever it might be. Do you see that your spouse just finished their drink/snack/whatever? Make the extra effort to notice and offer to get a refill or something for them. Do you see your spouse having difficulty doing something but you're comfy in your chair? Get up and help anyway. You'll be glad you did, and so will your spouse. Does your spouse like a particular food but you don't? Prepare it anyway. It matters.

5. SAY IT! Did your spouse do or say something that you liked? Tell them so. Are you thinking a nice thought about your spouse for whatever reason? Tell them so. Kind words are so easy to say, especially when they're sincere, and yet we can be so stingy with them. If you feel it (and it's a good thought - not a bad one!) then SAY IT.


Here are specifics FOR WIVES ONLY - *WARNING* - This may be uncomfortable for some or TMI (Too Much Information) for others, but I firmly believe these are necessary for a solid and happy marriage.


1. Never say no. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. S*x to a man is much more than that. It is stress relief, comfort, an all-around, good-for-whatever-ails-ya kind of thing. Be glad your husband is turning to you to meet that need. This doesn't mean be a cold fish and just give in, either. Have fun yourself!

2. Never complain about your husband to others. Yes, you may have a gripe that you feel you need to share with someone, but don't do it. It's disrespectful to your husband and your words could come back to haunt you if your friendship with the person with whom you shared your complaint ever soured. Besides, you wouldn't want your husband talking badly about you to his friends, would you?

3. Meet your husband at the door when he comes home. This is so simple, but makes such a difference. It lets your husband know that you are glad he is home and that he is more important at that moment than anything else you may have had going on right then.

4. To go with #3, say goodbye to your husband at the door when he leaves. DON'T stay in your warm bed in the morning when he leaves! Get up and say goodbye to him. If you want to go back to bed afterwards, then do so, but don't let him leave without a smile and a hug from you. Between #3 and 4, YOURS will be the last loving face he sees as he leaves, and the first loving face he sees upon his return.

5. Put him first. Always. Before the children, before the house, before your job. The children will eventually grow up. Your house is not going anywhere. You will eventually retire from your job. You were a wife first, and you will be a wife last, with all the other things in the middle. Make sure the ending will be as special as the beginning.

6. Don't be afraid of the word submission. Wait - don't throw rotten tomatoes at me yet - let me explain. That word used to scare me. I knew that as a Christian wife I was supposed to submit to my husband. That's what the Bible says, and it's what we wives were created for. But I fought that one kicking and screaming. I thought that I would be taken advantage of. I thought that I would be used and disrespected. The word "doormat" came to mind. Well, I am here to tell you that NONE of those things happened. As always, God's word is true and He really does know what is best for us. What happened instead was that my husband began to actually treat me better than he ever had. The more I gave, the more I received. I began to feel treasured - not taken advantage of by any means. If you don't believe me on this, I challenge you to try it. If your marriage isn't all that happy, then you have nothing to lose. On the contrary - you have much to gain.

Now, before you think I've been living in a fantasy world for 26 years, let me assure you that this marriage has had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster but the important thing is that we started this ride together, and we will end it together. Divorce should never be an option*. Working through obstacles is always tough, but in the end you'll be glad you did. Just like trees that grow deeper roots in order to survive where there is a lot of wind, your marriage will grow stronger and deeper by weathering together the winds that twist and turn you.

*Please note that I am NOT referring here to an abusive situation. If there is physical or any other type of abuse going on in your marriage, you need to get help for yourself and/or your children.

New Skills

The aroma of baking bread can't be beat.

Yum.
Four loaves at a time will last us a while.

Something To Think About

I was reading a book that was published in 1870 - no that's not a typo, it's a really old book - and I wanted to share something out of it. The book is considered a classic; "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" by Hannah Whitall Smith. In the passages she explains how we are to have faith in everything; how we are like clay and the Lord is the Divine Potter. Here are a few excerpts that I really liked. It's a little long, but worth reading.

By a step of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Divine Potter; by a gradual process He makes us into a vessel unto His own honor, meet for His use, and prepared to every good work. To illustrate this, suppose I were to describe the way in which a lump of clay is made into a beautiful vessel. The potter takes the clay thus abandoned to his working, and begins to mold and fashion it, according to his own will. He kneads and works it; he tears it apart and presses it together again; he wets it and then suffers it to dry. Sometimes he works at it for hours together; sometimes he lays it aside for days, and does not touch it. And then, when by all these processes he has made it perfectly pliable in his hands, he proceeds to make it up into the vessel he has proposed.

The lump of clay could never grow into a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the clay-pit for thousands of years; but when it is put into the hands of a skillful potter it grows rapidly, under his fashioning, into the vessel he intends it to be. And in the same way the soul, abandoned to the working of the Heavenly Potter, is made into a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for his Master's use. Having, therefore, taken the step of faith by which you have put yourself wholly and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin His work. His way of accomplishing that which you have entrusted to Him may be different from your way; but He knows, and you must be satisfied.

The lump of clay, from the moment it comes under the transforming hand of the potter is during each day and each hour of the process just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day, and therefore pleases him; but it is very far from being matured into the vessel he intends in the future to make it. The little babe may be all that a babe could be, or ought to be, and may therefore perfectly please its mother; and yet it is very far from being what that mother would wish it to be when the years of maturity shall come. The apple in June is a perfect apple for June; it is the best apple that June can produce; but it is very different from the apple in October, which is a perfected apple. By an act of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord, for Him to work in us all the good pleasure of His will, and then, by a continuous exercise of faith, keep ourselves there. This is our part in the matter. And when we do it, and while we do it, we are, in the Scripture sense, truly pleasing to God, although it may require years of training and discipline to mature us into a vessel that shall be in all respects to His honor, and fitted to every good work. Just as the potter, however skillful, cannot make a beautiful vessel out of a lump of clay that is never put into his hands, so neither can God make out of me a vessel unto His honor, unless I put myself into His hands.

I hope you will read this through a couple of times and put yourself in the Divine Potter's hands. It's a very freeing place to be, knowing that He is in charge.

Short Update!

I don't have too much time today but I'm in between stuff at the moment so thought I'd write. See? I am trying to make good on my promise to post more! The bread baking and other stuff-making is still continuing. Haven't had time to take pictures and list the rest of my stuff on eBay yet. I'm still going strong with my interval workouts. Have only lost a couple of pounds, but have lost inches - Yay! A little less of me is a good thing. I'll post pics of the stuff I've been making when I get a chance. Haven't heard anything yet from the homeschool magazine about the project editing that I responded to them about. Wonder if I'll get that? Work is picking up for me though. The doctors seem to finally be getting to work. On the downside, my paycheck from one of the companies was late because they couldn't make payroll because the hospital didn't pay them because of short funds. We're all wondering what's going on when a hospital can't pay it's bills. The homeschool magazine I mentioned, The Old Schoolhouse, sends out a weekly email newsletter and one of the columnists for that has a website for dads. It's a really enjoyable site and I think any dads out there would like it. It's called Familyman Ministries. On the school side of things, Andy has a couple of days off which he won in a scavenger hunt we had. I'll write more about that next time. Right now I really need to get busy! More later.

Feast or Famine

Being self-employed has it's positives and negatives. For Jerry and I, the positives far outweigh the negatives and so we choose this. For me, working from home and when I want gives me the freedom to homeschool Andy and to do what I want, when I want. For the most part Jerry has the same freedom, too. Besides - I have never really taken well to authority - ask my mom! Oh, I am a hard worker and can do what needs to be done after someone has told me what to do, but then leave me alone so that I can do it! Jerry is the same way. The downside of our jobs is that there is no steady paycheck coming in week after week. I refer to the state of our finances as "feast or famine" - we either seem to be in one or the other. Seldom are we in the middle for very long. Right now we are in the "famine" stage! With homebuilding crawling along, Jerry's work has slowed down. For me the doctors have been on what seems like an extended vacation since Thanksgiving and work for me still isn't very brisk. I have asked for more work, but then again so have all the other transcriptionists, and there is only so much to go around. At least we're used to it by now. I find it a challenge to see how long we can make something last, or just how far we can stretch that dollar. Jerry was watching me make bread the other day and commented that I actually seemed to like this kind of thing!


While we have basically been cheap frugal for a while now, sometimes we aren't as frugal as we really should be. But we're still having fun! Some of these things we really should have been doing all along, but just got lazy. We were not going to use the woodstove this year as we were a little afraid of using it. It is about 28 years old now and has gotten pretty thin. We changed our mind about this after receiving our first electric bill after having used the heat pump only. Jerry checked the woodstove out thoroughly and decided we could eke another year out of it. Now that's the only thing heating the house. I love that woodstove and that's why we've had it so long. It heats this whole house. Sometimes it gets too hot and we need to open a door or window!

Right now as I'm typing this I have four loaves' worth of bread dough rising. I was making a loaf at a time for the last couple of weeks by working the dough in my bread machine and then taking it out and shaping it into a loaf and baking it, but it's too time consuming doing it one loaf at a time. There have been times that I've just gone ahead and let the bread machine bake a loaf, but the loaves are too big for sandwiches. I prefer to just let it go through the dough cycle and take over from there. Something else I have done was make sourdough starter. That's really good bread! Unfortunately, my starter kind of fizzled out last week, but at least I got a few good loaves out of it. I made a new starter this morning and so far it grew up and out of the container and I had to put it in a larger container, so I think this starter will be okay, but it won't be ready to use until at least Tuesday. For anyone on a low carb diet, I realize that daily bread isn't a good thing, but for those of us on a financial diet, bread is versatile and filling. And you just can't beat a grilled cheese sandwich made on homemade sourdough bread! Meals are more carefully planned and everything is made from scratch. And I do mean everything! Also, milk is only used for coffee. If it's needed for baking or if the boys want me to make a pot of hot chocolate, it's with powdered milk. I also made the happy discovery that I can make the equivalent of Dunkin' Donuts cinnamon spice coffee! After much experimenting (it didn't go to waste - even the experiments tasted good!), I finally think I found the right combination. I put four coffee scoops of regular coffee, two teaspoons of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of allspice into a coffee grinder. Yes, the coffee is already ground to start with, but you need to grind it again to thoroughly incorporate the spices or it will just end up running through and you will have a layer of what looks like chalk on top of your coffee. Yuck! Anyway, I pulse the coffee grinder three times, for five seconds each. Then I dump the whole batch into the coffee filter, breaking up any clumps that might be there. This makes an 8-cup pot. It has become a favorite now.

Anyway, this has certainly turned into a long post! Now I think I'm going to take some more pictures of more stuff I'd like to list on eBay. Unfortunately the books I had listed before didn't sell, so I'll lower the price and relist them. They are not doing anything for me but taking up space here. Not to mention that every little bit helps with the finances. I also received an email from the homeschool magazine that I subscribe to and they and another homeschooling publishing company are looking for people for editing projects, to work from home. You can bet I responded to them as soon as I saw the email. I'm such a stickler for grammer and spelling anyway, that I figured this would certainly be a good match for me and it would be something I could do in addition to transcription. We'll see how it goes. I'm not worried about anything as I know that the Lord is taking care of all the details of our lives, including our finances. But I also know that being wasteful with money is not pleasing to Him, and so I'll do my part, and let Him do His. Well, right now a huge batch of bread dough is calling, so more later.

Intervals!

I have been having a great time with my new toy. I treated myself to a Momentum fitness heart rate monitor system a couple of weeks ago and I love it. I had heard about this from Flylady (and we Flybabies get a discount) and thought about it for a long time before I just decided to go for it. The online tracking is wonderful. Each day I track my weight and my workouts and even get my workouts adjusted for me according to the information I enter in off of my heart rate monitor after my workouts. I have only worked out 9 times so far, 6 interval workouts on the treadmill and 3 strength training sessions on the DVD that comes with the system, and already things are well, firming up! Even though I'm overweight, evidently my heart is healthy because I recover from my highest heart rate down to my baseline one in less than a minute. The best thing about this is that it doesn't take a lot of time. For your intervals all you need to do is 30 minutes and then it's suggested that you do the No Excuses workout every other day which is divided into four six-minute segments so you can do as little as six minutes if that's all the time you have, or you can do the full 24-minute session. The No Excuses workout is a killer, though. In each six-minute segment you do 15 exercises of each major muscle group, so if you do the whole 24 minutes you have done 60 pushups in various forms working different arm muscles each time, 60 crunches working upper, lower and side abdominal muscles, 60 lunges again in different forms working your thighs, and various other exercises. The hardest part for me is the third set of pushups which are with your hands only six inches apart on the floor which works the back of your arm. You know, where the Jello-O likes to be?! What I also like about the DVD is that there aren't macho men and Barbie dolls bouncing around all over the place. It's just the guy who created the fitness system, one man and one woman, modestly dressed and just getting through the exercises without any theatrics. So far this device is making it easy for me to keep this resolution.

It snowed today! Honest to goodness SNOW! It was beautiful. I just stood at the window looking for the longest time, then I went outside to take some pictures on my phone to send to Jerry, who is in Delaware until tomorrow. It had snowed there earlier and he had called me to see if it was snowing here (he knows how I love snow), but it was dry as a bone here. About three hours later it started so I took pictures to send him. Tom's school ended up closing early. It was apparently much worse in Virginia than here and Tom said the ride home from the Metro was definitely interesting.

Andy and I didn't go to Delaware with Jerry this week because we had his semi-annual homeschool review with the board of education. Don't get me started. It's already been covered in past posts how I feel about those things. Anyway, it went well. We had a different reviewer this time and she was very funny. When she was looking through Andy's pre-algebra math book she asked Andy what he thought about math. She noted that he must like it because he hadn't gotten lower than a B on any of his tests and Andy told her that it's really tough at first and that at the beginning of a new lesson - and I quote - "my brains are pretty much scattered all over the floor", but then it gets easier. At the end of the review the reviewer writes a summary report on her findings and the parent has to sign it. I never read those things, I just sign the paper, but yesterday she handed me her review and I reached for a pen and started to sign it when she stopped me and asked, "Aren't you going to read it?" I didn't see why, but I read it anyway, and then about fell out of my chair laughing. Here's what she wrote - on the formal review no less - "He is doing well in math, pre-algebra, even though his brains are scattered all over the floor trying to understand it." When I started laughing, she started laughing, then we showed it to Andy, and he started laughing. By this time people were staring. I like this lady! She will be our reviewer when we go back in June, and Andy is glad.

Well, time to go and do stuff. I listed some books on eBay this morning and need to take pictures of some more stuff I want to get out of here, but my camera is acting up. Maybe I'll just go to bed instead! Happy Thursday, y'all! Well, what's left of it!

Tree Tossing History

For those readers unfamiliar with our tree tossing tradition, here are links to the previous posts and pictures documenting three years of demented family fun. We do indeed find amusement in the strangest places.


http://karensramblings.blogspot.com/2007/01/its-that-time-again.html


http://karensramblings.blogspot.com/2006/01/its-that-time-again.html


Here's an excerpt from a January of 2005 post:

We will wait until this weekend for the annual throwing of the tree. Yes, this has become somewhat of a tradition in our house. We drag the Christmas tree out to the back deck, where Andy gets to toss it off into the yard from where it will make its way to the brush pile. The first year we just rolled it down the deck stairs into the yard. The next year Andy decided it would be more fun to drop it from the deck, so we just put it on the rail and pushed it off. Now it has become more of a hoist-and-throw type of activity. We find amusement in the strangest places.

It's Tree Tossing Time, 2008!

Andy gets first toss.....
..... and it's gone! (the tree is the blurry thing you see flying through the air!)
Tom takes a turn - the tree seems to be standing up in mid-air!
Tom takes another turn.
Here is Andy's second toss.

Welcome, 2008!

Resolution:
1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group.
2. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
3. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
4. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

I like the fourth definition the best - firmness of purpose. How many resolutions have you made, either this year or any other year? How many did you succeed in keeping? For me, the "firmness of purpose" didn't last long - maybe a month at best. Then the newness wore off.

In my job I type reports for a diabetes clinic. The patients have a pattern of behavior once they are newly diagnosed with diabetes. At first they are completely compliant with their carbohydrate counting, insulin regimens, and blood sugar monitoring. Doctors actually have a name for this - it is called the honeymoon period. In the reports that I type, if a patient is doing extremely well and was only recently diagnosed, the doctor states the fact that the patient is doing extremely well, but then adds the caveat, "but the patient is still in the honeymoon period." Later when the patient's monitoring and carb counting becomes a little more erratic and their compliance begins to slip, then the doctor might say that they are "out of their honeymoon period."

Each January first begins a new honeymoon period. I have now come to believe that when you make a resolution, the hardest part is keeping it after the novelty of the new whatever-it-was- you-resolved-to-do has worn off. That is where the firmness of purpose needs to come in! Anyone can make a resolution - keeping to it is a resolution in itself.

I will share with you my resolutions for this year. I have not included the resolution to keep my resolutions once their shininess has worn off, because that applies to all of them and so I have mentioned it here.

1. Do I need to say it? To lose weight. I am trying some new tactics this time around and truly hope that this is the last year I will make this resolution, but if not, that brings us to:
2. To love myself just the way I am - having lost weight or not. To realize that I have qualities and talents that are not based in any way on what the scale says.
3. To be more transparent with those around me and in this blog. Fear has kept me from posting many things - fear of sharing inner thoughts and feelings, and fear of what others might think of me. This resolution ties in closely with #2 - that I am uniquely ME and that my thoughts and feelings are valid, and it does not really matter what others think of me.
4. To hold my tongue! I have a terrible habit of speaking before I think. Although it doesn't seem so at the time, biting your lip and not saying something is actually easier in the long run than trying to take back something said in haste once it's left your lips.
5. To be less judgemental. To remember what scripture tells us, "For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you." (Matt. 7:1)

So, in the interest of Resolution #3, I have been transparent in sharing these with you. Now I would like to know what resolutions you set for yourselves. You can post anonymous comments to this blog and they are indeed anonymous. I do not know who you are if you choose to post anonymously, nor do I want to know. I thought it would be interesting to share what other resolutions people are making. Unfortunately, I do have to add that if a comment is unseemly or deemed inappropriate, I will delete it and it will not be posted. No, this is not a violation of Resolution #5 - I'm not judging anyone, I just choose not to have offensive language and/or remarks on my blog.

Okay - the invitation is out there. What's your "firmness of purpose" for this new year?

Beautiful Christmas Lights & Music Display

Jerry took Andy and I to see this display at an electric company in Delaware tonight. I could have stayed all night and watched. It is WONDERFUL! As you drive up there is a sign that tells you to tune in to 88.7 on your radio and watch the lights move to the music. I found this YouTube video that someone else has made of it. The music isn't playing out loud at the display; you have to hear it in your car by tuning to that particular station. To hear the music in your vehicle and watch the lights dance to it was really a treat. Anyway, here it is - enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8lQzkXQiYk

Impressive Grocery Trip!

Okay, I know I've been gone a while. I'm finally getting myself into some sort of schedule between here and Delaware. Andy and I had been going every week most of the summer, and then a couple of weeks ago decided that we needed to moderate that a bit, as things were really starting to slack around here! One thing, for instance, was that my driver's license expired on my birthday and I wasn't here to renew it! I stayed home a couple weeks later and had Tom take me to get it renewed. He made sure my ride with him wasn't one I would soon forget. I won't. He deliberately drove like a maniac and then laughed hysterically at my white-knuckled grip on the arm rests. I'm going to get that boy one of these days......

Nothing much has been happening around here (or Delaware). I've just been working, teaching Andy, and the usual day-to-day stuff. No apples or other massive amounts of produce to speak of (thank goodness!) A lady in Delaware was telling me about the great deal on apples the local grocery store was having, and then in Sam's Club an employee was giving samples of the apples they had on sale. NO THANK YOU! I had nightmares about apples.

Watching Food Network (that's about all that's on in my house anymore) I saw a show about The Grocery Game (thegrocerygame.com). I thought it sounded like a good idea and looked into it, and after today's shopping trip I'm definitely impressed. You sign up by zip code, then you are provided with a shopping list for stores in your area that participate with them. On that list is all the things that store has on sale, and also listed are any corresponding coupons that are in Sunday papers. The list is broken down into colors - items in black are on sale, but they aren't the best prices, so only get them if you need them. Items in blue are the "rock bottom" price, or the best price that they will be in the next 12 weeks, so that price coupled with a coupon is definitely a good deal. Items in green are items that will be free if you are lucky enough to catch a great sale plus have a great coupon too. The list is based on the fact that there are trends in grocery sales, with the items revolving roughly every 12 weeks. Since the stores participate, The Grocery Game is able to know what is going on sale and when and has extensive databases that have tracked sales trends for years, so I know that if something is in blue, I probably won't find it that price again for the next three months or so. Theoretically you're supposed to stock up on however many widgets you might need to last your family until the next cycle comes around and that makes sense, but takes a bit of money at the start, so for now I'm content to just go and shop from my blue list and see what that gets me each week. The stores that participate in my area are Giant and Food Lion, and in comparing the lists, Food Lion seemed to have slightly better prices, so I went there. Okay - here's what I bought:

2 Freezer Queen Pork Dinner Entrees (2 make a meal for the 4 of us)
2 Freezer Queen Beef Dinner Entrees (2 make a meal for the 4 of us)
2 Campbell Select Gold soups
5 packages of Whiskas cat food
5 bags of Pictsweet frozen vegetables
2 boxes of Food Lion frozen blueberry waffles
1 can of Mazola butter non-stick spray
5 packages of Food Lion gravy mix
2 boxes of Hamburger Helper
1 tube of Colgate toothpaste
1 box of Philly Beef Steaks
2 Campbell soup bowls
2 boxes of Hungry Jack Four Cheese potatoes
1 box of Kellogg's Special K
1 box of Kellogg's Rice Crispies
2 pounds of ground beef
2 bags of Contessa orange shrimp family size meals
2 bags of Food Lion frozen shrimp (1 pound each, 41-50 count each)
1 bag of catfish nuggets
2 pounds of honey ham lunchmeat from the deli
1 jar of Duke's mayonnaise

My total came to $68.44. I added everything using the regular prices, and if I had paid regular price and not used corresponding coupons, the total would have been almost exactly double that - $138.00. To say that I'm pleased is an understatement. This list is even laid out in the order of your store aisles, so you just start in one direction and follow the list and then go to the checkout counters. I timed myself and today's trip took a total of 45 minutes, including travel time. The service isn't free though, and I guess I can't expect it to be with what you are provided with. It is $10.00 every 8 weeks for 1 store, and then $5.00 for any additional stores you want lists for in your zip code. So, between that cost and the cost of subscribing to the Sunday paper (.75 per week), we'll see how it goes. Also, I guess it helps that I really don't have a family of picky eaters, as the items will change from week to week.

Anyway, I guess I'd better get going. I'm home this week and have a list of stuff I intend to accomplish by week's end, so I'd better get started. I'll write when I can. Can't promise when that will be though - could be tomorrow, could be in a month at the rate I've been going!

Look Out! I'm a Tropical Storm!

Looking at the NOAA site, I saw that there are tropical storms Jerry and Karen now! What are the chances of having our names together that way?! Then, in looking at the list of names for storms - right here - I see that in 2010 Colin and Matthew are both on the same list! Anyway, back to work. Just think - every six years Jerry and Karen will possibly be making the rounds!

Something New To See

I don't have time to write at the moment, but I wanted to share Tom's photo blog that he has been keeping. Here is the link - Tom's photo blog - he has been taking some awesome pictures. His last picture will be the one to come up first - click on the "previous picture" thumbnails to the left to see earlier work. Enjoy!

Sunrise

Yesterday Andy and I rode with Jerry when he went to work on a house in Dover. On the way I got this picture of the sunrise. Jerry dropped Andy and I off at Byler's while he worked, and then picked us up on the way back. That place has EVERYTHING! I got stuff I wasn't able to find at home. I'll write more about that later. Right now I've got stuff to do - lessons with Andy and working. Happy Wednesday!

A Short Break

I'm writing this early this morning before the appling begins for another day. Yesterday I posted all my pictures and had intended to write about them, but by the time I finished writing the little bit I had, the apples (do I really need to say it?) were done and needed my attention, and, well, that was pretty much it for me for the rest of the day!

Anyway, last weekend I processed you-know-whats. We left for Delaware early Tuesday morning. When we got to the trailer there was a huge spider web strung between two trees. That explains the spider web picture. I was very mindful unloading my stuff out of the truck. That's one spider web I didn't want to get tangled in!

On Wednesday, Andy and I walked to one of the outlet centers. It's not too far, but it's still a bit of a hike. We went to the Old Navy outlet and were very pleasantly surprised. They didn't have anything that impressed me for women, but Andy made out like a bandit. Actually, I can't remember the last time we bought clothes for Andy. Mostly he has always worn Tom's hand-me-downs, but now that he and Tom are close in size, there isn't a lot that Tom is handing-me-down! Andy wears a larger shoe size than Tom now - size 11 compared to Tom's 10. At the store Andy found polo shirts for $4.89 and cargo pants and jeans for $9.00 and $11.00. Other shirts were $6.00. When we were checking out, the cashier told us that as of October first that Old Navy outlet would no longer be an outlet, that it was converting into a regular Old Navy retail store and that's why the prices were so low. They had to have the building and entire inventory cleared out by October first. So, after October the prices will be quite a bit higher, but at least the selection for women should improve!

Then we went to the Kitchen Collection where I got an apple peeler/corer/slicer. Praise the Lord! This thing makes life so much easier when processing apple pie filling. The apple goes onto the end and you turn the crank. The peel comes off in one long strip and the apple comes off the end cored and cut like a giant curly fry - all in one piece. For the pie filling I just cut the apple down the middle for two sets of slices. After seeing one apple done this way, Jerry suggested leaving the apple as a giant curly fry and frying it that way and then sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar. I bet that would be good. If I have time I might try that, but I seriously doubt it will be today.

Then after shopping Andy and I decided to treat ourselves to Cracker Barrel. The two of us ate there for not much more we could have gone to McDonald's or Arby's. Andy got the chicken and dumplings. I got the chef salad. Before anyone reading this thinks I'm behaving myself by eating sensibly, I should mention that Jerry's aunt and uncle were shopping the outlets on Tuesday and called Jerry Tuesday night and wanted to meet us at - yep, Cracker Barrel. So I had my meatloaf and mashed potato meal Tuesday night, so I figured I'd better eat sensibly Wednesday! Andy and I worked the peg puzzle while waiting for our order. The caption on the picture tells how I fared!

On Thursday evening we went to visit Hilda, the lady who used to live in front of us here. She moved into her new house in Millsboro two weeks ago. We weren't sure when she was moving in exactly, so we just took a chance on her being there. She had given us her new address before she left here but she didn't have a definite closing date at that time. Anyway, when she opened her door and saw us standing there, at first she looked surprised, then hugged us all. Jerry told her that she will have to move further away or we'd just keep finding her! It was a great visit. We ended up staying until almost 11:00. Jerry fixed some stuff for her, just like he did here! He told her that we'd be coming back next week to give her some apple stuff. Every year I had given her apple pie filling and apple butter, and she gave us black walnuts that she got from a friend's house. She gave us a bunch that she had when she moved, but I need to find a black walnut cracker. A hammer really gets old and doesn't really do the job!

Okay, I think I'm caught up. Oh, one more thing. Yesterday Uncle Jim had his annual bluegrass shindig, but because we only found out about two days before the thing, there was no way we could go, not with apples rotting by the day here and Jerry still needing to work on the chipper after having been gone all week. We really missed it though, and Jerry was very disappointed and kept making references to all the great crab cakes and great music he was missing out on! Aunt Nancy is famous for her crab cakes and she always makes hundreds of crab cake sandwiches for the shindig. The boys and I decided to surprise Jerry so I sent Tom to the store to get "shindig stuff" - crab meat, potato salad, chips and dip, rolls, and I can't think of what else but I know there was more. I couldn't go the store because I had a pot of apple puree needing to be stirred every five minutes. At dinner time the boys and I made crab cakes and all the other fixins and we put bluegrass music on. When we called Jerry in from the garage for dinner, we had our own bluegrass festival going on in our kitchen. Well, it wasn't live music, and there weren't tables groaning with food and desserts, but it was nice anyway.

Okay - NOW I think I'm caught up. Now I'm off to do stuff. Betcha can't guess what?! Oh yeah- I have to get these apples finished this weekend - next weekend I have five bushels of sweet corn coming that will need to be processed. Here we go again..........

appleappleappleappleappleappleapple

*In a hushed golf tournament announcer's voice*

We are now into weekend two of the Apple Marathon. Will our contestant finish processing all these apples before she LOSES HER %$@# MIND?

*AHEM* Sorry.

The view looking north from our bench at the outlets.

The view looking south from our bench at the outlets.
Andy at Cracker Barrel working the peg puzzle. He scored much better than I did. My official rating was "Ig-no-ra-mus." I'm not making that up.

It was great visiting Hilda. Her new house is beautiful. Andy took this picture of us in her living room. (You can't see her but she is in her chair sort of in front of Jerry's outstretched arm).

This picture of Hilda didn't turn out so well. We'll have to get another one next time.

Apple butter. And more apple butter.


Apple pie filling.

A half-devoured apple butter cake.

This picture doesn't do the spider web justice. This thing was HUGE! It was about 2 feet across and strung between two trees.


A tired but happy Andy resting before we trek on.

Washed apples ready for processing. To the right is the monstrous stock pot to process them in.
Thatsalotta apples!


More of the same.







Apple butter in the making.

Apple butter cake with cream cheese/butter frosting.

Apples, Apples and More Apples!

We went to Delaware on Tuesday and came back Wednesday evening. Jerry had gotten done what he needed to do there and really needed to get back home to put the new engine in the chipper from you-know-where, so we didn't stay in DE long. While we were there, Jerry's friend who keeps us in produce called and asked if I would like some apples.

This is the man we have an exchange with - he provides the produce if I keep him in goods made with said produce. Jerry told him yes, and so he said he'd be bringing some apples over. We had no idea how many apples! The picture that is below is only part of them. There is a plastic trash can full in the garage too - and I'm talking about a huge outdoor trash can.

On the way home we went to a kitchen store and Jerry told me to get the biggest stock pot I could find so I could make the goods a little faster. He's so good to me! He has seen me make batches and batches of stuff in my little dutch oven pot because it's the largest I have. Well, I do have the canner pot, but I can't use that because then what would I use to process the jars in?!

Anyway, I got the largest one that I thought would fit on the stove and I hope to start processing tomorrow or Saturday at the latest. Apple sauce, apple butter and apple pie filling are first on the list. Then I'll see what else I can find to do with them. I'm also very grateful that I have tons of jars!

I forgot to post about this, but last week Jerry's friend called him and asked if we wanted more watermelon (he's already given us a few). Little did we know! He brought us 28 watermelons! We have eaten some, given some away, and there are more watermelon pickles on the way. I think I'm turning into a watermelon. Well, at least until next week. Then I'll be an apple.

We had to stop for a train and we counted the cars - there were 75!
The sunset was absolutely beautiful.
Another sunset picture. The sun looks like it is sitting on the wires!
These are the wonderful apples that were waiting for me when I got home.

Today a little girl came to my door selling things for a school fundraiser. Today was the first day of school here - the school didn't waste any time getting the fundraiser started. Anyway, what bothered me most about this wasn't the fact that she was selling stuff, but the fact that she was dressed in a very tiny bikini and going door to door to strangers. Almost every house on this street has been sold since last year and there are now plenty of strangers living here. Yes, she was just a little girl and any other time her attire wouldn't have bothered me, but there are plenty of sick people in this world. She wasn't by herself - she was accompanied by another little girl dressed similarly. It's not that we live in a bad neighborhood, but isn't that what you always see the victim's families quoting in the news stories? "We never thought anything like that could happen here."

Parents - use your heads! First of all, your children have no business going door to door in this day and age. If for some reason you have a major lapse in judgement and allow them to do so, pay attention to what they are wearing and how they might appear to people with sick minds. If you think something bad can't happen to your child, maybe you should ask someone whose child is missing - they didn't think so, either.

Back to School

Tomorrow Andy and I will start homeschooling again for this year. We had originally planned to homeschool through the summer, and we did manage to do quite a few lessons, but it wasn't consistent. Oh, well. We got a summer break, too.

I recently got in touch with my friend Amy in West Virginia whom I haven't heard from in over a year. We had a lot of catching up to do. She is one friend who I really missed but our lives got so busy that eventually our emails dried up - sort of like this blog!

Andy and I went grocery shopping this afternoon. Note to self - NEVER go grocery shopping at noon on a Sunday. It was packed! There were actually lines waiting to get into the aisles, and then people were just plain rude! Luckily, I had a thorough grocery list. I followed the list exactly and got out of there! Then Andy and I got ourselves a Starbucks Java Chip. Well, we deserved it after that ordeal!

Well, I have grocery shopped, cooked lunch (frozen pizza!), cleaned the kitchen and bathed the cat. Now I guess I'd better go and finish planning Andy's lessons for tomorrow. Jerry is hard at work on the chipper from H-E-double toothpicks. I don't know if I noted it in my blog before, and I don't feel like looking back to see right now - but about a month or so ago the engine blew up in it. Literally. There is a huge hole in the side of the engine. We were in Delaware at the time and Jerry's uncle had used it on a job and he called Jerry and informed him that the chipper had - in his words - "blown up". When we arrived home the chipper had been parked back in front of our garage and there was a cardboard box on the ground near it containing "blown-up" engine pieces. So now Jerry is putting a new engine in the thing. Surely it will behave now - it's basically a whole new chipper with all the parts he's had to put on it!

Anyway, off to do stuff. Happy Sunday, y'all!

Spoiled again!

It's been a long time since I posted - I didn't realize how long until I looked at the date of the last post. Time flies when you're having fun - and even when you're not!

We finally have air conditioning. Back in May we tried to turn it on and it wouldn't come on. To make a long story short, everything's finished now and we are spoiled once again. I actually enjoyed cooking in my kitchen again. Jerry's friend has given us lots and lots of produce again this year and he only asked that I make him zucchini cake and bread. Well, I did that (plus some for us - yum!), and still have a ton of zucchini left. He gave us a bushel of tomatoes that I made spaghetti sauce from last week - BEFORE the air conditioning was operational. Whew - that was a hot day in this kitchen. I made the spaghetti sauce recipe up as I went along, and I'm glad I wrote everything down as it went into the pot - Tom says it's our secret family recipe now. It is really, really tasty. Tom insists that we should market it! Jerry's friend got a jar of sauce, also. Yesterday he came by and gave Jerry three watermelons, a huge cantaloupe, and three 5-gallon buckets of green tomatoes. Time to break out the cookbook! I'm not as creative with green tomatoes. He also gave us a bucket of cucumbers that are awaiting pickling. I hope to get those made by the weekend. Now with the air conditioning fixed, I can go back to Delaware with Jerry. I didn't go before because I didn't want to leave the house all opened up in case it stormed during the day. If I closed the house up, the cat would be miserable in the heat during the day, and Tom would be miserable in the heat when he came home from school in the evening. There was one good thing about being without air conditioning all this time - we got used to it, which served us well last night and today. Our electricity went out at about 3:00 this morning and didn't come back on until 12:30 this afternoon. I'm sure the neighbors were busy complaining, but we were just fine with it. It wasn't very hot today, anyway and it wasn't bad at all.

Tom wants to go out for his birthday, so he chose Macaroni Grill. He has eaten there before, but we haven't and are looking forward to it. We looked at the menu online and I just have two words - elastic waistband.

Well, off to do stuff.

Milestone July

This July holds milestones for our family. Andy is 13 today, and Tom will be 21 in a few weeks. I see Andy's upper lip peach fuzz and hear his cracking voice and feel like I'm about to cry. This is my baby - who is now 13 and taller than I am. A word of advice for mamas young and old - hold your babies as long as you can and when they're older hug them for as long as they'll let you. I can still manage a hug or two out of Tom, but only for special occasions!

One of those occasions was when he was leaving for his week-long trip to North Carolina with Sam's family again this year. He is back now and says he has pictures but I haven't seen them yet. I will post them when I get access to his camera. Right now he has his camera with him because I made him promise to take a picture of Sam opening her birthday present from him (her birthday was last week and her family is celebrating it today). He gave her a diamond journey necklace (teeny tiny diamonds, but diamonds nonetheless!) and I thought he would burst waiting until today to give it to her. This is another thing that brought tears to my eyes - Tom wanted my help choosing a necklace for her. He also made me come right out and cry a couple of weeks ago when he told me that when it was time, he wanted my help picking out an engagement ring for Sam. He has it all planned out, when and how he wants to propose to her, but it's a surprise and won't be for a while yet, and so, not knowing who might be reading this blog, I can't divulge details. Suffice it to say that this Mama cried a good while after that announcement! *Warning* Any grandmamas reading may become teary also!

Well, I'm feeling a bit reflective today and think I'll spend some time with my new teenager. I told him that when I was growing up, turning 13 meant that we were allowed to wear mascara and so I offered to get him some, but the withering look I got in response tells me he'd rather have something else!

A Wonderful Sunday

What a wonderful Sunday this has been. It doesn't take much to amuse me, but this has been a great day - and it's not over yet! It started with the sound and smell of rain - much needed, blessed RAIN! My poor herb plants have been struggling in the sun and heat since I planted them. My efforts at watering them each day still didn't seem to matter very much. Also the cooler air was a blessing. Two weeks ago we tried to turn the air conditioning on and it didn't work right. We're not sure what the problem is, but we're really not in any hurry to fix it now. We had a new unit put in two years ago and it probably just needs charging based on the way it's acting. Anyway, in the days waiting to fix it, we decided we could get used to the heat and deal with it (for a while, anyway - the dog days of August aren't here yet!). I must say that I have not missed the high electric bill. I was rather shocked to get our last one and it was only $160.00. I can't remember the last time it was that low, and I was in no hurry to run it up again using the air conditioning. I think it was that low because we have been dividing our time between Delaware and here and so have only been here half the time. Anyway, the wind and cooler air were definitely welcome today.

Then our neighbors came over to bring us some wonderful goodies from the Philippines. They watched our house while we were in Delaware almost a month in February, and we watched their house while they were away for a little more than a month in April. Our neighbors' names are Merriam and Jim. Merriam is from the Philippines and they go to visit her family every year. Last year they brought us back beautiful wind chimes that I have hanging on the deck. This year they brought us gorgeous placemats with matching cloth napkins and chopstick sets. The chopsticks are black and ornate, and really beautiful. Now I need to learn how to use them! They also brought us deodorant stones. Don't laugh - evidently this is a commonplace item in the Philippines. They look like large crystals and you are supposed to wet them and use them as you would deodorant. Tom had heard of them before but I hadn't. I asked if we offended them! Actually, once before the subject of them had come up in conversation and so they wanted to bring us some to try. They also brought us a coffee cup with a map of the Philippines on it, and dried mango. The mango is DELICIOUS. When they watched our house, we brought them coffee cups with the sights of Rehoboth Beach on them, seashells, and tiger's eye fudge. Housesitting (from your own house) is great! It was nice talking with them about their trip. Jim has to be careful about where he goes - there is some animosity towards Americans there and there are certain places he absolutely cannot go because it's too dangerous.

After meeting with the neighbors, Jerry and I went to BJs to do some grocery shopping. The boys didn't want to go, so it was just the two of us. We went to BJs and then Lowes so Jerry could get some bolts to put the gas tank back on The Chipper From Hell. Don't ask about the gas tank. Just suffice it to say that it is still The Chipper From Hell. Then on the way home Jerry surprised me and stopped by Pizza Hut and told me to go in and order enough pizza for dinner (they don't deliver as far as we are). Next door to Pizza Hut is a Dunkin' Donuts, so after I went in and ordered the pizza, I ran next door and got some donuts to take back to the truck for Jerry while we were waiting for the pizza. I also got myself a mocha swirl latte. Yum!

To top things off, when I weighed myself this morning I had lost another four pounds. Doesn't sound like much, but I have been trying - really watching what I eat and exercising every day. I noticed that I am needing to tug my capris up throughout the day now because they are getting a bit baggy! Yay! I am not brave enough to wear shorts yet, and it's just too hot for jeans, so capris are a happy medium right now.

Well, that's it for now. Happy Sunday, y'all!

My original first sentence of this post was "Not too much going on here." I deleted that. Something must be going on here because I sure don't feel like I have time to do anything anymore! Well, nothing I can identify with any certainty that would cause my days to jumble up and eventually lead to surprise that another week has ended. Work, teach Andy, clean (yeah, right!), cook dinner, fall asleep and start again the next day.

I recently found Flylady. For those of you who were born organized (I most definitely WAS NOT), you don't need Flylady. I do. The site is Flylady.net. The whole premise is baby steps. You didn't get disorganized in a day and you aren't going to get organized again in a day, either, but by taking small steps and making them routine, eventually the whole thing comes together. I am ashamed to say that I have fallen off the Flylady wagon these past couple of weeks, but while I was using it, believe it or not, my house was actually in order and company-ready anytime. Close your mouth now - flies might get in. Yes, it was hard for me to believe, too. I very highly recommend Flylady for anyone who needs a little nudge in the organization department.

The weekend before last Jerry and I went to the local farmer's market where I purchased a flat of herbs that I chose from the offerings. My bounty included two lavender plants, two tomato plants, two thyme plants, an oregano plant, a chive plant, lemon basil, lime basil (smells wonderful!), and regular basil, ginger mint, lemon mint, two rosemary plants, two sage plants, and a tarragon plant. We bought them on Saturday and I had intended to plant them Sunday, but on Sunday we unexpectedly ended up helping Hilda get ready to move. This is the lady who has lived in front of us for 10 years. We were leaving for Delaware first thing Monday morning, so my plants never made it into the ground. Then this past week I was home, but I still didn't get them planted. Now we will be leaving again for Delaware first thing tomorrow morning, so I had to make time to get them planted, as they were all spilling out of their pots. Something else I need to make time for is furniture rearranging. Hilda gave us furniture she couldn't take with her to her new home, but, like my plants, we haven't gotten it "planted" yet, either!

So, now I guess I'd better get going and get things together for tomorrow morning. The plants are all planted (some in the ground, some in pots on the deck). Jerry likes to leave early. And by early, I mean EARLY. Like 3:30 AM early. *YAWN* No one should be up at that hour. Anyway, off to do stuff!

Gotta Love This Place!

I do not claim this county as my hometown. No way, no how! Read on and you'll see why. (Taken from news account of local rescue squad).

A Complete Mess in Huntingtown

By Chief Jonathan Riffe
May 14, 2007

On Monday May 14, 2007 at approximately 1330 hours, a tanker truck departed the Prince Frederick McDonald's with a load of used cooking oil. However, the driver accidentally left open one of the valves causing him to slowly dump his load of oil for several miles causing a huge hazard. At Route 4 and Plum Point Road, he stopped at the traffic light, leaving a huge pile of slick oil. Once green, he continued on. About the same time, 911 dispatched the local for Company 6 for the wash down bringing Squad 6 (Sgt Kerns). While in route, a car attempting to make the turn into Plum Point Road hit the "icy" roadway and slammed into another car. The call was upgraded to an auto accident bringing Chief 6 (Riffe), Chief 6B (Montgomery), Chief 6C (Hayes), Squad 6 (already responding), Engine 61 (S/O Collins), Ambulance 68 (Hayward) and Prince Frederick Ambulance 48. Units arrived to find several miles of Route 4 covered in grease. A total of 3 patients were transported to Calvert Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The crew from Squad 6 and Engine 61 closed down the outside lane awaiting State Highway with several loads of sand. Emergency Management was also notified due to the run-off in a nearby creek. Squad 6 remained on the scene for several hours assisting. Chief 6C held the Huntingtown command. On a side-note, the driver was found by authorities at the Dunkirk McDonald's awaiting to pick up another load of used oil, but found that he had an empty load from previous.
Units:
Chief 6, Chief 6B, Chief 6C, Squad 6, Engine 61, Ambulance 68

*Sigh* Only in Calvert County.........

I am HERE! I am HERE! I am HERE!

For those of you who aren't into Dr. Seuss, that's from Horton Hears A Who. (Yes, it's WE are here, we are here, we are here - but you get the point). For those of you who ARE into Dr. Seuss - beezlenut. You will know what that means. For those of you who just think I'm a little, well, off, beezlenut to you too!

Hey - I was under extreme pressure from family members to write. Don't blame me!

Actually, I don't have time right now to write, but I will write - soon! In the meantime - beezlenut. And that's all.

Blogging is like a chore. Some days you feel like doing it, other days you don't. But when you don't do it, at first you feel pressure like you should be doing it, then gradually you get over it and time just s-l-i-d-e-s on by. But you're always glad when it's done, and you realize afterwards that it wasn't so bad after all!

We have been back from Delaware for a couple of weeks now. Jerry has gone back though, to finish up a job. He worked there on Saturday and needed to be back there Monday, so he had originally planned to come home last night (Saturday) and go back early Monday morning. Well, he stopped to put fuel in his truck last night while we were on the phone talking, and he exclaimed about how $20.00 only bought him 7 gallons of diesel. That's when we figured we'd better do the math for him coming home for one day. Turns out it would cost him $80.00 round trip in fuel. Now, don't misunderstand - I love my husband dearly and I miss him terribly, but $80.00 is a week's worth of groceries, for heaven's sake! I didn't tell him that, of course! I left the decision up to him, but in the end we decided that he'd be home soon enough, so I'll be seeing him about mid-week, with $80.00 intact.

Some time next week we'll be going to visit an Amish farmer in St. Mary's County. The pick-up point for the co-op where I get my milk is quite a ways down the road. Since Tom had class on Thursdays, it was right on his way to stop and get it on his way home. Well, this class semester he doesn't have class on Thursdays. The thought of going 30 or so miles down route 4 at rush hour in the evenings does not thrill me, to say the least. I had to go to the bank at rush hour last week for Jerry, and I came home a quivering mass of mush. Route 4 is terrifying at rush hour! People were actually passing each other on the right shoulder of the road, and twice on the way home people cut across the road from intersections and the entire bumper-to-bumper lines of traffic had to screech to a halt to avoid a pileup. Not once, but twice! I realize that I have my thing about driving, but this was just NUTS!

Anyway, I wrote to the coordinator of the co-op and asked if there was any need of a host pickup point down in this end of the county, as I would be willing to do that. What that means is that I provide a place for the delivery driver to drop off the coolers with the farm goods and then people pick up their stuff, leave their checks in the bag provided, and then I mail the checks to the Amish farmer the next day (and I also get a discount on my stuff - that doesn't hurt!) I don't even have to be here when the food is dropped off or picked up by the co-op members. I just need to get the checks in the mail the next day (or have a neighbor do it for me if I'm away). What I was trying to do was avoid having to travel so far just to get my milk, but I didn't know what I would be getting into. She wrote back that it was such a coincidence that I asked that question, because she had met and was working with a farmer in St. Mary's County who wants to start selling his products (because the group has gotten too big for just the one farmer in Pennsylvania) but they didn't know of a pickup point that would be convenient for him and potential customers. You guessed it. I kind of walked into that one. They are leaving it up to me to go and meet him and see what he has to offer and discuss prices and such with him and then the coordinator of the group will post his item list (once I get it) on the co-op board and make it known that there is a group that will service the southern end of this county and St. Mary's, and that the pickup point will be here. Jerry said he would go with me to talk to him (he's the business person of the family!) Since the farmer is Amish, he doesn't have a phone but he told the coordinator who met with him that I could come by the farm any Monday or Friday. It feels kind of rude to just show up like that, but Jerry said that's how they do business. He and his uncle get their chainsaws worked on and sharpened by an Amish man in St. Mary's and his uncle has had some furniture made and Jerry has gone with him to see about that, and he says that is how it's done. Without phones, they expect you to drop by. Well, except Sundays, of course!

Whew! See? Blogging is therapeutic. It seems overwhelming just thinking about it, but before you know it you're blogging on and on and on and on and ............

Guess what Andy and I did on Thursday when it was 73 degrees outside?

Guess who Andy and I visited on Friday!

Well, we're still in Delaware. I have posted some pictures of the snow we had a few days ago. Andy and I really enjoyed our walk through the neighborhood that day! We will be going home one day this week - not sure which day just yet, but sometime this week! I hope the pets haven't forgotten us!

Andy and I have been having a good time here, though. On Friday we took the day off from work and school to just go everywhere we wanted and spend the day out. Can you believe it?! I'm actually driving places here! We went to all three outlet centers, a different shopping center, an EB Games (for Andy, of course!), and then we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. Andy had the veal parmesan and I had stuffed shells. GOOD STUFF!!! We were tired when we got back, but we had a great day. Tomorrow we plan to explore the library here, and I'd still like to go to the state park where they have the towers that were built for lookouts during World War II. Since we just happen to be studying WWII in history right now, I don't want to leave without doing that. Actually, the weather is supposed to be nice this week so we may head down to the beach again on this visit. I don't mind driving to the beach at this time of year because the parking is free and there's hardly any traffic, but in the summertime we'll take the bus like we did last year. Parking is expensive during the summer, and you're lucky if you can even find a space. There's a bus stop almost right at the entrance of the community here so it's easy to ride wherever you want to go.

Anyway, off to clean and finish laundry. It is easy to clean this place - there's hardly any stuff, (i.e. clutter) here! In the almost three weeks we have been here, I have learned that there is probably A LOT of stuff I can do without at home! The square footage of the trailer here is about the same as the square footage of the upstairs of our house at home, so in theory I should be able to clean them in the same amount of time, right? No, not when there's a ton of CLUTTER to work around! Well, off to do stuff!

Update!

Shortly after I posted yesterday, it started to snow. It didn't amount to much, about a half inch, but it was still very nice to see. Andy and I took a long walk through the neighborhood in it. At home Tom still got quite a bit more snow than we did, but I was happy to see any at all.

I just noticed my counter at the bottom of the blog page. Evidently when the new blog format switched over, it also began my counter back at zero, so what it's showing now is only actually the count for about the last month or so. Oh, well. The map with locations of visitors next to it has kept a little bit better count. I noticed that a couple of days ago I had visitors from China and Australia. I can't imagine that my ramblings about my boring home life would be interesting reading for an international audience, though!

This week has really gone by quickly. We have been in Delaware this week and will probably still be here for a while longer. Jerry is working on a job here and Andy and I tagged along. This time, though, I brought my old computer (yes, the 747) and my work machines and so I'm working every day from here. It's not really a vacation, since between my work and Andy's schooling (yes, I made him bring his schoolbooks), our days are pretty much like they are at home (busy!), but at least we get to see Jerry in the evenings. I will be leaving this computer here so that in the future I can just pack up my work machines, which isn't too much trouble, and work from here so I can tag along whenever I want to. Andy and I have been making time for a walk each day, though. It's nice being able to walk around without fearing for my life - well, unless we walk on Route 1! The afternoon walks chase away the sleepies that seem to descend on me around 1:00 in the afternoon. It's very hard to take long walks at home because even though you can walk on the individual streets, to get from one to the other you have to go out on the main road which is usually VERY busy, and there are no sidewalks.

I talked with Tom not too long ago, (he is babysitting the pets at home), and he said that there are at least four inches of snow on the ground there, and it's still coming down. Then Jerry just called from where he is working in Dover to ask if it was snowing here, because it was there. All we are having here in Rehoboth Beach is rain and a little ice. I am the only one that really likes snow, but I'm the only one not getting to see any today!

The Mad Scientist!

My mother emailed me inquiring how her daughter became a mad scientist as she didn't recall there being one in the family tree. Just because I take something that looks like a cross between a mushroom and a cow patty, has the consistency of a raw oyster, and ferment it in tea and then actually DRINK the stuff......hmm.....okay, I see your point, Mom.

Anyway, this batch of Kombucha actually turned out very tasty! It did not give me gastrointestinal problems like the last batch did and I find that I like the taste, too. It tastes like a mixture of Lipton tea (the pre-made kind you get in vending machines) and apple juice. I think I can drink this stuff! Oh and Mom - each batch grows a new baby Kombucha culture - and I've got one with YOUR name on it!

Well, not too much time to blog this evening. Jerry has been in Delaware for a week now and is on his way home. Andy and I are making butter pecan ice cream for him. To practice, we made vanilla ice cream the other night with the cream and milk from the farm. That was GOOD STUFF! I made buttermilk biscuits this afternoon (because he really likes those), and am about to make a batch of peanut butter fudge (which he also likes a lot). I have been using one of Paula Deen's recipes and we really like it. I varied the recipe a little last week and instead of using all peanut butter, I used half peanut butter and half chocolate chips. It turned out tasting like Reese's fudge! Last night I made truffles. They're just about gone now, but that's okay. Jerry doesn't like them, but the boys and I have put a hurtin' on them!

Now I really gotta get going. It will be very nice to have Jerry back home again. I think it's great that after 25 years (yes, next week will be our 25th anniversary!) we still miss each other. Some couples I know dread when their spouse gets back from a trip, and that's sad. Anyway, off to make ice cream!

I'm A Prairie Muffin!

In perusing blog links today, I discovered that I am a Prairie Muffin! Not just shaped like one, either! (although I am). This link will tell you what a Prairie Muffin is. (Well, not #35 because I don't currently belong to a church).

Round Two

*sniffle*.....cough......ahhh-CHOO! Arggh. Andy and I have colds AGAIN. I only felt well for a couple of days, and here we go again! At least Tom escaped it this time. I have had too much to do without being sick again.

I have been trying to finish getting my new computer set up, and also trying to work on my blog site which I intend to convert to a different site sometime in the near future, something that gives me a little more versatility. If I had known that my computer was going to start acting feeble, I would not have gotten my monster mixer and would have gotten a new computer instead. If you remember from a previous post, the computer that I had wasn't that old, but because the one I had previous to that fried it's motherboard, I suddenly lost access to EVERYTHING. My work files, pictures, EVERYTHING. In order to get everything back, I had to open the new computer and put my old hard drive into it to retrieve all my stuff. The hard drive from the old computer still worked; it was just that the motherboard of the computer was toast and the computer wouldn't work. My intent was to put the old hard drive in long enough to transfer all my stuff to the new hard drive in the new computer and then be on my way. Well, in the process of rearranging the innards of the computer to read my old drive, I accidentally bent (and broke) a pin off the back of the new hard drive before I even had a chance to hook it back up. While this could probably be fixed, it would be a difficult process and I didn't have time to fool with it so I just left my old hard drive in and have been using that since then. About two weeks ago I turned on my computer one morning and it sounded like a 747 was gearing up in the living room. I didn't know whether to turn the computer off or run for cover (or both). Eventually the noise died down, but it started happening more often and then started making a grinding kind of noise. Then my programs began acting up and I knew time was short for that ol' hard drive. I didn't want to be caught in the bind I was before, so I decided that this time I'd better get a new one before that one went completely, so that's what I did. I had made a backup disk before so it was relatively easy putting my stuff on the new computer, but there were still a few things that needed to be tweaked to run correctly. I put the new computer in Andy's room on his desk (he currently has his downstairs in Tom's room because they play World of Warcraft and go on quests together and it's easier with both of them having their computers together in the same room). I left mine set up where it was. I used Andy's room internet connection and used our home network to transfer my stuff from one computer to the other. One of these days we'll go wireless, but I'm too stubborn to spend the money on that when our ancient network wiring gets the job done. I did the wiring for the network myself, so there's kind of a crisscrossing of wires across the basement ceiling and it's NOT pretty! It's obvious I don't do this for a living! Anyway, I finally felt comfortable that I had everything transferred correctly and switched the two computers around. I have kept the old one on Andy's desk in case I come across something this week in the course of doing my work that I may have missed. The only problem is that one of the hospitals I do work for is still using a DOS-format WordPerfect and it's very difficult these days to run a DOS program and requires quite a bit of tweaking. Anyway, all's well that ends well, right? Hopefully this will all end well!

I haven't had time to list anything on eBay lately, but I did buy a Kombucha culture! If you don't know what Kombucha is, you can read about it here. I made one batch of it already but it was YUCKY! I only drank a little of it, couldn't stand the taste, and then for the next 12 hours I think my gut believed I had gone to Mexico and drank the water. Needless to say, THAT batch went down the drain. I have another one brewing now that should be ready by Sunday. I used a slightly different variation in making it and so far this batch looks better and doesn't have the sour smell that the last one developed early on. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

The High Price of Milk!

First of all, let me start this by saying that I am thanking the Lord and praising Him that everything turned out all right. That's the most important thing. Now on to my story. On Thursdays Tom is supposed to go by the place to pick up our farm order. He and Sam were on their way home from college yesterday when Tom realized he had forgotten to pick it up. He pulled off to the right side of the road and then was making a U-turn to go back but a car came off of a ramp leading onto the roadway at the exact same time and crashed into the passenger side door of the car, where Sam was sitting. They took Sam to the hospital in an ambulance but Tom declined treatment and rode along with her. They had her in a back and neck brace for precaution on the way there because she was complaining of some pain in her hip where the car had hit. She was checked out thoroughly and had a CT scan and everything was okay. She is just VERY sore and stiff today, and taking the pain medication that they gave her in the ER, so she's pretty out of it today. Tom feels like he was in a fight, just stiff and sore today.

Jerry and I were just sitting down to dinner last night when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number calling, but I answered it anyway. It was Tom, and this is how the conversation went:
"Mom? Okay, don't freak out. Okay?" He was shouting to be heard over the sound of sirens in the background which were blaring in my ear. I asked him what was going on, not comprehending yet. He said "Is Dad home? I need you to do me a favor. Can you meet me at the hospital?" I started getting upset and he said, "Mom - MOM! Everything's okay. We've been in an accident. I'm okay but I'm riding with Sam in the ambulance. They think she's okay but she needs to be checked out because the car hit on her side. Don't freak out, Mom. Mom? Could you and Dad please come to the hospital?" By this time Jerry had figured that something was wrong, so he took the phone and talked to Tom while I hurriedly grabbed my shoes and coat and had Andy do the same. When we got to the hospital we had to wait a while but eventually Tom came out to talk to us, and Sam's parents arrived to see her. Understandably, Tom wanted to wait until they were finished checking Sam out, so we waited with him. We were very relieved to see Sam and her parents walking out of the ER and into the waiting area where we were. Sam was very shaken and very pale, and she looked like she was going to fall over any minute! Her mom was kind of holding her up and she said that they had given Sam so much pain medication that it was surprising that she was even awake! Anyway, thankfully, everyone is okay (well, except for Sam's car which is probably totaled). I neglected to mention that they were in Sam's car - not Tom's. Sam's parents do not allow her to drive, but they bought her a car and since Tom drives every day, they switch cars between hers and his on alternate days, which I thought was very nice of her parents. Well, yesterday was a day to drive her car. When Sam's dad came out to the waiting room, Jerry told him how sorry we were about Sam's car, but he was very nice and understanding, and said that is why they call them accidents. No one plans for this sort of thing. The policeman on the scene determined that it was Tom's fault, though. Even though he didn't see the car coming off the ramp until it was too late, and a U-turn was not illegal there, the policeman said it was still not yielding the right of way to oncoming traffic. He was very nice though, and told Tom to go to court with it and it would probably help lower his points and/or fine. He got a $150.00 fine. We haven't seen Sam's car but Sam's mom is going to get pictures and so I will post them if I can. And after all of this, we still needed to run by and pick up my farm order on the way home because I couldn't let the food and milk sit in the shed at the pickup point all night! We finally got home at around midnight. *Yawn*! I feel badly that all this happened just because of my milk!