Wednesday Already?!?!?

Yep, it's Wednesday already. Time is just whipping by. We will have day 4 of Bible School tonight. I don't know why it exhausts me so. I go to work and then I fumble around the house until it's time to go to church and I don't seem to get much done and then by the time I get home, I am all done in. And did I mention I was leaving EARLY Friday a.m. to go on a week's vacation? Been waiting 4 years to go, so I'm more than ready mentally, but the packing needs to get done. Last night I went online to the DMV to get the form for Andrea to convert her Jr. license to a Sr operator license..and then went to work on some registration forms for our cars we traded...Still waiting for some paperwork from the dealership, but the temporary tags will run out while we're on vacation. Wonder who gets the job of heading to the DMV first? I say first, because mostly, it takes me 2 trips to have everything I need. Let's hope I can do it in one. Those trips tend to try my patience. So, yes, I did trade my car. And I got a new one.. and it was a Chevy.. and so far I'm pretty happy...I must be. I've been driving it a little over 2 weeks and I'm over 1000 miles already. I guess I never stay home. But I'm not driving on vacation, so I can cut down on my mileage that week! But so far I really like it. I didn't have a major problem with the old one, but perhaps a minor one that kept nagging, so when the hubby was making deals, he asked me to join in the fun and we both traded. I'm now driving a blue Traverse that can seat 7. He's driving a black Tahoe. We did OK. My Traverse is not huge, like my old Suburban, but bigger than my last Sport edition Equinox. I didn't hate the Equinox, but after I traded the Suburban, it seemed that we were often pushing the seating limit with the kids and I really think this new one rides better for this old body. Perhaps I could take a picture and you could see how lovely we look together. I used to think I would make sure to take pictures of all of our cars and then our grandchildren could laugh at them and say things like 'you should have kept this one" and 'why did you buy that?'
So one of my blogs-to-follow was the James challenge chick and we thought NO PROBLEM! and up to verse 12, I was grinning, but it has fallen by the wayside and now we have started our summer Bible Study. There are just 4 of us doing Beth Moore's Esther study. It was talked about by us before we had a study picked out and we decided for our first time, we'd not invite anyone else, just keep it the four of us... no makeups, no switching dates, it ends before the first week of school, so that was key to our get together. Like all her other stuff, this is good. We meet at 6a.m. at the church and watch the video and then have discussion until we have to leave and sometimes we just keep talking. It is much needed right now. The jug is running a little dry, so we come together to fill each other back up for the week...or month...I needed an extra dose today, 'cuz I'm missing next week. But I'll have my workbook and I'll keep up just the same. Kind of ironic, in the past we always would break for summer, but with this group and this meeting time, summer is our easiest time to schedule us together. So we are a secret sisterhood of the break of dawn basement Beth Moore bible study. No vacancy....
And I have had quite the run in with technology at my house attempting to re config the router with a range extender and communicate all the possible computer areas of the house. We have issues. If we upgrade a computer, we still keep the old computer and now we are rather into more hardware then we need to, but I think after a modem malfunction and a redo and another redo, yes, after 5 sessions with Linksys, we are still up and running. As far as I know right now.... but I've got to get going to pack for the Cape...and prepare my heart for college visits for Andy Sue...

Fourth of JULY !*!*!*

BERT'S BERRIES

This was Bert's first time of U-Pick strawberries. He didn't believe me when I said they would weigh him afterwards...I wanted berries for the 4th, so I had gone out looking on the 3rd, but it has been so rainy, there were none picked, but the sign said 'you pick only- July 4th 8am-1pm.. and we were there by 9 or so. We picked 2-4qt baskets. Sunday nite after Bible School, I whipped up 2 batches of freezer jam and unfortunately, tossed quite a few of the berries that didn't weather the weather so well. But we ate a bunch fresh on the 4th and then again at church on the 5th, so I guess we did OK!

Here's Andy Sue on the right with friend Hannah, cousin Rachel, friend Carrie... this was before they started playing with fire... Give sparklers to girls 17-20 and you take 10 years off their age real quick!!

Carrie, Rachel, Haley, and Hannah... must be Dani is too shy for the photo!! Andy had trouble getting these 4 to stand still long enough for the Kodak moment!!

Jars...

So anyway...I put up a note on the bulletin board at church. I was looking to score a few dozen leftover canning jars from a retired canner's stash. What I got last year was an offer of jars from the widow and they still have stuff in them, but he'd give me a spot on his farm to dump them. Do you think I would gag too much?? and some are glass lids...I never did glass lids. Do I want glass lids?? how do I do them? I've only done the button goes down and it is sealed lids... Now I don't want to look a gift jar in the mouth, but what do you think and what do you know?? I really wanted to CAN in them, not use them for decoration, which would make those glass lid ones awesome... but truth be told, I have some decoration ones right now. And today I got another offer of the glass top ones. Oh, what is a canner to do?? Guess I'd better go clean up some strawberries for the jam I'm going to make for my freezer after BIBLE SCHOOL tonight. It will be awesome and the crowds will go wild. OK, maybe not, but I will feel better, since there are some seriously ripe berries in there and as soon as I get this whole home network computer thing fixed again, I will post some loverly pictures and my July 4th stories. And because of some factors here, the fireworks were able to be viewed from the backyard this year, but not knowing that, I walked down the hill with a friend and her stroller and we watched from the grass down there!! Knowing that we can watch then from the yard, I'll stay up here next time. Don't tell the assessor- she'll raise our house value AGAIN!!

Down To Earth Audit

Thanks Farmgirl Cyn... you don't know how many combinations I tried to post that little thingie of Rhonda from Down to Earth. I didn't quite figure out how to click on the picture and get the link, so please just click on the words there and it will shoot you over to her website, where there is a gentle reminder to re-evaluate the changes you are trying to make in your life. It is a bit like looking at the paper you wrote your New Year's resolutions on and instead of saying 'I blew it', figuring out what to adjust and tweak to make it work better. I like to read her blog, because she is always encouraging, never condemning. We ALL need a little more of that these days!!

There is a little auditing of the books, so to speak, going on at Down to Earth... I think my many hours in Erie and beyond yesterday kind of violated the conserving a bit, but maybe not. I try to do as many errands at one time as I can and it sometimes seems to take WAY to long... but if you are crafty and creative, you will also understand how picking one yard of material for your purchase, among a sea of colors and patterns, can take more than a minute. And why, if you really want local strawberries, you'll stop at all 4 stands along the way and get the scoop. The rain is just wrecking havoc on the crop. I wanted fresh ones for today, and I was making jam out of the ones at home...except when I got home with no berries, I discovered that there wasn't enough left there for anything... the gremlins had moved in to search and devour them...oh, but my thoughts have strayed...again. Because of the next little few weeks schedule, I will adjust the week of no buying. It just won't happen yet, but I can read and learn and use it later and do some of the things along this summer... Be the Change...now I think I'd better make a plan of attack for the house, particularly the dining room... if the 4th of July party is always at your house, and it is Saturday, and Bible School starts Sunday evening, and after church you have a farewell dinner for members who are moving to Texas, and then after Bible School is done Thursday nite, you must come home and pack the car for leaving for Rochester at 7am to do some college visits on the way to Cape Cod for vacation for a week... and parcels for all those things have been accumulating on the dining room table, among other places, you should have a plan to have that spot cleared off and it might not be quite so pressing if it hadn't poured buckets at least 10 times a day for the last week. Chances are we will end up inside for at least part of the evening...I need to be prepared for that. My wonder kids did a stroke of work around here yesterday... I think they were glad to have me out of their hair and not reminding them of what needed done... so their rooms and the living room are looking mighty good right now...that is probably related to the amount of strawberry power they had.

testing 1-2-3 testing




I DO!! I want to be part of the

There's a little girl out there...

who is patiently waiting for her little baby quilt, but every day, the quilt must get bigger!! I have neglected a gift and it's time to take care of that. I was going to wait until I went to Cape Cod to get material, but I found these 5 colors when I was looking for backs for other things, so now I think I will try to sew the top and take it along as my sewing project for the week. Also taking some knitting dishcloths project for a new friend... then the stack of books I have been collecting..is it time to go yet?? First a week of Bible School, and then I'll be double ready for vacation!! I thinking just a random pattern of these colors - 'cuz lately, random is what I do best! Don't you wish it was for you?? Maybe next time! Thinking about the graduation party I'm going to at 6pm and perhaps I should start getting ready... also thinking I'd like to head out in the early a.m. to pick some strawberries... just gotta find a place. Bert will go with me...maybe Dan. We are needing to get some... Loaned my new-to-me extra freezer to Addie so she can stock up for the weekend and have some extra space. Everyone is going to want ice cream on July 4th weekend, and since it is the best around, I know you'll be there and you'll want your favorite flavor, but even with the extra space, you'd better go early. I think I will walk around the lake on the 4th and have an ice cream stop on the way... sounds like a winner, right?? Oh, but the picnic is here, so I'd better go early!!

Do you...

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!

This is my tomato jungle. I know now to purchase the tomato cages that you want, before you need them...because when you and your mother, too have checked 8 or 10 places, it will be getting too late... and when you find one that is quite a bit smaller than the others... and the plant, that will present a BIT of a problem, too. But Ma & Pa found me some today, so it sounds like we are on the road to neat and tidy again...

See it hiding in there?? You might have to click on the picture to get a close up, but you'll want to see my first cherry tomatoes are coming on!! I'm psyched!!

And can you taste the cucumbers that will grow on this plant, tucked here on the edge, ready to sprawl all over?!?

Do you find it odd that I take pictures that I never would have wasted film on before digital, just so I can blog it?? You, don't?? Is that because you do it too?? OK, then, we're obviously totally normal..whew! That's a relief... thought I was cracking up there for a while. I think I need to go get some burger fixin's... just trying to decide which direction. Perhaps I'd better wait for Bert to come back from Garret's house first... that will decide for me by what time it is.

I have been just a busy little hen today, flitting here and there... yeah, the first things I started are STILL not finished, but I did a lot of stuff in between. I got up and decided that the family room could use a good clean. So I got into that, then I got some laundry goin' and then I decided I should try some wheat bread again, and I tried a new recipe, and I multi-tasked myself into a whoops!! but hoping it tastes swell anyway...1 loaf and some rolls... then just as I was finishing that up to let it rise, I needed to go pick up Dan, who was wanting to go to the Transformers with a friend at lunchtime, but he knew he was a bit on thin ice with the slacky way some things got done yesterday. So he was on weeding duty ... and even though he mixed up cookie dough yesterday, he has yet to bake, so I went onto allrecipes.com and found an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and whipped up a batch of those and they are rather yummy... and now I have to come up with my blessings gift for tomorrow ... so I'd better be off.. oh, yeah, the family room!!..