Pooh on a jet ski?

This cookie was the accidental result of the baking of our cookie scraps when we were making Christmas cookies. I'd forgotten about it until I saw it on Bethany's computer.

We all thought it looked like Pooh on a jet ski, but now I think it looks more like a pig.

Pushing through

I have spent the past three days making myself move forward, push through, go and do, whatever you want to call it. Saturday was a clean up day at church and we went out for our anniversary. Sunday was church, a council meeting, seeing Bethany off at the airport, and bunko.
Today I ran lots of errands, made some phone calls, worked on my calendar, and took Jonathan to his voice lesson. I feel like I'm starting to get back in the groove.

I'm still feeling a little less enthusiastic about social events than usual, but I'm sure that will pass as my energy continues to come back.

I think that some changes that I've made in my diet are helping, too. I'm trying very hard to only eat real food. After reading French Women Don't Get Fat, I have been really making an effort not to eat unless I'm paying attention and to only eat things that taste good. Really good. Right now I'm reading In Defense of Food and it is just strengthening my resolve to stay away from things that come in a package or have ingredients that are unpronounceable or aren't "food" in their own right. I know that eating right will only make me feel better.

Twenty-two!

Just got back from a lovely dinner at Cork 'n Cleaver with our friends. It was a wonderful evening, celebrating 22 wonderful years!

They have the best salad bar, and the steaks are perfect. The six of us shared dessert. We just kept passing it in a circle around the table until it was almost gone.

Since we had a gift certificate, the evening didn't even throw us off our budget!

And yes, we were young.
And Colin had hair.
And yes, we were high school sweethearts.

He's the only guy I ever let know that I was interested, without being fairly certain that he was interested in me. In fact, one of my friends who was on the cross country team with him told him that I wanted to go out with him.

What can I say? He was cute, smart, and funny.
Still is.

Out of sorts

Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's just a phase. Maybe it's because I've not been feeling well.

But I am feeling incredibly out of sorts lately.

Usually I thrive on activity and being around people. Right now I hardly want to leave my house. This is making it more than normally difficult to keep up with everything.

I'm hoping warm air and sunshine--which must surely be on the way soon--will help.

In the meantime, I need to just dig in and work on the many projects that need to happen. I am determined to sell this house this spring/summer in spite of the slow housing market. A move close to church, which also cuts Colin's drive to work by two-thirds, will save us hundreds of dollars a month is gas & car expenses alone. There are several houses for sale right now for $30-50,000 less than the very conservative amount that we hope to get for ours that would be perfectly livable for us.

In the meantime, we have more snow on the way.

Spicy?

Apparently I'm not very spicy.

Basil is my favorite herb. But the mild temperament will probably make the people who know me best laugh.

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by post people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

What Spice Are You?

Pretzels

I love pretzels. I'm a salty snack craver and pretzels do a wonderful job of satisfying the desire for crunch and salt in a relatively healthy way. And they're good with beer.

My all-time favorite pretzels were Mr. Salty pretzels, but they disappeared from store shelves a few years ago. I've tried lots of different kinds since then, and I've found some good ones: Extra Dark & Salty Beer Pretzels, Snyder's Butter Snaps, and a couple of others, but nothing that could replace the thin, crispy, pretzel-ly taste of Mr. Salty.

Until this weekend. There sitting on the shelf at Meijer were Schultz Salty Stix . The first good sign was the fact that they were in a box. Really thin crispy pretzels need a box. A bag would leave them in pretzel crumbs.

We opened them almost as soon as we got them home. The crunch. The taste. These are so close to Mr. Salty!

Of course the box has already disappeared. Usually pretzels stick around, because I am the only one who eats very many. But these were so good that the box was gone in a day.

'Bout time for a return trip to Meijer.

Back home again

It is good to be home. It will be even better when the weather warm up a bit more.

My family got along fine while I was gone. They even did some cleaning. But I think they missed me almost as much as I missed them.

A get away is a good thing. This is the first break that I've had in almost four years aside from a couple of scrapbooking weekends. It was so nice not to have to worry about schedules, bills (mine or the church's), returning phone calls, cleaning, cooking, buying groceries, etc., for a few days. And the fact that some sunshine and seafood were thrown in was a bonus!

Now I'm home and about three weeks behind on life after being sick and then being gone. But it's okay. I can--mostly--catch up.

My BIG goal for this week is to see my new nephew! He was born just as I started getting sick and I am anxious to see Caleb and his mommy.

Coming home

In the morning, I'll be getting on a plane and heading back to cold and frozen Indiana. My wonderful sister-in-law will be getting me from the airport in Indy and my family will be heading down that evening to get me.

It's been a really great, relaxing trip. I have have been horribly spoiled and am feeling so much better. I am looking forward to getting home to my family, but a trip like this again in the future is certainly not out of the question!

This is me with my Wicked at the Sandbar on Anna Maria Island.
This was taken at Siesta Key Beach on Wednesday morning. It was really foggy. About ten minutes after we took this picture the fog started to burn off and it was gorgeous. I'm not dressed like this because of the temperature. I'm trying to avoid further sunburn.
This is my mom and I at Siesta Key Beach this morning.It was only on the 50's this morning--but it was still beautiful--so we just took a quick walk and got a few pictures.

I have a sunburn

My mom and I went to Siesta Key beach this morning and walked for a while.
Then we laid on the beach.

This afternoon we went out to their pool for a while and I have this strange reddening of my skin.

Oh yeah. A sunburn. I remember those.

Off to the beach

My suitcase is mostly packed.

Pinky (my iPod) is charging.

When the occupant of my office wakes up I will print my boarding passes.

My two oldest children have volunteered to keep my appointment at On My Thyme so that I can rest. (This is a really great way to be sure that the family has dinner while I'm gone. Otherwise, I have a feeling they'd be eating a lot of frozen pizza and carry outs.)

We'll be leaving here for the Indy airport early in the morning, but first tonight is the Gala Banquet and Silent Auction for the Bach Collegium. I'm in charge of the silent auction. Usually I am so organized and really do this up--decorations, coordinating colors, etc.--this year they're lucky to have bid sheets and my presence.

But after I get through tonight, it's a week of relaxation. My mom will pamper me. We'll go to the beach. I'm mot up for long walks yet, but we can take some short ones. I'm going to eat a grouper sandwich and some of the best clam chowder on the planet at Captain Curt's.

Prayer

My friend RPW has a wonderful post on prayer.

Go read.

The world may never know

(Did anyone besides me love those old Tootsie Pop commercials?)

Anyway, I had an appointment with the neurologist yesterday. It was satisfying and not so at the same time. It was satisfying because he listened, asked lots of intelligent questions, and didn't try to attribute my symptoms to anxiety.

He agrees with my doctor that my nervous system is oversensitive and is reacting to things--in this case a virus--in an unusual manner. He can't rule out relapsing GB, but he doesn't think that's what it is.

The unsatisfying part for he and I both is that there really isn't anything to do about it, or a definitive answer. I've had a few tests that have ruled out other underlying causes. I'm supposed to see him again if I have other symptoms or if things get worse, but in the meantime, I just need to live with it until it gets better.

I am feeling so much better. The aches and exhaustion and weakness are gone, leading us to believe those were caused by the virus.

Thanks for all of your prayers and nice notes!

Maybe I do, after all

Just back from yet another doctor appointment and more blood tests. My family doctor has managed to get me in to see a neurologist on Monday, but in the meantime, she wanted to see me this afternoon.

After checking me over thoroughly, she thinks that maybe what is happening is that my central nervous system is whacked out and "hyper" and that I am having a weird CNS reaction to one of the viruses that's going around. So she thinks maybe I do have a virus, after all.

I have had weird CNS reactions to things before, but not quite like this and not for a long time.

I definitely like this explanation better than recurring GB, and since rest is the current prescription either way, that's what I'm doing this weekend.

Things I learn from Facebook

I got an email from Facebook yesterday that shows how well my friends know me.

I'm the #1 person they want to go shopping with and I'm among the most talkative, but I'm the least organized.

That about sums it up! They know me.

Why can't I just have the flu?

We thought that I was just having a light case of the bug that my boys have had, but some of my symptoms weren't fitting.

I made a visit to my doctor yesterday and it seems that I am most likely having a recurrence of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome that I had a little over eight years ago. Right now it's not at a point where they will do anything, but if my symptoms get worse I may end up in the hospital.

Right now I'm at home trying to take it relatively easy and trying not to constantly dwell on whether the numbness is spreading, whether I'm getting weak, and whether I can still swallow.
Ugh.

Attempted bread

So, I'm home fighting a little bit of a bug. We were out of bread so I had one of the boys get out my bread machine. I put the ingredients in, as I have done many times before, but, as happened the last time, it didn't rise.

It was different yeast this time, and it was new.

The water was the right temperature.

All of the necessary ingredients were present.

I got out one of my books that has a lot of information about baking bread. One of the things it mentioned was that sometimes city water has too much chlorine, which kills the yeast. All kinds of bells started going off in my head. I haven't made a successful loaf of bread since we moved here. I had begun to think that I was just doing something wrong, but this could be an explanation. We have horrible water. Sometimes it even has a perceptible smell of chlorine. Our previous house had well water, as did the house before the one before that, where I did quite a bit of bread making.

So I called the hubby and asked him to stop on the way home. Along with some bread for tomorrow's pb&j's, I had him get some spring water.

We'll see if that makes a difference.

Food, glorious food

I like food. I like to cook it and I like to eat it. Planning meals, shopping, and cooking occupies a fair amount of my time. Food also accounts for a huge chunk of our budget. (Feeding six--or seven-- people is never cheap, but when three of them are teen or pre-teen boys, wow!)

I also like to read about food. I've been reading about nutrition for several years, realizing more and more that the conventional wisdom is often wrong. (Can anyone say butter?) I enjoy reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows to get ideas and inspiration. Books like Real Food have made a big difference in the way we eat. Sometimes it can take me hours to do my grocery shopping because I spend a lot of time reading labels.

My big challenge is to take these things I've learned and the ideas I've gained and fit them into the constraints of my available time and budget. Some things have becomealmost non-negotiable. We buy free-range organic chicken because it tastes better and is healthier. Same with cage-free eggs. We buy most of our meat from local farmers or from nearby sources. We do really well in the summer with fruits and veggies because they almost all come from our garden or we go pick them.

However, there are lots of places we could do better. I would to make my own bread, because we love really good bread, and it's expensive, but time shortages get in the way. So right now we eat mediocre bread most of the time, with good bread thrown in for a treat now and then.

I'm trying to make more soup, because it can be a great way to deliver flavor and nutrition in a cost-effective way, but I need to do better planning so that I don't need to purchase broth or stock. And I could always use more recipes!

I want to try buying raw milk, because each friend who has switched has seen health benefits in her family, and it tastes better,too, but it takes some effort. Up to this point, the changes I've made have mostly been relatively easy. I think I keep waiting for it to be more convenient.

For a while I was feeling guilty for knowing that there were things that I could be doing better and wasn't. I don't feel guilty anymore. I do the best I can without too much difficulty. I try to cook tasty meals that are reasonably nutritious. And if my kids eat the occasional frozen pizza or we share a bag of Doritos Hot Wings and Blue Cheese , overall we're still doing pretty well.

Get fired up

For all of us who are feeling gloomy about the choices we are going to have for president, Michelle Malkin has this advice: Get fired up.

Book thing

Okay, RPW tagged me in the book meme that's going around. She would catch me on the couch where I have no interesting books at hand.

Instructions
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

From Indiana Off the Beaten Path. "That was before Ladyhawk came down with a mysterious illness that even the famed Mayo Clinic couldn't treat. In desperation, they turned to an alternative treatment that involved a special macrobiotic diet. Ladyhawk recovered, and to supply the special foods that she needed, the Youngs opened up a health food store in a converted stable behind their home.

Tagging: Bethany, Meg, Laura, Me

Good times

It's snowing.

I've been scrapbooking since this afternoon.

The Patriots got beat.

Life is good.

They're coming back!!

Less than a year after we saw them last, RUSH is returning to Indy.

I thought that we were going to have to go to Milwaukee to catch them this summer, but they will be at the Verizon Wireless Center again.

I know where I'm going to be June 25!

Meg??

Politics, again

I'm having a really hard time even thinking about voting this fall.

I've voted in every election I've been eligible to vote in, either in person or via absentee ballot. I've volunteered for campaigns. I work each election in a polling place where the vast majority of voters are Democrats and I help insure that each person is able to vote. I've always felt like the process was important.

This year it's all seeming pointless.

We are going to end up with a president who is a liberal. That is almost certain. It doesn't matter if they bear a D or an R. They will continue expand the scope of the federal government. (Now they're investigating the New England Patriots. Don't get me wrong, I despise the Patriots as much as the next Colts fan. But come on!) [HT: Schreiber] They will continue to advance the nanny state. And no matter who wins they will continue to ignore that dusty old constitution.

Today I watched Ann Coulter say that if McCain is the nominee, she will campaign for Hillary.
I won't go that far, but I do think if it is McCain or the Dem, I'd rather see them Dem win. Then at least it will be their fault.

And maybe--just maybe--the Republicans in congress would find their collective missing spines--or principles--if they are faced with a president named Hillary or Barack.

I want more snow!!

I know that this probably sounds strange to many of you, but I wish we'd gotten a bit more snow. It's nice; it's pretty, but I would love a little more. Like this:

Update on Patrick

I wanted to let you all know that Patrick's face is healing beautifully. He goes back to the burn center Monday and I would guess that will be our last visit.

Okay, how 'bout we take a couple of months off?

Is anyone besides me already tired of the presidential race?

I'm a political junkie, but the media is really about to send me over the edge. They oversimplify, and make broad assumptions. Many are doing their best to make race, religion, and gender the reasons for picking a candidate.

Blech!

Jane, not Janie

Often I'll start writing a post and set it aside, only to discover that a friend has beat me to the posting. Usually it's a current event or reaction to another blog post. I generally choose not to post my repetitive post and leave a lamenting "you beat me to it" comment on the other blog.

But this week it has happened with an un-timely, un-current topic. And since I already had my post on names mostly written on Wednesday morning, I'm going to go ahead and post it, even though Pastor Petersen posted about names already this week.

So here's my original post:

Last night I was talking to some friends about what we call certain people and why. It was an interesting conversation and it got me thinking about the relationships between what we call each other and how we perceive each other and the power that names have.

Growing up I was Janie. I hated the nickname almost as much as I hated my name. In a world of Lauras and Loris and Lisas and Amys and Julies and Kims and every variety of Kr/Chris(ti)(na)(ne) I was plain Jane. When I was going into eighth grade we moved and I decided to shed Janie. I was Jane. I still didn't like it, but at least it wasn't a little kid name.

Of course, it wasn't quite as easy for the people who had called me Janie for 14 years to embrace the new name. It took years before most of my aunts and uncles called me Jane. Sometimes they still slip. My mom caught on the most quickly, because she was likely to be in trouble with the teen-aged me if she didn't. My grandma still called me Janie until she died last year. She also had the most nicknames for me. Now, no one calls me Janie except for my mother-in-law, who didn't know me when I was, but picked it up from my husband.

We were raised to call adults not related to us Mr. & Mrs. Aunts and uncles are called Aunt and Uncle, even when they were only a few years older and we sat and nursed our babies together. My mom is Mom, after being Mommy when I was little. But for some reason, I'm Mama. I don't know how or why, but that's what my kids call me. My kids are taught to call adults by their last names, although from time to time there are adults who end up being on a first name basis. I'm never quite comfortable with this, even though it doesn't bother me when certain kids call me Jane.

Sometimes it isn't easy to know what to call someone. One of my friends is often in business situations with her mother and feels awkward calling her Mom, so she calls her by her first name. But she's been called to task for it, and wanted to know what we thought. I told her that I still call my mom Mom, even in business situations. That relationship trumps business relationships.

With blended families come new name challenges. My mom started dating Ron when I was a senior in high school. He told us to call him Ron. Twenty-five years later, when he has been married to my mother for over twenty years, is Grandpa to my kids, and has been a wonderful father to me, Ron doesn't seem sufficient. I can't call him Dad. There was someone who had that name. My brother calls him JR, his initials. I call him Wicked. He used to identify himself as my wicked step-father when he called, and it stuck. It is an ironic and completely affectionate name for one of my favorite people, but from the outside it probably sounds strange.

Nicknames can be affectionate or the opposite. When my brother calls me Sis 'O Mine or I call him Martian, it's affectionate, but we had less affectionate names for each other as kids. My kids are Beppy, Patchy, Jon-Jon, & Gussy. (Or as they've gotten older Bep, Patch, Jon and Gus.) D

Don't call them Beth, Pat, Jonny, or Andy. Especially not Andy.

By the way, I like my name now. I was named for my great-grandmother. Jane is a good grown-up name.

Time to retrench

Okay, I had two phone calls and an email asking why I am supposed to keep my leg up. For those who know me well, it will come as no surprise to know that I sprained an ankle. This time I sprained my good one. (At least it's not my driving ankle!)

Unfortunately, I have needed my driving ankle during the past 24 hours to get to the emergency room and the regional burn center.

Patrick had a run in with some hot olive oil yesterday. He has about eight burns on his face and neck and one on his arm. A couple of the worst on his face are two-three inches long and an inch across. They are mostly second-degree burns and should heal well with good wound care.

Both of these things happened because we are doing too much and running around like crazy people. There's going to be some serious schedule slashing around here.

I keep hurting myself because I have a badly healed ankle after surgery nine years ago and because I just keep getting more and more out of shape as each succeeding injury slows me down more. I never take he time to heal properly or exercise to get back lost function. If I don't put some serious effort into taking care of myself I'm going to end up really hurting myself sometime.

So, to compliment our budgetary cutbacks, we are also going to take a chunk out of our time commitments.

RETRENCH!

Oooh, my first album!

Found this over at Elephant's Child's place. Since I am supposed to be keeping my leg up I have some time to play. This looked like fun.

Directions:
1. The first article title on this page is the name of your band.
2. The last four words of the last quotation on this page is the title of your album.
3. The third picture on this page, no matter what it is, will be your cover artwork.
4. Take the artwork, your titles, and use a photo-editing program to paste them together.


I'm still trying to figure out who my first band is, but I really like their name. The software I'm using is pretty annoying, so I'm not entirely happy with the look.

I think I'll have to try another:

Love the title on that one!

Okay, I switched editing software and liked this one better:

I think that I would have listened to this group in college.

This is fun. I think I'll make some more.
But I'll only share if they're spectacular.

Update: I think each one I do is cooler than the one before.

Gonna soak up the sun

I'm not often given to spontaneous little dances, but yesterday I was.

I'm going to Florida. For six whole days. In February. By myself.

Well, its not entirely accurate to say "by myself." I'm flying alone, but when I get down there I'll be visiting my mom and my wonderful Wicked.*

I can't wait. I need the break.
It's not my family that has me needing a break. I need a break from all of the other demands on my time and energy. I'm finding myself increasingly mentally exhausted. And I'm not even accomplishing the things that I need to accomplish for my family.

So, what to do?

Run away to the beach for a week, of course.


*Wicked is my pet name for my sweet step-father. Step-father just is too cold. And that is part of another post.

Home Alone

I find myself in an unusual situation this morning. I'm at home by myself! I really can't tell you the last time this happened.

Usually I would be with the boys at church for Greek, but hubby has the day off today for MLK Day. Bethany's at work and DoRena's at chapel.

So what am I doing with this precious alone time?

Checking my email and reading blogs.

Been scrappin'

We've started scrapbooking at Redeemer a couple of Saturdays a month. It's been great because it is keeping me in touch with what I'm working on. Even if I only get five or six pages done at a time, it's still progress.

Scrapbooking with other people is good, too, because it's a great way to get ideas. Since we've been doing this, my pages have gotten more interesting.

And it's just plain fun.

More lazy blogging

This looked like a fun diversion. My friends RPW and Cheryl both answered these on their blogs, so I thought I'd try it, too.

If you want to play, consider yourself tagged

Two names you go by: Jane and Mama

Two things you are wearing right now: cream fisherman sweater that is a hand-me-down from my youngest brother-in-law and pink turtleneck

Two of your favorite things to do: read and hang around with people I like

Two things you want very badly: more time and more sleep

Two favorite pets you have had/have: Ben, Bethany's three year old cat and Shakes (short for Shakespeare) the cat that I had in high school

Two people you think will fill this out: Bethany. Other than that I don't know.

Two things you ate today: FiberWise Cinnamon Clusters Cereal and vanilla yogurt

Two people you last talked to today: my mother and Patrick

Two things you're doing tomorrow: going to the BMV and getting an external hard drive

Two longest car rides: Spring Grove, IL to Siesta Key, FL and Spring Grove to Hightstown, NJ

Two favorite holidays: Easter (with the Vigil!). Nothing else really competes.

Two favorite beverages: Alcoholic--a good top-shelf maragarita. Non-alcoholic: good dark coffee

The speed of life

Sometimes the days fly by so quickly that it just amazes me. The past few days have been like that.

Yesterday the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood had their retreat at Redeemer. We were there most of the day doing one thing or another. The boys attended the chant workshop that they held, and then we got to enjoy their chanting at Vespers last night.

I've been spending way to much time lately thinking about money. First, we are engaging in a Total Money Makeover. I'm working hard to get all organized so that we can really start doing everything the right way in February. It's hard work! And I'm sure that staying on our budget will be even harder.

I'm also trying to get all of the year-end stuff done at church. I hate the software that we use. I know that it has its plusses, but I mostly run into the minuses. I'm sure it would help if I were a financial whiz, but I haven't even balanced my checkbook for years.

(And yes, that is going to change.)

Of course there's lots of fun happening. We are looking forward to the arrival in town of Susan and a couple of her kids. They are coming for the annual Theological Symposia at the Seminary.

Having an extra "daughter" in the house has added another level of liveliness.

And a lot of junk food.

I'm loving my iPod.

And my house is staying clean, mostly because when we're home I never sit down.

Life is good.

A new addicting game

I'm always picking up interesting new addictions from my friends.

This one is Julie's fault, because she linked to it on her blog. Why couldn't I pick up something useful like Julie's work ethic or her lovely voice?

By the way, if you have kids, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, godchildren, or any other little people in your life, you need to look at Julie's books while you're at her blog. They are really, really good.

Good works?

My very smart friend Susan has an excellent post on her blog today about how works righteousness differs from "good fruit."

Go read.

Thank you kind Aardvark

I was pleased to find that I have been awarded a Golden Aardie by Orycteropus Afer.

I have been running very behind on reading my blogs, and discovered my good fortune after reading my friend Cheryl's post about her Aardie.

What's an Aardie? Go here to see.

And here's the post where this batch was awarded.

Orycteropus Afer is the author of the Aardvark Alley blog and maintains the excellent BBOV, which is displayed in the drop-down menu in my sidebar.

An addition

We have an addition to our household for the next few months.

Bethany's friend, Bean, daughter of the good Reverend Dr. Stuckwisch and his lovely wife, has moved in for the spring semester. We will be blessed by her presence until her wedding in May. The girls just realized yesterday that they will be able to enjoy one of the great benefits of sisterhood: sharing clothes.

This also means that my office is completely clean, because it is now Beanie's room. Talk about a great side benefit!

Global what?

I love it when the rare article shows up in the mainstream press questioning the conventional wisdom on global warming.

Iowa envy

I don't usually feel jealous of people who live in Iowa. It has never been on my top ten list of places I might like to live. In fact, the strongest impression that I have of Iowa is that three years ago, as I drove across Iowa on 80, there was no place to get a good cup of coffee.

So it feels quite strange to be feeling so envious of the folks in Iowa.

The thing is, I am a political junkie. I love to watch the news, read about the candidates, and listen to talk radio, not just during the election but all the time. I debate with my TV. I say things to my kids and two minutes later some talking head makes the same brilliant point.

So it is very frustrating to live in a state where the primary is so late as to be almost completely beside the point. Why should Iowa get to be first? They don't deserve it, as the Republicans proved last night by giving a majority vote to the Huckster. (Look for an upcoming post on homeschoolers who don't like Mike.)

I want to meet Fred Thompson while I'm pumping gas. I want a chance to cast a vote for the candidate that I think should be the nominee and have it potentially matter.

So, yes, for a few days I am suffering from Ioway envy. But I suppose even if my primary vote isn't worth a hairball, at least here I can get a cup of good coffee.

Happy New Year!

I am breaking with my own tradition this year and making no resolutions. This isn't because I have nothing that I need to accomplish or change. Instead, it's because there is so much. And a lot of that is undone from last year!

I do have one quick, short-term goal. I am going to lose the five pounds I gained between Thanksgiving and last night! We'll worry about the rest later.

How 'bout you? Resolutions? Unfinished business? Or did you manage to keep them all last year?

Rent this movie!

My brother-in-law and his wife, who live in Australia, sent us videos from Amazon.com this year for Christmas. We had previously seen--and loved--one of them, Children of Heaven. Tonight we watched another of them, Vitus .

Vitus is a Swiss movie about a young boy who is a prodigy, his struggles to be "normal," and his relationships with his family. It was a wonderful family-friendly movie and was enjoyed by all of us. It also had really good music.

Happy Boxing Day

This has been one of the best Christmases I can remember.

We had our extended family gatherings on Friday and Sunday. Friday night we got together at my mom's. Every year the kids re-enact the Christmas story in costumes that my mom makes for them. (In spite of the red eyes, I like this picture.)

Mom is always trying to keep up with the growing kids. Abby's angel gown is a bit short this year! Of course, having Abby with us, doing so well, was a huge source of joy for all of us.

On Sunday, after church, we went to my in-laws. It was nice to be able to have a relaxing day there without the pressure of needing to get to another place afterward. My little nieces are so adorable. I forgot my camera, so I don't have pictures, but trust me! We had some good laughs watching Colin's sister's wedding video from almost eight years ago. We got home late that night, but stayed up until after one watching White Christmas together.

On Christmas Eve we decorated our tree and then my mom and step-dad joined us for dinner. We used the good china and had a lovely dinner. We headed over to church for our 10:30 service. Christmas Eve services at Redeemer are always wonderful, but the music was especially good, and Pastor Petersen preached a fantastic sermon.

After we got home I tried to fill the stockings as quickly as possible, because I knew Christmas morning would be there before I was ready.

It was.

Especially since my alarm didn't go off! When I woke up and it was light outside I knew we were late. My family surprised me and they all got ready and out the door in an hour.

We had another wonderful church service and another great sermon. I thought that I was going to make it through the service without tears for the first time in months, but as the row behind us returned from the communion rail quite a few of us shed tears of joy as we watched a friend who had his leg amputated above the knee, make his way back his seat with a walker for the first time since his surgery. It has been a rough year for many of us, but there is also so much to be grateful for.

After church I made my first attempt at cooking a whole beef tenderloin. We had a lovely time with our guests, Katie and Nathan. We sat at the table for hours after the meal talking, reminding me of dinners we've shared with the rest of Katie's family.

And, oh yeah, I got an iPod!

I love the week between Christmas Day and New Years. We have services every day at church. Colin is home. Today, since we had sun and relative warmth, he played basketball and went for a bike ride with the boys.

Photot Hunt: Light

The theme this week is light. The effects of the light of the sun as it was setting on this night last summer were incredible.

A little game

Shopping this time of year makes me crazy. Everyone is in a hurry. The people who work in the stores are exhausted. There's too much traffic. I'm not the most patient person by nature, so I sometimes try to do things to amuse myself to keep from turning into the Grinch.

Yesterday I played a little game. I wanted to see how many people I could make smile and/or wave at me while I was in my car. (I briefly considered seeing how many people I could make jump frantically out of my way, but I don't think Bethany would have let me.)

I am usually pretty good about letting people cross in front of me, pull out into traffic, etc. But I discovered that when you do that and give them a big smile, almost everyone smiles back. They don't just hold their hand up in a quick wave of acknowledgment. They smile! There was only one person all day who didn't smile at me. Bethany and I decided that--from the way she looked--she was probably on her lunch hour and preoccupied with everything she needed to accomplish in that short time period, so we cut her some slack and didn't run over her.

It's back!

I'm so glad that the Blogger powers that be came to their senses and unfixed our blogs. I hadn't messed with my picture yet, first, because I haven't had time, but also because I read on the forums that they were going to fix their fix.

Layout issues

Is anyone seeing the whole picture in my title box? I'm not, but I can't figure out what the problem is, because nothing has changed with my blog layout.

Christmas questions

Got this from my friend Meg's blog. Since I've been a bit blog-challenged lately I decided that these questions were just the thing I need.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Tree - Real or Artificial? Real. We go to a local tree farm and pick the perfect tree.

3. When do you put the Christmas tree up? Sometime between the 20-23.

4. When do you take the tree down? After Epiphany.

5. Like Egg Nog? Love it. Especially spiked and topped with real whipped cream and fresh grated nutmeg.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? A couple of them

7. Favorite gift received as a child? I'm not sure. Probably the baby doll and carriage that I got when I was about four. Or maybe the guitar that I got in seventh grade.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My youngest brother-in-law. He's single and really lacks nothing that he wants.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Bethany. Hands down.

10. Worst Christmas gift? Can't say. :)

11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Mail. Ideally. When I get them done. Which isn't often.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after TG

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? shhhhhh--yep!

15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Cookies!

16. Clear or colored tree lights? colored

17. Favorite Christmas Song? probably Hark the Herald Angels Sing

18. Travel during Christmas or stay home? Stay home as much as possible. For the first fifteen years we were married we lived out of state most of the time, so we had to travel, attend less-than-stellar Christmas services, and cram in tons of stuff into a couple of days. We vastly prefer to be at home, relax and enjoy our church services!

19. Can you name Santa’s reindeer’s? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph - but then Meg had them done already.

20. Angel or Star on tree top? Angel, now, but I want a star.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Day

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? All of the debates, blather etc., about the secularization of Christmas. The commercial Christmas season is secular. It's become a part of the American culture. But nothing anyone else does or doesn't do can secularize the season of Advent or the Christ-mass that we celebrate. I enjoy both parts for what they are!

Now the tagging: I'm feeling lazy. I may come back and do real tags later, but for right now, if you read this, consider yourself tagged.

Another update on Abby

Wanted to give you all one last update on Abby, then I'll try to get back to my irregularly scheduled blogging.

She is still in the hospital having about six hours a day of speech, physical, and occupational therapy. We aren't sure when she's going home, but it sounds like it will be soon. After that she will need to go to outpatient therapy for a while.

She's got some work to do, but she's doing great!

Update

We have had continuing good news about Abby. She is doing really well and is no longer in ICU. I am not the kind to throw words like "miracle" around loosely, but when I look at where we were on Friday and where we are now, my heart overflows with thanks to God!

(And I've heard enough medical people and those with experience with things like this using words like "incredible" and "amazing" the past few days to tell me I'm right.)

She's still got some recovery to go, but things look SO much better than anyone expected at this point. She was so excited about seeing her little sister and her big sister last night!

For those who wondered

No, I haven't lost interest in blogging again, but we're been in crisis mode since Thursday.

My six year old niece, Abby (in the self-portrait with her big cousin Bethany,) was taken to the hospital Thursday night for what turned out to be a blood clot from an arterial bleed in her brain. She is at an excellent children's hospital in Indianapolis, had successful surgery to remove it, and all seems to be going better than expected. There are still concerns: The clot was in a very vital location and the damage that she may have suffered could affect speech, cognition, and possibly the vision in one eye. There are still concerns about brain swelling and infection. But we are all cautiously optimistic.

I want to thank all of you who have been praying for her up to this point. I think that our whole family has been encouraged and strengthened by the people all over who have been praying.

Some pictures I promised

I couldn't get these pictures of my desk to upload last night, but I promised some friends that I would put them up.


These shelves and filing cabinets are the relatively good part. This is leftover sanity from when my organizer came and helped me. My files are in good shape, I just need to catch up.


And you can't see the three shopping bags of stuff that has been carried up from other parts of the house. Those need to be dealt with, too.

My desk

I've been working a bit on cleaning my office. I've unearthed some interesting things this evening from my desk. I found a lip pencil still in the box. It must be friends with the new-in-box brow pencil that was hiding in another spot. In the middle of a pile of bills was a clipping from the Anderson, Indiana paper in 1986 announcing the recent marriage of Colin and I.

Assorted scraps of paper with unidentifiable bits of information are all over. For instance "03826," "blue," and "Mary" written in different spots on the back of a Far Side desk calendar page. Here's a phone number with no identifying info on a post-it. (I have post-its in at least six colors among the clutter on my desk.)

This feels like an excavation.

The Friday after Thanksgiving

We shopped. We lunched. We shopped some more.

I went with my mom, Bethany, my sister-in-law Kim, and my niece Kate to The Fashion Mall at Keystone in Indianapolis. We have tried other malls for the post-Turkey Day shop, but Keystone is the best. It isn't mobbed by bargain hunters; we always find some good gifts; and there are good lunch options.

Lunch. Mom treated us to the Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy. Mom, Kim, and I were sane and shared a piece of cheesecake.



Too bad. It was soooo good.

The people watching at Keystone is fun, too. Different. Lots of designer bags and people looking like the "Dos" in a fashion magazine instead of the "Don'ts." I love seeing people who wear their clothes really well! I, of course, dressed in my signature black.

After the mall we made a quick run to Trader Joe's. I stocked up on coffee and chocolate.
All in all a most satisfactory day.

Hmmm, time does fly

I was just trying to figure out where the past couple of weeks went. I think that I can blame my absence mostly on laziness. I can give myself lots of good excuses for not writing, but truly, I'm just lazy.

I even considered deleting my blog. I hate neglected blogs. But I can't do it. So I'll have to write. I'll have to be disciplined.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

This is the anniversary of another one of my favorite days. Twelve years ago today Andrew Robert Casey made his grand entrance in Highland Park, Illinois. He has been keeping life fun and interesting ever since!

All the world is indeed a stage for this child. He is a total ham. Until he was about 4 he honestly believed he could fly.

Here he is at four. That sparkle in the eye tells you all you need to know!


Here he is at nine playing soccer. His main occupation on the soccer field is always checking to see who's watching him.


I love this picture from the spring of 2006 at Foster Park.


This picture of him with his big brothers at the Milwaukee Zoo this summer is pretty typical.

And then there's this view of him captured by his sister:


This really catches my favorite side of him that I have been fortunate to see lots of over the years. This is the sweet Andrew who would snuggle on my lap in the mornings and who always has to hug hello and goodbye with his brothers and sisters, grandpas and grandmas, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, cats....

And he's growing up quickly. By the time his next birthday rolls around he's going to be taller than I. I keep getting alternating glimpses of my sweet, goofy, slightly spoiled baby and the man he's going to become. You'd think by the time my third son is hitting this stage I'd be getting used to it, but this is my baby!

So, happy birthday, Andrew!

Gone scrappin'

My bags are almost packed and I'm almost ready to go.
This weekend I'll be scrapbooking with Bethany and a couple of non-blogging friends at a Y camp in northern Indiana. With the exception of a break Sunday morning to drive home for church I'll be buried in photos and scraps of paper all weekend. Well, and maybe we'll take the break or two to walk in the woods or play tetherball.

Blue Tea for Five

Tagged! My fellow Hoosier homeschooler Meg tagged me with this really cool meme.

It was started by a lady who has a blog called Blue Tea. (Thus the name!)

According to the original poster, the rules for this meme are: “Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It’s more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you’d also like to take. Tag five.”

Meg's classes all look really cool, but I think I'll take this one: Carpentry and woodworking class. This is an area where I have very little skill. I've done a bit of refinishing, but I have more that needs to be done.

What else would I take?

Oh, my......this is tough!

I would take Guitar. I haven't played for years and I miss it. I would even cut my fingernails.

Excel. Yes, I know it isn't exciting, but it would sure make my treasurer job easier if I could do Excel without calling my husband for help.

German. The class would need to include reading old German writing. That would be quite helpful in my genealogy research.

Church history. This is an area where I really feel a lack of knowledge. I know I could just read some books, but sometimes it's fun to just have someone tell you.

Organic gardening. Yes, our garden did fabulously well this year. That was beginner's luck! I would love a class where someone help me know the best time to plant certain things, how to have nice healthy compost, how to deal with certain pests, etc.

Sewing. Sewing, sewing, sewing.

Digital photography. I do okay, but I would love for my pictures to be better, and I'd love to learn how to use all of the functions that the camera has.

Finally, although I believe it is hopeless and likely pointless, I would take a class in Organization.

Now for the tags. Hmmm. This is hard. The good thing is, I know you all will tag everyone I couldn't. Melynda. Barb TEG. Lora. Susan. Cheryl.

Photo Hunt: Pink

Since pink is my favorite color, I had a lot of choices for today's photo hunt, but I had to go with this one. This is my 11-year-old son, who is terrified of pink in only the way an 11-year-old boy can be. His sister received this pink hat for a gift and thought it would be fun to see how it looks on him. Big brother is helping him hold still for the camera.

I love cemeteries

Okay, I may not love all cemeteries, but I love the country cemeteries where earlier generations of my family are buried. (The one above is Elhanan Cemetery in northern Wells County.)

For a history buff like me, who is also part of a close family, family history is a natural interest. I have been researching for over 10 years now, but moving to northern Indiana five years ago really reinvigorated my searches. Both of my parents are from the county to the south of Fort Wayne, and the last immigrant ancestors of mine arrived there in the late 1840's. Our families were among the early settlers of three northern Indiana counties: Adams, Allen, and Wells.

This gives me an enormous feeling of connection to this part of the country. I love finding the homes that family members lived in, seeing the churches the attended--and often helped build--and walking through the cemeteries where they were buried. I love finding newspaper snippets about their comings and goings, reading their letters, and seeing their names on old plat maps.

I love the cemeteries for their serene country settings. I love the signs of the faith that was an important part of their lives. There are eight cemeteries that I know pretty well, now, but each time I go I seem to make a new connection. There are a few I have yet to find. A beautiful fall day is the perfect time to go search.


My great-great-great grandparents, Joseph and Anna Harrod moved here from WiIlliams County, Ohio.

Their son Enos and his wife Hester have one of my favorite headstones. Enos and Hester's daughter, Alta Jane Harrod Ruhl was my great-grandmother and I was named after her.

Amazing sunset

The sky was incredible on Tuesday night. I was across town at the time these were taken from our yard. The sky looked slightly different over there.

Life is good

It's a cool fall day. My hubby is in town. Apple butter is simmering in the crock pot. Some nice fresh bread is rising.

I had a stressful week last week, but Sunday I went to church and got what my soul needed, and on Monday some medical tests turned out in the desired fashion and took care of that bit of stress.

Oh, sure, I'm still behind. I still have way more to do than I can realistically handle. But life is good.

Why I hate Wal-mart

In reality, there are so many reasons I dislike Wal-mart, that I don't think I could list them all. Let's start with inferior products and dirty stores. That's enough reason to keep me from going there. Sam Walton's stores were packed with "Made in America" signs, now Walmart stocks mostly things that are made in China. Or maybe it's the strong-arm tactics they've used with companies to lower prices, lowering quality and hurting other companies in the process that makes me despise them.

I'm a shopper and I like a bargain, but I don't think that what we're getting at Wal-mart is a bargain. Check out this video, which was linked to by Scott for a look at an amusing take on Wal-mart's "low prices."

Photo Hunt: Practical

This week's photo hunt theme is practical. Can't think of anything much more practical for feeding a big group than plastic forks!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Melynda, which is an awesome way to prod a lazy blogger into blogging.

The rules:
1. Link the person who has tagged you.
2. Tell seven true things about yourself.
3. Tag seven new people.
4. Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it. I am supposed to name seven truths about myself............. and tag seven new people.

Hmmmmmmm, seven true things about me.

1. I need coffee to function at anything resembling an effective level.

2. I love to buy gifts.

3. I would rather read than just about anything.

4. My house is a wreck. (Hmmmmm, could there be a causal relationship between those last two?)

5. I wish that I could go to the beach, even just for one day.

6. Then I could read on the beach.

7. I do not color my hair.

7. My house is a wreck.

Now for the tags. I haven't been getting around to blogs much so I don't know who else may have been tagged. If you read this, consider yourself tagged. Except for Bethany. You are tagged.

Photo Hunt: Smelly

The penguins at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo are cute, but they sure are smelly!

Join the Saturday Photo Hunt!

Cleaning out the cobwebs

...both literally and figuratively.

I've deleted thousands of old emails. Why was I saving those?

I've emptied my half of the closet, sorted through all of my clothes, put my fall clothes in order in my closet, and put my summer clothes in the office closet. I've got a nice bag to take to the clothing bank.

I've dusted my ceiling fan and the cobwebs around the beam in the vaulted ceiling in my bedroom.

I've gotten my calendar all filled in and thrown away dozens of post-it notes. I've put the proposed church budget for next year into Excel.

I've gotten everything disgusting out of my fridge and I've made supper. (Those two are NOT directly related.)

My life and house are still pretty chaotic, but they're WAY better than they were yesterday.

And , as an added bonus, I've gotten to listen to hours of Issues, Etc. archived shows while I work.

Been thinking of you...

but that's about as far as it gets.

I have been buried. Absolutely plowed under.

Yesterday I finally had two hours at home in a row to work in my office, so at least I can see the surface of my desk again. As this week goes on I plan to slowly reclaim my house.

I haven't just been busy. My life has felt like a vortex of swirling chaos. Everything is out of control. I even paid some bills late because they just got buried.

So in my moments in the car I have been reading Getting Things Done again. I had read and partially implemented this before, but I'm working on getting it fully implemented. This is the only one of the dozens of organization/time management books that I have read that seems to work for me. I need something to help me keep the vortex of chaos at bay!

Just too busy

I haven't posted for over a week. It isn't for lack of ideas. I have several half-written posts in my mind, but I've been a little overwhelmed the last couple of weeks.

So I didn't post about the St. Michael Conference or Pastor Stuckwisch's encounter with a bottle of Dr. Pepper as was requested by at least one friend. (By the way, Andrew is very sorry!)

I didn't post about planting our trees, although I may get to that yet.

I didn't post about planning my class reunion, lost library books, teaching a class of 6-17 year olds, or myriad other topics that have spun through my head.

Maybe I'll get to some of them. But first I need to clean my office. And play Scrabulous.

An ego boost

A post on my friend Karin's blog reminded me of something that I wanted to tell all of you last week.

Now, first, everyone remembers that just 13 days ago my oldest turned 21. Right? And some of you remember that I celebrated my 40th birthday in Florida a few years back. Right?

So, last Friday morning,

I GOT CARDED!

I was at the grocery store buying bread, Doritos, beer, and cheap wine. The girl at the register said, "Can I see your ID?" I thought she meant the little scanny-discount-card-thingy so I handed her that and she swiped it. Then she kept waiting. "Can I see your driver's license?"

Still not getting it, I pulled it out and gave it to her. I thought that maybe the store had switched to a new system and needed ID for my debit card or to make sure I was using my own BigBrother discount card. I was just getting ready to ask her why she needed it when she looked up at me and back at the ID. "Wow! You look really young!"

I think I floated out of the store.

Just for grins, here I am at 21.

I think my attire may have had something to do with it. I was carded about two years ago when I was wearing a sweatshirt, tennies, etc. This time I was wearing a pale pink fleece pullover and jeans and cute earrings. And then there's the whole Doritos & beer thing.

Book stuff

I am home--exhausted--after a day of running kids and teaching my class. (World history and geography. 20+ kids. 6-17)

I am relaxing by playing with a book-related site that a fellow homeschooler led me to. Goodreads. Come be my friend.

Bunko

A bunch of ladies from our church and assorted friends have been playing Bunko one Sunday night a month for two years now. We never worry about having even tables of four, but it almost always works out. We have food, wine, and lots of laughing.

Look! My dining room table is clean! No scrapbooking stuff!

This is the tiramisu from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. It was incredible! Although I do know two things that I want to do slightly better next time. Some of my lady fingers weren't quite soaked with the espresso, and I want to use a slightly smaller pan. (The Pampered Chef pan is bigger than a true 9X13.)

Yellow, hmmm...

Saw this on Barb's blog. Apparently we're even the same color.

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?