While driving into Georgetown today I turned on the radio to NPR. They had a great program on titled "On Point". The discussion today was about musk ox. I felt my old heart leap a bit as I listened to the discussion.
Several years ago Claude had a business trip to Alaska. I joined him his last day of work and we stayed for four days just to visit and explore. One of the places I found in my on-line quest before the trip was a musk ox farm north of Anchorage. This just fascinated me and I put on our list of possible places to look up during our visit.
We made it to the musk ox farm and had our tour. These are stout creatures and we really enjoyed this tour. Enough so that we sought out the Anchorage Oomingmak store just before our departure to purchase a piece of qiviut for each of us to take home.
As the discussion continued one caller phoned in to ask about the merchandizing of the 'wool' from the musk ox. The host, Tom Ashbrook, had two authorities to help answer this guests question. They spoke mainly of the musk ox in Canada. I felt my pulse start to race expecting to hear about the merchandizing of musk ox wool in Alaska. Nothing was said.
I listened carefully for the phone number to call in and found the Whitaker Bank parking lot to stop in and made my call. I just felt I needed to share the great way Alaska handles this 'wool'.
A nice lady answered the phone. I explained why I was calling and that I knew their topic had taken a turn and was now discussing polar bears and grizzly bears mating and what that meant. She assured me after my explanation of what I wanted to say that it was very appropriate for her to connect my call. I was instructed to say 'Hello' and not 'Good Afternoon' as they rebroadcast these things in the evening. Then I was put on hold until I was acknowledged by the host.
Then I shared a tidbit of my knowledge of how Alaska handles the qiviut. Here is what I tried to share...
They raise the musk ox we saw on a farm. In the fields they place the brushes out of street sweepers. The musk ox rub up against them and this save the qiviut. This qiviut is so precious that one of the tourist picked up just a tuft of the quviut that had blown out the field and along the fence line. The tour guide quickly took that quviut to add to their harvest.
All this quviut is saved and then taken to remote villages where the indigenous people make thread and then knit these wonderful pieces of clothing to be sold in places like Anchorage. The tribes or clans or whatever they were called each have a pattern that is specific to their village. They do all their knitting in that pattern. So you can actually tell by the pattern of the piece you purchase what village it came from. The earnings are shared with that village to help sustain it financially. I just thought this was wonderful!!
Claude purchased a stocking cap and I got a smoke ring which is just like a circular knit scarf to go around your neck and over your face if needed. These items are very expensive.
The discussion had already explained and did so again after my call that this qiviut is really not 'wool'. It is actually hair that is extremely fine. Man has no fiber that he makes that equals this qiviut for texture and warmth. It seems to me they figured the warmth as 6 times that of wool from sheep. I'll also state that it is the softest, lightest material I have ever held in my life. And I'll vouch for their statement about it's warmth.
The kind host thanked me for my comment and quickly went on to another caller as they were very near the end of their program.
It was quite fun to actually get through and talk about something from our travels that was very fun, very educational and very nice to have to wear in the cold winters.
I then quickly eMailed my family to let them know Mom was on the radio. What a fun thing to have happen today!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Comic Relief...
When I was at the nursing home on Monday, Papa was feeding Mimi and one of the CNA's came over to chat with us. She said she was the one that put up the bulletin board in the hallway across from the room where they fix the residents hair. When the CNA decorated the board, she put garland made out of tinsel material around the outside of edge of the bulletin board to make a nice border for the Christmas season.
This same CNA had Mimi in her wheel chair pulled up by the bulletin board the other day. Mimi happened to be able to catch hold of one end of that garland. This is no small feat in and of itself as Mimi is very shaky now in her movements. Well, our mischievous Mimi held on to the end of this garland and started to pull. Then she looked up at the CNA who grinned at her. Mimi grinned and continued to pull that garland. The CNA was getting a kick out of what mom was doing so she just let her go. She said Mimi pulled a lot of that garland down and laughed out loud as she did it.
Papa and I were loving this wonderful story of joy in Mimi's life. Then the CNA looked at Mimi and said to her, "And you knew what you were doing to, didn't you?" Papa stopped feeding Mimi while the CNA was talking to her. Mimi looked up at the CNA and gave her a big, "Yep, I knew what I was doing!" grin and nod.
I'm telling you, Alzheimer's in an interesting disease. So much of the time now we don't know if Mimi is getting stuff or not. Then you get a flash and you know that somewhere in all that cloudiness of her brain, there is recognition and maybe even a bit of joy at some moments.
This same CNA had Mimi in her wheel chair pulled up by the bulletin board the other day. Mimi happened to be able to catch hold of one end of that garland. This is no small feat in and of itself as Mimi is very shaky now in her movements. Well, our mischievous Mimi held on to the end of this garland and started to pull. Then she looked up at the CNA who grinned at her. Mimi grinned and continued to pull that garland. The CNA was getting a kick out of what mom was doing so she just let her go. She said Mimi pulled a lot of that garland down and laughed out loud as she did it.
Papa and I were loving this wonderful story of joy in Mimi's life. Then the CNA looked at Mimi and said to her, "And you knew what you were doing to, didn't you?" Papa stopped feeding Mimi while the CNA was talking to her. Mimi looked up at the CNA and gave her a big, "Yep, I knew what I was doing!" grin and nod.
I'm telling you, Alzheimer's in an interesting disease. So much of the time now we don't know if Mimi is getting stuff or not. Then you get a flash and you know that somewhere in all that cloudiness of her brain, there is recognition and maybe even a bit of joy at some moments.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
From Kentucky to Michigan and Back...
This year the Michigan branch of our family cannot come to Kentucky for Christmas. We have been very blessed to all be together in Kentucky for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas for many of the years we have lived here. You always know that the kids will have Thanskgiving and Christmas in their own homes eventually and that is the natural flow to life.
When we found out this year that Nissa's family and Jake couldn't come to Kentucky for Thanksgiving or Christmas, Claude said, "Well darn-it!!" I was quite amused by his response. I just looked at my dear hubby and said, "Do you suppose Bonnie (Claude's mom) still says that when you say you aren't coming home for Christmas?" This gave us both a grin.
Claude and I pondered the situation and decided to take Christmas a little early to the Michigan contingent. We checked with the kids and made sure it was a good time for them. Then we packed my red Buick Lucerne and headed north last Wednesday (Dec 15th) morning.
As was our custom, we left without eating breakfast with the plan to stop at the McDonald's in Dry Ridge, Kentucky for my favorite breakfast of a plain biscuit and a Dr. Pepper. Claude pulled into the McDonald's and was surprised to find a handwritten note taped to the ordering speaker. It said, "Sorry, we will not open until 9am." We were stunned. Claude drove past the drive-thru window and there was another note with the same message taped to it. We just crossed the street and went through Arby's drive-thru instead. But we were amazed that the McDonald's next to I-75 was closed for breakfast.
After Cincinnati my tired caught up with me. I completely missed Dayton. Now, Dayton is always, and I do mean ALWAYS, under construction. So missing Dayton from the Interstate view is not necessarily a bad thing. However, when I woke up Claude informed me I missed a HUGE wreck.
We made it to Lansing, Michigan in pretty good time. I'm crocheting like a fiend and Claude is driving at close to the speed limit. Suddenly he said, "Are we at Grand Rapids already?" It didn't seem like enough time had gone past to either of us. Sure enough we saw signs for the Gerald Ford Airport. We were in Grand Rapids. We felt like we had been through a time warp.
Claude found the exit and we headed to Krispy Kreme to buy a dozen donuts for Nissa and her family. This has become a very nice tradition.
On to Muskegon we flew. We really weren't going that fast but we sure got there quickly. We checked into our hotel and rested for a few minutes. Then we called the Thompson home and found out the kids were there so we headed over. Lots of hugs (my favorite part) were given. We had a bit of time before Todd got off work and could join us. The kids entertained us with their increasing musical abilities. The first picture is Aubrey Anne singing and Katelyn playing the piano. The second picture is Paul playing his guitar.
Can't believe how these kids have grown. Todd got home and we all headed to Golden Corral for dinner together. It was a fun evening.
I had been diagnosed with bronchitis on Tuesday, December 7th. I had finished my Z-Pack but am still taking the cough syrup. Claude was getting a cold and on over-the-counter medicine. The kids had school the next day and Nissa and Todd had to work. So we parted ways at Golden Corral. Claude and I headed to our hotel room for a good night's rest.
Thursday we slept in a bit. Then Katelyn had us pick her up at college and the three of us went to 'The Pita Place' for lunch. This was Katelyn's Christmas present to Claude and me. I love a good falafel and Claude loves a good gyro. This place a great falafels and gyros. We had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying good food until it was time to Katelyn back to college for a final exam in the afternoon.
Katelyn finished early and Claude and I picked her up at college again and headed over to Aubrey and Paul's school to pick them up from school. Katelyn took this opportunity to go into the school and say hi to teachers from her high school years. The amusing thing was watching our Paul come out of school with his arm at the small of a young girls back. Oh my!!! They gave each other a quick kiss good-bye. My old Gramma heart was not ready for that!!!
After finishing chores at the Thompson home, we took the kids back to our hotel to enjoy some time in the swimming pool. There is nothing quite like snow on the ground and swimming in the pool. Great combination. In this picture you have Aubrey, Katelyn and then Paul.
Nissa and Todd finished work and ordered pizza. They joined us in our hotel room for a nice dinner together. Then we opened Christmas presents and visited. Claude and I got wonderful pictures of our family. Pictures just make the best presents for grandparents. Then Nissa, Todd and the kids headed home for some rest before work and school the next day.
Friday morning Claude and I slept a bit late again, trying to give our poor old bodies a chance to rest and heal. Then we loaded in the red car and headed off to Chelsea.
I eMailed Jake and told him we were on our way. He sent me an eMail back stating something like, "The weatherman says we have a 20% chance of snow. I guess I'm seeing that 20% out my window."
Our big concern for traveling was driving in snow. We left Kentucky with a forecast for snow topped with ice on Wednesday. We received a Facebook post that we had 6 inches of snow in our yard in Kentucky. We were very fortunate that the only snow we had to drive through was flurries during the entire trip.
At 5pm we picked Jake up at work and the three of us headed to Joe's Crab Shack in Ann Arbor for dinner. Yummy!! Then we did a little Christmas shopping. I even managed to find a pair of shoes for me to wear with my jeans. Successful on the shopping front. Then back to Chelsea to Big Boy for a piece of pie for dessert.
There was more snow on the ground in Chelsea than there was in Muskegon. When the server showed us to our seat by the window, I was taken once again with the lovely icicles they produce in Michigan. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone camera. These were actually hanging from the roof at a slant. Jake explained that the last snowfall was just a whirl of wind that hung over their area for a long time. As a consequence, the icicles were all hanging at a slant.
I remember our first visit to Muskegon after Nissa and family moved there from Maryland. It was between Christmas and New Year's. Michael, Andie and Jake joined Claude and I for this trip. There were icicles hanging from the tops of 2-story buildings to the ground. They were amazing. Paul and I were talking about that while we were in Muskegon. He was remembering the snow ball fight with Uncle Jake and Michael at the Old Country Buffet.
After dinner, Jake, Claude and I headed back to the Comfort Inn to chat for the remainder of the evening.
When Bailey was born we gave her a stuffed monkey which she named Wah-Wah as she began to talk. This is her most treasured lovey. At one point Claude and I purchased a back-up Wah-Wah. Any mother of a little one knows this is an important thing to have tucked away so you can wash one while the child plays with the one they think is the only one they have. It's also important in case you lose one of them. This is what happened with Bailey's back-up Wah-Wah. So every trip to Chelsea, we go back to the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory and check to see if they have any more Wah-Wah's. They stopped making them about the time Bailey lost her back-up. Each time we checked they still didn't have any more. We really didn't expect success on this trip either but 'one must try'.
Claude pulled up in front of the store, I hop out and ran in. The store was just opening. I was the first customer. I hurriedly went to the back of the store where this particular style of stuffed animal resides. I carefully checked the side of the display cabinet closest to the door and there were no Wah-Wah's. Then I walked around to the other side and shouted, "Wah-Wah's!!". The sales person must have thought Gramma lost it in the back of the store. I was stunned. They were also marked 50% off.
I purchased two of this treasure and headed to the car to show Claude and Jake my find. Then I promptly called the Marx home and spoke with Michael. I asked him to tell his dear wife that we are now in possession of back-up Wah-Wah's. Andie later eMailed me and called it the 'Christmas Miracle'.
The goal for the rest of the morning was to find the Casual Male XL store with lots of great clothes for big & tall guys. Jake led the way in his car and we followed into Ann Arbor again. The store had some great sales on and we found some fun items for Claude and for Jake.
It was time to head for Sadieville, much to our chagrin. We had our good-bye hugs in the parking lot. Then Jake pointed us in the right direction for the highway to Toledo, Ohio.
We had a safe drive home. As we neared our home we wondered if we could get my car into the driveway with 6 inches of snow in it. There had been no let up in the temperature in Kentucky and the snow was sticking around. We were so happy to pull up in front of our home and find our driveway plowed clean. Dominic Whelan, our wonderful neighbor down our street, had plowed it for us. I called Sandy, his wife, and told her what a wonderful gift that was to us, after a quick but long trip, to come home to a clean driveway. Thank you Dominic!!
We had a bit more snow and some ice last night. I was able to go out to the deck and take some pictures this morning. I know that to people who live in areas where you get tons of snow this may not seem like a lot. But, for heaven's sake, we are in Kentucky!! This is a lot to us and it is just beautiful.
The first picture is a view down to the creek. I think that the creek covered with snow is a thing of real beauty. The others are different views of the back yard and the lower deck on the back of our home.
Now we nestled all snug in our home in Sadieville again. Monday most of my day was spent working with Papa and Mimi, getting my car maintained, and buying groceries. Ahh...back to reality.
We are about ready for Christmas to happen. I have one more thing I wanted to try and get made for the mini-Marx's. I found a pattern to make bath mits out of wash cloths that are animals. Hopefully I'll get that done Thursday or Friday.
I'm enjoying the cards and eMails and phone calls from friends we have known through the years. That is one of my favorite things about Christmas, catching up with old and dear people from livin' life.
When we found out this year that Nissa's family and Jake couldn't come to Kentucky for Thanksgiving or Christmas, Claude said, "Well darn-it!!" I was quite amused by his response. I just looked at my dear hubby and said, "Do you suppose Bonnie (Claude's mom) still says that when you say you aren't coming home for Christmas?" This gave us both a grin.
Claude and I pondered the situation and decided to take Christmas a little early to the Michigan contingent. We checked with the kids and made sure it was a good time for them. Then we packed my red Buick Lucerne and headed north last Wednesday (Dec 15th) morning.
As was our custom, we left without eating breakfast with the plan to stop at the McDonald's in Dry Ridge, Kentucky for my favorite breakfast of a plain biscuit and a Dr. Pepper. Claude pulled into the McDonald's and was surprised to find a handwritten note taped to the ordering speaker. It said, "Sorry, we will not open until 9am." We were stunned. Claude drove past the drive-thru window and there was another note with the same message taped to it. We just crossed the street and went through Arby's drive-thru instead. But we were amazed that the McDonald's next to I-75 was closed for breakfast.
After Cincinnati my tired caught up with me. I completely missed Dayton. Now, Dayton is always, and I do mean ALWAYS, under construction. So missing Dayton from the Interstate view is not necessarily a bad thing. However, when I woke up Claude informed me I missed a HUGE wreck.
We made it to Lansing, Michigan in pretty good time. I'm crocheting like a fiend and Claude is driving at close to the speed limit. Suddenly he said, "Are we at Grand Rapids already?" It didn't seem like enough time had gone past to either of us. Sure enough we saw signs for the Gerald Ford Airport. We were in Grand Rapids. We felt like we had been through a time warp.
Claude found the exit and we headed to Krispy Kreme to buy a dozen donuts for Nissa and her family. This has become a very nice tradition.
On to Muskegon we flew. We really weren't going that fast but we sure got there quickly. We checked into our hotel and rested for a few minutes. Then we called the Thompson home and found out the kids were there so we headed over. Lots of hugs (my favorite part) were given. We had a bit of time before Todd got off work and could join us. The kids entertained us with their increasing musical abilities. The first picture is Aubrey Anne singing and Katelyn playing the piano. The second picture is Paul playing his guitar.
I had been diagnosed with bronchitis on Tuesday, December 7th. I had finished my Z-Pack but am still taking the cough syrup. Claude was getting a cold and on over-the-counter medicine. The kids had school the next day and Nissa and Todd had to work. So we parted ways at Golden Corral. Claude and I headed to our hotel room for a good night's rest.
Thursday we slept in a bit. Then Katelyn had us pick her up at college and the three of us went to 'The Pita Place' for lunch. This was Katelyn's Christmas present to Claude and me. I love a good falafel and Claude loves a good gyro. This place a great falafels and gyros. We had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying good food until it was time to Katelyn back to college for a final exam in the afternoon.
Katelyn finished early and Claude and I picked her up at college again and headed over to Aubrey and Paul's school to pick them up from school. Katelyn took this opportunity to go into the school and say hi to teachers from her high school years. The amusing thing was watching our Paul come out of school with his arm at the small of a young girls back. Oh my!!! They gave each other a quick kiss good-bye. My old Gramma heart was not ready for that!!!
After finishing chores at the Thompson home, we took the kids back to our hotel to enjoy some time in the swimming pool. There is nothing quite like snow on the ground and swimming in the pool. Great combination. In this picture you have Aubrey, Katelyn and then Paul.
Friday morning Claude and I slept a bit late again, trying to give our poor old bodies a chance to rest and heal. Then we loaded in the red car and headed off to Chelsea.
I eMailed Jake and told him we were on our way. He sent me an eMail back stating something like, "The weatherman says we have a 20% chance of snow. I guess I'm seeing that 20% out my window."
Our big concern for traveling was driving in snow. We left Kentucky with a forecast for snow topped with ice on Wednesday. We received a Facebook post that we had 6 inches of snow in our yard in Kentucky. We were very fortunate that the only snow we had to drive through was flurries during the entire trip.
At 5pm we picked Jake up at work and the three of us headed to Joe's Crab Shack in Ann Arbor for dinner. Yummy!! Then we did a little Christmas shopping. I even managed to find a pair of shoes for me to wear with my jeans. Successful on the shopping front. Then back to Chelsea to Big Boy for a piece of pie for dessert.
There was more snow on the ground in Chelsea than there was in Muskegon. When the server showed us to our seat by the window, I was taken once again with the lovely icicles they produce in Michigan. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone camera. These were actually hanging from the roof at a slant. Jake explained that the last snowfall was just a whirl of wind that hung over their area for a long time. As a consequence, the icicles were all hanging at a slant.
After dinner, Jake, Claude and I headed back to the Comfort Inn to chat for the remainder of the evening.
When Bailey was born we gave her a stuffed monkey which she named Wah-Wah as she began to talk. This is her most treasured lovey. At one point Claude and I purchased a back-up Wah-Wah. Any mother of a little one knows this is an important thing to have tucked away so you can wash one while the child plays with the one they think is the only one they have. It's also important in case you lose one of them. This is what happened with Bailey's back-up Wah-Wah. So every trip to Chelsea, we go back to the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory and check to see if they have any more Wah-Wah's. They stopped making them about the time Bailey lost her back-up. Each time we checked they still didn't have any more. We really didn't expect success on this trip either but 'one must try'.
Claude pulled up in front of the store, I hop out and ran in. The store was just opening. I was the first customer. I hurriedly went to the back of the store where this particular style of stuffed animal resides. I carefully checked the side of the display cabinet closest to the door and there were no Wah-Wah's. Then I walked around to the other side and shouted, "Wah-Wah's!!". The sales person must have thought Gramma lost it in the back of the store. I was stunned. They were also marked 50% off.
I purchased two of this treasure and headed to the car to show Claude and Jake my find. Then I promptly called the Marx home and spoke with Michael. I asked him to tell his dear wife that we are now in possession of back-up Wah-Wah's. Andie later eMailed me and called it the 'Christmas Miracle'.
The goal for the rest of the morning was to find the Casual Male XL store with lots of great clothes for big & tall guys. Jake led the way in his car and we followed into Ann Arbor again. The store had some great sales on and we found some fun items for Claude and for Jake.
It was time to head for Sadieville, much to our chagrin. We had our good-bye hugs in the parking lot. Then Jake pointed us in the right direction for the highway to Toledo, Ohio.
We had a safe drive home. As we neared our home we wondered if we could get my car into the driveway with 6 inches of snow in it. There had been no let up in the temperature in Kentucky and the snow was sticking around. We were so happy to pull up in front of our home and find our driveway plowed clean. Dominic Whelan, our wonderful neighbor down our street, had plowed it for us. I called Sandy, his wife, and told her what a wonderful gift that was to us, after a quick but long trip, to come home to a clean driveway. Thank you Dominic!!
We had a bit more snow and some ice last night. I was able to go out to the deck and take some pictures this morning. I know that to people who live in areas where you get tons of snow this may not seem like a lot. But, for heaven's sake, we are in Kentucky!! This is a lot to us and it is just beautiful.
The first picture is a view down to the creek. I think that the creek covered with snow is a thing of real beauty. The others are different views of the back yard and the lower deck on the back of our home.
We are about ready for Christmas to happen. I have one more thing I wanted to try and get made for the mini-Marx's. I found a pattern to make bath mits out of wash cloths that are animals. Hopefully I'll get that done Thursday or Friday.
I'm enjoying the cards and eMails and phone calls from friends we have known through the years. That is one of my favorite things about Christmas, catching up with old and dear people from livin' life.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Claude's 2010 Christmas Newletter...
THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES
Circa 2010
Just when you thought it was safe to check your mailbox again…WE’RE BAAACCKKK!!
Eagle Bend Crop Report – 2010: This one will be short, a lot like the life span of this year’s garden. Harvested a few cherry and heirloom tomatoes (still can’t wrap my head around funny shaped maroon colored tomatoes – they clash with cheese on sandwiches), the rest went to the critters and the drought… on the upside, I saved a ton on the watering bill…
Things That Are The Same: Address, vehicles, phone numbers (you SAID you’d call…), general health and welfare, number and location of offspring and off-offspring, general attitude (still thinking like a cowboy),
Things That Are New: Locations of pain and stiffness, cell phones, fertilizer spreader (for the tractor not the Mayor, but yes, there was a campaign to run). By the way anybody need any Claude for Mayor pens or lollipops?
Sadieville’s First Couple – The good news? HE still has the electorate fooled, they re-elected him by a 26 point margin in the November contest. The bad news? They re-elected him by a 26 point margin and now they own him for the next four years, unless he does something illegal, immoral, or unethical (suggestions anyone?). HE was, however, a hit as a Commencement Speaker for the Adult Education graduates in Scott County, and stayed mucho busy representing the City on a bunch of well intentioned if fairly ineffective Boards, Committees, and Task Forces. To catch you up, and for those of you still paying attention WE finished off 2009 in fine fashion with the Hawaya Trip (happened after last year’s letter went to press). A good time was had by both – thousands of photos and a long narrative are available for purchase. As far as 2010 is concerned WE didn’t take any really big trips and instead concentrated on improving our cultural acumen by going to a number of plays and concerts: Disney On Ice; “Wicked”; Crosby, Stills, & Nash; Kenny Rogers; The Eagles; Jersey Boys; and the evening possum show at the land fill…. WE feel MUCH better (and a lot more refined) now. Throw in a spring jaunt to Savannah, Georgia (OUR beach trip for the year), and a summer trip to the greater St. Louis area (yup, SHE got ME up in that arch thing) and that’s about it for the years adventures, minus a few trips north to count and feed the children. As an experiment, WE took Gramma Bonnie to Churchill Downs on KY Colonels Day in November. Turns out she is better at picking horses than me… You know, and this is just a thought here, it would be MUCH easier on ME if you people would just check HER Internet blog as pretty much every breath we take gets reported there. That being said, SHE continued her ongoing efforts to save souls and give care and stayed busier than a three handed cherry picker overall. HER duties as a municipal first lady are many and varied and SHE patiently and dutifully followed the Mayor around as HE attended to his official functions where, because it’s Kentucky and ya just gotta do it, THEY ate lots of rubber chicken or pulled pork BBQ on dried out rolls. SHE was elected President of the Board of Directors for Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, our local non-profit/semi-subversive civic organization, and wowed her buddies in the Countryside Homemakers Club with HER stunning craft and cooking skills. On the-things-to-do-for-fun and adventure list, shortly before it quit raining for the year WE had a gully washer that covered the only exit bridge from Eagle Bend to outside civilization. We noticed the water was rising as we crossed the bridge on our way out of town and then got a call from our neighbor that the bridge was underwater and we couldn’t get back even if we wanted to. So while the city was flooding we went and played with the grandkids. Did I mention I got re-elected by with a 26 point margin? Welcome to Sadieville…
The Muskegon Quintet… Nissa, The Toddster, KT, Paul, and Aubrey (or Brie, or Bree, or bRe T - pronounced Bree like the cheese) if you go with her latest instructions) are just a hangin in there on the shores of Lake Gitchgoomee (Michigan). Lots of house fixing up being done, working hard, getting used to life in the teen-age lane, practicing to be empty-nesters, etc. Not too bad all things considered. KT graduated with honors and others in June and began her college endeavors at Muskegon Community College in September, so far so good there. She has her own wheels now but is short on the driver’s license at last report (which may be for the best). Following the graduation festivities in Muskegon, we kidnapped her for a lot of the summer bringing her back to Kentucky where she “interned” at City Hall and helped Pa run the farm. She learned a lot about painting fire hydrants, driving Jeeps and garden tractors, and was generally a good hired-hand to have around. She eats a lot though… but it was good to have a “Wing Buddy” at hand to help cook and eat our own version of those spicy little critter parts. Paul is in pretty good condition overall and is pursuing his special interests in art and music and the inevitable computer stuff. He achieved his long awaited goal of getting a real for sure hunting license this year, but still has all his fingers and toes from what we are told. Aubrey-Brie-Bree-bRe.T is turning into quite the young women with a great singing voice and eyes that can roll 360 at the slightest mention of anything outside her realm of interest. Favorite colors are currently hot pink and black. Oh yes, the dog is doing fine…
On Our Marx – Sir Hayden graduated from Pre-school and sure looked dapper in the little blue cap & gown. Following the summer break he “commenced” his K-12 education in the ‘K’ class at Buckner Elementary. He likes school and trains and dinosaurs and space and Star Wars, and not bathing and… Princess Bailey started her Pre School career in the fall. So far so good there, but then we haven’t heard the results of the teacher’s conference yet. They are so charming when they play together. For example, when they play “Shrek” Hayden refers to Bailey as “Donkey”, and when they play “Dinosaurs”, Bailey likes to be a T-Rex and refers to Hayden as “meat” – need I say more? We took a short road trip with them to a Dinosaur Park and zoo near Bowling Green, where they were indeed in their element. They all took a trip to Florida for a Marx family get-together on a Disney Cruise ship and since they all came back we assume it went OK due to the fact they are now preparing for a sequel. Mommy and Daddy are certainly earning their stripes in the parenting department having progressed from wanting justice to wanting quiet.
O Solo Jacob – Saw the boy a time or two this year, not counting when he visited due to hunger or the need to do his laundry. At the last sighting he looked pretty good and seems to be holding up well for his age. He still hangs out on NPR from time to time and has shifted career focus a bit at his payin’ job. He now spends a fair amount of time designing and maintaining web pages for the company. He ended his tour of duty at the University of Michigan Educational Theater program to concentrate on his web development work and his writing projects. He gets the “great idea of the year” award for having the insight to take a favorite family photo and have an artist friend “turtleize” it so that we all take the form of turtles. OK, so it’s an inside joke but we all liked it a lot. Therefore, we took a vote and decided to keep him on in the token son role for at least another year. Besides he’s good about checking in on us, so what ya gonna do?
Okey Dokey, thus endith thith episthle. Two pages and WE’RE OUTTA HERE for this year. We appreciate your attention. Now it’s time to go overindulge on something festive and enjoy the Holiday Season, no, really, we insist…
The Christensen’s !!!
Friday, December 10, 2010
And The Diagnosis Is...
Last Saturday I began to feel really rotten. Felt like I was getting a bad cold. Now, I ususally have at least two colds each year. One comes in the winter and one in the spring. So getting a cold as the weather begins to change was not a surprise.
I found some medicine for aches and pains and took that. It seemed to take away all that aching and I was able to make it to the Saturday night meeting to lead the singing.
Sunday morning I was not any better. The medicine took away the aches and I made it to my Sunday morning meetings and choir practice. But I was ever so grateful for my home Sunday afternoon and the opportunity to just rest some. I did managed to get a few things done in preparation for the High Priest Christmas Social that will be at our home tonight.
By Sunday evening my throat was beginning to get very sore. Hmmm...not good. I was getting a bit concerned this was more than a cold.
Monday I woke with a very sore throat and the cold symtoms were getting epic now. I did manage to clean two of the three bathrooms upstairs and get a bunch of the Christmas stuff from the basement to the upstairs. Papa came over in the afternoon and we picked out music for Wednesday. My voice was a goner but, really, the people at the nursing home do not care. I also stayed up late and finish the trees for Hayden and Bailey. I slept on the sofa in the basement because the coughing was worse and poor Claude had not slept well for two night with my hacking and tossing and turning. One needs ones rest prior to an overnighter with the mini-Marx's.
Tuesday morning I had the cold with the stomach flu stuff. Good Grief!!! Claude headed out to the Family History Center and then to go to the Marx home to read in Hayden's school. He put on the grocery list to bring me cough syrup and some ache and pain medicine.
I continued putting up some Christmas stuff and getting some of my 'to do' list finished. I was as productive as I could be under the circumstances. The piano tuner came for his annual visit. I called my visiting teacher and told her not to come with her two wonderful little girls. I did go to bed at 10:30pm instead of my usual late-night-into-the-wee-small-hours-of-the-morning prowl that happens when Claude is not home.
At 2am I awoke with a very upset stomach. I headed to my bathroom and hurled big time. Then as my head hit my pillow again I knew it was time to see a doctor.
Tuesday morning I called my doctor and he had no appointment times. They asked if I would mind seeing another doctor in the office. I assured them it really didn't matter to me I just wanted to be sure I did not have strep. They gave me a 1:30pm appointment with Dr. Martin.
I'll just interject here, because this is my journal, that I'm not a person to go to the doctor on a whim. In fact, we've lived here 6 years and my family doctor would not know me if he saw me on the street. I only go when I'm really, really sure there is something wrong. I was pleasantly surprised with Dr. Martin. He took lots of time and actually covered a lot of things other than my immediate request about the possibility of strep. At one point in perusing my chart he asked about the last time I had blood work done. I assured him it was probably when I had the sacroculpoplexy surgery but I could tell him what they tested for or the results. I just knew they were pleased with everything before doing the surgery. He suggested I come in fasting and have some blood work done for various things. I told him that, in reality, I had not eaten that day. I had consume maybe half a can of Dr. Pepper but that was all. He said, "Well, let's do that blood work now."
Dr. Martin told me I had bronchitis. He prescribed the 'Z-Pack' and also some very strong cough syrup. Now, I had this same regime last January. Hmmmm...do I have a pattern forming here. I really had the same symptoms and things happening. I took my prescriptions, headed to Papa's to leave his pants I had hemmed and the words to a song he was looking for, then to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions filled, then to Sonic for a much needed corndog, then to Valories to drop off her birthday/Christmas gift and then to my lovely home in the hills of Sadieville to begin my med regime and rest.
Yesterday I kept taking the medicine but noticed that I had a bad headache eveytime I bent over. What in the world was that all about? Now I was spending my afternoon with some old and dear friends, my Christmas ornaments. Claude put the tree up on Monday morning and I'm the decorator. Thursday was the day to finally get that done. As the decorating wore on I realized my right ear was starting to hurt really bad. I managed to finally get the tree decorated, all the miscellaneous stuff out and the empty boxes back to the family room. I dusted the basement and then I just put my sweatshirt on with the hoody over my head and curled up on the love seat in the living room to rest. I was chilled and really in a bad way. Claude had a meeting Thursday morning and another one Thursday evening. He brought home dinner from Wendy's and some ear ache medicine the pharmacist assured him would not work against the lovely drugs I was already taking.
Claude put the drops in my ear and I slept on the love seat for an hour. Then before I went to bed at 11pm we put more drops in my ear. During the night I woke up and tried to put them in myself. I found myself amused by my attempt and very grateful that during the day I had a good hubby to assist me with this simple process.
This morning my ear ache is better, but I'm very dizzy. I'm on day 3 of my Z-Pack and that is a good thing. I have two bathrooms to clean and some vacuuming to do and the kitchen to pick up. Claude is home with me all day today and I'm sure he'll help with this as needed. Then we will have the mother-of-all High Priest Christmas socials tonight. Then I'll go back to bed for another wonderful bit of rest as this poor old tired body of mine continues what appears to be its annual bout with bronchitis. Good Grief!!
I found some medicine for aches and pains and took that. It seemed to take away all that aching and I was able to make it to the Saturday night meeting to lead the singing.
Sunday morning I was not any better. The medicine took away the aches and I made it to my Sunday morning meetings and choir practice. But I was ever so grateful for my home Sunday afternoon and the opportunity to just rest some. I did managed to get a few things done in preparation for the High Priest Christmas Social that will be at our home tonight.
By Sunday evening my throat was beginning to get very sore. Hmmm...not good. I was getting a bit concerned this was more than a cold.
Monday I woke with a very sore throat and the cold symtoms were getting epic now. I did manage to clean two of the three bathrooms upstairs and get a bunch of the Christmas stuff from the basement to the upstairs. Papa came over in the afternoon and we picked out music for Wednesday. My voice was a goner but, really, the people at the nursing home do not care. I also stayed up late and finish the trees for Hayden and Bailey. I slept on the sofa in the basement because the coughing was worse and poor Claude had not slept well for two night with my hacking and tossing and turning. One needs ones rest prior to an overnighter with the mini-Marx's.
Tuesday morning I had the cold with the stomach flu stuff. Good Grief!!! Claude headed out to the Family History Center and then to go to the Marx home to read in Hayden's school. He put on the grocery list to bring me cough syrup and some ache and pain medicine.
I continued putting up some Christmas stuff and getting some of my 'to do' list finished. I was as productive as I could be under the circumstances. The piano tuner came for his annual visit. I called my visiting teacher and told her not to come with her two wonderful little girls. I did go to bed at 10:30pm instead of my usual late-night-into-the-wee-small-hours-of-the-morning prowl that happens when Claude is not home.
At 2am I awoke with a very upset stomach. I headed to my bathroom and hurled big time. Then as my head hit my pillow again I knew it was time to see a doctor.
Tuesday morning I called my doctor and he had no appointment times. They asked if I would mind seeing another doctor in the office. I assured them it really didn't matter to me I just wanted to be sure I did not have strep. They gave me a 1:30pm appointment with Dr. Martin.
I'll just interject here, because this is my journal, that I'm not a person to go to the doctor on a whim. In fact, we've lived here 6 years and my family doctor would not know me if he saw me on the street. I only go when I'm really, really sure there is something wrong. I was pleasantly surprised with Dr. Martin. He took lots of time and actually covered a lot of things other than my immediate request about the possibility of strep. At one point in perusing my chart he asked about the last time I had blood work done. I assured him it was probably when I had the sacroculpoplexy surgery but I could tell him what they tested for or the results. I just knew they were pleased with everything before doing the surgery. He suggested I come in fasting and have some blood work done for various things. I told him that, in reality, I had not eaten that day. I had consume maybe half a can of Dr. Pepper but that was all. He said, "Well, let's do that blood work now."
Dr. Martin told me I had bronchitis. He prescribed the 'Z-Pack' and also some very strong cough syrup. Now, I had this same regime last January. Hmmmm...do I have a pattern forming here. I really had the same symptoms and things happening. I took my prescriptions, headed to Papa's to leave his pants I had hemmed and the words to a song he was looking for, then to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions filled, then to Sonic for a much needed corndog, then to Valories to drop off her birthday/Christmas gift and then to my lovely home in the hills of Sadieville to begin my med regime and rest.
Yesterday I kept taking the medicine but noticed that I had a bad headache eveytime I bent over. What in the world was that all about? Now I was spending my afternoon with some old and dear friends, my Christmas ornaments. Claude put the tree up on Monday morning and I'm the decorator. Thursday was the day to finally get that done. As the decorating wore on I realized my right ear was starting to hurt really bad. I managed to finally get the tree decorated, all the miscellaneous stuff out and the empty boxes back to the family room. I dusted the basement and then I just put my sweatshirt on with the hoody over my head and curled up on the love seat in the living room to rest. I was chilled and really in a bad way. Claude had a meeting Thursday morning and another one Thursday evening. He brought home dinner from Wendy's and some ear ache medicine the pharmacist assured him would not work against the lovely drugs I was already taking.
Claude put the drops in my ear and I slept on the love seat for an hour. Then before I went to bed at 11pm we put more drops in my ear. During the night I woke up and tried to put them in myself. I found myself amused by my attempt and very grateful that during the day I had a good hubby to assist me with this simple process.
This morning my ear ache is better, but I'm very dizzy. I'm on day 3 of my Z-Pack and that is a good thing. I have two bathrooms to clean and some vacuuming to do and the kitchen to pick up. Claude is home with me all day today and I'm sure he'll help with this as needed. Then we will have the mother-of-all High Priest Christmas socials tonight. Then I'll go back to bed for another wonderful bit of rest as this poor old tired body of mine continues what appears to be its annual bout with bronchitis. Good Grief!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Trees for Kids...
During one of Andie's visits she was perusing some of the multitudinous catalogs I get during the holidays. She came across a stuffed tree made out of felt in the Smithsonian catalog that she thought might have been fun for Hayden and Bailey. She shared the picture with me and said she didn't know why it couldn't be made with buttons so that kids could take ornaments off and put them on over the buttons. I agreed that was a wonderful idea for little ones. I'm pretty sure all this idea was precipitated by Hayden who really wanted a Christmas tree in his room.
The end result was me saving that picture.
Tonight I determined to make two trees for Claude to take to LaGrange tomorrow. Hayden gets to choose his favorite book and invite someone to come and read it to his class this week. Hayden called and asked Claude (Pa) to please come to his school and read for them. When he happened to mention to his mother that Pa was the smartest person in our family, that secured the deal. Which meant tonight I had to make these trees so they could be enjoyed before Christmas.
I'll not show you the original, it would just put mine to shame. But I'm so impressed with this idea for a tree your child could have in their own room and one they could play with and not hurt anything AND one made out of stuff you probably already have at home if you sew and are a bit crafty (Jake is really cringing at the length of this sentence!), that I felt impressed to share it in my Blog in case one of my nieces or niece-in-laws might want to make one for their kids.
First...the pictures of each side of the little stuffed trees.
Now for my instructions. Remember I was trying to get them done this evening so I kept it very simple. That does not mean you couldn't add your own florishes and ideas.
First, I made a pattern for the tree by holding a piece of typing paper in landscape mode. I folded it in half. Then I drew one side of the tree shape so it filled that half piece of paper. Make sure you curve the bottom of the tree. There is not truck on this tree. I cut that out and opened it up so that all the sides of the tree matched.
Second, I searched for scraps of fabric in Hayden and Bailey's favorite colors. You only need enough fabric to cut out two of your tree shapes and one bottom piece for the tree. If you choose to make larger trees, you'll need more fabric. Bailey gets a pink tree and Hayden gets a green tree.
I cut two of the tree body and one of the bottom. To cut the bottom I folded my fabric in half and laid the curved bottom of the tree on the fold of the fabric. Do this so that the pointed ends of the tree were even with the fold and the extra part of the curve is over the fabric. You'll end up with an oval shape that is pointed on both ends of the oval. But it will fit perfectly for you when you sew up the sides.
Next I sewed on fun buttons. I happened to have buttons that Andie gave me when she was a school teacher. I also looked through my extra buttons and used some brassy ones and some that were flower shaped. You can just use old save buttons of any shaped and color. I chose to only sew 6 buttons on each side to keep it simple and give the kids plenty of room to work. I could see using beads and other things as well if you want to get a little fancier. I even thought of checking my bell supply and adding them to the tips of the branches but time ran out and I passed on that idea this time. Just be creative as you want and with what supplies you have on hand.
Then I determined to sew on top of the fabric instead of placing the fabric front side to front side, stitching and turning. Way too much time and effort for this project. You may feel differently. I happened to have two stuffed cloth stars. I pinned the two sides of each tree together at the points of the branches before sewing and pinned the stars in at the top to stitch in as I stitched the sides together. Then I just top-stitched the sides.
Next I pinned the bottom to the bottom of the sides pieces. Then I top-stitched this leaving an opening for stuffing. I made sure I opened the seam on the sides of the tree at the bottom as I stitched around that area.
I stuffed the trees next and finished by hand stitching the bottom opening I left for stuffing the trees.
Since I needed to finish these tonight, I chose to just cut out circles of felt (sort of like round ornaments on a Christmas tree). I used the bottom of a large spool of thread for my pattern and a ball-point pen and drew a circle on my felt scraps. Then I cut out the circle and cut a slit in the circle. This kept me from making lots of buttonholes. You may choose to use fabric and make button holes or any number of other methods.
My trees are finished and ready for Pa to take to the munchkins tomorrow. They can move the Christmas ornaments as they choose. I'm anticipating they will really enjoy their little trees between now and Christmas. I spent not a penny, only my time. After all, that is the best gift to give at Christmas, isn't it?
The end result was me saving that picture.
Tonight I determined to make two trees for Claude to take to LaGrange tomorrow. Hayden gets to choose his favorite book and invite someone to come and read it to his class this week. Hayden called and asked Claude (Pa) to please come to his school and read for them. When he happened to mention to his mother that Pa was the smartest person in our family, that secured the deal. Which meant tonight I had to make these trees so they could be enjoyed before Christmas.
I'll not show you the original, it would just put mine to shame. But I'm so impressed with this idea for a tree your child could have in their own room and one they could play with and not hurt anything AND one made out of stuff you probably already have at home if you sew and are a bit crafty (Jake is really cringing at the length of this sentence!), that I felt impressed to share it in my Blog in case one of my nieces or niece-in-laws might want to make one for their kids.
First...the pictures of each side of the little stuffed trees.
First, I made a pattern for the tree by holding a piece of typing paper in landscape mode. I folded it in half. Then I drew one side of the tree shape so it filled that half piece of paper. Make sure you curve the bottom of the tree. There is not truck on this tree. I cut that out and opened it up so that all the sides of the tree matched.
Second, I searched for scraps of fabric in Hayden and Bailey's favorite colors. You only need enough fabric to cut out two of your tree shapes and one bottom piece for the tree. If you choose to make larger trees, you'll need more fabric. Bailey gets a pink tree and Hayden gets a green tree.
I cut two of the tree body and one of the bottom. To cut the bottom I folded my fabric in half and laid the curved bottom of the tree on the fold of the fabric. Do this so that the pointed ends of the tree were even with the fold and the extra part of the curve is over the fabric. You'll end up with an oval shape that is pointed on both ends of the oval. But it will fit perfectly for you when you sew up the sides.
Next I sewed on fun buttons. I happened to have buttons that Andie gave me when she was a school teacher. I also looked through my extra buttons and used some brassy ones and some that were flower shaped. You can just use old save buttons of any shaped and color. I chose to only sew 6 buttons on each side to keep it simple and give the kids plenty of room to work. I could see using beads and other things as well if you want to get a little fancier. I even thought of checking my bell supply and adding them to the tips of the branches but time ran out and I passed on that idea this time. Just be creative as you want and with what supplies you have on hand.
Then I determined to sew on top of the fabric instead of placing the fabric front side to front side, stitching and turning. Way too much time and effort for this project. You may feel differently. I happened to have two stuffed cloth stars. I pinned the two sides of each tree together at the points of the branches before sewing and pinned the stars in at the top to stitch in as I stitched the sides together. Then I just top-stitched the sides.
Next I pinned the bottom to the bottom of the sides pieces. Then I top-stitched this leaving an opening for stuffing. I made sure I opened the seam on the sides of the tree at the bottom as I stitched around that area.
I stuffed the trees next and finished by hand stitching the bottom opening I left for stuffing the trees.
Since I needed to finish these tonight, I chose to just cut out circles of felt (sort of like round ornaments on a Christmas tree). I used the bottom of a large spool of thread for my pattern and a ball-point pen and drew a circle on my felt scraps. Then I cut out the circle and cut a slit in the circle. This kept me from making lots of buttonholes. You may choose to use fabric and make button holes or any number of other methods.
My trees are finished and ready for Pa to take to the munchkins tomorrow. They can move the Christmas ornaments as they choose. I'm anticipating they will really enjoy their little trees between now and Christmas. I spent not a penny, only my time. After all, that is the best gift to give at Christmas, isn't it?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Chase...
Today I found myself once again grateful for Chase. This is the company through which I have my credit card.
First, a little history...Last December we made a trip to Hawaii with a stay over in Los Angeles going and coming to be sure we made air connections. I'm thinking it was here that someone kept my credit card information and later tried to use it for themselves.
When we got home, we received a call saying there was a hold placed on my credit card and to call Chase. We did and found the charge was for over $1,000 and one we did not make. Fortunately, Chase recognized this with the first charge, froze the card and called us. We verified what payments we had actually done and the now three charges that were not ours. They cancelled my card and sent us a new one. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful for the promptness with which this financial institution handled this situation.
Last night I received an eMail stating they were from Chase, there was a system error that caused my account to be suspended and to 'click' this link to fix it. Hmmmm...I'm aging but I'm alert enough to think this eMail is a hoax.
I called Chase today and spoke with the most polite young man. I told him what had happened and he confirmed they had not sent this eMail. He asked me to forward the eMail to their fraud department so they could try and track it. Then he proceeded to share two things that will save me money and are free services through Chase that I was not aware of.
In just a few minutes I felt peace again about my credit card. And, I felt that extremely good feeling about Chase. It just feels like I have someone out there who cares about me as an individual and not just as a credit card number. I'm blogging about this because I just want to remember that not all major corporations have issues, there are some good businesses out there and this is one I am a believer in.
First, a little history...Last December we made a trip to Hawaii with a stay over in Los Angeles going and coming to be sure we made air connections. I'm thinking it was here that someone kept my credit card information and later tried to use it for themselves.
When we got home, we received a call saying there was a hold placed on my credit card and to call Chase. We did and found the charge was for over $1,000 and one we did not make. Fortunately, Chase recognized this with the first charge, froze the card and called us. We verified what payments we had actually done and the now three charges that were not ours. They cancelled my card and sent us a new one. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful for the promptness with which this financial institution handled this situation.
Last night I received an eMail stating they were from Chase, there was a system error that caused my account to be suspended and to 'click' this link to fix it. Hmmmm...I'm aging but I'm alert enough to think this eMail is a hoax.
I called Chase today and spoke with the most polite young man. I told him what had happened and he confirmed they had not sent this eMail. He asked me to forward the eMail to their fraud department so they could try and track it. Then he proceeded to share two things that will save me money and are free services through Chase that I was not aware of.
In just a few minutes I felt peace again about my credit card. And, I felt that extremely good feeling about Chase. It just feels like I have someone out there who cares about me as an individual and not just as a credit card number. I'm blogging about this because I just want to remember that not all major corporations have issues, there are some good businesses out there and this is one I am a believer in.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sunday's Chuckle...
I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our Church we are each given a 'calling'. In October I was released from my last calling as Stake Relief Society President. In November I was asked to serve in the calling of Stake Music Chorister.
This weekend was our semi-annual Stake Conference for the Lexington North Stake. All eight congregations in this area meet together two times each year over a Saturday and Sunday for training and uplifting meetings. This Stake Conference would be my first time to lead the music as part of the responsibilities of my new calling.
Saturday evening there is an adult session at 6pm. I was prepared to lead the congregational singing and to accompany James Jenkins as he sang a solo for a special musical number that evening.
I positioned myself on the stand where the chorister usually stands, between the organ and the piano. It was actually a lot of fun to lead the congregational opening hymn.
When it came time for the intermediate hymn, I walked back up to the stand from where I sat with Claude and Papa on the front side pew. When I got up there I realized I forgot my glasses. I just moved my music stand a little further away. The 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency turned around to grin at me and I mouthed the words, "I forgot my glasses!" David Rennick motioned to see if I wanted to use his readers. I shook my head no.
At this point Pres. Hymus, our Stake President, stood and had the congregation standing. Suddenly, with all the speakers and Stake Presidency standing in front of me, I was not as tall as I seemed before. We pressed on and sang a rousing intermediate hymn.
After the closing hymn and prayer, I went back to the bench where Claude was still sitting and found Howard Carter chatting with Claude. They assured me they had, had a discussion and taken a vote, 2-0, that I was not tall enough and needed to stand on top of something for everyone to see me. Later as I was leaving David Adams assured me I was not tall enough either.
This morning as we got to Stake Conference we secured our front side pew. I sat with Claude until I needed to go to the stand to lead the opening hymn. We chatted about where I would stand. I determined to stand on the lower step up that the choir seats are in and see if that was better.
And there you have Sunday's Chuckle!!
Then I leaned to my dear hubby and made a silly comment something like, "I guess I'm laterally challenged." Claude just grinned really big before starting the laughing process. Then I realized what I said wrong, can you tell what it was? Claude then told me I probably meant to say I was 'vertically challenged' not 'laterally challenged'.
We chuckled until Claude's face was red. I assured him I was very grateful he was just laughing and not saying all those great one-liners that were definitely spinning around in his head.
This weekend was our semi-annual Stake Conference for the Lexington North Stake. All eight congregations in this area meet together two times each year over a Saturday and Sunday for training and uplifting meetings. This Stake Conference would be my first time to lead the music as part of the responsibilities of my new calling.
Saturday evening there is an adult session at 6pm. I was prepared to lead the congregational singing and to accompany James Jenkins as he sang a solo for a special musical number that evening.
I positioned myself on the stand where the chorister usually stands, between the organ and the piano. It was actually a lot of fun to lead the congregational opening hymn.
When it came time for the intermediate hymn, I walked back up to the stand from where I sat with Claude and Papa on the front side pew. When I got up there I realized I forgot my glasses. I just moved my music stand a little further away. The 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency turned around to grin at me and I mouthed the words, "I forgot my glasses!" David Rennick motioned to see if I wanted to use his readers. I shook my head no.
At this point Pres. Hymus, our Stake President, stood and had the congregation standing. Suddenly, with all the speakers and Stake Presidency standing in front of me, I was not as tall as I seemed before. We pressed on and sang a rousing intermediate hymn.
After the closing hymn and prayer, I went back to the bench where Claude was still sitting and found Howard Carter chatting with Claude. They assured me they had, had a discussion and taken a vote, 2-0, that I was not tall enough and needed to stand on top of something for everyone to see me. Later as I was leaving David Adams assured me I was not tall enough either.
This morning as we got to Stake Conference we secured our front side pew. I sat with Claude until I needed to go to the stand to lead the opening hymn. We chatted about where I would stand. I determined to stand on the lower step up that the choir seats are in and see if that was better.
And there you have Sunday's Chuckle!!
Then I leaned to my dear hubby and made a silly comment something like, "I guess I'm laterally challenged." Claude just grinned really big before starting the laughing process. Then I realized what I said wrong, can you tell what it was? Claude then told me I probably meant to say I was 'vertically challenged' not 'laterally challenged'.
We chuckled until Claude's face was red. I assured him I was very grateful he was just laughing and not saying all those great one-liners that were definitely spinning around in his head.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Ho, Ho, Ho...He Came to Sadieville...
Friday was the Sadieville Christmas Chili Cook-off and Bazaar. It was a wonderful evening with some of the fine people in Sadieville.
One of my responsibilities was to make a song sheet for the Christmas Sing-a-long. I collected some of my Christmas music like my hymn book for the Christmas carols, a fun book for the old fun Christmas songs and two pieces of sheet music (Silver Bells and White Christmas). I sat down to type.
I started with the book full of fun old Christmas songs. I'm typing away looking at the music and my fingers flying over the laptop keyboard. After a bit I paused to look up at the screen of my laptop to see how I was doing. This is what I read on my screen..."Here comes Santa Claude, Here comes Santa Claude, Right down Santa Claude lane." Can you find the error? I just sat and chuckled at that lovely little error.
Friday morning found the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance at the Sadieville Christian Church setting up tables and chair. Then I went to City Hall and helped Cindy finish the decorations there. Then it was back home at 1pm to get some things done at home.
A little after 4pm Claude and I were headed to the Sadieville Christian Church. The evening was to begin at 4:30pm with the chili cook-off. My hubby was entering the Mayor's pot of chili. Here are a few pictures of the chili portion of the evening.
Now I must say that Claude had a truly 'finger lickin' good chili!!
We also had vendors with candy and homemade items from pine cones, to cloth to wood to help us do some of our Christmas shopping.
Cindy Foster and Loni Friddle made gift baskets and sold them for the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance. We also sold someo f the Sadieville items. Loni and Don manned the cash register for us.
After everyone had a good chance to fill up on great chili recipes, we had our sing-a-long. It was great fun to sing with our neighbors.
Then we were off to City Hall. This was where the chili cook-off awards would be presented, a donation from the Friends of Sadieville given to the City of Sadieville and Santa would come to see the kids of our community.
City Hall was full of kidlings waiting for Santa.
While waiting for Santa to arrive, the chili cook-off awards were given out. Claude won an award for the 'hottest' chili.
And Cindy gave Claude a check from the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance in the amount of $2,000 to help with renovations on the Rosenwald School.
Here are a few pictures of the kids waiting for Santa to arrive.
Santa arrives in Sadieville in a little parade of vehicles. First is our local police officer, Bobbie. Then comes the Scott County fire truck with Santa inside. The final vehicle is the Scott County ambulance. Sirens are blaring and lights are flashing. This was the signal for all the kidlings to head outside to watch Santa arrive.
Then started the process of each child having their turn at sitting on Santa's knee and sharing those deep desires for their personal Christmas. Here are a few of the kids.
The last girl to sit on Santa's knee actually brought her written list for Santa to review with her. Cracked me up!!
Then it was time for Santa to say good-bye.
It was a fun evening. Claude likes that each child gets plenty of time with Santa. Now it was time to head back to Sadieville Christian Church's basement to clean up there. Then home for the rest of our evening.
One of my responsibilities was to make a song sheet for the Christmas Sing-a-long. I collected some of my Christmas music like my hymn book for the Christmas carols, a fun book for the old fun Christmas songs and two pieces of sheet music (Silver Bells and White Christmas). I sat down to type.
I started with the book full of fun old Christmas songs. I'm typing away looking at the music and my fingers flying over the laptop keyboard. After a bit I paused to look up at the screen of my laptop to see how I was doing. This is what I read on my screen..."Here comes Santa Claude, Here comes Santa Claude, Right down Santa Claude lane." Can you find the error? I just sat and chuckled at that lovely little error.
Friday morning found the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance at the Sadieville Christian Church setting up tables and chair. Then I went to City Hall and helped Cindy finish the decorations there. Then it was back home at 1pm to get some things done at home.
A little after 4pm Claude and I were headed to the Sadieville Christian Church. The evening was to begin at 4:30pm with the chili cook-off. My hubby was entering the Mayor's pot of chili. Here are a few pictures of the chili portion of the evening.
Then we were off to City Hall. This was where the chili cook-off awards would be presented, a donation from the Friends of Sadieville given to the City of Sadieville and Santa would come to see the kids of our community.
Then it was time for Santa to say good-bye.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Life After Thanksgiving...
Sunday, Claude visited Owingsville Ward. I played the organ in our ward and sang with the choir.
Sunday evening I headed to Papa's to see about installing his new modem.
Papa has had a battle with viruses on his computer since first getting it. I cannot count the number of times it has been to the computer guy to clean off viruses. I cannot count the number of virus softwares we have tried. It has just been a losing battle.
I finally decided part of his problem was his phone company. He was using SouthEast Telephone. They have no facility to scan for viruses or junk eMail's before they send them to him. AT&T does have software to do this and we have not had that problem with our Internet service with AT&T. So we made the decision to change his phone and Internet service from SouthEast telephone to AT&T.
That decision and the process were started November 1st. Today is December 2nd and I'm still working on getting this service up and running. I'll just give this outline of what we have been through to date:
In addition to that on Tuesday I was able to:
Wednesday morning my Homemakers Club was having their December lunch at Claudia Sanders Restaurant in Shelbyville. This is Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame's, wife. This was the reason I went to the Marx home on Tuesday. I just figured I could spend the night and give them a date night and get up Wednesday and drive back to Shelbyville, have lunch with the ladies, then head back to Georgetown to sing with Papa. It all worked out fine but Andie and Michael had a very short date night with not feeling well. Oh, we also headed back in to Georgetown for an 8pm choir practice to get ready for Christmas music.
Today I worked all day and got...well...not very far. But I have been productive and that feels good. Claude and I checked some biggy items off our shared 'to do list'. Claude even got some Christmas lights up. The wash is done. Some presents are wrapped. Music has been practiced. Blog has been updated. Yep, it has been a full and good day. There is even a little snow on the ground here in Sadieville.
Sunday evening I headed to Papa's to see about installing his new modem.
Papa has had a battle with viruses on his computer since first getting it. I cannot count the number of times it has been to the computer guy to clean off viruses. I cannot count the number of virus softwares we have tried. It has just been a losing battle.
I finally decided part of his problem was his phone company. He was using SouthEast Telephone. They have no facility to scan for viruses or junk eMail's before they send them to him. AT&T does have software to do this and we have not had that problem with our Internet service with AT&T. So we made the decision to change his phone and Internet service from SouthEast telephone to AT&T.
That decision and the process were started November 1st. Today is December 2nd and I'm still working on getting this service up and running. I'll just give this outline of what we have been through to date:
- We placed the initial order on November 1st.
- Papa got a letter about setting up paying his bill with his credit card or through automatic withdrawal from his checking account. Papa called to set up this automatic payment. In talking with AT&T, he was told the original order was not done correctly and they re-did the order with Papa and set the date for a Thursday instead of the Wednesday.
- Nothing happened on Thursday.
- By the 19th of November I'm back on the phone trying to find out where they are in their process. We finally determined to cancel all previous orders and start anew. Seemed like the right way to handle this. We were told a new modem would arrive the next Tuesday.
- The next Tuesday, Papa received a UPS package with a new modem. That being Thanksgiving week and my week full to the brim, we agreed he would wait until I could be there to get the modem connected and set up his Internet/DSL service.
- Sunday was my first day to have time to stop and work with him. Thinking this would be a 'quick' thing, I headed over after choir practice. Papa got everything plugged in correctly. I opened the Internet and it automatically started me on the process of set up. Then it gave me an error message. I tried again and again got the error message. I called AT&T and spoke to a young man in the tech support department. He eventually told me I had to talk with the sales department and they wouldn't be open until Monday.
- Monday I left my home at 2:30pm and didn't get back home until 8:30pm. After calling AT&T they eventually helped me get things started but said I would have to wait for a two hour stretch while they did some things at their office. Good Grief!!! I left Papa's apartment and ran some errands to make productive use of my time.
- Then I came back to his apartment and called AT&T again. This time I was told it couldn't be turned on until Tuesday. Livid is a good word to describe my mood. After cojoling this lady and trying some things we found that we did have Internet service. She talked me through setting up his new eMail address and passwords. She sent me two eMails which we received at the AT&T homepage eMail site. All seemed in working order.
- After she disconnected, I successfully got AT&T to work with Outlook Express for Papa for his eMails. I sent a couple of test eMails from my Blackberry to his computer and that worked fine.
- One of the eMails sent by AT&T was for McAfee to help with virus protection. While trying to download it to Papa's computer it detected a software that would interfere with McAfee's performance. I removed that software from Papa's computer. Then we had to turn off his computer to complete that process.
- When Papa's computer came back on we tried again and somewhere in that process inadvertently deleted the eMail with the link to get the free McAfee software to work with AT&T security.
- Today Claude and I spoke with AT&T to find ways to lower our personal home phone and Internet service. After we finished, very easily I might add, lowering our AT&T bill and improving our service, I asked Shawn if I could find a way to get the link again to get the McAfee Virus software on Papa's computer. "Sure, no problem" was his cheerful reply.
- I was transferred to someone else in tech support who said we still didn't have Internet service. I assured her we had an eMail printed out saying we did and Papa had received this eMail from them welcoming him to AT&T service.
- She eventually transferred me to someone in billing who should be able to fix this. I found my last nerve wearing very, very, very, very thin and I could sense someone was just about to step on it!!! Sure enough, she quoted me a rate for Papa that was $10 more per month than the November 1st quote. I assured her in a very Hayden'esk tone, "That is not the right number!!" I'm telling you, after hours of this I was going to get the price quoted on November 1st at minimum. By now I felt I deserved free service.
- The end result is they have everything set to take effect on December 8th, can you believe that. We will still use the same AT&T eMail address I sent to family from my Blackberry Sunday evening while getting things to try and download on Papa's computer. We don't have to do anything with the modem, that is supposed to all be set to go. We should just be able to get eMail for Papa on his computer and there will be an eMail in there with the link to download the McAfee virus software. Any bets on this going smoothly on the 8th of December???
- After finishing this, I called Papa and gave him the update.
- Then about 30 minutes later I got a call from Papa that he received a package through UPS just then. He opened it and found modem connectors from AT&T. We were both dumbfounded. I told him to just hold on to them until the 8th. We'll work everything then and see where we are.
In addition to that on Tuesday I was able to:
- Make reservations for a trip to Las Vegas in January which we won in a Raffle at the GOP Picnic in October.
- Make more of the plans for the trip to Egypt in February through the travel agent
- Get some rebate stuff in the mail
- Deal with a very curt person at Radio Shack's phone lines about a battery I ordered and they sent me the wrong one for my cordless phone at my desk
- And go to the Marx home on Tuesday afternoon to babysit Hayden and Bailey so Andie and Michael could have a date.
Wednesday morning my Homemakers Club was having their December lunch at Claudia Sanders Restaurant in Shelbyville. This is Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame's, wife. This was the reason I went to the Marx home on Tuesday. I just figured I could spend the night and give them a date night and get up Wednesday and drive back to Shelbyville, have lunch with the ladies, then head back to Georgetown to sing with Papa. It all worked out fine but Andie and Michael had a very short date night with not feeling well. Oh, we also headed back in to Georgetown for an 8pm choir practice to get ready for Christmas music.
Today I worked all day and got...well...not very far. But I have been productive and that feels good. Claude and I checked some biggy items off our shared 'to do list'. Claude even got some Christmas lights up. The wash is done. Some presents are wrapped. Music has been practiced. Blog has been updated. Yep, it has been a full and good day. There is even a little snow on the ground here in Sadieville.
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