Thursday, August 31, 2006

Biking

Another day is almost over. I rode my bike again today, atleast five miles. I missed yesterday. But I hope to keep this up until winter. I must keep this up until winter. I'm going to keep this up until winter!

Lorraine

I talked to my sister, Lorraine, on the phone last night. We had a long visit, (I was in our sun room in the dark) and finally, when we began to get silly, decided it was time to hang up. Lorraine is going to Japan! How exciting! She's going with Christine and Joe, one of her grandsons. I was there briefly once on my way to Thailand and I've changed planes there a few times but to be there for 10 days and experience all the things she will, is an unbelievable and exciting opportunity! So, Lorraine, Bon Voyage!

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Smoke alarm!

Oh boy, I did it today. I needed to make up a hummingbird mixture so I put water and sugar in a small pan on a burner turned up on high. Usually I stir and just wait for it to come to a boil, turn it down to simmer and after a few minutes turn it off to cool. Well, today I turned the burner on high and went into the living room to read the paper with Jerry. I even started the crossword puzzle. All of the sudden the smoke alarm went off! What in the world...Oh, NO! I suddenly remembered the hummingbird water. It had boiled dry and all that sugar had burned in the bottom of my pan. Smoke filled the house and left a horrible odor. We opened windows and turned on fans. I sprayed room deodorizer all through the house. My little pan is ruined. I got that from my mom's things when they moved out of their apartment. It's in the trash now. I'm thankful I didn't go for a bike ride, I might have burned the house down!!! Oh boy, I've heard of old folks doing dumb stuff like this but I'm not old yet! I've still got a little over two years to go before I'm old!

Happy Birthday, Cookie!

Today is Cookie's birthday! Cookie is my older brother's wife. They live in Colorado so we don't see them very often. But, I wish her a very happy birthday! Richard, you treat her like a queen today!

Seeing deer

Jerry is clearing out our woods around our yard and close to our driveway. I help him some. It's a big job, but boy, what a difference it makes. Monday we saw lots of deer tracks, some of them quite big and some small. That's always exciting to us. But, of course, it's even more exciting when we actually see the deer. When Sydney and Isabella were here for a week, one day Sydney yelled, "Deer, I see deer!" We all looked out the living room windows and sure enough, there were two deer. One was a doe and the other one was a buck with antlers! It's the first time we've ever seen a buck with antlers in our yard! We were ecstatic! Then about a week later, while eating breakfast in our sun room, we saw about six deer at the back of our property! It doesn't take much to entertain us!

Class

Good morning! I had an interesting call last evening. A young expectant mom called to ask about the class I'll be teaching this fall on The Dilemma of Young Mothers. Trying not to give too much of it away I told her a little about the first lesson which is more on marriage than on motherhood. But I said the first step to becoming a good mom is to have a good and loving relationship with your husband. I also said the Bible would be our guidebook. She sounded very positive and interested. So I was very excited and motivated last night. But, it also presents some challenges. There are a lot of single moms now and several in our church. If one of them comes, how do I justify a lesson on keeping husband number one? Oh, Lord, help! Well, atleast I know I'll have one person in the class! I've been a little worried that no one would come! I could use your prayers!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

t-bone

I splurged at Meijers this week and bought two big t-bone steaks. Jerry cooked them today out on the grill. Mmmm-Mmmm, were they good! To go with them I fixed baked potato, fruit salad, and corn. We were both too full for dessert, but it would have been brownies.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Friends

Last Saturday afternoon we went to Emerson Park to a birthday celebration of one of our friends who no longer lives in our town, or state! Don and Michelle and kids moved about a year ago when Don got a new job. We miss them and so it was nice to have been invited to this party. Thanks, Michelle, for having a birthday! When we arrived it was raining so we sat in our car hoping it would let up but the longer we sat there the harder it rained! Finally we gave up and made a mad dash for the shelter (thank goodness for the shelter!) where our friends were setting up lots of good food. I added my Texas Brownies to the table. We saw lots of other friends as well. I'll never forget on one of my trips west Don and I discovered we were traveling on the same plane! The seat next to me was vacant so Don moved up and we had a really good visit. I feel a special bond between us, we both know we can depend on each other's prayers. One of God's greatest gifts to us is friends.

My Mom

I called my mom last night. She's fine. She's only 92! She lives alone in her apartment in Independent Living. I don't talk to her as often as I'd like to. She's very lonely without my dad and her evenings are so long so that's when I feel I should call her. She's deaf so I have to talk loudly. Since she lives in Washington state I have to allow a 3 hour difference in time, which means I have to call after 10:00 PM EST. Well, Jerry has gone to bed by then so if I call her I disturb him. So now I have a system... I go downstairs to our sunroom and close the door! He can't hear me so I can talk as loud as I need to and for as long as I want to. I also go to the sunroom to call Lorraine, my sister, because we always talk well over an hour and that's a long time for him to hear a voice droning on and on. We laugh a lot too so in the sunroom, with the door closed, I can make as much noise as I want without disturbing Jerry! One night while Lorraine and I were talking the motion light, outside the sun room, came on! That was scary! I was sitting in the dark but I couldn't see any thing moving outside so it was probably a small animal going by. Lorraine asked if we had any neighbors who might be window peeking! I told her, not that I know of! Well, back to my mom. Her main problems are: she can't hear and she can't see. Her mind is very good and that's a blessing. We hope she keeps her good mind. She's getting new and better hearing aides for both ears. They are so expensive it's unbelievable. She has her electric wheel chair that she rides everywhere she wants to go. You should see her go down the hall! Thank goodness she can see objects! She's a good driver and a speedy driver! We had a nice visit last night, she brought me up to date on family members and on her own daily life. She went to visit a friend in nursing about a half hour before supper so she had a limit on the length of her visit. She said the woman didnt want her to leave but knowing she had to go to supper it was okay and they said good-bye. Mother recently loaned my dad's scooter to a friend who needed one to get around. It sat in the hallway by her door for months but she just couldn't part with it, it had been such a part of Dad's daily life. So now, eight months after his death she is ready to loan it out. Her friend was so grateful and Mom felt so good for helping her friend that it made it all worthwhile. So life goes on...someday...I'll probably be in the same situation my mom is in! Well, let's not go there...

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Seasons

Can you believe it---we're near the end of August! August used to be the hottest month of the summer. When we go outside now the air somehow feels like autumn. It's still hot out but there is something different about it. Something is changing and I'm not sure what to think of it. Oh well. I'm the type of person who loves all four seasons! My favorite one is autumn. There is something about autumn and Indian Summer that I love.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Teaching

I recently resigned from teaching the most fun class ever - 5th and 6th grade on Wednesday evenings at my church. I didn't want to resign but it was time. These kids need someone else with more energy, someone younger, I told myself. I'll never forget the reaction of the class when I told them I wouldn't be returning in the fall. First there was silence, then one spoke up: "WHY?" There was no mention of me having gray hair and getting old! I love those kids! My assistant pastor said I'd better think of what I want to do to take the place of teaching kids. Sooo I'll be teaching a class for only 6 weeks on The Dilemma of Young Mothers. Boy, am I nervous about that! What was I thinking! Life today is nothing like it was when my children were small and besides, I'd give anything if I could go back and raise my kids all over again! I'm definitely not an expert! Well, I guess I'll start out by being honest and telling them just that! I tried to find just the right book to use as a reference book but just couldn't find the right one. Then it came to me: the Bible is the best guidebook! So there I have it. No one can argue with me because God's Word is Truth. I'll try to keep you updated on how the class progresses. Maybe no one will come! Like I said, I have gray hair and I'm getting old! Sometimes I forget that!

Psalm 119

A new day. I just finished reading Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the book, by the way. So I took three days to read it. It's so good. It's a Psalm to read, digest, memorize (parts), and then read again!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Happy Birthday, Bill!

Good morning! Today is cloudy, cool day. It's also my younger brother's birthday! Happy Birthday, Bill! When we were kids he was Billy. Billy was a premy baby and not expected to live and now here he is, 64 years old!!! Our Mom wasn't expected to live either, and she's now 92! I think I'll go read the 139th Psalm again!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Free to be me

Well, here I am: Child of God, daughter, sister, WIFE, mother, grandmother, aunt, neighbor, friend. That pretty much describes me! Oh yes, I need to lose weight, have gray hair, love to read and travel. Okay, enough about me.