Monday, August 07, 2006

Hot Dogs and New Sneakers


My two older children went camping overnight with a family from our church. This family conveniently has a boy my son's age and a girl my daughter's age. This left Alicia as an only child again. She and I walked downtown to Ken's Hotdog Stand for lunch. I was going to grab my camera to document this...but I forgot it. Anyway...as usual, Zweigle's makes a good hotdog. If you've never heard of them it's because Zweigle's is a local brand. Rochester does have a few gems other than Kodak film.

We took advantage of the fact that we left the dog home and browsed in some shops before heading over to Murphy's garage to pick up the minivan that was being inspected. (it passed!) This evening Jamie was out golfing, so it was just the two of us for dinner. Alicia wants fish...she gets fish! Being an only child does have its advantages.

We then headed over to the Finger Lakes Outlet Center to buy Alicia a new pair of sneakers (tennis shoes for you foreigners). It's so exciting to get new sneakers as a kid (or as an adult come to think of it). Don't you remember feeling like you could run so much faster and jump so much higher with new sneakers on? And they are so clean!!!

Jamie's sister, Linda lives right near the Outlet Center so we surprised her with a visit. I think we really made her day! Surprise visits are cool. I don't get many. These days everyone is afraid of imposing. Everyone calls ahead. When I was a kid, it seemed like we always had drop in visitors. I don't remember too many people calling ahead. They just dropped in and my mother would make some coffee and sit and talk with them for hours. Of course...we were almost always home. I'm almost always home too, but no one drops by. I've been feeling a bit lonely and wish someone would just drop by. I'll put the coffee on!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Al and Arlene


Here's a picture of a cute couple I know. My parents. They just recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary. I'm pretty proud of them. Oh...they weren't perfect. Who is? But they did a pretty good job raising me right and I hope I do as many things right raising my kids as they did. They loved the Lord and took us to church every week. I don't really remember a week going by without them taking us to church on a Sunday morning (unless you count church being cancelled on the account of a blizzard). They also loved each other and did a fine job demonstrating what a marriage ought to be. In sickness and in health. They are getting older. Mom's on oxygen 24 hours a day because her diaphram doesn't function well. She landed in the hospital a couple of times in the last few years...giving us all a scare. Dad was found right next to her, visiting, holding her hand, adjusting her pillow...making sure she was getting the care she needed.

I'm very blessed to be married to a terrific guy as well. He's already been there for me in bad times. A few years ago I suffered from terrible clinical depression. Although I was very difficult to love during that time, he didn't give up on me. Many times after a day at work, he would come home and take care of me and the kids. He stuck it out with me and I am forever grateful for that.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Books this Summer

I've read quite a few books in the last few months. Here's a list of what I can remember anyway (including children's chapter books that I've read with my children).

Treasures of the Snow
Leap of Faith
Where the Heart Is
Homer Price
Fame
Forgiven
Reunion
The Debt
The Note
House
The Martyr's song
Redwall
Heart of a Lion
No Woman So Fair
School Days

I liked most of them...but I didn't care for House or The Martyr's Song and probably wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

Friday, August 04, 2006

A Birthday in 1966

Here's my sister Martha celebrating her birthday in 1966. Little did she know that approximately nine months from then, she would be joined by a baby sister. Perhaps my parents did a little celebrating of their own that night? LOL! This just struck me as funny, so I thought I'd add it here.

Got Anything to Read?

Haven't been blogging lately. It was too hot to go in the room my computer was in! Been reading instead. Got any suggestions of good books? I prefer novels. Anyone?

Oh...and good news. My camera works again. But I still want a new one.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Alicia wants ice-cream


You will all have to forgive me for not blogging lately. It is very hot...and my computer is in the hottest room of the house. It is about 98 degrees outside and this room is 88 degrees!!!! Of course everything is sticky as well!!!! I would love to put a lovely picture up of myself sweating and being miserable...but of course I can't because I ruined our camera. No, it still has not recovered.

I'm sorry for the sarcasm...I couldn't help myself.

Alicia is an only child because our other children are off at camp. I hope they are having a wonderful time and learning about what it means to walk with Jesus and that they are inspired to do that! Alicia and I went on a date last night to Eddy O'Brien's...which is a wonderful place to eat here in town. Afterwards, we walked to the town fountain...and Alicia took off her shoes and walked in it. She convinced me to do the same. I figured, why not?

Alicia has been begging me for ice-cream for about an hour now. Maybe it's time to break down and get some!

Friday, July 28, 2006

What kind do you use?

I'd like to get a new digital camera sometime. What kind do you use? Do you like it?

Can't sleep



Now it's my turn not to be able to sleep. I'm blaming it on the Exedrin I took earlier today. It was so worth it because I had a migraine...but the caffiene in it always zaps me awake! So here's my list. A little shorter than Martha's.
-watch a Little House On the Prarie episode
-blog
-listen to samples of music on line.
-eat chocolate ice cream.
-do the dishes.

Allen stayed over night at his cousins' house tonight. He's going to Seabreeze with them tomorrow. So I entrusted my son to Dave and Rach (pictured here). He'll have fun and he so needed to hang out with some boys!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Store Wars

click http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html for a little entertainment.

Digital cameras and water don't mix well


I'm afraid I have some bad news. I think I wrecked the digital camera. The kids and I went on a picnic at a friend's house in Middlesex. They have a wonderful swimming pond. It was great fun! When we packed up to go home, I tossed a bunch of things into a bag...including my waterbottle. My waterbottle leaked. At the bottem of the bag was the digital camera...which I had forgotten about. Now the camera is screwed up. It doesn't do anything right! I can't take any pictures with it. Nada!

The one thing that is bit of a relief is that it was not a terrific camera to begin with. (but it was better than nothing) It was a bit of a dinasaur as digital cameras go. A hand me down that was only 2 mega-pixels. (the camera pictured here is purely for illustrative purposes only and does not represent the camera I own)

Any words of comfort that you could offer me would be sorely welcome at this point.

Monday, July 24, 2006

A surprise visit from a friend...and then off to Martha's

I'm at Martha's house today. I picked some blueberries and some beans out of her garden. Yum! Guess we will be making something with blueberries in it soon! Let's see...there is the classic blueberry muffin and then there are those wonderful blueberry scones I made with Allen a while back.

Right now I am humming the tune to "Germs, My Invisible Dog" because I just read Ruth's blog and her story of Dragon the cat reminded me of it. Do any of you know the song? I can't find the lyrics to it on line...but I have found references mentioning it...and even a kid's CD with the song on it that I could buy. (not interested at this point in my life)

This morning I got a surprise visit from a friend of mine who was in town! Amy and her 4 kids. She and I had a cup of coffee on the front porch together while the kids played. We had to keep getting up to check on Seth...her youngest who has downs. He is so cute and funny. He just loves my dog. I wanted to get a picture of them together so I got my digital out...only to discover the batteries were all used up. Boo Hoo! It would hae been such a nice addition to this post...but it is not to be! Anyway...we had a wonderful visit, but it was all over much too quickly. They could only stay a couple of hours, then had to make a quick visit to someone else and then head back to Jamestown.

We are hoping to meet half way between our homes some day this summer and have a picnic and go hiking. That would probably be somewhere in Allegheny State Park.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Just another post



I've been trying to think of ways to make my blog interesting and I just can't seem to come up with anything lately. I'm running out of ideas.

Here's a picture of my Pop! Isn't he cute?

My summer has been fun...but it has started to get a little lonely. I enjoy my routine of walking the kids to school, Bible Study and what not. I feel a little out of sorts. I guess this week I should work a little harder at coming up with something interesting to do. Perhaps a hike or a visit to one of my sisters or parents. I miss seeing my women friends.

Allen's last soccer game was last night. It was a great game. It is fun to see the progression of the kids' skills over the years. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were at games watching a bunch of clueless little kids chasing the ball around...picking dandylions on the field. Now there is actually skill involved and the kids play their own positions and some are very good. Allen played really well last night! Afterwards we went to the coach's house for icecream. All the boys from the team and a few extra boys as well gathered in the back yard to play football while the adults stood around and talked. I enjoyed watching them play a good "boy game" of football and tackling. It's good and healthy fun. There are not really any boys for Allen to hang out with in our neighborhood...and his sisters are not too into football and tackling.

One more week and then we send Allen and Audra off to camp for a few days. It will seem very quiet with just Alicia.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Weekend on Long Island


This past weekend Jamie and I went to our nephew's wedding (J's brother's son) on Long Island. The bride's parents are very wealthy and put on one of the biggest, splashiest weddings I have ever seen in my life. It took place at this castle pictured here. There are no words to even describe it for you...so I'm not going to try very hard. Suffice it to say that it seemed like something out of a movie. Just when I thought I had seen it all, there was even more to be oohed and ahhed by.

Our children stayed at my sister Martha's house. When I arrived there tonight to pick them up, my sister and brother-in-law asked, "Well...how was it?" They were curious to find out (who wouldn't be curious about a place that charges $300 a plate?) I tried my best to describe the vast array of fine foods, the floral arrangement, the cake, the wait staff...how our napkins were refolded for us everytime we walked away from our table...about the bathroom attendent who's full time job it seemed was to mop up any water spots on the counter around the sinks...and on and on and on!!! I said, "I've never attended any wedding like it before and probably never will again." This is when my brother-in-law said, "No...but you will someday go to a wedding that's much fancier and nicer." I looked at him curiously...and he said, "The marriage feast of the Lamb!" I gasped! Wow, I had never thought of that!

This is just a totally amazing concept for me now! During the wedding this past weekend, I felt strangely out of place. I knew that I really wasn't dressed appropriately for the wedding...but I wore what I had in my closet. I don't have the money to go out and buy an expensive gown. I knew I would need to make do with what I had. I will say that I was not treated poorly because of how I was dressed. The service was excellent in spite of my obvious lower economical stature. But I got to thinking about this upcoming marriage feast...the one I hope you'll be at too. You will if you know Jesus Christ as your savior. Anyway...I will be clothed with garments of righteousness! Whiter than snow! Even better...I will not be just attending...as part of the church, I will be his bride!

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Finished!


I finished the cat milk can this past Friday. Go to my Art Blog to see the finished product. My Art Blog link is to the right.

Dog trouble!

I have this wonderful yellow lab mix named Sherman. He's awesome! He loves everyone and can always be counted on to greet you enthusiastically with wagging tail. However...he has been the cause of a few headaches lately. Last week we went hiking and took the dog along. He spotted a pond and decided to go swimming. The problem was that this just wasn't a pond, mind you. It was more of a swamp. He came out literally covered with black mud and scum. When he got out, he naturally shook...which of course showered all of us with black scum droplets! It was even on my glasses! Jamie took him to a cleaner section of the pond and made him swim again. He looked better...but still was a mess. He shook again which meant a shower of diluted scum droplets! There was an outdoor spigot which helped some. At home came the task of bathing him. What I don't get is why he loves swimming, but resists bathing like the plague! After bathing him, came the job of cleaning the bathroom, which was completely trashed at that point. Because he is quite a large dog, we always end up using atleast 3 towels to dry him and to sop up the water on the floor. These are naturaly covered with hair...which means laundry!

All was well for several days. On Thursday I was with him in the yard and he was tied to his line...which he ended up wrapping around my left leg. Someone came down the street walking another dog and Sherman decided to run and greet him enthusiastically. I was whipped to the ground and had a nasty rope burn behind my leg. I washed it out and hobbled around for a few days. On Monday night, I noticed it looking puffy and red and it was oozing something yellow. I called the doctor the next day to have someone look at it. Sure enough, it is infected! So I am bandaged now and on antibiotics. I also needed a tetnus shot since I hadn't had one in over 12 years. So all was well once again. I am on my way to recovery. What else could possibly go wrong?

Our friend, Mike decided to have a bon fire at his house last night and wondered if we would like to come out. So off we went...along with the dog. Other than pesky mosquitoes, we were having a good time. Sherman had freedom to run and play since it was out in the country. The kids spent time chasing down and catching fire flies. And the dog...had found something to roll in! At least it wasn't something dead...but was pretty bad-wood chuck poop. So I repeated the whole bathing fiasco from last week! I was up until 12:30 am since it wasn't just a matter of bathing him. All of us smelled smokey and had bug spray on. So we all needed showers before bed.

Anyway, do I love my dog? Yes. He's a great companion (except for when he stinks). He is all clean and soft now and sleeping peacefully on his blanket!

Monday, July 10, 2006

Letchworth State Park


Yesterday we met up with Rachel and Dave at Letchworth State Park! We had a wonderful day! The weather was perfect. The company my husband works for created a video that is being shown in the museaum there at the park. Our job was to deliver about 6 boxes of DVD's to make available to the public to buy. Which meant we didn't have to pay the fee to get in the park! One of the perks for Jamie's job! We figured, why not make a day of it? We packed a picnic lunch and headed out!

God's creation is just amazing. If you've never visited this park, I encourage you to do so. I know I have readers from other places. Maybe this will encourage you to visit this state. You can see more pictures at Sister Rachels' blog and also more pictures taken by Tom at Canandaigua Glimpses...both links are to the right. You may have to look at Tom's archives...but it gives an idea of what the park looks like!

We had a wonderful time, and hiked through the gorge, visited Mary Jemison's statue and log cabin, the Seneca Nation Council Meetinghouse and museaum. I love history. We saw quite a number of deer...including a mother and her twin fawns. Jamie and I saw a fox...but everyone else missed it! We ended the day by watching the kids take a dip in the pool at the park.

On the way home, we stopped at Shark's in Bloomfield for icecream! A perfect ending to any day!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

39!


Jamie and I decided to try some healthy recipes. The other night he made some low-fat chocolate chip cookes that were awesome! We decided to try again tonight. We made some banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They were horrible!!!! They were the most blah cookies I have ever tasted in my life. We ended up tossing the whole thing. What a waste! I say that there is something to be said for eggs and butter!!! There is an Amish community nearby and their baked goods are to die for! You can be sure that those Amish ladies use all the best stuff! Butter and eggs...straight from the source!

I have this horrible sweet tooth. I am trying to cut back because I can no longer eat the way I did just a few years ago. Yep! I guess I'm getting older. I used to be able to eat anything and I remained skinny. Not anymore. I think I could stand to lose a few pounds. I'm getting discouraged because I am looking like a frumpy old lady. I need a new look!

That's why the profile picture I use is from 2001 when I was 34. I can fool all my cyber friends into thinking I still look like that! (well...now you know the truth!)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Bathing Beauty




Alicia, taking a dip in Keuka Lake.

Tandum Bike



Audra and I try out the tandum bike. It was a lot of fun after I got the hang of it!

Picnic



Here we have James, Jamie and Martha scrutinizing the burger situation. The food was all delicious!











An action packed game. I don't know what this game was...maybe something they made up? I love how Hannah's hair is flying!







Woship music. That's my father on the banjo.



The young guys jammin'. From left to right: my nephew Nathan (age 16), my nephew Jim (24) and my cousin's son, Hayrim(16).