Another Happy Birthday

Friday, November 5th, the entire Marx family made their way to Sadieville. Michael had a game of soccer to referee on Saturday evening in Georgetown. But the true excitement was Hayden turning 6 years old.

Since Michael had to work on Saturday evening, we determined a Birthday Breakfast was the best way to celebrate Hayden's turning 6 years old. Papa and Tiny came out Saturday morning and we were treated to pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast (Hayden's choice) prepared by Claude and Michael.

The rest of us enjoyed time together.

After a wonderful breakfast, Hayden determined it would be fun to look for his presents. We kept Hayden in the dining room while Michael and Bailey hid presents around the living room. Michael even had Bailey tuck one in the pocket of her jeans. She was fairly giddy trying to keep her secret. After Hayden found the first present, she pulled that present out of her pocket and yelled, "Here's one!"

Hayden eventually found his presents and put them all in Claude's reading chair where he systematically opened each and every one. He was very polite and thanked everyone for each gift as it was opened. My, how he is growing up.

The rest of the morning was spent trying all those fun gifts out and learning what they did.

We paused during the playing to enjoy birthday cake before Papa headed back to feed Mimi. Hayden wanted a 'Moon' cake and Andie was able to come up with the perfect 'Moon' cake.

Papa headed back to Georgetown and we had a bit more time to play before quiet time. This made for a good opportunity to tussle with Grampa. I was able to get one picture of Claude multi-tasking. He was wrestling with Hayden and giving Bailey a pony ride at the same time. What a 'Pa'!!

Hayden received birthday money from his Gramma Joyce. He wanted some Mommy and Ma time. We set up Bailey and Claude in the basement with the movie of Charlotte's Web, chips and playdough. Then Andie, Hayden and I headed to Georgetown to let Hayden pick out something with his birthday money. I was very impressed with this process. Andie talked to him on the way in about just how much he could spend and that he couldn't buy everything a 6-year old boy wants. When he got in the store he carefully looked at the items he most wanted, picked the one he would purchase and then worked with Andie to carefully get the most 'bang for his buck' on that purchase. He ended up with a great dinosaur train set with the characters and the track.

It was a wonderful birthday weekend. Thank you to the Marx family for bringing their show on the road to Sadieville so Claude, Papa and I could enjoy this important moment in Hayden's life.

My Pajama Mornin'...

This morning I could have slept in...but I didn't. Claude had to be up at 7am (I know that is late for many people but time can be a relative thing) so I got up when he did. However, I get to have a pajama morning. Gotta love a cold morning and staying in comfy warm PJ's.

I'm getting my wash done, changing linens on my bed (or trying to), and doing a few fun things on my computer to start my morning. My computer was upstairs on the breakfast room table this morning. As I was working on it, I realized the sun was starting to come up.

I first woke up at 6:30am to a starry sky and total fog under the blanket of stars. When I say 'total fog' that is a perfect description. The train came across and I could hear it but see absolutely nothing.

Now I'm sitting at the breakfast room table and the sun is beginning to try and make it's appearance. At first the only thing I noticed was this large bank of clouds behind Sadieville. It was like a huge wall. You could tell there was now clear sky above it but it still was not quite bright enough to see anything but lots of fog, then this cloud bank and then dark sky.

I continued playing on my computer and then looked out the breakfast room window to see white tips on the top of the cloud bank. It was just thrilling to realize I could watch this fun sunrise in Sadieville. I decided to opt out of leaving my breakfast room spot, grab my camera, and take a few pictures of this beauty. Every few minutes I would jump up from the table and take a few pictures.

Some of the neat things I enjoyed were the fog between here and Sadieville as I looked toward Sadieville Christian Church. This time of year the leaves are off the trees and you can see the top of the church. To the right of this was the white tips on top of the cloud bank.

I also enjoyed the trees on the other side of the creek begin to show up as a little more light became available and as the fog started to lift a little with the sun. You could see tree tops through fog. Way cool.

There was even a tiny cloud puff right at the top of the cloud bank where the sun was going to come up. At first I was sure it was a star, then I realized it was just a bit of the cloud.

It made a delightful start to a morning when I didn't have to get up and run to do things. I just love a pajama morning with a great sunrise.

Here are some pictures as the morning progressed.

There, now I'm ready to go on with what looks to be a great day!

This morning I hosted our Countryside Homemakers Club. I've been a member about  two years now and this was the first time I've hosted the club in my home.

We have a lesson each month chosen by the Scott County Extension Office after surveying all the members of all the Homemaker's Clubs in our area. This month's lesson was about cooking in crock-pots.

As the hostess, you prepare the main dish and the guests bring a side dish or dessert of their own choosing to compliment the main dish you provide. Since our lesson was on crock-pot cooking, I picked my Chicken Ole recipe and did that in my crock-pot. It is like chicken enchiladas only made in layers instead of rolling everything in the tortilla. To supplement this, I made beef enchiladas and baked them in the oven. I made a double batch of each so I would have some for meals when the Marx family comes this weekend and because my hubby loves enchiladas.

We each brought our favorite crock-pot recipe and I copied them for everyone to take home.

After our meal, I taught the ladies to make a craft I learned at our Relief Society Retreat last year. They are little gift bags made out of 12 x 12 inch scrapbook paper. The ladies really enjoyed making these little bags. We are donating two bundles of them for the auction they have in December for new members.

It was great fun to have these ladies in my home. I totally enjoyed their company. I truly believe they each had a good morning as well.

This afternoon Claude drove me to Georgetown to sing with Papa at the nursing home. He had errands to run while I was singing. I was sooooo very tired, it was really nice to have him doing the driving.

As we drove home I noticed that the 'gardens of signs' are disappearing. I learn a lot about the candidates by how well they remove all the signage that goes up for an election. Claude was out this morning collecting his signs while we had the Homemaker's Club meeting at the house. I truly believe that a person who cleans up those signs quickly is probably a lot more responsible than one who leaves their signs till someone else picks up for them. It's a little thing but I think it says a lot about the character of the candidates.

Now the Big Guy and I are home for a very quiet evening. I'm going to play on my computer and Claude is going to read his papers, we'll watch a little TV and graze on whatever is in the fridge. I love a quiet evening after a full day of work. It is just the perfect reward.

We Have A Winner!!!

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/KY/Scott/22314/37505/en/summary.html

Check out this link and you can see in print the results of the Sadieville elections.

After a nice dinner at Pizza Hut, Claude and I headed over the Scott County Courthouse to see the local results. This the fastest and best way to know what happened on the local elections.

There we found that Claude won his bid for election as Mayor of Sadieville, Kentucky for the next four years. We were just a huge bunch of grins.

Then we headed to the GOP Election Results Party and congratulated those who knew they won state and local elections.

Now we're home and I've printed out the official results for Claude's scrapbook as Mayor. Thought some of you might enjoy seeing them as well.

All I can say is...YIPPEE!!!

Tending Things...

I'm going to pause from this fast paced week and actually make a Blog entry. I was thinking about it on the way back from Georgetown just now and the phrase "Tending Things" was what came to my mind. So, randomly, I'm going to list some things I've been 'Tending' over the last week...here goes.

First there is Papa. Bless his heart and his computer. The man hours and dollars spent keeping him going are disheartening. I got a call from him Sunday evening asking what his eMail address was. He did know it but it wouldn't work for him. He was just trying to reaffirm what it was. I told him and he tried it and it wouldn't work. I asked him if he could just shut it down and wait until I came in town Monday to grocery shop and I would go to his apartment first and see what I could do. Mind you, I am no computer repair person. I always say that I know just enough to be dangerous. But with the help of Papa and his ever-failing computer, I'm really learning a lot more.

Monday afternoon I made it to Papa's apartment about 1:30pm. I left about 4:30pm. After running a computer scan with his virus software, I noted a very, very, very LONG list of viruses now residing there. Then I tried opening Outlook Express. Everytime I tried to opened any software, I got a pop-up message stating the name of the file that was corrupted with some kind of virus. I wrote all these down as I tried to open each software shortcut on his screen. Everyone had a virus on the .exe file. This was not good.

I then called his telephone company. I finally got a human and asked them if they had any virus detecting software that scanned the eMail's they were sending to my father's home. Nope, they had none. Claude and I have that service through AT&T.

I then asked if Papa was obligated to any contracts with them for service for his long distance, landline phone and Internet/DSL. Nope, he was not obligated.

I then verified the cost of his service each month.

Then I called AT&T and asked what the very best deal they could give Papa if he changed telephone companies and used them for land line, long distance and Internet/DSL. They assured me they would be scanning his eMail's for viruses before they sent them to his computer. I got a deal for about half what Papa is paying now. We set up a date for installing his new modem and getting him with AT&T.

I called the previous company and set up a date for them to stop service with them and assured them the main reason was the lack of help with this virus software.

Papa will now take his computer and see if they can clean the viruses off it and we'll install Norton. Between Norton and the AT&T help, hopefully he will be okay.

Today I tended the 'sign gardens' and Claude has been tending them for weeks. What are sign gardens? These are the little beds of political signs with candidates names and what they are running for in this election written on them. They seem to appear in clumps a lot. The entryway to our subdivision has a bed of them. Claude has diligently tended this bed over the last few months without regard to who is running or what political party they are from. Everyone deserves a fair chance. He has straightened them after the storms came through last week, repaired the one that broke, etc.

This morning as Claude and I headed to Waffle House for our Election Morning Breakfast Tradition, we noticed that the garden of signs at the intersection of Hwy 25 & 32 was not in place. Someone came along and pulled all those signs out and layed them in the ditch or along the bend in the road. So on my way home from Georgetown, I pulled my car over and parked and replaced everyone's signs again. What a silly thing for someone to do. It makes no sense to me. I'm not voting for some of those guys but, gee whiz, what purpose does it serve to drop everyone's signs so no one can see these names.

I also had to 'tend' my tooth today. We had a bowl of trick or treat candy ready for Saturday evening. We left our porch and garage lights on. We had 3 door bell rings for a total of 5 kids. Sunday evening we lift our porch and garage lights on just in case someone else happened to use Sunday evening as their trick or treat outing. Not a soul rang the bell. I decided to have a box of Milk Duds. I love Milk Duds. They are one of my two favorite movie theater treats. I had not had Milk Duds in a long time and thought that sounded like a good snack and clearly Claude and I would need to consume this candy or give it away. I bit into the 3rd Milk Dud and I felt like I was chewing on something that was NOT right. Sure enough, my crown came off. Today I was in Georgetown tending that crown and getting it glued back in place. I will never eat Milk Duds again.

Tomorrow morning the Countryside Homemakers Club is coming to my home. I get to be the hostess this time. Our lesson is on crockpot cooking. The lunch I'll provide is Chicken Ole made in my crockpot. It's like chicken enchiladas made in layers instead of being rolled in the tortilla. I'm supplimenting it with a pan of beef enchiladas. Hopefully there will be leftovers for the Big Guy to enjoy.

So this past week I have been 'tending' my home in preparation for my guests to arrive. I figure it is a good time to do it. The Marx family will come and stay this weekend. Michael has soccer games to referee in Lexington and Georgetown. Then Bonnie will be here for a visit the 9th of November. Then it'll be time for Thanksgiving. Then it'll be time to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. So getting the house in order so I can just pick up and spruce up between these event seems like a good idea. It's been fun to do these things I have put off for a while because of other things that needed to be done.

Claude helped me over 3 days to get the windows in the house cleaned. That is not my favorite chore. I was trying to figure out why and decided it is because I have to have someone around to complete it. I can't hold the weight of the big windows that need extra support and I can't move the big furniture alone anymore. My mom was self-sufficient when it came to doing things she wanted done in her home. I did inherit that gene. My hubby is perfectly willing to help and happy to do so. I just really like to do it when I'm ready and not impose on him or wait for his schedule. But now they are cleaned again and it was fun to do it together.

I also 'tended' the ending of my calling as stake Relief Society president this last week. The final piece was completeing the costs for our Circle of Sisters event on October 23rd. I now have all the receipts in and that is sent off to the new president. It is done. I'll miss that calling terribly. But I'm finding myself realizing I don't need to think about that anymore from the president's perspective and it is actually kind of freeing.

I spent some time 'tending my mother' also. She is really failing. She is losing weight. I notice that most when I visit her and she is in bed. Her leg is getting bony. I can still get a smile or two out of her each visit. Papa calls when he has had success in feeding her. I know he is concerned. Sometimes she is almost agitated at trying to do something. She wanted to reach and do something with the wheel of her wheel chair and she was just adament she was going to do it. She had herself leaned way over in her wheelchair. Mia helped me get her up straight again and I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her and hugged until she settled down and I could feel her body relax. Alzheimer's is a hard way to go. My heart goes out to others who tread this path. I thank my Heavenly Father each day for the fact my mother had not become combative and/or foul mouthed. It happens a lot with Alzheimer's patients.

This morning Claude and I 'tended' our voting responsibilities.

This is a wonderful opportunity we are blessed with in the United States. This morning I took the sample ballot from the newspaper up to Claude and we reviewed it together. I was happy that I knew on my own who I was voting for. I enjoyed going to the polls and casting those votes. The most fun was voting for my hubby for Mayor. I had him wait so I could take this picture of him at the polling booth where he voted. Tonight we will go back into Georgetown and have a nice dinner together, then we'll head to the GOP Party to watch the results with friends.

Claude has waged an honest campaign and done his best to get his message out. He did one mailer and last week he went door to door and left little trash bags on each door with his message inside. I do truly hope he wins and has the opportunity to finish the things he has started and to accomplish some of what he wants to do in the future. He sure has put in the hours and the work so far. He would continue to be a great Mayor for Sadieville.

Well, these are a few of the things I have 'tended to' over the last week. There are a lot of things on my 'to do' lists that haven't gotten done but I feel very good about having direction and accomplishing what I have done.

Now...I must get back to 'tending' for my hostessing duties tomorrow.