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.

Shed Your Skin

I wondered why this grasshopper didn't fly away when I approached. Upon closer inspection I saw that his wings were wet and shrunken.

When I turned to go back inside, I found his former home.



A few minutes later, he was off.

Who Owns This Street?

Apparently, Panther does.



But Panther isn't long for this neighborhood. He's about to move to Duncanville and become an indoor cat. I hope he likes that OK. Rachel had to pay an extra $300 deposit and an extra $10/mo so she can take Panther with her to her new home.

Low Tide

My baby girl was born in 1981 in the island nation of Solomon Islands. The poor thing had to start wearing glasses at one year of age due to being born with strabismis. Her glasses were not quite as ugly as mine--but remember, this was the 80s! She went on to have two eye surgeries and years of patching in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve binocular vision.

I'm scanning old slides--a project which will go on for some time--and I really like this photo.

The Skimpy Olympics

The volleyball girls wear bikinis and the swimmers wear full-length suits. Go figure.

At least they don't dress like at the original Olympic games.

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

I wonder if bloggers realize that if they post a blog, then have second thoughts and delete it, the original post still shows up in RSS readers?

My Dumb Bank

Subject : re: suggestion of something to add to your website
Message :
Dear Ms. Simons,

Thank you so much for your suggestion. We have forwarded it the department that manages EC*Web for consideration.

We appreciate your suggestion and please keep them coming. They help to make our web site more user friendly.

Sincerely,
(name removed)
Member Services

P.S. On a personal note, I think this suggestion is the best one we have ever received!

They did respond promptly to my email, but if they would just look at the websites for other banks they would find lots of other ways to copy to make their web interface better.

Go, Rangers!

When we first came to Dallas over 20 years ago we were semi-serious fans of the Texas Rangers. Baseball is the only sport I claim to understand (I don't have a clue about football). I pretty much understand baseball rules and have even been known to keep score on occasion. In recent years we haven't paid so much attention to the Rangers, but with our family's biggest baseball fan back under our roof (Andrew), we are paying a bit closer attention again.

Andrew, Gary and a friend from church went to the game tonight and they got to see a good one--walk off grand slam against the hated Yankees!

Also, it is the 15th anniversary of a famous event in Rangers' history--a game we were at--Robin Ventura charging the pitcher's mound where he found Nolan Ryan putting him in a headlock. I remember thinking at the time: this is not a very good thing for my sweet baby Andrew to be seeing. Well, maybe he wasn't such a baby then, age 14, but I do remember him saying he thought both combatants should have been thrown out of the game, not something easy for him to say about his hero, Nolan Ryan.

We've got tickets for the whole family for Wednesday night's game, and I think Andrew has talked his wife into letting Baby Isabella go to her first baseball game. He did this by excessive begging, mainly, but also by buying tickets that were out of foul ball range and in the no-alcohol section. We don't want any beer spilled on this pretty baby, now do we?

Another Bridal Shower, Another Bridal Shower Cake

Homemade carrot cake seems to be everyone's favorite, covered with cream cheese icing. That is what we have here. I covered the top with crystalized sugar for a sparkle, used butter cream icing to make the decorative edges, used fondant to make the letters and the one rose. (I found a youtube video to learn how to make fondant roses.) The real roses are much prettier, however.

I hope the cake made it safely to the shower venue this afternoon, and didn't melt in the 100+ degree heat out there.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Today Rachel and I went to a friend/colleague's garage sale. We did this to look for cheap stuff for Rachel as she moves into a new apartment soon (details here). She bought lots of good stuff, and I bought a couple things too. Our friend also just gave me a bunch of stuff for free including some rubber stamping supplies. When we got home we started going through our treasures and found some examples of old cards that the owner was keeping for getting ideas.

Rachel picked one of these samples up and said, "Oh, look, mom. She has the same stamp as you." I took the card, opened it up, and discovered it was a card I had sent her over 10 years ago! We got a laugh out of that.

Widget?? Nope.

I tried to embed a widget in my blog today. The website of Faith Comes By Hearing presented the code, which I copied and pasted, but it didn't work. So sad.

My point was to give you a quick link to listen to a moment or two of a story from the Pijin New Testament. I found the widget embedded in this blog, which you should click on to see what I'm talking about.

Use the drop down menu to select Pijin language, then hit the "Play Sample" button.

My mind is still thinking about the Pijin Bible dedication which took place recently. A wonderful elderly Australian friend was kind enough to mail to us photo copies of the newspaper clippings from the Solomon Star telling all about the event. This is a scan of a photocopy of a newspaper photo of the open Pijin Bible being carried into the sports stadium on a specially carved canoe. The canoe is being carried by two Melanesian Brothers (full-time workers in the local Anglican church)in traditonal dress on their way to present the Bible to the Prime Minister.

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Part 3

This time I made an under-bed storage box instead of buying one.



I had to get rid of this box anyway, so half of it got recycled and half got reused for a new purpose. I cut it down from 8 inches to 5 so it would fit under our bed frame. Now I have a place to put my sweatpants and winter pajamas while it is 100 degrees outside.

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Part 2

(This isn't really part 2, because I've posted more than twice on this topic. Someday I'll have to go back and find all the blogs about them and make links to them.) In the mean time, here's my latest: a new lid for my big plastic all purpose bowl (whose lid got melted on the stove many years ago). I reused some of the plastic that a mattress was wrapped in.

Here's a link to the real version of this item, which is too small for this large bowl. And while researching that I found a site that said you could get 100 disposable shower caps for $2 which work wonderfully for this use. I may have to try to find a box of those at a beauty supply store.

Losing My Mind

When I can't remember where I put something, the only solution is to think, "Now where would I have put it if I had it to do over again?" Often this logical approach works, even if I can't actually remember doing it the first time.

Slow iGoogle

Has anyone else noticed how iGoogle has become slow, slow, slow? I got fed up with it and no longer use it for my home page. I liked it before because you can have lots of nifty things on it, but it has gotten too slow to reload and it was making me mad.