Some funny pictures

This first picture isn't really funny - it's just Destiny eating her breakfast. She's always cold when she wakes up, so she wears her "breakfast jacket!"

Here's the funny part - look who's across the table watching her eat her breakfast! Her American Girl doll, the Lion King with Elmo on his back, and Fiona, her Build-a-Bear unicorn!!

Now how's this for a comfortable way to watch a movie and eat popcorn?!!

Gotta go now. Our first evening of VBS is today and I still have preparation to do.

My new dishwasher

One of the chores on Destiny's summer work chart is emptying the dishwasher. It is one chore that she often "fusses" to get out of. On Tuesday when she started to complain about it I told her she needs to empty it so I can put the dirty dishes into it. She looked at the dirty dishes and asked, "Why can't I wash them like I used to?" She was remembering when she was much younger and I would let her play in the sink. I decided, "Why not?" Surely I was washing dishes by her age.

So obviously I am not letting her wash all our dishes by hand, but it has turned out to be a chore that she is absolutely delighted to do. In fact, we've had a very good week. When we get home from the gym and the pool I make a list for her, including fun things like a movie or computer games, she decides in which order she wants to do the things on the list, and we number them. She loves checking them off.

This weekend and next Jeremy is performing in a production of Oklahoma. He is playing the part of Will. Last evening was the first of six shows and he said it went really well. Somebody told him afterward that he and one of the girls stole the show. And guess what? I'm going to find out for myself next weekend. Lisa had a Southwest ticket voucher that she let me use and I'm making a VERY QUICK trip just to get to see this show. We have VBS Sunday evening through Thursday evening, then Friday morning I'll head to the Baltimore airport, fly to Tampa, watch the show Friday evening, and fly back home Saturday afternoon. Of course I'm not complaining at all that I'll get some Sophie time in there!! I'm all excited just thinking about it!

Dippy Eggs

Okay, here are the promised pictures of "dippy eggs!" In my previous post I mentioned that I made Destiny French toast instead of her normal dippy eggs for breakfast. Tonja said she never heard of dippy eggs. Well, Tonja, they are just your regular "over easy" or "over light" eggs. What makes them "dippy" is the cutting of the toast into little strips so they can be dipped into the egg yolk. Yummm!! When the yolk is all dipped up, you cut the white into pieces and eat that too. Unless you are like I was as a child. I would never eat the white part. I'm surprised my mother allowed me to get away with that!

Anyone hungry? Come on over and I'll make you a dippy egg or French toast or whatever you order! My house is quite clean and organized and the weather is gorgeous enough to eat on the porch or the deck. The coffee is ready too and my Pandora radio channel is playing some good. gentle Fernando Orgega-type music to add to the ambiance. But call first - I'm still in my night shirt, ha, ha!!

A Suzy Homemaker kind of day

We have come through days and days of tropical-like weather - extremely hazy and humid and rain any time of the day and night. We'd have bright sunshine one minute and suddenly there would be a torrential downpour. It sounds like finally tomorrow we will have lower humidity and sunshine all day. But boy, are things growing after all this rain! Especially the weeds! Dick and I spent the evening weeding all the flower beds. Destiny likes when we work outside so she can ride her bike and scooter. Last evening while I was at a meeting Dick took her to a trail that used to be a rail road and they took a long bike ride together.

I've managed to get to the gym each day this week so far. I'm finally beginning to like the elliptical machine, but I have a long way to go to work up to the number of calories I used to burn on the treadmill before I hurt my foot.

I felt like Suzy Homemaker today. Destiny usually wants a dippy egg for breakfast, but this morning I asked if she wanted French toast and she said she did. Back in the 80's when I had a bed and breakfast in our home our children became quite used to big country breakfasts. But that was long before Destiny's existence. When I gave her a plate with the buttered, syruped French toast, she said, "Wait a minute. Is this regular bread?" I said, "Yes, but I made it into French toast." She said, "Didn't you get it out of the freezer?" I laughed as I realized she expected those French toast strips that you can buy frozen and ready to microwave.

Then this evening I made pork and sauerkraut and real mashed potatoes for supper. (We didn't have it at New Year's, so we're catching up!!) It was soooo good, but oh my! If I ate like that every evening......

Next week we have VBS at church, so I've been learning the music to go with the curriculum - Power Lab. Wow!!! The songs are so fun and energetic. It's going to be a blast.

Writing comments "how to"

I don't have anything interesting to write about tonight, so I'm going to do something that's been on my mind a long time, and especially since a friend of mine called me on Saturday with a comment about my post. She said she was going to write her comment, but she noticed that it looked like comments can only be made by other bloggers.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A BLOGGER TO COMMENT ON BLOGS! Here's how you leave a comment:

1. Click on "Comments" under the written post.
2. Write your comment in the big blank box.
3. Under "Choose an identity" click on "Name/URL.
4. In the Name box write your name, in the URL box write nothing at all because it's optional.
5. Click on "Publish your Comment".

And that is all there is to it, folks! If you have something to say, SAY IT!! I would love to hear from you.

And that is all I have to say tonight!

Fessing up to some weird ways

Today I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor after some blood work that was done. For about two years she has been watching my cholesterol and glucose levels. The cholesterol was at an acceptable level in January, but not the glucose. I had very little hope that my June blood work would show improvement. In fact, I was afraid it would be worse, considering that I gained some weight back this spring due to my injured foot and crazy schedule. To my surprise, my glucose level was at an acceptable level for the first time in two years! My doctor congratulated me and shook my hand two times! She said, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it." I said, "It seems like a miracle that it would be better. The only thing I can think of that may have helped is the flax seed I started taking every night."

So now I'm going to "fess up" to my unusual bedtime routine. Years ago I had heard that it was beneficial for weight loss to take wheat bran by the spoonful and wash it down with water. I used to eat a spoonful or two of raw wheat bran after each meal, back when I was a stay-at-home mom.

Last summer when I began a new effort to lose some pounds I remembered the wheat bran. So I bought some and began eating a spoonful or two at bedtime. A few months later I needed to buy another bag of it (they sell it at the country stores around here). But at the particular little store I was in that day, they did not have any, but they did have oat bran. So I decided to substitute with that. I remembered hearing that oat bran is good for lowering cholesterol. A few weeks later I found wheat bran at another store, so I began taking a spoonful of each at bedtime. We also keep ground flax seed in the frig at all times. Dick sprinkles it on his salad each day, but I didn't like it that way, so I wasn't using it even though I knew it was tremendously beneficial. One time this winter it occurred to me that I could just eat it by the spoonful with water like I do the brans. And I added that to my bedtime "snack"!! So each night I pull out the ground flax seed, oat bran, and wheat bran and wash down heaping spoonfuls of them with lots of water. Weird, I know. But hey - my cholesterol and my glucose levels are better even though I haven't been able to lose the weight and watch my carbs like I'd like to. As my doctor was leaving the room today she said again, "So it's wheat bran, oat bran, and ground flax seed. I'll have to tell my husband about that."

Now I have to tell a funny story. Last fall when a few of my sisters were here for a sleepover when Barb was in from Idaho, I got out my bran to take it when we were ready to turn in for the night. My sisters had never heard of such a crazy thing as taking dry wheat bran and couldn't believe I actually do it. Barb said, "I gotta see this." So there we were - me on one side of the counter with my bran and water, Barb on the other side to watch me. Just as I put the heaping spoonful of bran to my mouth I looked up and saw the look of disbelief on her face. I CRACKED UP laughing and there went that whole spoonful of bran right off my spoon!!! So a word to the wise - if you try this, don't laugh, don't even breathe on your bran!

So I'm about to try one more weird thing that I've been hearing about from various sources - vinegar. Drinking a spoonful or two of vinegar in a glass of water is supposed to have great health benefits. Has anyone out there tried it?

So don't worry - other than a few of these weird things, I think I'm a fairly normal person!

Our July 4th tradition

What a great time we had once again at the patriotic concert and fireworks held at Long's Park in Lancaster. It was estimated that 30,000 people were there today. We arrived at 4:15 and many people were there already having cookouts and picnics. Every year we and my sister Doris's family sit in the same general location - on the side of the hill close to the live cannons. This year my sister Mary Ellen joined us, as did Frank and Jess and her daughter Jamira. The highlight of this night every year is when the cannons go off during the playing of the 1812 Overture. We LOVE it!! They are so loud you can feel them in your heart. You can also feel the ground shaking! It's just awesome.

The first few hours we were there the heat was almost unbearable, but once the sun went lower, a breeze started to blow, and we were really comfortable. Destiny knew how to beat the heat - lie down on a blanket with an umbrella overhead. Trust me, she didn't stay that way for long. As soon as Frank and Jess and Jamira arrived she was running all over the park with them until nearly time for the fireworks to start at 9:15. At last! Dick could sit and enjoy chatting with the adults - he usually has to take Destiny to see the sights until starting time.

Some shots of Doris's family.

Nice handbag, Christy!

Oops, that's not a handbag after all - it's baby Aidan!!

Frank and Jess and the girls came back with funnel cakes and batter-dipped, deep fried oreos! And glowing swords for the girls.

Around 7:30 the patriotic concert began. Every year the concert is provided by the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. However, this year it was a military band from Washington D.C. At first I thought the concert was very blah, but later they did something that improved the sound tremendously, and it was much, much better after that. I still missed the Lancaster Sympony, though.

The fireworks display was beyond amazing. We were sitting literally right in front of where they were being set off. There were so many this year that looked like geysers coming right up out of the ground.

The last display, as always, was the American flag. What a night - one of the favorites of the year, every year.

Happy Anniversary, Rose and Bob

I want to wish a happy anniversary to my youngest sister Rose and her husband Bob. This was the lovely picture of their wedding party on July 6, 1985. What a happy day that was, especially after I was all finished playing the piano! Of particular interest to me on the picture below is that adorable ring bearer, none other than our five-year-old Jeremy. He was such a charmer, Rose and Bob had to fight for some attention - just kidding! But he tried! (You really do have to click on this picture to see that smile. He thought it was all about him, ha, ha!!)

We're off now to the great patriotic concert and fireworks at Longs Park in Lancaster - our family's annual tradition since for over 20 years. It's looking like rain, unfortunately.

A special July 4th

This was a very special July 4th for us. The weather wasn't what we ordered, but at least the rain wasn't heavy most of the time. We had a cook out at my parents' place with my other siblings who still live here in Lancaster County.

The thing that made this day unusual was the surprise my brother Dick had for my dad - a very special Oliver diesel tractor. He brought it to my parents' community on his tow truck, then drove it up to my parents' house with his wife Nancy standing behind him. I bet more than a few people popped their heads out to see what that noisy thing was coming up the street! But no one was more surprised than my dad!

And what makes this particular tractor so special? It is the very tractor my dad bought brand new in 1955! At some point the tractor was sold. Both my dad and my brother went on to become auto mechanics instead of farmers. However you can't take the farm out of the boy, and in 1988 my brother saw an old Oliver diesel for sale at a farm store. Upon investigation, he discovered that it was indeed the very same tractor he had driven as a boy! So he bought it in hopes of restoring it one day.

That day has come in 2008. The tractor is restored, almost shinier than new, and today it brought great joy once again to our family, especially father and son.

The first order of the day was eating, of course! Hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and lots of other things we all provided. No matter how many or few of us are together, the stories always abound.

After the meal we had fun sitting around, talking and laughing some more. My parents' sun room is such a lovely place to sit any time of the year.

Then it was time to try out that tractor! With a little bit of help from my brother Dick and my husband Dick, my dad was able to get up on that seat. Does he look happy or what??? I think he looks 20 years younger all of a sudden!

Someone decided he should have a straw hat on, which he did have in his garage. The only thing that could have made him look more at home would have been the bib overalls he always wore!

Here they are - two farmers at heart. Talk about my detailed memory - you should have heard my brother's detailed memories of the day we got that tractor back in 1955! My dad remembered that it cost him $2000 - that was a whole lot of money back in those days.

My brother and my dad were not the only ones who had nostalgic memories of this tractor. I remember when I was only four years old and the older three siblings had just gone back to school in September. My dad was ready to load up baskets of tomatoes from the tomato field and needed someone to steer the tractor through the rows as he loaded the baskets onto the wagon. He sat me on the seat, put the tractor into first gear, and I guided that tractor through the tomato rows. I was SO proud when the older siblings arrived home from school. And here I am on that same tractor fifty-two years later. Dick looks like a good farmer, don't you think?

And here is the real farm girl, my sister Mary Ellen. Because she was one of the older ones in the family, and since my dad only had one boy, Mary Ellen did lots of tractor driving. Not just the slow driving while things were being loaded on a wagon, but the fast driving when working the ground in the spring and raking hay. She still looks like a natural on that tractor all these years later!

My step mother showed us this interesting cactus she has. The blooms look like Lifesavers!

This evening we had our own little cook-out (inside) here with Frank and Jess and Jess's daughter and Destiny. I don't even want to look at any more food. It's still raining and the local fireworks were postponed till tomorrow evening. We really did need this rain.

Today's project

My project today was working on a different window treatment for my sliding glass door. Ever since we moved here I've had a vertical blind there that Jeremy gave me from his days of working at Blinds to Go. But it was a pain to open and close it - I never could figure out which chain or rope did what. Besides, I think it was meant for a window, not a door, because it opened from the center. And also, I didn't like the plain off-white blind against a plain off-white wall.

So last week I noticed that Penneys is clearing out the Wendy tab panels that I've used to make valances, so I went and bought several more sets of them. This evening I sewed six panels together and hung them up at the door. It slides easily to one side, but I think I used too many of them, because it seems all thick and bunchy. So probably tomorrow I'll take one or two off. Thank goodness I used big stitches. I do think I'll like it better.

Out with the old, in with the new

Last week when Lisa was here she brought something to my attention: I was still using the same sugar bowl as I had always used since she was a kid. Since she was a kid? Since BEFORE she was a kid! That sugar bowl came with my very first set of Melamine "everyday" dishes that we had at the beginning of our marriage in 1971!!

Honestly, it had never occurred to me that I had never replaced that sugar bowl. The poor thing gets very little use or attention since we never put sugar on or in anything. It's just when some of the kids are home and need sugar in their coffee that I have to bring it down from its hiding place in one of the cupboards.

So today after I had taken Destiny to Frank and Jess's place in Lancaster I passed the Salvation Army thrift store. I felt it calling my name, so I went in just to browse around. I wasn't even thinking of my antique sugar bowl when I saw a boxed set of creamer and sugar bowl for $2.99. They seem brand new - like someone may have received them for a wedding gift and didn't need them or something. So, Lisa and all you kids who use sugar in your coffee, you will find a much classier looking sugar bowl the next time you come home!! And George, I can even put your Half and Half in a matching pitcher if you like!

Clean floor, clean laundry, heavy thoughts

I've been gradually working on the enormous pile in the laundry. Not only did I have sheets and blankets from camping, but regular sheet washing from having had guests, and TOWELS!!!! Remember the time Sam spilled the liquid detergent all over the laundry floor? Well, apparently Lisa wanted to make sure all that detergent got rinsed properly. On Sunday evening when she was doing her laundry the spout that directs the water into the washer got turned around somehow and was instead directing the water right onto the floor. Thank goodness I discovered it before too long, but nevertheless, every towel in the house was called into action! Believe me, my laundry floor is CLEAN - even behind my washer and dryer!!

This morning I went to a doctor appointment with my stepmother to discuss treatment for some of my dad's health concerns. My dear dad is living with more and more pain in his left leg and less and less function of it. It's so hard to see someone you love so much hurting so much.

Destiny spent last night and most of today with Frank and Jess. He does wish to have a more involved role in her life, which is a good thing. But how do you help someone learn how to parent when there are already so many deficits in the hearts of both the daddy and the daughter?

Those are the heavy things I am pondering tonight amidst all my clean laundry.