White Elephant Gift

Last night we joined our old Bible study group for their annual Christmas dinner--yummy Mexican. I brought homemade guacamole. After dinner we had the funniest white elephant gift exchange.

Gary's number was toward the beginning and he got some almonds. Then they were stolen. Then he got some mixed nuts. Then they were stolen. Then he got a block of cheddar cheese. Then it was stolen. Then he got a cheeseball covered with nuts--nobody took that. But at the end he found someone willing to trade it for some Christmas letter paper.

My number was at the end, and I ruthlessly stole the best gift of the evening from some visitor--he will probably never return!

Mooove over Marble Slab Creamery!

Hi, Ma!

Sauerkraut continues to surprise me. First I learn that Ackley, IA, where my blogging friend Ma Hoyt lives, celebrates Saurkraut Days.

Then last week when I was at Sam's club, I discovered this at their food stand.

Yes, that's right. Single serve sauerkrauts sitting out for anyone to take. Of course, I noticed no one except me was taking. I guess some people can't eat a hot dog without kraut to go on top. As for me, I thought it would make some great blog material. On the other hand, Gary did actually open this package and eat the contents on the hot dog he had for lunch.

Gas Wars

Did I mention I filled up the van at $1.53 yesterday? *another little dance*

We saw it for $1.29 at two places on Sunday, but we didn't need gas then.

Christmas Flowers

Tonight we're having our first Christmas meal with friends. I haven't had time to make all my Christmas goodies yet, so this will be her Christmas present. The vase is a small "flower arranger" that my mother-in-law made. She's a potter and I love to give her creations as gifts.

Tomorrow afternoon we're driving to Grandbury, a cool little town an hour or so south of here, and will spend the evening there with three other couples with whom we used to be in a Bible Study. We don't get to see them often, so it will be nice to have a little Christmas party with them.


I'm taking them flower arrangers too, and we'll have a craft project to make flower arrangements--like this one, only better! I've bought the flowers, greenery, and candy canes and pulled out my corsage making kit from when I used it at David and Sarah's wedding last June. Good thing I did that, because I found the missing pair of needle-nosed pliers I'd been looking for.

Potty Report

A lot of today was spent talking and thinking about potties. No, no one has either diarrhea or constipation--this talk was about the replacement potties. Ya know, it aint that easy to pick them out!

I even got a phone call from the City of Dallas today about potties! They told me my voucher was on hold until I faxed them a copy of our water bill. I'll do that from the office tomorrow morning.

The contractor came today and we showed him our four drawings of possible floor plans. After getting his opinion, we have come up with a plan. The plan will include extensive plumbing issues, but he felt the plan was entirely workable and we think it will give us a very functional end result.

We've decided to rip the wall out between the two bathrooms, move both toilets, change both sinks, and put in new tub/shower combination in BOTH bathrooms. This is only barely possible in such a small space, but it is possible because we are moving the master bathroom sink into the bedroom. So technically the bath off the master bedroom will be a "three-quarters" bathroom, not a full bathroom. But there are many examples of dorm rooms, hotel rooms and even Rachel's apartment where the shower and toilet are together and the sink is in the main room.

So, if anyone wants to know what to get us for Christmas, Home Depot gift cards come to mind...

Gas Prices

Did I mention that I filled up the van this weekend at $1.58/gal? *little dance*

Does This Look Familiar?

Gary returned safely from his trip and brought us some dried mangos. Kitty was awaiting his return.

Thanksgiving 2008

I have a bit of spare time before leaving for the airport to pick up Gary and then to go to friends' house for dinner. I've made my yeast rolls and they are out on the countertop rising. Rachel is coming over soon to make her specialty, green bean casserole.

I was going to make a list of things I'm thankful for, and I still may do that, but I decided to make links all my Thanksgiving blogs of past years. Wow, I've been blogging for quite a while. It is always interesting to look back over one's life and see how things have changed (or not):

2004
2005
2006
2007a and 2007b

I do have a lot to be grateful for.

Math--Ugh!

Tonight I'm realizing that it was about 150 years ago that I used to know how to do algebra. I'm feeling sorry for Rachel who is spending at least part of her Thanksgiving vacation studying for a certification test that she's not entirely likely to pass (because it is over specific content stuff that she too studied years ago. I went over some of the math review questions--it seemed a lot like reading a foreign language! The literature review was brutal too--ugh! At least I knew the English grammar questions!

Anyway, pray for Rachel to do as well as she is able on the test (Dec 17) and then that she won't lose her job if she doesn't pass it! Yikes!

She loves the job and it has been a great thing for her, a perfect fit. It has been a learning and stretching experience, but she has done a good job with it. It would be so sad to lose it!

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Part 4

I love to get rid of things by finding a new use for them. My niece, April, is spending a year in Atlanta with an organization which works with the homeless called Mission Year. Recently, when April heard of all my cleaning and throwing out, she asked if we had any old backpacks to get rid of. I collected a few (mostly bags Gary was given at academic conferences, so they have weird logos) and needed a way to package them up to send to her. What better container than an old cat food bag turned wrong side out??

I wiped off the cat food residue, and stuffed the old backpacks inside.
I sewed it shut.

And now I await April's mailing instructions.

My Husband Doesn't Like Tomato Soup

But I do, so I'm having it while he is away. I found a few leftover bits of ham and avocado in the frig to throw in for fun.

I'm still, still working on cleaning and sorting and throwing out projects. Yesterday's project was to gather together all the odds and ends of disposable dishes and cutlery and put it all in one spot--most were leftovers from two wedding receptions last summer. My goal for the day is to finish putting away the summer clothes and getting out some winter ones. And to throw a few away in the process.

Still to go: my desk and nearby bookshelves have been started, but they are a continual battle to keep under control. And then when Gary gets home, he promised me he'd do some cleaning in his office. Which is also my office.

New Throne Room

I'm very excited to say that we are about to embark on a remodeling project at our house. We've been saving the pennies since our kids finished college (not a penny to spare before then) so we could remodel two of our three bathrooms. Yesterday I called a friend who manages many rental houses and got the name of a contractor whom he trusts. Today this contractor, named Ernesto, came by and talked to me. I'm so excited--I've been wanting to get this done for a long time.

First order of business: order a voucher for $90 off each new throne. That goes in the mail tomorrow.

We are fortunate enough to have a third bathroom that we can use while the other two are being remodeled. And I'm happy that the plan is to turn the half bath off our bedroom and the main bathroom with a tub into two full bathrooms with tiled showers. The space is tight, but it looks like it can be done.

Update

Kitty tried to help Gary pack for his trip to the Philippines. I've heard from him (Gary, not the cat) a couple times. He seems to be doing well and had some funny stories to tell about desert at a fancy restaurant

And then the Filipina that I was sitting next to insisted that I should try "halo halo" for dessert. That's Tagalog for
"mix mix", and it is shaved ice with all kinds of things mixed in -- purple yams, green hard jello, jack fruit, corn flakes, coconut meat, and more that I couldn't identify.

I've made some good progress on my house cleaning, although I'd hate to have unexpected visitors yet. I've taken several more loads of Andrew and Laura's stuff over to the storage bin, I've recycled lots, and the computer department at work thanks me for the laptop cases if not the laptops!

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.