Isn't this sun we are getting here in the northwest wonderful!! We normally get a lot of sun here, but now it's warm too. Pull out those sandals and capris, in fact I think I might go purchase some new summer clothes today! We are supposed to hit 90 today and 95 tomorrow. Yikes! That is plenty hot enough for me. I'm actually great with moderate temperatures of 75-80. I'm not complaining mind you, I do have air conditioning!
Home Sweet Home
We are home!! It feels great. I have been enjoying being back in my house. Not sure what the future holds for us, but aren't we supposed to live one day at a time anyway?? I have been a hermit the last few days, just resting up from the trip I guess. Finally, today I feel like getting out and about. I am running errands and heading to Bend to do some shopping. It feels good to be back to normal.
Going Private
I have made the decision to make my blog private. Those of you who are interested in continuing to read my blog please email me from my profile page so I can invite you. I will wait a few weeks to make sure everyone has an opportunity to read this post.
Laryngitis
The Isaacs were wonderful!! I enjoyed the concert a lot. At 10 o'clock they had intermission and when they still weren't back at 10:20, we left. We had an hours drive ahead of us and by this time I wasn't feeling well. I had finally caught Dale's cold.
We had plans for the weekend, and we had already postponed them for a week because Dale was sick. I got to feeling better the next morning, so we continued with our plans. By Friday night however, I had totally lost my voice. Here I was with dear brethren that I hadn't got to visit with in well over a year, and I couldn't visit! Laryngitis had hit me once again. I have always been very susceptible and when I get a cold, my voice is normally the first thing to go.
I was sitting there speechless (truly) and remembering one time in particular that I had laryngitis. It was 17 years ago this past December 8, at my bridal shower. I would unwrap a gift, ooh and awe over it silently, but with much expression to make up for my silence. I would mouth a huge thank you, then my good friend and spokes woman Trina would calmly say, "She says thanks." We all got some good laughs.
Trina, you would have had a great time translating this past weekend. There were times I had all eyes on me, trying to read lips so that I might be able to be a part of the conversation. On Sunday, I was tempted to stay home (at Lee and Cherries) but in the end I said a prayer and went to church. I'm glad I did. Ron and sherry were there and most of the brethren hung out after dinner and visited. As the day wore on, my voice began to materialize. I was so excited! You don't know how hard it is to sit silently by while Ron goes on and on in his normal harassing fashion. By the end of the evening, I was able to hold my own against him. Yeah!
All in all, we ended up having a wonderful weekend. Today I am resting and recuperating. ahhh...
Stormie, I really enjoyed our girl time. Snacks and Little House on the Prarie, you can't beat that. Sorry you had to go to bed before it ended:( We'll have to watch part 2 sometime.
Going to see The Isaac's!!
On Thursday night I will be going to see The Isaac's and a few other groups in concert. I am very excited. The Isaac's, Pieces of Our Past is my very favorite cd. I put a few of their songs on here for you to enjoy (yes Trina, I know you are shocked that I figured out how to put something on here by myself!!). These are not my favorite songs of theirs, but they are still good. I have been to a few gospel concerts and it is so awesome to be able to hear the live professional singers. I have never heard The Isaac's live, so I can't wait!! The Bishop's and The Perry's are some of the other groups, I haven't heard them but I've heard that they are good too. My mom and I and a few other ladies are going to make an evening of it. Again, I am sooo excited!
A day in our life
5:15 am
Get up with Dale. Make his breakfast and lunch. He has had a pretty bad cough. Someone prayed for him last night at church, I think he is some better.
5:45
Go back to bed.
6:15
finally drift off to sleep.
7:30
Andy wakes me up to see if he can sleep in. --He cut his thumb on a table saw the day before at work. Yes, I said TABLE SAW! When he had come in from work, he casually told me he had cut his thumb. I was busy making dinner and he didn't seem to be in any pain, so I didn't pay to much attention until Dale got home a few minutes later. Andy started going into some details about a table saw. Dale immediately got agitated and wanted to see the cut. Andy is very blessed that it is only a cut, the thumb could easily have been taken off. Anyway, he didn't sleep much because his thumb was throbbing all night.
7:31
I finally fall back to sleep again!
9:50
I bolt up in bed realizing the time on this very overcast day.
10:00
Oatmeal for breakfast. Yummy!
10:30
After getting around for the day we all (Dad, Mom, Andy and I) head out to an elderly couples house. The couple both have bad health and the night before they had asked for prayer. The brother entertains us with war stories. He was in world war 2, in the battle of the bulge. He also has some harsh things to say about President Roosevelt. I am surprised at this because we did a detailed study on Roosevelt a few years ago and for the most part we only found good. Maybe we didn't look in the right places. I respected the things the brother had to say. The couple had a picture of their Wedding day. He was 21 and she was 17. He is now 83 and she is 79. They are quite unlike the young couple in the photo, but they talk of their meeting and courtship as if it were yesterday. It was a reminder of how quickly time flies. I know people say that all the time, but it is unreal at times.
12:00pm
We stop in for lunch at "Steak and Eggs." I order a grilled chicken sandwich and a bowl of chicken veg soup, the only things on the menu that are on my diet. The food is very good, in fact this is the best restaurant I've been to on the trip. That is really saying something, because we eat out almost daily. This meal is monumental in another way, my parents finally let me pay for my meal. They always buy, and won't hear of anything else. I have tried and tried, but this time is different. Was I firmer in my insistence? Did they finally just cave in? I don't know the secret to my success, I just know I was successful. Well, sort of, they only let me buy mine not Andy's or theirs. They are very sweet and giving, and always feel as if they need to help their kids, even if their kids are nearing 40.
1:30
Our next stop is "Bob's Clothiers." This is the one clothing store in town, besides Walmart, and it has only men's clothes. "Bob's" and a few of the other downtown shops are having their yearly blowout sales today. Andy is in need of a pair of jeans and even though this tiny store is where grandpa buys his clothes he is willing to give it a look. The blowout prices are as such: $36 for a pair of Levis
$43 for a pair of blah jeans
Grandpa ends up getting a much needed smaller pair of dockers. He had the flu this winter, which started a weight loss that is still continuing. His other dockers have a pleat in the back when he cinches up his belt because they are to big.
2:00
We stop in at Niney's house. She has been sick most of the time I've been here. She had her 80th birthday in September, so I don't like to see her be down sick like this. We normally go to see her everyday. Aunt V. is there and another sister comes while we are there.
3:30
Sonic Happy Hour! Half price drinks. Large lemon slush for me! HeHe!
3:45
Get back to the house and decide to order pizza for dinner. Clean kitchen, call Cherrie, watch weather channel- we keep a close eye on the weather channel around here! Whew, no storms even on the extended forecast, but the meteorologist warns that this will probably change before it's all said and done. For today though, things look good, so I start eyeing the hot tub. I have yet to get in because we are either gone or it's storming. I have no desire to be in the hot tub in a lightning storm, call me crazy.
4:40
I talk to Dale. He is still at work which means he won't be getting here until after 6. :(
5:20
The pizza man arrives. He says with awe,"You probably get this a lot, but first of all you have a beautiful house and second you look just like Jodie Foster." I graciously thanked him for both complements, not interrupting him to say this wasn't MY house, that would have been rude, don't you think? Jodie Foster is pretty, so I was feeling good about myself, until I remembered that she is 9 years OLDER than I am! Oh well, she's in the movies where they keep them looking young, and I am getting older. I think it's kind of a reach to say I look like her anyway.
5:30
After inspecting all the pizzas for accuracy, I take some of the chicken, olive, onion, mushroom, no cheese pizza and enjoy. It is surprisingly delicious. No cheese pizzas have a tendency to be dry and flavorless, but "Mazzios" has loaded it with extra sauce and toppings. It is very tasty.
5:40
After inhaling his pizza, Andy has decided it is time to change the bandage on his thumb. This hasn't been done since the night before and all day we had been discussing how we would do it. Andy had whined and whined about not wanting us to mess with it, and since we ended up being gone most of the day, he got his way. Now that the rest of us are eating dinner, Andy has deciced that NOW is the time. Sometimes when I look at my dad, I see expressions that I am also capable of making, so when dad and I simultaneously gave Andy the same "You've got to be kidding me look," he settled down on the couch and resorted to staring at our plates.
5:50
We start the grueling process. I won't give any of the gory details, but I will say when we eventually got the bandage loose, the cut had healed much better than we had hoped.
6:30
Dale gets home in the middle of the process and is able to see the cut.
7:00
Andy and I get in the hot tub. It is wonderfully relaxing, it probably would have been more so for Andy if he hadn't had to hang his arm out the side to avoid getting his thumb wet.
7:10
Showers
7:30
TV watching
9:30
blogging!!!
10:00
Bed. I'm having a hard time falling asleep. Do you think 10am wake up had anything to do with it? Nooo, I'm sure that's not it. Dale is still coughing some and keeping me awake. zzz...
Internet Dangers
I have truly enjoyed having my blog and being able to keep in touch with so many loved ones. But, it is easy to forget that the things we write are here for all to see. I sometimes get caught up in someones blog and I'm not as careful as I should be about the information I give in my comment. This is an innocent mistake and we all make it from time to time. But, I've heard so many stories about strangers being able to track people down by the information they find on the Internet that I just wanted to remind us how careful we should be.
Here are a few things to think about:
- Be as vague as possible about where people live. I live in Oregon.
- I think we should follow suit with whoever's blog we are on. For instance, if the blogger hasn't mentioned their children's names we shouldn't either in our comments.
- We are a tight knit group and sometimes we know when people will be on a trip. I think we should be careful not to mention when someone will be away from home, unless they mention it first.
- We should also be careful about naming and giving out information about people who are not blogging.
- I think we should leave last names off of comments and posts.
I am going to try to be more careful in the future. I am also going to go back through my blog and delete some old comments and posts that give a little more info than I want out here for all to see. I truly love getting comments, so please keep commenting, let's just all be a little more careful.
Tis the season for tax returns. This is the first year we will be getting a refund in many years, plus this year we will all be getting a little kicker in May. The point of the "kicker" is to boost the economy. The government wants us to spend our tax money to get the economy back on track.
I have read conflicting information on this theory. Some say that saving more money is the way to a better economy because we will be more finacially secure if we save the money or use it to pay off debt. Others say if everyone saves their money and no one spends, or buys anything then we will be in trouble. I am curious as to what your opinions are and what you plan to do with your tax money.
Here's our list of priorities:
1-new tires for both vehicles
2-pay off truck
3-new or used lawnmower
4-new livingroom furniture (ours is 14 years old and falling apart!)
The furniture may not happen, but hopefully we can at least save some towards it.
Tightwad tip of the day: Drink more water, it's CHEAP!
The joys in the life of a listmaker
Howdy ladies! Today I want to share with you a few of the tips I have gleaned from my wonderful new tightwad gazette.
1. Make a home made cream soup instead of buying cream of chicken, mushroom, ect.:
2 Tbs butter or oil
2 Tbs vegetable (celery, mushroom, onion, ect)
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk (she uses dry milk, I use soy)
1/2 tsp chick bouillon
saute veg. in butter or oil. Add flour. Mix well. Add milk and bouillon. Let thicken then salt and pepper to taste. This is very quick and easy, not to mention tasty. I just add it to chicken and steamed rice. Yum!
2. To keep your sos pad from rusting, put it in a baggie in the freezer. It is usable for weeks like this, instead of just a day or two before your sink has a nasty rust stain!
3.-This one cracks me up, but I have done it!- Smash your toilet paper roll before you put it on the holder. It spins around easily a few times then stops. This is supposed to keep kids from having to much fun unrolling the toilet paper!
Okay these are some of my favorites so far, but I will keep you updated when I come across more good stuff!
Some of the goals when I started this blog was to be able to share recipes and helpful hints, I have gotten sidetrack from time to time (hopefully it's been entertaining!) but I want to keep my focus on these "little things" that bring me joy. I must make a confession though, today I was headed for the grocery store when I suddenly remembered, I hadn't made a list! Panic!!! I breathed in and out slowly. I stopped the car right where I was (my driveway), I had to make a list before I got to the store, I mean, I might forget something!! Amazingly, I didn't have to go back inside to scan cabinets, I was able to recall the 6 items I needed. Maybe I could be done with list making all together! No, no. Then I would have to change my blog name. Who wants to go to all that work. Besides lists are some of those"little things" that bring me joy.
Catching Up
Wow! It has been so long since my last blog! I thought I would update all of you on the goings on at our place.
We had flu in the house last week. That is some terrible stuff going around. I have managed to elude it so far. I have become very aquainted with the lysol spray and disinfectant wipes. Everyone is doing better, so I hope it's gone for good.
I have been getting the quilting bug. I put my Olympia border quilt back in the frames and I have a great place to keep it set up, but it is not in the way. I can just go over and quilt on it anytime I have a few spare minutes.
I am also piecing a baby quilt. It is spread all over the diningroom table and floor. I worked on it exclusively all day yesterday, and was amazed how the house stayed clean. Today I haven't had any motivation for it. I just left everything laying right where it was and complained loudly if it looked like someone had stepped on it or moved anything. There are some small joys to living in a house with no little ones to get into things.
Dale has been doing some wood working projects with the few days off he had this week. He is building a bench to put at the foot of our bed. I am excited for him to get it done. It's going to be so cute. He is also building bookshelves and 2 night stand/shelves I saw in better home and garden. I feel very blessed not only to have a trim carpenter for a husband, but one who is willing and eager to please me. I love him!
This week, so far,we (Andy) have finally been able to hit the books and make up for lost time. There hasn't been much time for school since before christmas. I have set up a "schedule" but I have to really work to keep him on it. I have been sticking to my guns though, I want this school stuff done! Andy does too, he just doesn't want to do it. He is much more interested in finding a job. We have been out the last 2 afternoons. He has turned in several applications, hopefully something will pan out. After a job comes his license, so this makes finding work that much more important.
And my final thought for todays blog...
For about 3 years I have been asking for the tightwad gazette for christmas. This year in our family everyone picked out their own christmas gifts, so guess what I got!? I have been reading it almost everyday. I found an interesting recipe in it for home made hot chocolate. Here it is:
Hot Chocolate
8 oz hot milk
1 tsp baking cocoa
1 tsp sugar
The recipe actually calls for dry milk, but I used soy milk and 1/2 tsp more sugar (I love it sweeet!) I was amazed at how good this hot cocoa was. It is easy and cheap. Why buy hot chocolate mix??
