I'm Baaack!

I returned from my nearly 6 day sojourn to Iowa at 11 pm last night after driving for several hours in rain. I was totally exhausted, mentally and physically. My mother fell and broke her neck. Really! I've heard the warning several times, but I think she is about the only person I know of that actually "fell and broke her neck". So the next time you're warned, listen, it could happen. She fell getting out of the shower. Anyway, she had been having a lot of pain, had to wear a cumbersome brace and remember a complicated series of medications and instructions, so my sister and I had been helping her for several days. As it neared time for me to come home, I could see that she would be needing additional help for quite some time, so we checked her into a nursing home yesterday. It was hard to leave her there also, but not as hard as it would have been to leave her alone at her home. Hopefully it will be a temporary arrangement and she will continue to heal. I'll come up with more of a cheery blogging topic soon. I've got flowers in my yard, a daughter going to prom, green grass and leaves, and DH made it possible for me to return to a clean house and completed laundry so I've got a lot to choose from!!

Off to Iowa

Just a quick post to say I'm going to Iowa tomorrow to stay with my mom for a few days. She had another fall on the Saturday before Easter and needs someone to be with her for now. My sister has been with her all week, so I'm going down to stay until next Wednesday probably. We hope that she will be doing better by then and will be able to continue just having help a few days a week, but we're looking into different options. I might be checking blogs while I'm there, but I'm not sure since she has dial-up. She also hasn't gotten her tv box hooked up yet for digital, so I may have to try to do that while I'm there. It's like pioneer living-ha. It looks like it will be a beautiful day today, so I've got work, then a baseball game, then bell practice, then packing, so it will be a busy day!

What a difference!

TB has his 2nd double header tonight and wow was it cold! I think the wind was 40 miles an hour at some points, so with the temps in the 40's it was pretty frigid. I was thankful for my reheatable seat cushion. It's called a LavaBuns. :) You warm up the inside in the microwave for a few minutes and put it back in the cushion and it stays warm for a long time. That and many layers of blankets and clothing kept me reasonable warm. I was happy when the 2nd game was called for darkness about the same time it started raining again. They won both games, but didn't play that great and made some silly mistakes. I'm sure the weather was a big issue. I know if I were out there I would only be thinking about how cold it was.

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I'm finally going to the chiropractor tomorrow to see if I can get some relief from this sciatica I've been having for a few weeks. I kept thinking it would get better, but it hasn't, so I decided to go in. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to go to the dr., but I'd really rather not spend the money. There are so many things in my life that need money right now that I don't know where to begin. I hope business will pick for DH sometime soon! I'm hoping to find out what my hours for next year will be soon. Many teachers and some other staff are getting laid off and I'm sure para hours will be cut too, but I'm not sure if it will affect me or not. I'm keeping my eye out for another job, having benefits would be so helpful when things like this sciatica flare up.

Goodbye Picture

Okay, so I removed my picture from my profile again. Thanks for the nice comment about my neck, Janelle. :) I was somewhat horrified to realize that my picture shows up when I make a comment on someone else's blog, so I decided to take it off again. Occasionally my comments might seem a little snarky, so the thought of my picture sitting there beside what I said was just too much. Recently someone actually called me a bully in response to one of my comments. I had dared to say that this previous commentor appeared to have "major issues". It's true that you come across all types if you're on the internet long enough. However, the blogs I read regularly seem to be written by lovely people with lots of great ideas, beautiful pictures, thoughtful commentary, or all of the above. No signs of "major issues". Thanks!

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We got some much needed rain last night and today. It seems like everything is greening up over night. TB has another double header tomorrow afternoon and its predicted to be cool, but not rainy by then. We hauled another load of leaves, etc. to the dump yesterday before it started to rain. I can't remember doing so much yard work so early other years, but like I told DH, other years I've been a lot busier driving people around. All of the kids driving themselves where they need to go frees up a lot of my time.

Baseball

I've had kind of a baseball filled day and it was great. TB had a double header today, so I spent about 5 hours at the baseball field and it turned out to be a great day. We had temps in the 70's and a light breeze and it was just wonderful to be sitting at the ball field on a nice warm day again. It helped that they won both games and TB got to play his favorite positions including pitching a few innings. He did a good job pitching for the first time this year and got a few hits too. He was in a great mood after the game. Here's a picture of what I call "the look".

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I haven't followed the Twins as closely this year, but Jason Kuble hit for the cycle last night. In case you don't know, that's where you get a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game. His homer was a game winning grand slam, so I'm sorry I missed it. I hope we'll be able to get to a game this summer, but with all of TB's games and the expense, it might not happen.

100th Post- Weather, etc.

Well, today's my 100th post. After much thought, I've decided not to do "100 things about me". I hope no one is too disappointed. Maybe I'll save that for the 200th. Anyway, I've enjoyed the blogging thing more than I thought I would and I plan to keep plugging along at it. I appreciated everyone who visits my blog and if you're a lurker, today would be a great day to say "hello". I think I flatter myself that I have any lurkers. I'll also solicit any constructive comments for my blog such as "no one cares about the weather, so quit talking about it all the time" or "quit referring to your family by those stupid initials". I promise I can take it. As an aside, I actually deleted a blog I visited quite frequently when the person went to a new format to be more private and started calling her kids and husband by the stupidest names I'd ever heard. I'm shallow that way. :) I also decided to post a picture of myself for my profile that I don't hate, at least for a few days. I had just finished my diet, was tan, and happy because I cropped Joshua Bell out of the picture. Actually maybe I should just put the picture of Joshua Bell. We went to his concert last summer and it was fabulous by the way. Have a great day and enjoy the weather!!!

PS. Here's week two or three of the greenhouse.

Spring Cleaning

The weather has been great the last couple of days so I've been hitting the yard work hard. After three trips to the yard waste dump and I feel like things are starting to look a little better. I'd like to get a little more raking done before it rains because I know that with the warm weather we've been having, a little rain would make everything shoot up like crazy. We're starting to see a little green in the grass and some of my perennials are starting to grow. Oddly enough though, when I was raking yesterday I uncovered some areas still frozen with ice. That's Minnesota for ya I guess.

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Today is College Son's 20th birthday. Have those years ever gone fast! The weird thing is when he tells me about some of his college experiences, it seems like just yesterday that I was doing some of the same things. I really envy the new parents today that are able to document their kids lives so completely and easily with blogs, facebook, etc. To think about that when my son was a baby I had to take a photo with a film camera, get the film developed, then remember to mail the photos out to people so they could see him. A friend just got a new grandson the other day and immediately had a picture of him sent to her on her phone. Pretty amazing. Anyway I hope he won't kill me for this, but here's a picture of him from when we dropped him off at school in the fall.

A lovely Easter and other musings

It was a nice weekend and today I'm feeling very thankful in many ways.
*We got together with good friends Saturday night to celebrate our oldest sons' mutual birthday. They'll both be 20 on Wednesday. Our middle children are dating each other as well as the fact that we as parents are friends also. I appreciate how all of this works and that our boys are growing up to be nice young men.
*SD and I went shopping on Saturday afternoon and had a lot of fun together. We don't have a lot of money to spend, so we hit some of the second hand and discount stores and split the cost of her clothes. I appreciate that she is willing to shop with her mom, at used clothing places and has sense about what to buy and what looks good on her. My only purchase was a scarf to dress up an old pants suit for Easter, but I was okay with that.
*We had a delightful Easter Sunday. We attended the two later Easter services at our church where we played in the bell choir (SD and I) and sang with the vocal choir (DH and I). TB helped with the continental breakfast between services. Our musical pieces turned out well for the most part and we had a nice thank you e-mail from our director this morning saying how many nice comments he had as well as how it was a blessing for people in the congregation to hear our music. I thought it was really nice of him to pass along that thanks. It was one of those times that it was good to hear the sermon twice as I think I got more out of it.
*After we got home we had a late lunch of an egg roll recipe I love and I watched part of the Master's golf tournament. DH made supper of beef kabobs and homemade pasta before we had to take CS back to college. I made some cupcakes while DH was grilling the kabobs for CS to share with his friends once he gets back to school.

I thought I would share this recipe-it's quite easy, but yet kind of fancy and I've served it several times for brunch along with fruit and pastries.

Yummy Egg Roll

4oz. Cream Cheese, softened

¾ c. Milk

2T. Flour

Salt

Beat above in a small bowl

Add to 12 eggs beaten

Grease a jelly roll pan, line with parchment. Spray or grease parchment, pour in egg mixture. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes until puffy and golden. Remove, spread center with 2 T. or more of Dijon mustard, 2 c. minced ham, 1c. cheddar cheese (shredded), ½ c. chopped green onions, chives, or finely chopped onions; cover with 1 more cup cheddar. Roll up by lifting one side of the parchment and then the other and turn it seam side down, remove parchment, sprinkle with ¼ c. cheddar. Bake a little longer till cheese is melted and center has had time to warm- anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

A busy Saturday

It's one of those days where I need to pack a lot in and here I am sitting at the computer. I need to get to the baking, shopping, and cleaning for the day really soon. We had a nice afternoon and evening yesterday. TB's team won their first game. He didn't get in until the 6th inning, but ended up getting a hit in his one at bat. He was pretty happy to be batting 1.000! Then we rushed to the Good Friday service at church. It was a nice service and rather different than I remember in other years. Anyway, it was meaningful and beautiful. The only detriment was the cell phone going off during the sermon. An older gentleman that let it continue to ring while he walked out, took the call, and then walked back in later in the sermon. Of course all heads turned to watch. There were cell phones going off 3 times the night before. A friendly reminder: Turn off or silence your phone when you're in church! Later in the evening we got together with family friends, so it was kind of a late night.

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By the way, I'm approaching 100 posts! How shall I commemorate the occasion? I'd welcome any suggestions. Perhaps I'm supposed to wait until my official blogiversary to celebrate?

Skywatch Friday!

I haven't participated in Skywatch Friday for awhile, but when I was outside earlier in the week and saw this beautiful shade of blue and such white puffy clouds, I thought I had to share this. I can't wait until we get a few leaves on these trees! I hope to have the time to check out some other Skywatch entries also. We've had a lot of wind this week with temps in the 50's, so it is finally starting to feel more like Spring. Green grass and flowers can't be far behind, right? The in-laws down in Iowa got a foot of snow last week; I'm glad the storm missed us. Looking at any more snow would be cruel.

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It's going to be a very busy weekend for us with all of the activities at church. We've had extra music practices and I still have to bake several dozen rolls for the youth breakfast on Sunday. CS was able to get a ride home from college today, so that really helped. TB has his first baseball game this afternoon. I'm glad the weather will be nice and I hope he will get some playing time and it will all go well for him. We will most likely need to head to church before the game is over for the Good Friday service. I hope everyone will have a nice Easter weekend!

Identity Theft-Easter Version

I realize that this could be considered cuteness overload, but I just had to share these pictures from an e-mail I got at work. Aren't they cute? I get a lot of fun e-mails at work, but they are hard to forward as pictures like these come through as attachments rather that in the body of the e-mail. Usually I don't take the time to save each attachment, but I thought this was too cute to pass up.

My Professional Greenhouse

Well finally I have a profession; I'm a professional gardener as is shown by the fact that I own a professional greenhouse. Don't worry, I'm not starting out with too much overhead. My business sense tells me I should start small and grow from there. (Pun intended) Seriously, I can't believe it was only a few days since I planted these seeds and they've already started to grow. I talked to a gardening coworker and he tells me his petunias already have four leaves, so I'm a little behind, but I think I'll catch up by planting time. I have petunias, impatiens, and allysum and I also got some basil and oregano seeds last night to plant. I wish I had room for a real garden, but our yard is much too shady for anything but a few container grown plants. I hope these little ones will make it!

Gratitude Part 2

I just remembered that I was supposed to post a deep and thought provoking commentary on my gratitude journaling experiment for the week. As usual, I fell a little short in terms of the daily entries, but I did manage to get writing a few times. Overall, I think it's something worth sticking with, although in all honesty, I'm not good at doing anything intentional on a daily basis. I usually would be in bed with the lights off before I would remember that I was supposed to write in my journal, so I would have a few thoughts of gratitude before drifting off to sleep. Throughout the week, I have found that I would occasionally think of some of the things and would feel a bit of happiness or fulfillment for that time. In the grand scheme of things, I think it is always good to have some positive thoughts to fall back on and I can see how documenting them makes them more memorable. In the future when I may be having a rough day, I could pick up my journal and page through it remembering all of the good things in my life. If I could say that I've learned one thing in the last year it would be to not give in to fear. Like everyone, I've had some bad stuff in the last year, some bad stuff that is still going on, but I've been able to get through it better lately by not giving in to being fearful about it. (Most of the time anyway) Fear is a robber- of sleep, health, optimism, confidence, and lots of other attributes- I'm trying hard not to go to that place and I think the gratitude journaling can be a piece of that, so I'm going to try to stick with it and see where it leads me. I don't think there's a need to worry about me turning into a big ol' Pollyanna, so don't worry about that. Have a good week!

Whew!!

Boy am I ever out of shape from sitting around all winter. Today was fairly nice, and there's a big storm in the forecast for later this weekend, so I thought I 'd better get some yardwork done. I spent about 2 1/2 hours raking the yard and I'm totally pooped! TB helped for a little while, very begrudgingly I might add. 16 year olds just don't see the point in raking the leaves and dead grass up from the yard. I have a ton of work left to do throughout the spring, so I guess it's a good thing I got started. I'm considering focusing on a small area at a time and trying to get a little done each morning before I go to work. That's my intention every year, but it doesn't happen too often since I'm not much of a morning person.

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In my continual quest to save money, I started some flowers from seed this last week. I got a little "professional greenhouse" that holds 72 little seedlings. I planted my seeds, so now I'll just have to wait and see if anything happens. I figure if a few of them actually grow to a point I can use them outside, I'll have saved a lot of money, so we'll see. I'll post a picture when they sprout and you'll see why "professional greenhouse" is a massive exaggeration.

A Lost Art

Here are some of the pretty doilies and embroidered pieces I was mentioning the other day. I know they are probably a little cutesy for some, but I like them and I always think of all the hours of work that was put into them. It kills me to see pieces like these at garage sales or flea markets for a couple of dollars. These were made by my grandmothers and great aunts, now deceased. I know they would be happy that I am enjoying them all these years after they were made. I hope someone will still be enjoying and using the quilts I've made 50 or 100 years from now!
























By the way, I realize this is not a totally lost art. There are some people out there still embroidering and crocheting. But, not many would create a piece like this lady below. Lots of fine detail embroidery, crocheted lace around the outside, some kind of open work on the dress that I have no idea how they did. All on something that measures 7 x 10 inches, and there's another mirror image one that you can see in my previous post, Wow!