Three Days and Two Nights in Pigeon Forge

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. ~Earl Wilson

This picture and the next one of tulips was taken at Pigeon Forge by my very talented daughter, the Princess. Her eye for photography is so natural to her that she does not even realize how good she is.

You might be wondering at this point how we ended up on a long weekend break in Pigeon Forge and this is how it began: In February, during the public school winter break (they have a week long break about every six weeks) a warm spell that fooled us to believe spring was here (because it was really cold, near freezing, after that until just recently) and I was lonely because my husband had been away for a few weeks, a friend invited me to go with their family on a cookout at a park about an hour's drive away. My daughter fell in love with that park.

While talking and walking around the pond (the park called it a lake—I think not), I offered to take care of their six-year-old during the public school spring break in the next six weeks, which shows how much of a friend she is because I dislike taking care of other people's children as a rule. After talking about Pigeon Forge—spurred by being outdoors among the tall trees and seeing cabins for rent there—and finding out that my husband and I had not been there, my friend began forming this idea. She thought we all should share a cabin at Pigeon Forge on the last weekend of that break.

Now we have been out of debt, except for the mortgage, since October and we have caught up on some things that needed fixing—not all, but some. However, we have a major expense coming up for which we have been saving: replacing widows and siding on our house. I was weighing that in my mind as my friend continued this weekend getaway plan in hers.

My husband thought it would be a good thing too. Inquiries as to availability were made. The cabins they had rented before were not available but a larger one was: four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, hot tub, and game room! Everyone asked for time off work (but me) and sent in the first half of the rent for two nights, however there had been a fire in the Pigeon Forge area afterward and for a few days we did not know if the cabin had been involved.
 
Friday we left on what could have been just a four hour drive, but we had to stop for lunch. Our cabin was on the lower part of a quiet, pine-covered mountain just outside "the strip," which is the main road lined with side-to-side tourists attractions. Tourist traps are not usually my kind of thing as I prefer the woods and hiking and relaxing and maybe a little shopping, but I am flexible. We did not go hiking, but we did have a nice balance of doing exciting, action things as well as relaxing ones. The food we made and the food we had out was all very good—too good so shows my waistline. My friend makes the most interesting dishes that are really easy to make and taste delicious, probably because of her love for cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream. She made a layered taco dip and what she called a chess cake, both quite memorable.

There was a bit of a disappointment when we were looking for the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop. We saw the inside wall with a mural of a cow on the outside of its neighboring store and rubble where the shop had been. I was so looking forward to going there, but there were other ice cream shops. We decided on Marble Slab Creamery and ate way too much of really, really good ice cream. I do not remember feeling hungry at all during the entire trip, which indicates how much I over ate.

Oh, before you go to the pictures below there was one small hiccup. When we arrived home we noticed that one of our rabbits had been moved from one cage to another and the middle one where it belonged was unlatched. Our pets were to be cared for by a neighbor with four rescued dogs and a cat of her own. My husband set up the rabbits with extra water and food so that she would not have to mess with them at all...or so we planned. However, even though both he and I check the cages to be sure they were latched, at some point one of the rabbits got out. Now we have them in a penned area, but it is mostly to keep large animals out and rabbits can get out. So, the next door neighbors' two dogs are going wild because Sharii (Shah REE) is chasing around the half grown rabbit. Now that might sound like a dangerous situation and Sharii can get rough, but usually with a rabbit of this size, not more than an aggressive male rabbit to another. I felt so bad for the lady, but the rabbit came up to her and she got it into a cage. I guess the next time we go anywhere we will padlock the pen, because someone had to have unlocked the middle cage. (And we were more worried about the dog, because we had never done this before with her.)

Anyway, we finally went on a little vacation that we have not done in almost eight years, spent almost every penny we brought with us, had a very good time with lots of memories, and everyone lived!


Bears' Den Cabin

I need to give credit to the photographer here. All the pictures taken of the cabin except for the one she is in was taken by the Princess. She has a very good eye for taking pictures, especially the one of her friend on the porch swing.

(I have to insert here that I am very frustrated with Photobucket as it used to have a feature so that the pictures in the slide show could be placed in the desired order, but it is completely reformatted and I cannot find any way to do it now. Very frustrating!) UPDATE: Yay! All the pictures are showing in the order I wanted for the slideshows now!

Hot Rods

My friend went once and then gave me her second ticket, but I could not drive and take pictures of me driving, but I will add any she sends to me. The Princess had never driven a go-cart before, but she has driven our riding lawn mower under supervision. Still, she was cautious the first time. Afterward, she went all out.

Hot Air Balloon

Okay, the hot air balloon was actually filled with helium and the "hot rods" where actually go carts, but since the weather was on the cool side for most of our trip, I tried to think warmer.

Old Mill

On Sunday we had to check out before 10:00 AM and we decided to have a late breakfast out in the historical area of Pigeon Forge as well as stop in a few shops, including a candy shop with fudge and salt water taffy made on the premises. It was relaxing for us ladies, but after grabbing the candy, the guys and little girls could not wait to go-cart race again before heading home. By the way, all these pictures were taken by the Princess. (She is so very good at taking pictures!)

~ My Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you for good times and good food, and most of all for good friends with which to share them. ~

Pulled in All Directions

Be careful in your choices, my child. You have not yet learned that everything you own, actually owns you. ~me

I do not know why I am sitting and writing out my feelings right now, instead of getting things under control...at least one or two. I mean, I have plenty of things to do like Christmas baking, cards, and shopping in addition to paying bills.

I missed a deadline for a book review, so I was told. That should be a higher priority than this is and I have an article due in a week that I have not started either.

I could go out and shop for the Black Friday specials, but my heart is not into it, but at least my van is working now. Oh, you may not have heard about the last fortnight. Well, it might explain why I am in the state of mind--or mindlessness--in which I am currently.

Well, it began kind of like this...


Saturday, November 10th
The church board meeting was a bit rough for me. I have been introducing too many new songs it seems, beautiful songs that have been popular and some have been out for over ten years, but apparently most of our board members do not listen to contemporary Christian radio. It was mentioned that more hymns would be nice.

I would love to incorporate more hymns, but there are three difficulties I have with them. One is that our selection is very limited and most of the songs are very short. Two, I do not have a band or even a pianist to bridge between songs and pull them together, so the hymns are like an abrupt difference and feel halting. Three, except for one family in their thirties, we have a 50 year old and older congregation of churched most of their lives and every church leader agrees that style of music is what determines the age of the congregation so hymns would fit for what we have now. However, I feel led to use more contemporary music for in just eight more years we will be a sixty and over congregation of churched with no new younger families joining and nothing for reaching the unchurched.

Sometimes the service is more contemporary, sometimes a bit more traditional, and sometimes the mix is balanced, but I spend a great deal of time listening to music and talking with God about each service, so I believe I was doing what pleased my Lord. I did appreciate the suggestion by another member to consider getting CDs for our hymnals, although I found them to be quite costly, but I passed on the information on later that day.


Sunday, November 11th
This was the first service after the election and also Veteran's Day. I had my songs already picked, but on Sunday morning I woke up and changed two of them. I was not sure it was my Lord's leading or just my reaction to the board meeting and the election, but I prayed that it would please my Lord. I also would read a poem called "The Ordinary Soldier" and talked briefly about placing our trust in God's kingdom rather than man's government and about being in service to our Lord as our military is in service to our country. God is so good! The guest pastor even mentioned how he had not spoken to anyone about his subject and how all this went perfectly with his message. I am amazed every Sunday how this has been happening, when we have such a variety of guest speakers and we all just trust God's leading! Wow!

My husband decided to give me my Christmas gift early, so right after church, he drove towards Atlanta instead of home. It was not a welcomed surprise for the Princess, who had plans for her afternoon apparently, but she tolerated it better after we talked about eating at Fuddrukers, a hamburger place she really likes. Then we went to Micro Center, my husband's favorite tech store. What I wanted for Christmas was simply an e-reader but he had it in mind to buy the laptop he had picked out for me, since the new responsibilities with church music and videos were overloading my six year old laptop, which was maxed out. I mean there are USB Flash Drives that have as much space available now! The one he had eyed online was a refurb for $100 less--my husband has become quite the spendthrift these last few years! So I am now the owner of a wide-screen, HD quality, great stereo speakers (for a laptop), Windows 7 laptop with a battery that last for hours!

As exciting as that is, changing over to a new computer has its hassles and I have had quite a few. I was really deflated when I realized that the battery was not charging at all. Googling, I found this was a common problem with Windows 7, but this is why I do not do brand new operating systems...I like it better when they have worked out all the bugs of a system, about a year or two old. Finally, after a couple of days and all the Windows updates, including one for the Bios, my battery was charging and all was right with my little cyber world. I still have few programs to load, but I now have a hard drive that is over ten times the space I had before. SO MUCH SPACE! Did you hear that virtual echo?


Tuesday, November 13th
I received an email on Monday evening, as all the board members did, that gave information about two CDs with hymns and one with Christmas music that we have at the church, which was in response to a report I had given at the board meeting on the prior Saturday. I appreciated the interest in the praise and worship, but the only one CD we have devoted to traditional "Christmas Hymns," as it is called, reads that it has 25 songs. Unfortunately, only 14 are actually for church service use as the rest are nice carols, like "Silver Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." You get the picture. Also, each song ranges in play time from around three minutes to just one minute. Since I have listened to every song on every CD, I had additional information. For instance, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" has verse one and five for one minute of play time--the night was very short! Since the two hymns CDs are produced by the same company, they are similar. "Amazing Grace" has verse one, three, and seven only. Knowing that they would not have this information, on Tuesday I took the time to write out a sampling of the songs so that all the board members would have more detailed, factual information.


Thursday, November 15th
Thursday I started out with my usual errands wrapped around the Princess' piano lesson. I have noticed something going on with the van for the last few months, but whenever my husband drove it, the problem did not happen. Well, it really happened when I put the van in reverse to straighten it out in a parking space. The Princes thought we had hit something. "No, I pretty sure that was the transmission," I said as I tried to act as if it was just one of those little bumps in the road of life. Although it slipped, it did catch in gear and we got out of the parking space. Going forward did not seem to be the problem so I went on the rest of my errands being sure I would not have to go in reverse, but I forgot when we stopped in at a store near home. I got out of the parking space and parked where there would be no cars around the rest of the evening in case we needed to have it towed for now I was having a bit of a problem starting to going forward too. I called my husband who was on his way home but nearly two hours away. My daughter and I shopped and went to eat at a restaurant while he drove home to let out the dog, feed the pets, and clear out his work van full of parts to make room for us and the groceries. He drove my Dragon Heart to the garage and we followed in his Pegasus.

During all this my child lost her tween whine about what we could not do and just went with what we could do without a complaint. Apparently, I am better with crisis management than I think I am and it has been rubbing off on her.


Friday, November 16th
There are times I do not like being right. This would be one of them. This is the second transmission we have replaced in less than six months. Pegasus had to have a new one when she encountered rubber coming off a semi in July. Fortunately, Dragon Heart's transmission would not be as costly and although a setback, we are still free of credit card debt. So, we were told we should have the van back Tuesday evening. I began preparing foods for the church dinner on Sunday.


Sunday, November 18th
Although we have absolutely no traditional Thanksgiving hymns on any of our church CDs, I did find a medley video we could use. I asked for what we were thankful and everyone said the things that I expected home, family, health--basically all the things that make life comfortable and can be taken away. God had reminded me before the service that all the things for which we are typically thankful are things that we will not have to be concerned about in heaven so I passed on that little message.

The Princess had invited a friend to service with us as we were having Thanksgiving dinner at the church and I am glad she was there as the other family with a child could not make it. Although we usually do not leave until 9:00 AM, her parents dropped her off early at 8:00 AM as they were leaving for their church; they are heavily involved with the children's ministry there. I made a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, and brought a store bought peach pie, along with three kinds of homemade sourdough rolls and my Holiday Red Cabbage Coleslaw for which a few people ask; one of the church members loves it and calls "purple stuff." (I try to make extra so he will have plenty to take home.) After the dinner, we hung the greens for Christmas.

That evening I had scheduled for us to have pictures taken...I have not done this for years because it is a zoo during the holidays! We arrived about ten minutes late and were told there were four families before us so maybe thirty minutes wait. Thirty minutes later we were told there were four families before us so maybe thirty minutes wait. No kidding! Well, there was a book store near and so we went there. Pictures were taken and we waited another thirty minutes or more to view and choose.  We went just a bit over the budget amount...just a bit. Then we could wait another thirty minutes for them to be processed or pick them up later. The Princess was sure she would feint for lack of food so we opted for the later pick up.


Monday, November 19th
I was in crash mode. It became obvious as I wrestled with migrating email files that just was not working for me, mostly because I was just too burned out to think it through. Good news came in the late afternoon: Dragon Heart was ready for us with a new transmission. My husband also stopped to get the pictures.


Tuesday, November 20th
We paid the garage and picked up Dragon Heart, then I went back home to mess with the new computer and my husband on to work. I was so very glad I had the van later on!

The Princess brings in Sharii to me saying that he is not acting like himself and he had something I should see on his neck. One look, one feel, one phone call, and we are rushing to make an appointment in just twenty minutes so we can wait at the vet's for at least thirty minutes in the lobby, and another twenty in the examination room. Sharii has had swollen glands now and then every since we got him as a kitten, but never something like this. Half the width of his neck was the size of this thing. I thought it was an abscess. One stick of a needle and drawing out the fluid confirmed it. The recommendation was lancing, draining, and antibiotics. About a hundred dollars and another thirty minutes later, I had a cat who was happy to see me again and was draining from a much larger incision than I expected. Later that same cat would growl at me ever time I touched him.

I bought him inside with me during the evening and had him lay on my lap. He stopped growling and fell asleep. He would be spending a few days in the garage, which he loves to do but not half a much as Midnight. The squirrels began to take advantage of the missing cats and I hope they clean up the acorns while they have the chance.


Wednesday, November 21th
AT&T our phone and Internet ISP has been sending letters that if we do not take their offer to switch to U-verse that they will not be maintaining the DSL and we could lose service. They offered a new router for free and a reduction in monthly fee. So I spent some time last week trying to understand the costs and services to make a decision. I decided that we would go with U-verse with VOIP and they scheduled it for the morning on the day before Thanksgiving. Now, first I have to explain that while everyone who works for AT&T is so nice and seems quite proficient in their jobs, I have had the worst experiences with the company. Nothing ever goes smoothly or right. We used to have two phone lines, when I had a business. One was in my name and the other was in my husband's. They convinced me to combine the two onto one bill because it would save us money. Well, then both numbers were in my name. We tried to change the names and they disconnected one of the lines and then the other one. After the second time, I just left it. Later I closed the business and dropped one line...and made the mistake of again trying to change the name on the account. Since I decided to just leave it alone...it just was the better choice for my sanity.

So, here we are making another change with AT&T. Thankfully, my husband was home in the morning for the installation. Oh, the guy shows up, but we are not in the system so the DSL disconnect cannot happen. He cannot do it because the DSL guys are union. (You really do not want to know what I think of unions and to add to those feelings there is the whole Hostess and baker's union thing going on this week too.) However, we did get switched over and I have the dust from the lines being run through our drop ceiling in the office area in the basement to prove it. I must say that the phone lines are so quiet now. We have more bandwidth, although we did not ever use our limit before even with Netflix. I opted for the faster version so we are not seeing "rebuffering" when watching Netflix and my husband's employer pays for out Internet access. However, we need another router to network with our external hard drive that is supposed to be for backups, but also is being used to store the music and videos that would not fit on my old laptop and right now I cannot access the music.

I received an email telling me that I missed a deadline for the book review blog tour. I really do not understand why this one company has the program set up this way. What is the purpose of everyone posting their reviews during the same week and flooding the online retail customer reviews at the same time, then there are hardly any reviews afterward? No other company for which I do reviews does it this way. I would have dropped this book review program, but they enticed me with an educational book that I thought would be great for the Princess. I am too easily tempted by a book it seems. Look for the review in my next post. (I hope.)

I just realized as I wrote this that I completely forgot to fast! How could I forget to fast on Wednesday. I have been fasting on Wednesdays for four years! This is just another indication that I am just being pulled into too many directions.


Thanksgiving Day, November 22th
It was just the three of us at the meal for my daughter was playing with her friend in the morning. My husband soaked the turkey in brine overnight, as it never is dry that way. We had a simple meal with lots of leftovers. We played Wii Sports (I am extremely good at golf although in real life I dislike the game) and a board game in the evening that had us all in stitches, my husband most of all.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my Lord and all this things about which I will not have to be concerned in heaven when the things of this world pass away.

~ My Lord, thank you for what You have given that I cannot yet see. ~

One Fun Afternoon

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity. ~Kay Redfield Jamison

Sunday afternoon we celebrated a child's birthday with her parents, our friends. They planned to go to an inflatable place so our children could jump around after going for pizza, but when the mother discovered the hours had changed and that the place was only open for just over an hour on Sunday, she called me to find out if Saturday would be better as the place was open for a few hours.

I knew that her husband and mine as well wanted to go hunting on Saturday, although mine did not end up going. I knew I might not be up for going out on Saturday myself. However, above all that I knew that one hour jumping around and climbing those large inflatable structures was more than enough time to tire any child of any age and activity level.

I have gone a few times, just a few, in the past with another homeschool-maybe parent and her child. From experience with watching the other children as well as my own, I could see that after that first hour things go south with the children quickly. There are more injuries, whining, tattle-telling, crying, and just plain unhappy children who never want to leave, but then can barely make the walk to the car in the parking lot.

I mentioned to the mother that I felt an hour and fifteen minutes, which was the span of time the place would be open, was just enough for the children to be worn out but not tip over into that frame of mind that spoils the entire event. Besides, after pizza they could come to our home have cake and ice cream and leave about an hour or so later allowing time for everything digest enough that the inflatable event would not have additional bad memories.

I could relate with this mother as I am a thrifty person wanting the most for my money and I am the mother of an only child also. I think it is common of parents with one child to try to have more experiences and pack in as much as you can because the child has no siblings and so few playmates. This family lives in a more remote place than we do, but her child goes to school. I have had about five and a half more years of experience wrestling with this compensating the only child syndrome, so I reassured her that it would no matter how long the children were there, it would not be long enough for them from their point of view, but it would be plenty of time for them to wear themselves out.

The fathers spent fifteen minutes in one inflatable with the children and returned worn out and sweaty. The mother was not going in one herself, but just a few minutes before closing time my daughter ran up to say that her daughter was hurt and crying. Next thing I knew we both were in front of the inflatable. She quickly kicked off her shoes and dove into the opening of the inflatable maze--I should take this moment to explain that opening was a rather snug fit so when she dove in, she did not clear the opening easily. She began laughing at her own predicament immediately. Realizing it would take her a few minutes to get to her child, I walked around the ouside and spotted the child. She was no longer crying. I inquired about what was wrong and she said she had bent her toe as she dove towards the next chamber in the maze all smiles. Her poor mother was still in the first chamber still laughing at her own struggles and now our husbands were pushing the sides back and forth so she could not keep her balance at all and she wasn't doing that well before they began. She finally exited the maze some minutes later saying that was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life...and I did not have the heart to tell her at that moment that she is still young in her motherhood.

Yeah...one hour and fifteen minutes was plenty time enough to wear out everyone. I felt worn out before I even got there as I was still not over this illness myself so I did not tempt fate.

When we arrived at home, my daughter poured herself out of the car and walked so slowly that I felt she was in a time warp. When she got inside, she sat down and stared blankly at nothing, as if she could not hear me saying the cats needed to be fed. She could barely function even after a shower and eating. Her mood the rest of the evening was precarious at best, but I was sure she would sleep well and she did.

~ Thank you, my Lord, for the fun times we enjoy with our children and friends. ~

Spring Swings

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four-and-twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

It has been a wild week! The weather was wild. The horses were wild. Schedules were wild. It all is swinging back and forth, up and down, upside down and right again. It has been enough to make me dizzy with its anticipation and apprehension.

Monday
It was the only normal day I had the entire week and when I say normal, that is including teaching the Princess how to add and subtract unlike fractions. Finding the lowest common denominator and such things that can make her mentally zone out for the rest of the day, if I did not head her off. It was a pretty good day.

Tuesday
Weather predictions on Tuesday were that it would be partially sunny in the late morning and in the 60's, so the Princess and I looked forward to work some of the minis and ride. Our partner family would be there for the chores, but had other obligations that day and I was thankful that it would be just the Princess and me. The mother offered to stay to help us saddle the horses if we would like...all I can say is that I was glad I was on the phone with her at the time, so she could not see me shaking my head and rolling my eyes to stifle the spontaneous laughter that so wanted to be released at that moment.

Tuesday, however, was cloudy, breezy, and a bit too cool all day long. The paddock was mucky, but the arena was in good shape. We groomed one of the most docile of the the minis and planned to lunge him--actually that would be train him to lunge--but Annette, did not have the type of whip the trainer had used the previous Saturday. I tried to improvise with what we had available, but it just was not going to work. We also need rope halters for the minis to give the pressure needed on the nose, so that they will respond better and these we do not have, but I plan to buy a few.

Giving up on the idea of working with the horses after it began raining, we went on to the milk farm. We got our raw milk and diamotaceous earth there. I saw a couple of Sharii and Midnight's relatives. The Princess trotted off to the petting area and saw the baby pigmy goats.

Wednesday
Wednesday my husband took the day off and went with us on the field trip to the tack store. The Princess decided to ride in the 4-H van with all the other children and we drove our own van. The children spread out looking at everything but were well behaved at the store. There the Princess bought a whip, grooming brushes, a comb, and a hoof pick. I bought the the same for myself and a canvas bag for the grooming supplies. We both spent about $40. The whips are not exactly what I wanted but can be modified to shorten the drop so they will work. Most of the 4-H'ers are girls so it was not until after the shopping frenzy subsided, that the owners' son gave a talk about bits and pressure points they use, which was very informative. We stopped to eat on the way home, although I did not eat as it was my fasting day.

Thursday
Miss Annette scheduled her farrier to come on Thursday morning at 9:00 this week because school is out in our county. (Oddly, though, the three of the four families there were homeschoolers.) Although it would crunch our shopping time, I really had not planned on getting much this week, so I felt we could attend. Thankfully I did bring my mud boots, but I wish I had also brought my gloves; I should know by now that hardly anything at Miss Annette's is for just spectators. I was helping children getting horses from the upper pasture to bring to the farrier. They watched as he trimmed the hoofs of each and every one of the four horses, two ponies, and five minis. Only Molly gets shoes on her front hooves to correct her aging posture.

Miss Annette asked me to hold the ones who tend to be less compliant. The impatient Senoia, a regular horse, is a bit of dancer, but she was rather good for me. Ribbon, a mini, was fine until he picked up that same back leg that she gave me fits about two weeks ago. It was the third hoof he worked on so it was not about the order. We are thinking that something is going on with that leg, but there was no noticeable swelling anywhere. The last problem another mini, Blue. Actually, his name is Chip of the Blue Moon, because he is all black with a sliver of a crescent on this head. My daughter and an inexperienced teenager went to get him, but I could see him wildly running around in his paddock and kicking up his heels. The Princess told me later he almost kicked her. I brought him up and had him in place but then he suddenly pushed sideways against me. I did not fall, just got off balanced, so Annette took hold of him. I was still fasting and kind of tired after dealing with Ribbon, so I gratefully handed him over to her.

While there, the mother that works with me on Thursday said that she was personally going to be lunging and training Blue. I just looked far off to the upper pasture as if something had caught my attention. I plan not be lunging the minis until we have those rope halters, but we will be walking them just to get them used to the idea that they will be exercised. Still, it is very hard not to say what I am thinking when she says such things. I think she has a good heart, but she just sounds like she is more knowledgeable and experienced than she is, perhaps the opposite of me because I was thinking I was not all that knowledgeable or experienced and recently I have come to realize I know more than I thought I did. Obviously, Annette thinks I handle the horses well enough.

I really do not feel it is my call to make about what the other mother does, it really is up to Annette, but when I am one out there with her, I can only make it understood about what I will or will not be doing. Annette did lay down the rule that all her horses were to be ridden with bits and no more halter reining. I think she feels it gives the horses too much opportunity to foster bad habits in not responding to their riders.

Although fasting had done its work and all my upper back muscular tightness was gone by Thursday morning, I had made a chiropractic appointment for the afternoon, so we were getting home later that usual. Around 5:00, my husband calls me as I am driving the last three miles home, asking me if we would like to go out to dinner. He was leaving for Denver in a few hours, a last minute thing, and would be back sometime on Saturday. After feeding all my own furry ones and changing clothes, we went out and parted at the restaurant.

The temperature Thursday was in the 70's and then it turned very windy towards the evening. One of our neighbor's trees is now resting at a 45 degree angle toward our fence caught in the branches of another tree close to our property line. Sometime between Wednesday and Friday morning, our phone lines went out, but our Internet service on the same line was fine.

Friday
I was expecting the piano tuner at 11:00 in the morning, but my phone is still out so he would not get through if he tried calling for directions or to tell me he would be late. I used my husband's work VOIP phone to call him and he had car trouble so he said hoped to be here around 3:00. That would cut into the time I had set aside just for me, but then I was not sure that afternoon would go as planned either.

On the last Friday of the month, a skating rink in the neighboring county has a skate just for homeschoolers. The Princess has a standing invitation with her best friend of homeschooling family in our neighborhood. Last month they did not go and they were planning to go this time but they had a snag with their own schedule so they would not know for sure until just before the time to leave. They said they would call to confirm...well, we had to resort to low tech because the phone is still out of commission and my cell phone does not do well at home, so her child got some exercise by riding her bike to our house to tell us they would be leaving at 12:30.

Saturday I finally have a working phone line. My husband is coming home, but it shall be a very late dinner for us; he will be bringing fried chicken. The Princess cleaned her room and is picking out some of the items with which she no longer plays. Then she will be trying on clothes to determine which ones will be in the consignment sales coming up. I am signed up as a seller in two of them, so I have work to do.

~ My Lord, my mind is going in too many directions. I need its swinging to stop and rest my thoughts on You. Help me to do that, please, my Lord. ~

Western Art Museum

It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. ~Kojiro Tomita

Saturday we were planning on being at a 4-H horse clinic for the day, but it was canceled because of the rain forecast. My husband could not really do anything he planned after slicing a large chunk of skin off the tip of his thumb the night before. And, here I was with a Christmas gift of two free adult tickets (children are free) to the Booth Western Art Museum from Miss Annette expiring that day, so we went there.

I was just amazed at the energy, use of light, and photorealism of some of the work. I now think I may have to try my hand with oils. My husband does not like most modern art and I am a bit more forgiving in that way, but not much. We all like the one pictured above and we all like the bronze sculptures, but since I knew a bit about the process, I think I was far more appreciative of the work than my companions. I decided that my favorite painting was a man beside his horse on the prairie by a steam at that golden hour of the setting sun. I think it was called "Quiet on the Prairie" or something like that. Picture taking of the works in that gallery were not allowed, but the serenity of it is remembered.

You might be curious how truthful I was that day. I have no problems with expressing my criticism and appreciation of art, but I was alone most of the time. Apparently, I take far too long to examine brush strokes up close and then back up to experience how the eye blends, boring stuff for a ten-year-old artist who already knows everything she needs to know about art, or so she thinks, and man who either likes it or not, but could not care less how it was made to look that way. We were there until closing time. While we saw everything, I could have stayed a few hours more.

My truthful promise was not a problem at the museum; it was, however, challenged on the way when I saw a man on a roof. My husband stated that he saw three men on the roof...and added that he also saw a goat on the roof. My daughter saw the men, but no goat. My husband went on about the goat and I could see were this was going. I caught myself about to give a detailed description of the unseen goat that had not been there, but I stopped myself and stood firm with I only saw one man, personally, which was the truth. Whew! That was a close one.

~ My Lord, thank you for artists and that we have museums in which all people can enjoy their work. ~

This Week in Review

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. ~Victor Hugo

I think I have been in calling out to my Lord quite a bit in the last few months, even though I have, at times, avoided prayer. I think part of me knew I was being stubborn, stuck in the mire and wanting out but my way. God was showing me not the path of least resistance, but the one He had prepared for me and I for it. The difference in my attitude is not just the schedule change, although that was a large part of it, but something more...something more like trusting Him more with the Princess' education and allowing myself to enjoy both her talents and my own. I had just gotten off track with the whole thing, but now...ahhh, so much the better now!

Saturday
My daughter cleaned her room and her hamster's cage. I dusted and vacuumed most of the house because the fleas had finally died down and the diatomaceous earth I used to treat for them for the last three weeks was everywhere in my house--and I do mean everywhere, on everything and in everything.

My husband was out hunting for the day and came home late in the dark with a deer. Although past her bedtime, my daughter was as excited as the outside mitten kittens, but for differing reasons. There was an outside party next door and we were trying to be discreet, just in case the children would be upset.

We had to process the deer that night in our garage, at least in part, which took a few hours being it was the first we have ever done. My husband was given the deer by his hunting partner, who had shot it and felt it was not worth taking to a processor because it was too small. Actually it was average size for a doe in our area. It is not like my husband did not earn it, at least, a portion of it, for it was he who tracked the deer, since it ran away, and hauled it back.

Sunday
Because we all were up late the night before, we left for Sunday School late. There was a dinner after church as it was Pastor Appreciation Day and there would be no evening service, which suit us fine as we had more processing to do. Once done, my husband packed as he would be leaving after work to fly out to Boston on Monday night.

Monday
After my husband had left for work, the day unraveled. First thing in the morning when I was feeding the rabbits I noticed a freakish accident in which a bunny's back leg got caught in the wiring of the cage. The leg was obviously broken or dislocated. While trying to get him freed, with my daughter holding him, she expressed concern for one of the mitten kittens. Midnight, the prissy, long-haired one who rather be a lap cat and carried everywhere, was on the ground and from the description given by my dramatic Princess, because my focus was on the bunny, the kitten could have had a seizure. I called my husband about the bunny, this before I understood what may have happened to the cat.

We began lessons a bit late, but all was going well, although I was a bit frazzled on the edges about the bunny. The Princess finished her pastel drawing of a horse for an art show and we went to the arts and craft store to get a can of fixative spray. After I realized that I had gotten "workable" fixative instead of the "final" one, I called to find out that the final fixative was one aisle over. Of course, the cans of final fixative and working fixative were in separate aisles! What was I thinking?

Then my daughter saw the next door neighbors walking their dog in costumes and began getting upset about treat or trick already starting. She never has like people being in full costumes with masks, but I thought she had grown out of it. I am still not sure if she was just being dramatic or truly upset.

This year she had a plan to keep children from stomping on the porch. What she did not plan is slipping on acorns while trying to move a heavy trash can to block the front steps and falling hard on her knee. About twenty minutes later she was fine and sweeping the sidewalk. The trash can, with a "no trick or treating" sign, was to stop the children from walking up to our door, which they always do even when we have porch lights off and drapes drawn close. It drives our dog crazy and we tend to hide downstairs, but this year we decided to enjoy sitting in our living room without closing the drapes, enjoying an episode of SG-1 while eating dinner and munching on a few treats. The Princess is proud that she came up with a way to keep those trick or treating off our porch.

Tuesday
The horses decided to be mischievous and play musical stalls...without the music. We got them situated and had no other incidents. After our chores there, I changed clothes because we needed to do some errands, including exchanging the fixative, but I left an article of clothing by accident, which I did not realize until we had returned home.

We went to the bank, got our refills of water from Kroger, filled the van with gas, exchanged the fixative, and stopped in at Target to look over the marked down candy. Several times I found myself thinking how much more I am enjoying the freedom on Tuesdays with the new homeschooling schedule. At home, the Princess had a shower, then we had a large lunch. I then showered while the Princess began working on her horse curriculum and the Latin she did not get done the day before.

All seemed to go so well, but later I realized I forgot to remind her of piano practice. I was distracted because I was trying to finish matting, mounting, shrink wrapping and placing a card on her artwork, as required so that we could turn it in at the 4-H meeting that evening. The meeting place is just a few minutes from my home, thankfully, because I realized on the way there that not only had I forgotten to take a picture of the pastel drawing my daughter did, but I had forgotten my camera as well, and the artwork is to be donated and sold to raise money to be split by the county animal control and an animal rescue group. I left the Princess and went back home for my camera and when I came back I was asked by a mother I know to take pictures of her daughter's presentation for her 4-H portfolio, which helps her qualify for scholarships. This is the same girl who has given the Princess a few riding lessons.

My husband returns home from Boston late, just before I had fallen asleep, which I did soon afterward.

Wednesday
Lessons go well. On Monday we covered Stonehenge, so for art in the afternoon I asked that she do a pencil drawing of Stonehenge from an elevated perspective so that the top was elliptical and also to begin a drawing for our Christmas cards. She felt it was too early, but I reminded her how rush we get when we wait until December.

We received Beautiful Feet's History of Classical Music. At first glance, each lesson looks to be more involved than the History of the Horse curriculum, perhaps better geared for an older child, so I think I will break up the lessons a bit so that the Princess can do them in the van between errands more easily. I want more than just a day to look through it, so I decided not to begin it until next week.

I relaxed in the afternoon, worked on separating money into the budget envelopes, viewing sales flyers online for my health food store, and organizing my coupons. I was particularly excited to find the 32 oz. organic canola oil regularly around $13.00 is on sale for $8.49 and there is also a $2.00 off coupon, so the $10.40 normally would pay with my 20% discount would be $5.19--half the price. Besides cooking, I use canola oil to make mayonnaise and ranch dressing, and because it is higher in Omega 3 than most vegetable oils, it is a healthier choice. Organic white flour normally around $7.00 for five pounds is also on sale for $4.99 with a $1.00 off coupon, my price of $5.60 down to $3.19. The whole wheat would be about 80¢ more. Also on sale is various soups and flavorings with coupons and sugar without. This is when I really stock up on baking goods and soups for my hunting man, but I try to hold back enough for two turkeys also.

Thursday
My husband's van had a flat tire, because one of his accounts has a building still under construction and the workers cleaned up by blowing around the debris in the parking lot. A couple of screws found their way into the most worn tires, fortunately, but they may have lasted another 25,000. My husband filled the tires with air and asked me to follow him to the place where he would have the tires replaced on our way out to do errands.

I thought I would then double back and drop off one of the Princess' books at the library as well pay for one overdue and renew it. I really wish I would stop forgeting that the library's hours have changed, so it was not opened and we would do that on the way home.

Stopped at Walmart to look at marked down candy and got a little. Then we went to the health food store. (I know that sounds counterproductive, candy and health food, but we eat very little candy. A few bags keep well in my freezer for months. Besides, organic chocolate is very expensive.) At Life Grocery, I bought my bargains and a few staples like eggs and fruit. The Princess has taken up helping in the store the last few weeks. She asks what she can do and they usually have her front items or locate items where the labels are missing on the shelves. This time they "paid" her with a bag of natural milk chocolate, which she shared with me. Isn't she sweet? It tasted more like something between milk and dark chocolate and I really liked it very much, but then I never met a chocolate I did not like.

We also stopped at Big Lots and bought 16 oz. organic Newman-O's, a sandwich cookie, for just $2.00, which is the best price I have ever seen, but for some reason I have found them only at one Big Lots of the three closest on our errand run.

During the piano lessons, I read several chapters of a book. Afterward, we started the drive home with a stop at the Post Office. Because of an accident on the highway, we were delayed about 20 minutes and this time we did not stop for a Happy Hour half-priced milk shake at Steak-n-Shake. We stopped at the Target closest to home and bought five (all that was there) Sweet Leaf Organic Tea in the 64 oz. size for $1.99 (with the 8 oz. near it for about $1.49). We have plenty of organic spring salad mix so I did not stop at Sam's Club for it this time.

Then we made it to the library. The Princess placed two of the remaining Ramona books by Beverly Cleary on hold, which means they were ordered from other libraries.

At home we unpack and I begin dinner, which is usually just a salad, especially if my husband is working late and he did. The Princess and I watched a Stargate SG-1 episode during dinner.

Friday
Thinking my husband would be working on Saturday, I focused on lessons with the Princess and planned to work on reorganizing my pantry, kitchen cabinets for food, and upright freezer on Saturday. Of course, plans around here are never worth writing in pen and my husband will be home on Saturday after all which means he will not get a comp day so we can go to the apple country (North Georgia) on Monday as we had penciled in.

We had a nice dinner, rabbit with black beans and rice. I am still trying to get use to cooking rabbit, because it has so little fat, it can be a bit chewy in comparison to chicken, which is what it tastes like for the most part.

Saturday
My daughter cleaned her room and swept the back deck and sidewalks. I defrosted the upright freezer and organized it with older items in the front and everything more easily accessible. My husband decided that he would like to move the pantry from the garage to one end of the arts and crafts room, because we had a mouse problem that we think has been corrected, but why encourage more? Also, that way we can use those shelves in our garage as our mud room area with hunting supplies and gardening items. To make room in the arts and craft room, he is now moving his computer and hobby work bench to another wall and clearing it out of all the outdated computer stuff not needed anymore.

I am half way done with the pantry, checking all the dates to move the oldest to the front and making mental notes of what we have, need, and should be used. I have not even started in the kitchen and I have my doubts that I will get to it today. We need to stop at a store tomorrow after church and perhaps then I will relax...while I prepare lessons for the week, that is.

And, we have to change the clocks now too!

You know what is the most amazing thing is: I am feeling so much better emotionally (and a little tired physically). I don't know if it is the new schedule or just a phase or maybe I just slapped myself in the face with reality, but I actually feel I am trusting God again and the rest, the bad along with the good, has had a very different feel for the last two weeks and even when I look at the next few weeks which are always very hectic with extra 4-H activities.

Still, I just have been feeling at more peace. Thank you for the prayers.

~ My Lord, thank you...just thank You. ~

When Threre's Too Much To Do...

When there's too much to do
Don't let it bother you, forget your troubles,
Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee
And whistle while you work
Come on get smart, tune up and start
To whistle while you work.
~Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937

This week I prepared for a seasonal consignment sale, one I have not done in previous years but have shopped. The problem the last few years is the one I have been doing in the fall is very late in the season and I just did not sell much two years in a row. I think it is because shoppers have already done most of their shopping by then, so this year I was determined to sell in two earlier sales and see how I do at them. My drop off time is tomorrow late afternoon for the first one and next week I take what is left over to the second one.

Having gone through the Princess's wardrobe, there is not much that she needs this season, because I bought too much in larger sizes last year and she did not grow that much. One of her friends is seven years old and they are just about the same size, so other than shoes and socks, she does not need much of anything. I will look for some some special stuff, but I will be selling more than buying this time around...I hope I will be selling more at least.

I am hoping the sales will offset the cost of the Landmark books I bought from a friend recently. I received three large boxes with 78 books. I had to clear two 36-inch long shelves in my homeschool bookcase. Some of the no-longer-needed homeschool materials were listed for the consignment sale, but some I am holding on for a bit longer as we finish up and others, like readers, I will box up to give to the Princess for her children.

I still have a couple of book sets to find a home for and the shelves in the Princess' bedroom are overflowing with books as well...sigh! She does love to read though. I often catch her trying to hide a book under her covers when she should be sleeping. I am very thankful for that, but then I have to be a parent, because tomorrow morning begins a new day with morning chores and lessons.

I am getting side-tracked.

My husband planned to have Thursday and Friday off as comp time for working through last weekend, but at the last minute he had to work Thursday and would take Monday off. That would have been fine as the Princess and I have errands and her piano lesson, but as I was within ten minutes of leaving the house, the piano teacher called to say not to come and not only that but asked if I would stay with her the night because she had not slept in a week and nothing was helping her to sleep, even things she had used successfully in the past. My husband came home late that night and I kissed my daughter good-bye saying I would see her the next day.

She has been away with her father for a trip to Florida years ago and her father is often away. However, this was the very first time that she was home and I was not. It felt strange.

I stayed up talking with my friend and praying over her. She finally seemed sleepy, so we said good-night very late. I woke with the sun and read a book until I heard her stirring near 10:00 AM. Yes, she had finally slept. I stayed a couple more hours and arrived home at 1:00 PM to a very talkative Princess...as if I had been gone for so very long.

Saturday we all rested most of the day. I should have done many other things but I read most of the day.

Sunday was our 24th Wedding Anniversary so I decided to wear my wedding dress to church. It is a white cotton, tea-length, A-line dress, not fancy with lace and pearls as one would expect, but simple and comfortable. A couple of the women unknowingly mentioned it looked like a wedding dress and I confirmed it had been. (My husband is certain I have alienated the women at my church for certain now since I still fit into my wedding dress from nearly a quarter of a century ago.)

As a family, we did an outing today that I will post separately after I go through the photos.

The rest of this week I have to make mayonnaise, ranch dressing, granola, and yogurt. I need to pickle sweet peppers as we have so many banana peppers. Just over a week ago, I cut up my pickle-sized cucumbers and let them pickle in the left over sweet pickle juice; they taste delicious! Right now I have too many zucchinis and large cucumbers, so I have to decide on what to do with them. We made our first rabbit meat pie this week and it was quite tasty. (Honestly, most people would not have been able to tell it was rabbit as it does taste so much like chicken.)

Homeschooling has been going much better, but we got off schedule because of the days my husband took off and not having the needed library-borrowed book on New Jersey, but generally I am very pleased with our new approach.

So, I am a busy woman, but not frazzled I am both surprised and very pleased to say! Now if I could just catch up on the housework...(whistling).

~ My Lord, thank you for the little ways I can save us money so that we can spend a bit extra for outings like we did today. Help us all to be very careful with our time as well. Help us to keep our priorities, Your priorities. And thank you for giving my friend the ability to sleep again. Please help her to fully recuperate soon. ~

Putting on the Brakes!

If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more changes to learn and win. ~John W. Holt, Jr.

Finally, I have an afternoon to relax and write. The weather is warm and sunny and just beautiful, so I should be out playing in the dirt, spreading around those most excellent bunny berries as our fertilizer, and sprucing up the gardens. That is what I would be doing if my back was not so sore right now. I had a flare-up this week and would be over it by today had I not had to face paint all day yesterday. Oh, before I get ahead of myself, I will have to back up quite a bit since it has been...I just realized that I have not posted for nearly three weeks! Yikes! I meant get back to updating my blog before this, but I really have been too busy to even think of writing...well, writing in my blog, that is, because I had an article due also.

If you are interested in what kept me away for so long, I will have to fill you in bit by bit, because it is too much to read in one sitting, let alone write it all. As you may recall, we had at least one major event on each of three Saturdays in a row since my husband's return from the United Kingdom, where he had trained for his new job.

The first Saturday was the Children's Talent Competition for the Nazarene Churches in our district. It was a two-hour drive for us and we were from the furthest church out to plan being there. The event was meant to be from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, but it was over soon after lunch. The reason being that there were only fifteen children from the four participating churches, including the host church. Isn't that a sad turn out? I was a bit surprised at the lack of interest, but I should not have been, because this event has not been well planned in the past. This was a post I wrote about it two years ago: Competition Cancelled. I do not even remember why we did not try to go last year, perhaps it was no better planned and we received the notice too late again or had something else going on. That is not to say that the host churches did not do an excellent job, but rather that our district just does not seem to give much in the way of support for the event and no one from the district was even there.

Still, the Princess entered four categories. The rating was from 1 to 4 with 1 being the highest.

Painting

Judge #1
Average Score: 1
Comments: Very creative! It makes me think of a bridge between heaven and earth.

Judge #2
Average Score: 1
Comments: Excellent! I am so impressed by this piece. You are incredibly talented.

My own critique: Appealing colors and nice use of texture, but most of the flowers were painted too heavily for the watercolor medium. My average score would have been 1.3 at the most.

Drawing

Judge #1
Average Score: 1.2
Comments: Very good work! Good attention to detail. I love the bird in the boat.

Judge #2
Average Score: 1.3
Comments: You are a very impressive young lady! Keep up the good work!

My own critique: Some areas look unfinished or hurried compared to others. My average score would have been 1.5 at the most.

Poem

Judge #1
Average Score: 2.1
Comments: A good poem to emphasize God's great love. You have a neat work and I loved the picture! Keep writing.

Judge #2
Average Score: 1.87
Comments: I especially like the first verse where you compare what God does for nature with what He does for us. If you could have continued that idea in the second verse―comparing sunshine with His love for us, it would have continued the theme and been more consistent. However, you basic thought was excellent.

My own critique: (I missed that she had misspelled one word; on the other hand, I know she should have known the correct spelling.) Although I see the point made by Judge #2, I felt both judges missed the symbolism of promised hope and forgiveness in the rainbow. My average score would have been at least 1.3.

Piano

Judge #1
Average Score: 1
Comments: Great job. Challenging selection and you did great. Even though you messed up in one spot, you did a great job in recovering.

Judge #2
Average Score: 1
Comments: Very nice performance! You did very well with the staccato notes―they were crisp. Work on your memorization.

Judge #3
Average Score: 1
Comments: Minus the loss of continuity in the repeated measures 8-9, the performance was excellent. The key is to relax and feel the music. Remember you are playing to the glory of God. Learn the technical but move past that to the understanding the music.

My own critique: (This is a Baroque piece originally written for the harpsichord, which is an instrument that cannot be played with much variation in dynamics, that is, louder or softer. The beauty of this piece is in the technical as typical of the time period, but Judge #3 differed on this opinion because of his familiarity with Bach from the perspective of playing such pieces on guitar.) She played this piece from memory and had a slight mess up, but she did recover well. A very good performance with nice poise also. My average score would have been 1.1.

The poem was sent in with our registration and the rest was judged on the day we attended. A few children sang and there was only one other on an instrument, also piano, but just a beginner playing with only her right hand alone. Most were younger children doing this competition for the first time. One performer really stood out though. He was a boy with short blondish hair and glasses. He was quiet and seemed to be a more introverted type. Dressed all in black, he got up on the stage and we waited as the music was loaded. He did not sing however, he signed the song and not just the typical American Sign Language, but highly dramatized signing. It was just so unexpected that it just took my breath away!

So, now you know what we did three weeks ago on Saturday, March 19th. More coming....

~ My Lord, I thank you for the opportunity of this competition. It was a very good experience. I hope that You will urge more children to participate next year. ~

Falling Off the Face of Cyber Earth

Ever notice that even the busiest people are never too busy to tell you just how busy they are. ~Unknown

Unfortunately that quote is not always true, at least not with blogs. Once in a while I search for bloggers having similar interests and I find an interesting blog, but the blogger had not posted in months. It causes me to wonder: What makes those of us, who blog regularly, keep doing it? Is it that we have too much free time? Are we just urged to write by something unnamed deep within? Is blogging our safe connection to the world outside? What is this impulse we have and will we someday tire of it, will I?

Will some of my favorite people in Blogland just stop writing without explanation or announce their departure? Will their blogs end up on the cyber pile of has-beens that someone might run across someday and wonder, as I do, what happened to this person?

What if I just stopped writing? Would anyone really miss me I just fell off the face of cyber earth...that is, just stopped blogging, emailing, and even calling friends and family. I know that a few people would notice, but generally, this is just one little self-indulging blog among a sea of thousands, hundreds of thousands...and of those hundreds of thousands, how many just stopped blogging and I did not notice?

Let's face it, we all rely on these forms of communication, but it is a fragile connection, really, and it could one day just stop. I think of these things when I am really busy and have little time to write about my activities. My desire to share must be balanced with my limitation of time to do so. Just so you know, my list of to-do's for this week includes, but is not limited to:

1. Preparing outgrown clothes and toys for a consignment sale that I must drop off on Monday.
2. Designing program covers for the spring piano recital that must be done by Thursday--two days!
3. Having my daughter prepare a drawing and a painting, which I must mat by Saturday for a competition.
4. Clean my house before my husband arrives home, hopefully Wednesday night...yes, tomorrow. I still have errands and the last piano lessons before the recital on Thursday, which will give my husband a day to change time zones and putter around the house on his own.

My project that I was doing while my husband was away is at a good place, not complete, but I am pleased with its resting place while these other things take priority for now.

The next three Saturdays are spoken for as well:

1. This Saturday is the Nazarene Children's Talent in which the Princess has entered into four categories: a poem, a drawing, a painting, and piano. This is an all day event with a two-hour drive one way.
2. Next Saturday is the piano recital and rehearsal is Friday evening.
3. The following Saturday is the 4-H Spring Fling in which I face paint all the day.

I also have no idea where my husband will be working next week yet...if he will be driving or flying. Some things are rather concrete and others are up in the air.

And so, I am not falling off the face of the real earth if I don't write much the rest of this week...well, I hope I am not. Most likely though, I am either busy or exhausted from being busy.

~ My Lord, thank you that I am able to show through example how to commit using my talents in contribution to others, teaching my daughter to do the same with her talents. ~

Working My Way Out of the Plan

Plans get you into things, but you got to work your way out. ~Will Rogers

After blundering my last post, I felt I should explain some things that are going on "behind the screens," that is the computer screens, those flat windows connecting us through the Internet and yet masking so much of our private lives. If I give you a peek behind the screen, maybe you will be able to understand why I am not quite as focused in my writing at this time.

As you know, my husband started a new job some weeks ago now. First, he had to spend two days in Chicago to finish paperwork for the corporate credit card and to pick up his computer and cell phone. Then he came back Friday night to be home until Saturday evening when he would fly out again, because he had to travel to the United Kingdom for training. Now originally, he was supposed to be in the UK for only two weeks (Plan 1), but while he was in Chicago, he emailed his itinerary to me and I noticed that his return day was three weeks later, not two.

He was going to be trained on two machines (Plan 2): the newest one is a two-week class and the older one is a one-week class. Okay, now the other thing is that the corporate credit card was not ready for him when he left so all of his trip is going on one of our credit cards at this time. Yes, that has had me a bit worried because his hotel bill is in the thousands. It is not that I am so worried about the company not paying it as I am the limit on the card! However, I just keep thinking and reminding my Lord...and being reminded by my Lord that He saw all this before it happened and He had prepared the way for it all to work out.

We have been Skyping each other when possible, which is not a perfect way to communicate, but far better than nothing at all and it is nice to see the other person when talking. However, my husband loaned his laptop power cord to his boss, who was there a few days for some meetings, and his battery was dying off when we were talking. That is the last I heard from him for a few days. I do not do well when we are out of touch more than a couple of days...I have done it, but I just do not do as well.

We finally hooked up on Skype yesterday and he told me that he would need to stay two more days because the second class is a not a five-day class but a seven-day class and he was just waiting on confirmation from his boss about changing his travel plans and hotel stay. Later I received the itinerary with him arriving Wednesday evening (Plan 3).

So, there is good and bad in that. The bad being obvious and the good...that has been my secret (MY Plan). I have been working on a huge project (I cannot tell about here yet because once in a great while, my husband checks in on my blog and it is supposed to be a surprise) that I could use the extra days to get it further along. I am not sure if it will be completed, not sure if such a thing is ever really competed, but certainly about where I hoped it would be before he returns. And...I have to clean the house too.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I broke my fast on Monday, achieving my goal for dropping five pounds so I have the energy to all of it. (Of course, today is my regular fasting day so I am fasting today.) Now I just need to get off this chair and away from my computer right now and just do it!

~ My Lord, please keep me motivated to do what I need to do this day and every day. ~

Not My Typical Week

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.
~John Burroughs

~ Monday ~
I went to one bank to pay our mortgage in person. For days, I had been checking our bank account online to if my husband's paycheck from the new company had been direct deposited, but it had not. However, we did get it later in the mail--YAY! I was very happy, but I would have to go back out in the afternoon to another bank to deposit it, because it would be a few days in clearing. While out, I thought I would stop into the grocery store near the bank to see if they had any markdowns in organics and specials on natural ice cream where I get an entire container for the price of a double dip of the less natural types at the shops.

While in that grocery store, after I had removed our ice cream selection from the freezer and placed them into my cart, I ran into another homeschool/4-H mother and we talked for about 30 minutes during which time she gave me her phone number...again (I think this makes the third time I have had to ask for it.) As we talked I asked if she would be feeding and caring for the horses on Friday evening at the Sweet Beulahland Farm. This is the farm owned by Miss Annette, the leader of the 4-H Horse and Pony club. I have wanted to take part in this activity for the past year, but just usually did not have a vehicle or money or time as that is near the time I am leaving to pick up my husband at the airport. She said she would be there so we finally parted, I with much softer ice cream by then, planning to see each other the next evening at the 4-H meeting. I placed the ice cream in a cooler and stopped at a dollar store on the way home to pick up baskets and candy for the 4-H community project, which only took a few minutes.

~ Tuesday ~

The March 4-H meeting is always a long one. The meeting included two presentations, which are required of participating older members, and then a tackiest prom queen and king contest where the children are judged by ages. After adjournment, the children prepared the Easter baskets to be given out at a nearby children's home.

My daughter picked out her own outfit for the contest, I only made suggestions about mismatching her footwear and fixing her hair into four ponytails and a braid with the part of one ponytail pulled over into another and lots of hair loose in various areas. Frankly, I thought there were too many others far tackier than she, but the Princess won third place for her age group!

~ Wednesday ~
I fast on Wednesdays, homeschool, and prepare for the next days errands and so this was a more typical day for this not so typical week. However, I decided to fast for a few more days as my weight had risen just above that mark that I promised myself was to be my limit from now on after losing the weight during the 40-day fast six months ago.

~ Thursday ~
Now the one thing I can say about Thursdays is that they are never typical, especially when I am fasting. Errands differ as necessary. I had looked online for all the specials in organics and checked the sales flyers. Good thing too because when I arrived at my favorite co-op grocery store they had not yet placed all the sales tags. This causes me to take more time at the register trying to be sure the sale items were in the system and then for us to try to figure out if the selected variety I wanted is in the "selected varieties" on sale as they are not listed in the flyer.

Then it is practically across the street, a very busy street, to another much larger organic/natural foods chain store for natural meat and a few items that I cannot get at the other place and fewer that are cheaper there.

After driving about forty minutes to get to those stores, I then drive another thirty minutes to Miss Trudy's for the Princess' piano lesson. On the way home I stop in at the bank to make a withdraw since my husband's paycheck cleared--YAY!

~ Friday ~
When I awoke yesterday, I tried to shake off two disturbing dreams I had during an less than restful night, which I tend to have when fasting. This the third day of the fast and it is always the worse one.

I began making another batch of granola in my slow cooker early, still trying out my own recipes. Once the Princess was up, dressed, and beds were made, we went out to feed the rabbits. It was a colder day because of the wind so I did not disturb the babies.

The Princess and I set aside the morning for her to write a poem for a children's talent contest hosted by our church's district. The Princess entered four categories: witing - poetry, solo instrumental - piano (the Bach piece she was recently judged on), visual arts - drawing, and visual arts - painting. The poem needed to be submitted with a post date no later than yesterday and so she wrote a poem that I will post later after the judging. I am now irritated with myself that I did not make a copy of it, because it was in her own handwriting with a drawing at the bottom. I only made her rewrite about three times because, although she loves to write, it is not always as neatly as I would like and I know she can do, especially for something like this.

She was sure happy to have it done at lunch time and so was I!

Because the weather report looked as if it would be raining all weekend and we had to go to the post office to send out her entry, I decided we should get our water refills at a store along the way instead of waiting until after church on Sunday.

Why not also get my raw milk because we have less than half a gallon left? We can fit that in before we go to Sweet Beulahland Farm, which is halfway on the way back home, where we will be helping with Miss Annette's horses.

Now since we are going to the farms, I should call the another homeschool/4-H mother who I ran into in a store earlier this week (when I was also out depositing my husband's first paycheck with the new company--YAY!) because I know she likes to get the milk but has not been able to afford to go out there and she will be bringing her children to feed the horses too.

I call using my headset on my phone—What a wonderful invention!—so my hands are free to break up the granola in the slow cooker and get it into a container. Yes, she would like a gallon of milk. We talked a bit and somehow she mentioned that she loves sourdough bread but lost her starter some time ago. I have some starter if you would like. "That would be wonderful! Uh-oh, Miss Annette is calling me." Call me back to let me know if there is a change about going to her place but soon as I am going to leave in just a few minutes. Poor Miss Annette has a migraine and is very sick with it, so we will have to care for the horses ourselves without her supervision. Of course, because I am a chatty person, I end up leaving half an hour later than I hoped to and feel rushed.

As we drive to our destinations, we see more things are blooming now than just daffodils, like the pear trees, forsythia, red bud tees, and pink magnolias! We make it to the store first and then the post office both not having long lines, thankfully, with plenty of time to get our milk. I see father and son, both who work the farm with a few hands. After I had gone into their little unmanned store to get the first two of eight gallons of milk and noticing there are no eggs, I see the father walking up with smiles. Last time I was here, I paid for eggs and then forgot to take them with me. He laughs..."That is how we make our money! They are cleaning eggs right now, would you like a dozen?" Thank you! The son comes out and asks when was the last time we were there. A few weeks ago at least. "We have baby sheep," he says as he is pointing to the petting barn where they have tours. The Princess is off like a shot. Hey, where's your jacket?

The wind has picked up, especially out in the open on the farms. We arrived at Sweet Beulahland Farm a bit early and have to wait about twenty minutes, so I read the beginning of a chapter book about a girl and her horse that the Princess brought with her purchased at Goodwill a few weeks ago with her own spending money. She decides to anxiously look out the window. After two other families arrive, the children fed and watered the horses, cleaned the stalls, and played in the back field while the adults retreated out of the wind into the barn. I fitted a new halter on one mare because the children were to short to do it.

Time to leave! Milk was exchanged for the cost and the sourdough starter was given. Then we came home to unpack Dragon Heart (the name of the newest vehicle) and put water on shelves in the garage and milk in the freezer. Then it is time to feed rabbits, dog, and cat. For dinner, a warming soup is appealing. Then some time to look on the Internet for a program my husband needs but I find out, after three long time-wasting attempts, it is too big to email to him.

So...after feeding and placing my sourdough starter, we are off to bed half an hour early as we are getting up a half and hour earlier to prepare for the time change next weekend.

~ Saturday ~
It is still in the works but so far....

I am still fasting but my energy has returned. I should have mentioned that except for Wednesday, my regular fast day each week and usually water only, this is a fast like I did for the forty day one so I am still drinking teas and some watered down milk.

I made and kneaded my sourdough to bake a loaf later today. Great day for baking when it is damp!

To my surprise, I was greeted by a pair of eyes in the bunny nest! They are now nine days old and typically they begin opening their eyes around the tenth day. So far only two of the larger baby rabbits have opened their eyes and are lifting those tiny ears. They are all well covered with white fur now. A few are still on the puny side, but they are healthy and active, so it all looks very good in our rabbitry.

Then I began to write a post for my blog, which is taking me longer than I hoped, as I had forgotten how much we did this week. Now I need to get pictures done yet too to post and send in an email to my husband. As soon as I am done with the pictures, I suppose you will see my post. I have a big project I have been working on also, but I do not want to give it away, just in case my husband peeks in here because it is supposed to be a surprise, but it will not be a good one if I do not get back to working on it right now. On the other hand, I have been hanging out at my computer hoping to catch a Skype call from my husband as we did not talk yesterday at all. It's time to knead some dough, too.

~ Sunday? ~
Oh, and the weather experts changed their forecast. It rained some Friday night and sprinkled Saturday morning, but Sunday is going to be mostly sunny, they are saying now, so I could have held off on a few of those errands, but Monday I need to get the plates for Dragon Heart so it is just as well that I have only church services on Sunday and rest in between...but who knows what Sunday will bring?

Whew!

~ Thank you, my Lord, for kindnesses shared and this gifted child who surprises me with what she writes and draws. Help me to finish the project I started before my husband's homecoming. ~

Computer Problems

The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back. ~Author Unknown

Yesterday I went onto a website and the next thing I knew, it looked like something was being downloaded and then...BAM! I cannot get my computer to come up at all. Fortunately, I am married to a computer savvy kind of guy. I think my data was backed up about a month ago, so I will not lose much if we have do the the worst thing, which is reformat the hard drive. However, it will take some time to reload programs, although I might have to do that anyway even if we don't have to reformat.

We have other computers so I can get online. I am using our gaming computer right now, which has not been turned on for at least a year because who has time for games? However, I do use my laptop for other really important things, like homeschool records and creating homeschool materials, so I am feeling a bit down this morning. Fortunately...and unfortunately...it is my errand day. My husband can work on it while I am gone and not hovering over him, but last night he purchased an external drive enclosure for my laptop's hard drive so he could access it and it did not work. Now he needs to find one that will with only one computer store around before I have to leave on my errands or it will be several more days. He does this stuff all the time so he is patient and careful, but I have seen him when it is his own computer and I know that he finds it far less stressful when he is fixing any computer belonging to someone else.

You never really realize how nice you have everything set up on your personal computer until you have to use another one. I don't have bookmarks! I don't have mobility! I don't have all those nifty programs and graphics! I don't even have Firefox and I so dislike IE for my browser. I have to remember my online access to my email!

All this on the day I have to leave earlier because my daughter has an hour piano lesson so we have to be there earlier and my husband was hoping to have the van to himself this evening, rather than working on a computer.

Some good unrelated news:
The last van repair not only fixed the oil leak but Pegusus stopped burning oil too, which meant that she probably was leaking only when she was running previously and the engine is still in good shape overall. Happy dancing here!

My oven is working again and I made sourdough bread and sourdough biscuits. My husband told me yesterday that he really likes my bread. That put a smile on my face at a time when I was feeling like the I had been a bad teacher because my daughter could not even tell me what an adjective is, which she has been taught and seemed to know for some years and should be able to recall at anytime and now we are going to be spending lots of time reviewing, but no matter, my husband likes my bread!

~ My Lord, You know how much I rely on this technology, particularly my PC. Please let it be easy to resolve and done quickly. Please? And, thank you so very much for my husband. You chose wisely for me. ~

Perserving Pegasus

Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. ~Psalms 16:1

After we returned from Florida, we began to see some problems with Pegasus. She is sickly and needs some tending. I have been a bit worried this time she may not pull through.

I suppose it is odd to name a vehicle, but we had good a reason to do so. When the Princess had just turned four years old, she began piano lessons with the only teacher who would consider taking a child so young that I could find. I have written about all this previously at Thursday's Child Has Far to Go. What I did not tell about in that story, after the second lesson, Sarah and I were in an accident on the way home.

I was making a left hand turn at a light and I am the type of driver that does not pull out into the intersection until I can make the turn. There were no cars coming and I began to pull out to make the turn. My eye caught motion on the right side and I realized in that nanosecond we were going to be hit broadside. Not only we were hit, but we began tipping over rather gently and the next thing I knew the van was resting on the driver' side and my daughter was screaming behind me. Neither one of us was hurt...well, in my hurry to get back to my daughter, I placed my hand down on broken glass and a day later I had those normal slight aches and pains that happen with things like that. I had to be helped out through the passenger side window after I had handed my daughter to someone to get her out. The Princess was not hurt at all but it was horribly hot that day, and later she was rather upset that they hauled our van away.

The police officer told me I was at fault but that he was not going to cite me. At the time I thought it was strange, but I was still shaken up and concerned about the Princess and my husband was at least an hour away. Traffic was very bad so by the time my husband got there, the accident scene had been completely cleaned up and I was cooling off in the corner store where I had the time to think it all out with a clearer head. During that time it dawned on me that there was no sound before the jeep was crunching metal in the side of my van. You know, you tend to hear the screech of tires and look around hoping you at not the one they are going to hit, right? There was no sound, no warning, just that motion I saw in my peripheral vision.

My husband inspected the crash site for himself and confirmed that the other driver had not touched her brakes at all. The only rubber on the road was from our own tires were she pushed us sideways before we tipped. Obviously, she had not tried to avoid the accident and had her foot on the acceleration as she hit, which made her push on it harder. That and the fact that she had a vehicle that is higher off the road and I had a conversion van that is more top heavy...well, we tipped over.

The other thing that bothered me is that I knew the road was clear before I started my turn, but I remember two vehicles in the right turn lane and the second one might have been hers as the first one was still there after the accident. I think she had popped out of the turn lane, and obviously was not looking straight ahead, where this huge, white, hi-top conversion van was broadside in front of her, when she come into the intersection. Maybe she was looking behind to be sure she was clear that way...?

Now I feel I should tell you why I was rather relaxed as we were being hit. The Lord had been preparing me through dreams and feelings about being hit on that very side and tipping over gently with just the Princess and me for about six months before it happened. My husband during that time moved the car seat from the driver's side to the passenger side and, because of these dreams, I moved it back. I knew we were going to be fine, but I also knew that if the Princess had been on that side, she would have been hurt. The chair had taken the greatest impact and ended up askew in the middle of the van. God's warning protected her.

Anyway, the result was our conversion van was totaled, we had a few extra visits to the chiropractor, and the Princess had fears about tipping over every time we turned, especially if I was driving. We replaced that vehicle with another conversion van, a black one, and I named it "The Panther" so that she would feel a bit more secure because the Panther was strong and protective. It worked well for the following year and, in time, her fears subsided. As much as I wanted to keep the Panther, as it was a great van, I felt the Lord's calling for us to downside about two years later, so we sold it and purchased a white mini-van; all this before we even knew that my husband was to be let go from his job.

Since our last vehicle had a name, this one would need one as well, so the Princess felt, and Pegasus seemed to be appealing to all. Pegasus was only meant to be a second vehicle, as my husband had always had a company vehicle most of the years of our marriage. However, after he lost his job, Pegasus has been our main and only vehicle, as the new job required traveling more by plane. It concerned me when we found out, after the sale, that she was a repo and had been in an accident, but I had prayed about the van and I felt this is the one we were to get. She has her quirks and had a great deal of miles when we first got her, but she has been rather dependable as we put a great deal more miles on her.

Back to today...as you know, we just returned from Florida and we knew it was time for some regular maintenance, changing the timing belt and water pump, but the Pegasus began leaking oil too. I was supposed to take the Princess to piano lessons and go grocery shopping today, so my husband suggested that I stop on the way at the garage we have do our servicing—great Christian people—to have them give her a look-see. We were very concerned because Pegasus is over ten years old with high mileage, so anything really major is probably not going to be worth repairing.

There may be a day that we will have to make a decision to give up on her...I am happy to say that today is not that day after all. Yes, she needs some repairs and she is going to be in the shop all day tomorrow and it will cost us more than we hoped but also far less than we feared. Because of the possible results with her problem, we did not go out for errands after all, but just came back home to let her rest.

~ My Lord, thank you for giving us a dependable vehicle and that we have been able to afford its maintenance and repairs. You know our needs, my Lord, and we are trusting you to provide them. ~