This and that

Ching (Siamese cat) was CRAZY today! Every time I sat down to work at the computer, she was on my lap, then paws on my shoulders, then rubbing my chin, then..... A person would think she hadn't seen me for a week or something.

Bookwork, schmookwork! You know, if a person would keep up with it on a regular basis, it wouldn't be all piled up to get done in December.

B and I went to our church choir Christmas party this evening. (No, he doesn't sing in the choir, but "non-singing spouses" were also invited! :)

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do. If you haven't got a ha' penny, God bless you!" Do you know that song? We learned it from one of the books the kids got for Christmas years ago. You know, the books where you press a button to play various songs. They still play, but just barely. I SUPPOSE we COULD invest in a new battery. Hmmm. Anyway--God bless you, whether you have a "ha' penny" or not!

I'll try to post some pictures next time, or soon anyway. Don't give up on me!

???

"I'M CONFUSED
...wait, maybe I'm not."

Carrying on

Guess what? I don't feel "like I'm always behind--at school and at home" anymore! My six-weeks sub job ended Nov. 7. Since then, I had another three days in other classrooms, then I asked the secretary to please not call till after Thanksgiving. : ) So now I just feel like I'm always behind at home. Ah well, that's nothing new. And I long ago resigned myself to the fact that I'll never be caught up, so I just keep making those weekly "to do" lists, and keep trying to make at least a little progress. Are you a list maker?

Only Her Hairdresser....

Yesterday (Friday)--No school! The 8 hours had been worked earlier in the week, when we had parent-teacher conferences for four hours after school on Monday and Tuesday. Talk about a couple of LONG days! And yes, even though, I'm "just the sub", I got in on them, since I had been in the classroom for almost as long as the regular teacher by then. We're down to seven school days before the regular teacher returns. I'll miss the kids, but not the part of feeling like I'm always behind--at school and at home.

Anyway, yesterday was the day that the church youth group (B. and I are sponsors) had planned to paint the wire fence at church. The morning was gray and cold, but by noon it was clearing off and starting to warm up, even if rather windy, so we proceeded with the project, finishing in about four hours. The fence looks GOOD now--nice and SHINY!

Someone's hair is turning gray. Or is it "chrome aluminum"??? Only her youth group knows for sure!!

a problem

"I will conquer my procrastination problem.....

just you wait!!!"

One down, five to go

A week into the job, and I'm getting used to the classroom schedule. But the knack of getting all those papers graded in a timely fashion hasn't come back to me yet. Ah well, they'll get taken care of eventually! This week is a bit mixed up--we go to the next town over for an "author visit" in the morning, then on Friday afternoon there is the homecoming parade. So, also tomorrow, we need to get a banner made for the class to carry as they walk in the parade.

I'm tired. And I need a haircut!

It's a girl!

Life around here is going to be different. The call came at 6:11 this morning. It was the school principal. "Can you come in (to sub) today?" Sure enough...... by just before noon the third grade teacher had a new daughter, and I had a six-week job ahead of me! I'm looking forward to this as a change from never knowing from day to day when and with what group of kids I'll be working.

The principal stopped by the classroom in the afternoon to let us know that Hallie Rose had arrived. Right after he went out of the room, one little boy asked about the teacher, "Will she be back tomorrow?"

: )

A First

I sang at a funeral today. Okay, so technically I've sung at many funerals--with the rest of the congregation. But today, for the first time, I was the soloist at one. A couple of nice hymns-"His Eye Is on the Sparrow" and "Children of the Heavenly Father"-were selected by the family of Don VanDorn, who lived all his life in the Swede settlement here, except the last few years he was in a care home. We're also related, cousins a few generations or so back I think, to the VanDorns.

"I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being." Psalm 104:33

Overheard

While leaving a department store, I heard a man say to his (probably younger than age 10) daughter, "No, you can't." Having missed the first part of the conversation, I didn't know what he was talking about, but that was cleared up when he continued by saying, "If God had meant for you to have holes in your ears he would have put them there!"

This same guy and his family had checked out just ahead of me. When the cashier asked him how he was doing, or something to that effect, he gave her a whole-hearted "Good! Anytime I wake up and can see the green side of the grass it's a good day!"

This wasn't overheard, but I wanted to mention........ we finally got gas for under $2.00 a gallon today! (at Platte City, MO for $1.99 and 9/10 per gallon) Woo-hoo!

A Little (Unwanted) Excitement

Today was the second day of the first "Great U.S. 36 Highway Treasure Hunt"--literally hundreds of miles of garage sales all taking place along Highway 36 across Kansas this Fri.-Sat.-Sun. No, that's not the excitement to which I refer in the title. Yesterday I subbed (for band-now there's excitement, but that's not what I'm talking about either) and T. had to work after school. So, we (B., M., T., and I) headed out this morning to see what we could find, which turned out to be not much. There weren't nearly as many places as we had hoped, and most of the places we did hit seemed to have been pretty well cleaned out (or else they just didn't have much to begin with.) People told us that yesterday was a really good day for them (next year we'll try to go on the First day), plus that the next town over had over 50 locations! We were thinking about heading on over there and giving that town a try, when B. got a call on his cell phone. Ready? Here comes the excitement.

The call was from our brother-in-law, who thought he smelled smoke at his house, and upon investigation found it to be straw bales on fire at the place about a quarter mile south of his place. He called us, because JUST north across the road from his bales is where we have two long rows of hay bales! Did I mention the wind today? VERY windy! The direction? From the south!!

Thank the Lord for volunteer firefighters and for good relatives and neighbors! By the time we could get there, the Axtell fire department was hard at work, and some neighbors were there, or arrived soon. Several brought tractors for moving the burning bales to where they wouldn't catch ours on fire. Fortunately the fire didn't start at the south end of the neighbor's row, so all that was lost were around 6 bales. It Could have been MANY more. The fire department was there for around three hours before they all burned out.

Cause of the fire? Probably lightning last night.

I think I've waited decades for this!

Sunday evening we ended up playing Monopoly. Just regular old Monopoly. Not Star Wars Monopoly. Not Kansas Monopoly. Not Garfield Monopoly. Not Monopoly on the computer where you don't even have to think. Just Monopoly. You know....... the regular old board game with pieces you move around to try to buy various properties, dice to roll, little plastic green houses and red hotels. Anyway, I was iron/horse until the iron wouldn't stay attached to the horse easily, so then I was just horse.
: )
I think B. had the race car, M. the ship , and T. the dog. Anyway, we're starting out, and maybe the second time around or so, I landed on...... Park Place! Then, a few more times around, and I landed on...... you got it!....... BROADWAY!!!!! Both blue properties--mine!

So anyway, long story summed up now..... houses, then hotels, some deals made, and I won! That's right, big brothers who ALWAYS won....... I won! (P.S. Maybe I learned something all those years being on the little sister end of the wheeling and dealing.)

Who'd have thought......

........that Mom would get a tattoo?
........that Mom would stay up, and OUT, till around 2.00 A.M.?!

It happened the night of August 11.

However, I should probably clarify........

........that the "tattoo" was not permanent, but rather one that washes off.
........that there was a legitimate reason for being up and out so late.


August 11 was the Marshall-Nemaha County American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I was proud to have Mom attend as one of the survivors. The whole local event raised over $60,000, of which our team hit silver level for the first time, at just over $3,000! Thank you to all who contributed.


"Salem Crusaders", minus a few.

Power point presentation during the luminaria ceremony, which included (along with an hour's worth of names and/or pictures more) in memory of Blake.......

and in honor of Mom.

It also included in memory of Jenny, but with no photo.
There were enough luminaries to almost line the track twice, plus these shown in the bleachers. (This year those from our team were used here!) This is what it's all about!!!

Seeing Red

It seems that I'm seeing RED everywhere I look! Can you tell what these are?
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
Answers later!
We really like to see red tomatoes. Have enjoyed some yummy BLTs, and finally got enough ripe at the same time to start some canning. But I haven't had the heart to can this happy little fellow......yet!

Bathtime before being peeled and quartered
Sorry the one picture is sideways. Can't seem to get it straightened out here. : (


Things are starting to get a little hot here.

They've been under a lot of pressure lately!

Cooling down before heading to the pantry.

And now..... the answers you've been waiting for! : )

#1 - asparagus going to seed.... did I fool anyone into thinking it was a tomato?














#2 - a tomato hiding in the vines.














#3 - some of the green peaches from the previous blog starting to turn red. They're not very big at all, but it's the first time the tree has put on any peaches at all.


#4 - a zinnia (I know, not very fair since it was kind of blurry!)

#5 - M.'s '66 Chevy


#6 - Ford tractor


#7 - "Kernel"

#8 - thermometer with a typical reading lately, though certainly not the highest it got!


#9 - votive cups- part of my Americana decor


#10 - Did we used to actually manage without a cell phone?


See you soon, somewhere over the rainbow!

A Day in the Life of a Pea

The "Life" of a pea?!?! I must have been feeling a little green when I took these photos the middle of JUNE-on the 15th to be exact.
All of our Peas in a Row
Peas on the Vine
Picked Peas

The WINNER-11 peas in a pod!

Pass a Pan of Podded Peas, Please

Prepare to Be Blanched, Peas!

Peeze Ready to Freeze

The peaches, apples, and tomatoes were also GREEN that day.



We ended up putting around a dozen bags of peas, ten of cauliflower, nine of asparagus, and 25 (!) of broccoli in the freezer this year. Stay tuned for more exciting colors as the summer progresses....... b e y o n d the GREEN!