My House is a Wreck

The last renters moved out and now some new ones want to move in, so I've got some cleaning to do.

This needs to be sorted.

This needs to go into storage.

These need to go to the cardboard box recycle at the warehouse.

This need to go to the crisis pregnancy center.

I don't know what to do with this.

I found three abandoned laptops while cleaning. What to do with those?

This needs to go to the church food pantry.

This needs to go into the paper recycling bin.

I didn't even include photos of the stuff on its way to the boutique, the overflowing recycling bin, or the laundry room.

I don't like cleaning, but I do find it therapeutic. Good thing, huh? :-)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This has turned into a family favorite. Very filling and makes good leftovers too.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

List of ingredients:
1 large chicken breast
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 can 4 oz chopped green chiles
1 can 10 oz chicken broth or broth from cooking chicken breasts
1 can 28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 can white hominy
1 can black beans
1 can corn kernels
1 T olive oil
2 t chili powder
1 t oregano
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
oil for frying tortilla strips
8-10 corn tortillas (or use tortilla chips)
Toppings:
shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
chopped green onions
avocado slices
sour cream

Directions:
1. Boil chicken, cut into chunks, save broth.
2. In large pan, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. Stir in spices, tomatoes, broth, and 1.5 cups water. Simmer 5-10 minutes.
3. Stir in Hominy, chilies, beans (rinse first), cilantro and chicken pieces. Simmer 10 minutes.
4. Fry fresh tortilla strips in hot oil and drain on paper towels while soup is simmering.
5. Ladle into bowls and garnish with toppings.

I'm Sad

We've just returned from dropping this beautiful baby and her parents off at DFW airport. They fly to Amsterdam and then to Addis Ababa, arriving in about 24 hours. Lord, keep them safe and help them as they start their new life.

Another Sleepless Night

This is the second night this week I haven't been able to sleep. I guess vacation means sleeping in in the morning and that makes going to sleep the next night even harder.

Yesterday I slept very well since I was dead tired from working so hard to pull of Grandpa Simons's 80th birthday party. I decorated this cake (which I had baked a few days previous) and then made chicken curry for a crowd and rearranged the house to fit all the visitors. I think we had a total of almost 20. Grandpa claimed this was the only birthday party he had had since age 10--that is hard to believe!

If you have any desire to see photos of the birthday party, or of our time at the Dallas Arboretum, or general shots of our family time, you can click the links to go to my web albums.

Part of the reason I can't sleep is thinking about Andrew, Laura and Isabella off to Africa tomorrow to start their new life. I'm going to miss them all, but especially that sweet baby! And would you know it, Blogger is apparently blocked in Ethiopia, so I have to find a different way to keep in touch with them.

A Worm and A Hero

I spent election night with a worm called "Removable Disk.exe". It got on my computer via Andrew's memory stick which got it while traveling around Ethiopia. Interestingly enough, when I googled the worm's name, the first Google hit was an African computer forum.

The odd thing about this worm was that it didn't infect Andrew's brand new computer nor Gary's older computer, even though the memory stick was inserted into them; for some reason it just liked my computer best.

The action of this worm was to turn certain files on one's computer in "hidden" and/or "system" files. This has the effect of making them disappear even though they really are still there. I became familiar with that menu item called Folder Options during this ordeal in my attempts to turn hidden files into ones you could see.

It took quite of bit of work, but before Obama had been declared the winner, I purchased a piece of clean-up software called Prevx CSI for $25 and it killed the worm. Well, I tried the free version first which found the problem, but refused to fix it until I paid my money to Pay Pal.

It was only the next morning that I discovered the full damage that worm had done to my computer. The worm was dead, but the damage had already been done. I probably would not have discovered all it had done except that suddenly all my photos in Picasa had disappeared. Yes, the files were still there just fine, but after Picasa scanned them into its index, then all they immediately disappeared from Picasa. Some internet research revelaed that this was due to hidden folders in the paths that Picasa scans--apparently a Picasa bug. Gary worked with me to discover the full path names for the folder in question--none other than "My Documents."

Our attempts to find a way in Windows to change the file attributes to unhidden or non-system proved futile, as I expect the writer of this worm knew would be the case. But not to fear, Gary (aka my hero) was able to reach back to the dark DOS corners of his memory and, with a little assist from Google, fashion a DOS command to unhide My Documents: attrib -h -r -s mydocu~1 in case anyone else ever needs it. Of course, to use it, you need to know how to get to DOS!

Now my Picasa photos are back, and life can go on. In the meantime I upgraded to Picasa3, and I'm still figuring that one out.

Ticket Scalping

Quote for the day: "If Sting tickets can buy you a new dishwasher, then Madonna tickets can pay for my grad school loans."

Speaking of appliances, I dragged this small freezer out on the deck last week to defrost it, and discovered there were 4 casters hidden inside the compressor cavity.


Next time, it should move a little easier.

Yes, I Am

After further thought, I'm afraid I have to say that yes, I am a poor judge of character. This point has come to mind due to the heated political season which--thankfully--comes to an end on Tuesday. I have to say that my first time to vote, I voted for Nixon. Of course, so did most of the country. But what we later learned about Nixon was enough to put me off politics for life. I suppose that was the beginning of a growing personal cynicism about all things political. Sigh.

On to more pleasant matters: the calendar says it must be autumn, but the temperature is 80 degrees. Dallas, never known for its natural beauty, does have nice wildflowers and this year there are also a few colorful trees around.

Am I a Poor Judge of Character?

Since I can't sleep tonight, I'm writing a blog. I used to fall asleep without any problems, but middle age has ruined that for me. Sigh.

One time, several years ago, I witnessed a situation where I learned that I'd been lied to. Not just a little white lie, but a systematic and complicated network of deception by a person to conceal the fact that he had AIDS. When the truth finally came out, along with all the sordid accompanying details, I (and others) responded first with shock. Then sadness. Then anger. Then with self-doubt. The questions came: "Am I such a bad judge of character that I couldn't see through the lies? Shouldn't I have figured this out? How did I allow myself to be duped? Am I that stupid? If he lied to me, I wonder how many other people are lying to me? Should I examine people's words more carefully before I accept them? Am I too trusting?"

Years have passed, but I'm still uncomfortable when I recall that situation. I guess it has been hard to forgive this person--for his bad choices and for lying to me about them.

Recently, I've faced a new but similar situation. I trusted someone but later learned that this person was not worthy of my trust. In this case, I confronted the person and they admitted their sin and asked for forgiveness. I actually told them I forgave them, and indeed I tried to forgive, but truthfully, I'm not sure I really have deep down inside my heart. I still hurt over their bad choices, and I still question myself for allowing myself to be deceived.

It is tempting to develop an attitude of "trust no one" to avoid being duped again.

What a Computer is Not Good For

My husband is off at meetings for 10 days. His computer more or less died the first day out and has since gone from bad to worse. The experts are examining it tomorrow. In the mean time, someone lent him a computer to finish preparing his speech which was presented this morning without incident.

But I had to laugh when I was going through his email inbox this morning. One email said, "Hey Gary. I'm sitting on your right. Can I have a meeting with you over lunch?"

So I, in Dallas, wrote back: "First of all, Gary's computer died. Second, he's not reading email. Third, he can't see well enough to read emails during all the boring meetings like everyone else. If you want to talk to him, then tap in on the shoulder and look him in the eye and talk to him!"

The person emailed back, "OK, I will."

Aren't computers great??

Grinch

It takes a redhead to wear shoes like this to the theater! But, really, in this particular case, what could be more appropriate??

Update

I've kind of lost my joy in blogging. And my interest. That, and I just seem to keep busy enough with family related things. Being a grandmother seems more interesting than being a blogger, at least for now.

Sometimes I consider writing certain thoughts here, and then decide against it; sometimes I wish I could be just a little more anonymous!

Gary left today for a 10-day trip East. I got a phone message that he arrived safely, but he didn't answer when I tried to call him back. He's been working so very, very hard on the next edition of the Ethnologue. I'm about to declare Death by Ethnologue, Part II. Part I was four years ago.

Shopping

What's that you've got in your shopping cart?


Oh, it's some coffee!

We're so happy to have Laura and Isabella back with us, if for only less than a month.

Camping and Relaxing

It was great to get out of town for the weekend. If you're interested in see camping photos, you can check out my family blog.

If not, you can still admire these two new wildflower photos I've added to my collection.

purple aster (a late season bloomer, and lots of them around)

This is a new one for me, I think in the water plantain family. They grow in the mud at the lake edges, and it was hard to get really close for a good shot because of the mud.

Ugly

I have no idea what the point of this is, but I drove up behind this giant trailer today. (Just happened to have my camera handy.) Scary! (the side of the trailer said something about motorcycles).

Staying Home

Can you believe that this kept us from going to church today?

Well, it wasn't quite that cut and dried. The event did prevent my family members from getting to early choir practice and then we decided that we'd make alternate plans because today was youth Sunday. Not that we don't like the youth--we do! There are a great bunch of kids at our church. It is just that a certain member of our family can't handle the music on youth Sunday!

Anyway, the route for this national event was right in our neighborhood, and followed or intersected all of several routes that we normally drive to church. They were blocking off intersections and letting cars only go one way. But I must honestly admit that it would actually have been possible to get there by going all the way around on the freeway.

And we'll be skipping church next Sunday too--going camping. Wow, two misses in a row? That might be a new record. :-)

Talk to the Hands

Will I sound like a philistine if I say that this art is just a wee bit creepy?

(detail from a large tree-like sculpture in Terminal D of DFW airport)

Suitcase Emergency

While putting his suitcase in the van for the trip to the airport, the metal connector piece broke on the handle.

I told Andrew to drive, and I ran back in the house and grabbed my supplies. As we drove to the airport I repaired the handle with nylon rope, and sealed the tie with a match flame so it wouldn't come untied.

It looks pretty oafy, but I hope it will make it to Addis Ababa.

Hater

I hate politics. Really, I do.

But tonight I picked up the latest issue of Newsweek magazine and started reading an article about Sarah Palin. I was typically disinterested until I got to the point where the author went into very specific theological ripping at Ms. Palin's religious views. At that point, I looked at who the author was, and then heaved a "Oh, that explains it." At least the article was labeled "opinion," but wow, is that guy hateful of Christians.

Unintended Consequences

I read a mission magazine yesterday that mentioned--this was probably a politically incorrect thing to say--that one of the effects of China's one-child-only policy is that now many young adults are spoiled brats, having been doted upon by parents and grandparents all through their young lives. The implication was that the divorce rate was skyrocketing because they don't know how to get along with their peers and are used to being the center of the universe.

A Trip to the Big City

No, not Dallas. This time it was Ft. Worth. I drove Rachel for some PD in north Ft. Worth (no, friends, PD does not stand for Partnership Development; it stands for Professional Development). I passed some of the three hours at a park reading a book, the weather was just lovely. At one point I tried to find a fast-food place to get something to drink and found myself with only pawn shops, cash stores, and tattoo parlors around. Finally, I found a Jack-in-the-box. And while I don't especially like being the taxi, at least I get reimbursed for my trouble!

These PD sessions are required by R's new job, and they will enable her to renew her teaching certificate, at their expense, not hers. Today she deposited her first paycheck and declared, "Now I have money, but no time to spend it." Such is life. :-)

Multitasking

I haven't been posting so much lately. Well, I have been posting on my family blog some, but I haven't had much inspiration to blog here since the summer has been mostly busy with family things.

But change is coming--my empty nest is actually going to be empty soon. But before that, I need to babysit to baby's parents can get ready to leave.

And who wouldn't want to babysit the world's cutest baby??

Only at My Place of Work

...would you see a hippie wearing a headband walking across campus playing hymns on a harmonica.

More Somethings

...out of nothing.



It really doesn't take much talent to make a burp rag, but it is a good way to recycle those receiving blankets baby got at the hospital.

I've enjoyed doing a bit of sewing this past year after buying myself a new sewing machine at Walmart--cheap, but works great! I've made a couple things to wear, but mostly I use it for mending and making household things.

Brownies

Did you know that the brownies won't stick to the knife if the knife is plastic?

We had a nice little party this afternoon for the start of the new choir season, and we brought brownies and black bean salad. I swam in the pool by myself for 30 minutes while others were watching football or helping Anita cut out stuff for her classroom. I give Anita kudos for thinking to ask all her choir friends for help--smart lady!

Whoops!

You know you're having a bad day when the butter falls butter side down!

Something Out of Nothing

I like to make useful things out of things that are no longer useful. Laura asked me to make a new pillow cover for her Boppy nursing pillow, so that's what I did. I used two flannel receiving blankets which were given to them at the hospital, and saved at least $10.

I need to tag this post and find all the others like it, because I know I've done this sort of thing before.

Another Rangers' Game

Andrew had no other takers, so I went to the game with him tonight. The weather was warm but not unbearable, and the game was good until the later innings when the Rangers got creamed.

We tried some stadium food, and I think it provided my daily requirement of grease for the next several days! But, hey, it was shrimp!

Reboot

I stopped to get some money out of the ATM machine the other day and, could you believe it, it was displaying the Windows logo and singing that Windows jingle just like my computer does! I had no idea. And just like my computer, it took too long to reboot, so I went to my friend's house and came back later.

Recyling Knowledge

It wasn't easy for him (read that: I forced him), but this morning Gary dumped 6-7 boxes of old journals into the paper recycling dumpster. This represents about half of what I wanted him to toss, but we've compromised at this amount and I'm glad for at least that. And since I'm so gracious in defeat, I won't mention that these journals go back 25 years in a field that updates itself very rapidly, nor will I mention the silverfish, and I certainly won't mention that the owner's eyesight is such that reading anything on paper is a chore. But I will mention that the Center will be very happy for his donation since they were just a ton short of having enough recycling paper to meet the double-pay bonus!

Forgetfulness

I got up early on Sunday morning and made a dozen of these blank cards to take to church to donate to the local crisis pregnancy center which our church supports. Blank cards was one of the things on their wish list. Then I forgot to take them. Maybe next week, if I haven't lost them by then.

Women's Work

Did you ever notice that when you finally get the kitchen cleaned up, somebody's hungry again?

No, I'm not the first woman in the world to notice that, nor the first or last to complain about it. And really, I'm not actually complaining, since I know we all need to eat to stay alive. Maybe I'm just feeling a little grouchy about it since I have a cold. Maybe I should live in one of those countries where the maids have maids. But, never fear, there is some good news about housework too--click here.

Men work from dawn
'til setting sun,
But women's work
is never done.

Again

I'm going to have to start adding tags to my blogs. (Tags are words that the software uses to index or label the topic of the post.) The reason I need to do this is because I'm getting so forgetful and tags would help me to know if I've already posted on a given topic or not.

Like tonight. I'm thinking about hope and disappointment. I half think I've already written on this topic. Not that it matters--after all, if I'm just talking to myself, I'll forgive myself for repeating myself, won't I? Again.

Anyway, I'm wondering if it is better to have high expectations and high hopes and suffer from repeated disappointments, or is it better to have no, low or modest hopes in order to protect oneself from disappointment?

The good thing about low expectations is that seldom are you hurt and sometimes you're even pleasantly surprised. The bad thing about low expectations is the nagging shadow that you've sold yourself short.

The good thing about high expectations is that when they are met there is great satisfaction and joy. The bad thing about high expectations is the huge risk that the answer will be no.

Today I told someone, "Don't get your hopes up--what if you're disappointed again?" They replied, "Don't tell me not to have hope!"

Is persistence a good thing? Or is it insane?

A Date at Rangers' Stadium

Andrew gave Gary and me some tickets to go to the Rangers' game on Wednesday night. We were sitting this close, just 10 rows up!

And it was a great game with SIX homeruns. My fireworks photos after each home run weren't very good, but you get the idea.

After back to back homers and back to back fireworks, the stadium was filled with smoke.

And this evening really was a date for some happy couple! (I assume they were happy because I assume she said yes!)

I'm a Mess

In lots of ways.