No Sugar Added Peanut Butter Coconut Bonbons

The holidays sparked a new recipe in the Hunt/Young/Milam households. It all started with my comment that it just wasn't fair for my mother's family (the Milam clan) to expect the diabetics of the family (the Young family unit) to make the peanut butter bonbons every years for Christmas. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's just something about a recipe that measures its sugar content in pounds... anyway, I decided to try to do something about that, and here's what I came up with:


No Sugar Added Peanut Butter Coconut Bonbons

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups Splenda granulated
1/2 cup butter
1 pound almond flour
1 8-oz. package of unsweetened, finely shredded coconut
4 bags Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips
1/4 lb. Parafin wax


If you have a stand mixer, it's a great tool to use for this. If not, well, wash your hands and just dig in when things get too stiff for your mixer.

In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter & butter. Add in Splenda slowly, mixing well. Add in almond flour and coconut slowly also, making sure that everything gets mixed in well.

Roll filling into small balls (about 1 teaspoon in size), then chill in refrigerator while preparing chocolate.

Melt chocolate and approximately 1/4 pound parafin wax in a double boiler. Spread out wax paper on the counter where you will be setting the bonbons. Spear a bonbon with a toothpick or skewer and dip into chocolate, rolling slightly to make sure it is all covered. Gently set bonbon on wax paper and twist the toothpick/skewer to remove it. Lay the tip on top of the bonbon and gently roll the chocolate over the hole left by the toothpick. Repeat for the rest of the bonbons. Let sit overnight, then store in sealed containers. They store very well in the fridge.

Makes about 125 bonbons at 1 teaspoon size. I cannot guarantee that all of them will make it to the wax paper, or from there to the tins. There always seem to be a few, um, casualties along the way... At this size, each bon bon has about 80 calories and less than 4 carbs, less than 2 grams of sugar. If I'd used no sugar added peanut butter, that would go down some, too. I would not suggest using light butter - it simply does not work well, and we never let my mother forget it.

A Memorable Christmas

Hello all,

I hope everyone has had a beautiful Christmas. It's been a most memorable one for us. This is going to be a looonnngggg post.

We found out on Wednesday that one of the elderly members of our church was missing, had been since the night before. He's 81 and was stopped Tuesday night for suspected DUI. He wasn't, but he was very disoriented and couldn't remember how to get to where he was going. The kind officer pointed him in the right direction and let him go. News story

He never made it to where he was expected. It was reported Tuesday night, but there's that whole "Must wait X hours before doing anything" jazz. I really think that should be a case by cae thing - the man was 81 years old, obviously disoriented when he was stopped, and it was really crappy out Tuesday night. I would think that the officer would have called a county officer to follow Sam home to make sure he made it or something, but I digress..

A bunch of folks from the community and rescue squad went out on Wednesday looking for him. Jack and several other church members joined them. His car was found wrecked on a mountain road, about 5,000 feet in elevation. It was freezing and wet Tuesday night. No sign of him at all. It didn't look very good for his chances. Weather was really crummy and visibility almost zero Wednesday while they were searching - cold, foggy, wet, just plain crummy. The search was called off when it got dark. The hope was that he'd walked up the road when his car wrecked and somebody picked him up, took him to a hopsital somewhere, and he was a John Doe waiting to be found.

Today dawned bright and clear. The helicopters were called out to search a wider area from the air. With the leaves off the trees, there was a chance he would be seen. We really didn't have much hope for finding him alive. It had to have been a horrible day at his home.

But, there's proof that God still answers prayers - Sam was found several miles away from his car, cold and hungry, but otherwise in good shape. He was being taken to UT hospital the last that we heard, to be treated for hypothermia. Thank you God, for what must have been a very special Christmas gift for Sam's family.


In other Christmas news:

Jack and I were able to go up to my folk's house for a few days last week. It was really nice to be able to go and actually spend some time with my family instead of rush up, eat, open gifts, then rush home.

One of the days was spent with Danny and Kayla for what turned out to be Danny's first real visitation with her where he did more than just drop by her house for a little while. She is an absolute little doll! She doesn't know a stranger, and is a very happy baby as long as she has the right binky. Danny found out the hard way that not all binkies are created equal when he tried to put her down for a nap with an unfamiliar one.


Another day, Jack spent with Dad while I went shopping with my sister and mother for our annual Christmas outfits. We do this every year - go shopping with our mother and pick out an outfit each. Mom buys them, we wrap them and put them under the tree, and act surprised when we open them later. Sounds a little odd, I know, but it's what Mom wants to do, and we're guranteed to get something we like that fits. She's still tickled that we head straight to the clearance racks, says it's a sign that she taught us well...

This year, Mom fell in love with a particular sweater. My sister found some components of an outfit in the same store, and when Mom paid for Melissa's clothes, she bought the sweater, too. Later that evening, Mom & Dad went to a Christmas party after tossing the bags of clothes at my sister and me to wrap up. The sweater was in there, so we wrapped it up and tagged it to Mom from us. When Mom opened the box, she got pretty teary-eyed. "Ohhhh.... you saw how much I liked this and snuck back and got it!..." And she was dead serious. "Uh... Mom.... you bought it..." She thought she'd put it down somewhere.

And this, my friends, is what I have t look forward to, as I become more and more like my mother every day...

We also had the opportunity to visit with friends in Columbus while we were up, and made the traditional peanut butter bon-bons. Somehow, it's not quite fair for the family chock-full of diabetics to end up making something that measures it's sugar content in pounds, but we have a lot of fun anyway.

I was having fun with PhotoShop here..

Wednesday for me was spent working frantically on a quilt that needed to be gifted on Christmas day. I hadn't even started it Wednesday morning. I'll post pics later - I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

This morning, Jack and I proved that we're techno geeks to the core - I gave him an MP3 player and a USB turntable that hooks up to the converts and converts vinyl LPs and 45's (remember those?) to MP3 format. He gave me a Bamboo Fun pen pad. It works with my graphics programs and allows me to draw or handwrite directly into the project. I spent some time playing around with it tonight while jack started searching for MP3s to download.

And, since this post is becoming hideiously long and it's just after 2:00am, I'm going to hop off here. Tomorrow, er, later today will be spent baking and making goodies to take to WV on Saturday, so it may be awhile before I finish my account of the holiday.

Beware of the Dog House

Takes a while to load, almost 5 minutes of viewing time, but bwahahahahaha....


http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/

If you have RealPlayer, you should be able to download it pretty quick and see it full size, or go to http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/VideoPage.aspx and watch it there. I think JC Penney hosts it, and they have links to ways to get out of the doghouse and you can put somebody in the doghouse there. Haven't tried it yet -can't really think of who I know that needs to be in there. :o)

Next Friday, the big Date

Jack and I have a date with our newest granddaughter, Kayla, next Friday afternoon. We're going up to visit my parents on Wednesday, and not coming back until Sunday. Danny gets Kayla Friday, so that's when we get to meet her. We'll have her most of Friday, taking her back home Friday night. Danny says this will be his first excursion out with her on his own, so this should be interesting. And, he finally was able to get a decent picture of her:

She's such a cutie! Not that grandmothers are ever biased or anything...

We also get to meet the other grandparents, too, which I'm looking forward to. My theory is this - if I can get in good with the other grandparents, it won't matter if the parents are or are not speaking, I can call the other grandparents and see about visiting with Kayla when we go up. :)

In other grandbaby news, Jessica goes on the 22nd for the ultrasound that will tell her if she's carrying a boy or a girl.

Christmas is Tight This Year

I just got this from my friend, Tina. I had to share...

My Dear Friends,

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit - I'm not getting
an annual bonus and Christmas is tight this year. I will be
making bedroom slippers for you all as gifts. Please let me
know your sizes.

You'll most likely agree that it's a splendid idea, and
should you wish to do the same, I've included the
instructions below.

How to Make Bedroom Slippers
out of Maxi Pads

You need four maxi pads to make a pair.

Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part. The other
two wrap around the toe area to form the top. Tape or
glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot
part.

Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers
(this is most aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers are:
* Soft and Hygienic
* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh
* No more bending over to mop up spills
* Disposable and biodegradable
* Environmentally safe
* Three convenient sizes: (1.) Regular, (2.) Light and
(3.) Get out the Sand Bags.

I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you
can see these nifty slippers for yourself....




When I read this to my husband, he pointed out that if you just use them sticky side against your feet, you wouldn't need the toe strap and you could go skating on the linoleum at the same time.

Gotta' love the holidays!

Really, I do! Last night, our church choir sang in the middle of Town Square. Today, we had our church fellowship dinner, and the choir sang again for the church itself. Life is good, eh? Nothing like singing carols to get you in the Christmas spirit. :o)

Okay, break time's over... I have GOT to get this quilt done tonight so I can move on to the next one...

The Branches of Monroe County

I talked to Denise, the woman who asked me to work with the developing domestic violence shelter. It will be called The Branches of Monroe County, after the Bible verse in which Jesus says "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John, 15:5).

I'm going to serve on the board of directors. Our first meeting will be this Saturday, where I expect that I'll be voted in as the secretary/treasurer because that's one of my strengths. I've also volunteered to develop a website for the organization and have researched available urls. We'll probably vote on that Saturday, too, along with starting to develop the official mission statement and all of the fun things needed to qualify as a non-profit organization. I'm getting into uncharted territory for me here, so this will be an adventure.

Gettin' ready for the holidays...

So Jack and I have decided that a few, well chosen gifts are the way to go this year. Not necessarily the most expensive, but thoughtful and really in tune with the intended recipients. I broached the subject of perhaps not getting each other any gifts since we usually just go get what we want anyway, but he's already got one for me picked out. Well, rats... now I have to find something he'd like that he hasn't already bought. Hmm....

I spent much of Friday on the computer, doing my Black Friday shopping. The people that get out there at 5:00am can have it. Every time I've attempted to get those "deals", the one I went after sells out right before my turn in line gets there, and the stuff that I do find and buy, I find cheaper 2 weeks later.

I'm making some of our Christmas gifts this year, mostly quilts for the little ones on the gift list. Jenna is a Backyardigans nut, and I came into a piece of Backyardigans character fleece that will make a very nice backer for a flannel top. I'm thinking some large patches, ragged together on the top, and tied instead of quilted. The fleece will limit how big it can be, but it will be the perfect size for a 2-1/2 year old to drag around where ever she wants to.

For Kayla, I have pink flannel with white kittens on it (of course I'm going to do kitties for the new baby! Mawmaw *is* a cat-nut after all!) along with some purple and white flannels. I'm thinking about rag quilting this one, too. Flannel makes such a pretty rag quilt, and it's quick.

I also drew one of our nieces' new baby in the family drawing. Kennedy is 5 weeks old now, abosolutely adorable, and her room has been decorated in, get this - Pink John Deere Camo. Some strange looking stuff, to say the least... I got the last of it that the fabric store had.

I need to finish the quilt I'm working on for the couple at church, too, before I can start any of the others. I should have the bulk of it finished tomorrow, just need to do the binding. It's a neat design that I thought up after seeing an afghan done similarly. I quilted 6" wide strips, 7 of one fabric, 7 in white, then wove them together. The "quilting" is consisting of stitching the strips together to keep baby from getting caught inside them, and some colorful buttons at the intersections.

So yeah, I'm gonna' be busy...

Jack thought of a great gift for our son-in-law. He is the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach for the local high school, along with some little league referee tossed in there in his free time. We ordered an engraved whistle for him, in a nice wooden box that will be engraved with his name, the high school name, and the mascot's paw prints (bear).

For Jack's mom, I took a picture of her with all of her kids that we took this summer and put it in a scrapbooking layout. Part of the layout included all of their names in a Scrabble letter layout. Then I sent it off and had it made into a puzzle. She loves Scrabble, and she likes puzzles.

I have gifts for my mother and Jessica, but sometimes they read my blog, so I'm going to keep mum on it.

Now to figure out what to make/get for my father, Jack's father, my sister & her boyfriend...

Holiday baking

And here's what I've been up to the day before Thanksgiving... along with 40 deviled eggs, stuffing, and spilling turkey broth formerly destined to become gravy tomorrow all over the bottom of my fridge. Grrr.... Oh well, at least the cats got a treat... >^..^<


Lemon Inside-Outside Cake

This is based on a pistachio inside-outside cake I first had at a friend's birthday gathering in WV several years ago. I de-sugared it to the best of my ability.

Cake Ingredients:
Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Yellow Cake Mix
1 box Jell-O sugar free lemon flavored pudding and pie filling
1 cup oil
1 cup club soda
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting Ingredients:
1 tub Sugar Free Cool-Whip
1 box Jell-O sugar free lemon flavored pudding & pie filling
1 cup 2% milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bundt pan. Mix together all ingredients for the cake except the nuts. Beat at medium speed for two minutes. The batterw ill be quite thick. Add the nuts and mix well. Pour into bundt pan and spread out evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on the rack. When cake is completely cool, split into three layers.

To make frosting, mix together all frosting ingredients and blend at medium high speed until thick. Spread 1 cup or so between each of the cake layers, then spoon the remaining frosting into the center. Garnish with chopped walnuts.





No Sugar Added Apple-Pecan Streusel Pie

We saw an apple-pecan strueeel pie in the menu when we went out to eat awhile back. It looked really, really good, and really, really bad for us. Sooo, I scoured the internet and found a likely looking recipe on recipezaar.com. Then it was just a matter of substituting sugar-free stuff wherever possible.

Ingredients:
1 package Pillsbury ready made pie crusts
2 cans no-sugar added apple pie filling
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
3 tbsp butter, softened (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend)
1 1/2 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Gently mix together apple pie filling, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, all ginger, & nutmeg. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon, brown sugar blend, and pecans.

Lay one pie crust in a 9" deep dish pie pan. Spoon half of the apple pie filling into the pie crust. Spread all of the pecan mixture on top of the apple filling, then spoon the rest of the apple pie filling on top of it.

Unroll the other pie crust and cut into 1" strips. Vertically arrange every other strip over filling, then weave remaining strips horizontally. Adhere to bottom crust with some water, trim, and crimp. I trimed tails of the strips a little past the bottom crust, then tucked them under the edge of the bottom crust and gave them a pinch.

Beat egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush over lattice.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes, checking after 15 minutes to make sure the edges of the crust are not getting too brown. If they are, cover them with aluminum foil. Bake until pie reaches a nice, golden brown color.

Transfer pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1-1/2 hours before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.




Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Popping out of the woodwork and wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Things I'm thankful for:

My salvation
My husband
My family
My husband's family (Really! I like my in-laws!)
My children & grandchildren
My church
My home
My business
My job
My health
My friends
The tallents I've been blessed with


I have been asked to serve on the board of directors for a newly-forming non-profit organization. It is a faith based, non-denominational organization will provide counseling and shelter for abused women, along with life skills, job seeking skills, basic computer skills, and provide assistance to find permanant housing, health care, education, and job skills training, along with anything else that there is assistance for.

I used to work with the woman who is spearheading it. She is an excellent HR Manager, so she can give people good advice on what to do and not do when looking for jobs, and a professional accountant and lawyer have already volunteered their services. She also has a boarding house that she is going to convert for the shelter. There currently isn't one in our county, so there is nowhere local for somebody to go for protection from an abusive home. The building would also house a high-end thrift store that will help support it, and classrooms for training and counseling.

I'm considering the request very hard. I don't want to commit to something that I end up not being able to do. This is something our area needs, and I would hate to let people down in an area where help is badly needed. A friend of mine has scars on her belly where a man she was living with cut her during an arguement. If he'd cut her any deeper, it would have been really bad. If there had been somewhere safe that she could go at the time, she might have left him before it came to that. Domestic violence laws are getting tougher, but laws don't help people who are scared to death in a relationship like that.

It's a big thing. I don't want to screw it up.

Veteran's Day

Thank you, Veterans, for your service to our country.

Thank you to current service members, also.

Kayla Nicole

Meet Kayla Nicole:





Kayla is my granddaughter. We just found out that she was part of the family last week, and it's taken awhile for the shock to wear off. She lives in Ohio with her mother and maternal grandparents.

She has her daddy's eyes. Since this is the only picture of her that I have so far, and I haven't high-tailed it up to Ohio to meet her in person yet, this is all I know of her. I believe her birthday is sometime in May, but I'm not sure.

Danny is looking for a better job and a super cheap (yet reliable) vehicle so he can help provide for her and be a positive force in her life. He gets along with her mother, and Jack and I have encourage him to keep that relationship on a good note. It will make life much easier for all involved, and for Kayla.

Anywhooo.... that's my news for the day.

The Joys of Life After Election Day...

Ah, yes, the sweet sounds of television without political ads... Just in time for Top Chef to start it's new season next week. Yay!

And in the face of a new government which is probably not going to be very friendly to big business, the company where my husband works is in turmoil. It's already confirmed that the place will shut down for the week at Christmas (which *never* happens), and the rumors are flying that some of the workforce will not be back after Christmas. They're just rumors, but it makes for a pretty tense place to be working right now. I imagine lots of places are as companies and people just don't know what is going to happen and are anticipating the worst.

So, keep America's workforce and it's employers in your prayers. Change is often painful and never easy, no matter how much it might be needed.

How I spent election night...

While the election results were rolling in, I was piecing the first of several quilts for the campground beds:

Three guesses what I'll be doing most of the winter. We have 13 beds at the campground, with plans to put in 8 more. I'll need enough quilts to cover each bed and have some extras.

And, while I didn't finish this tonight, I did put together a quilt for an expectant couple at church last week:

This is for a baby that is supposed to be a boy. Now the last baby that was born in the church was predicted to be a boy, right up to an ultrasound done the morning the baby was born, bevore labor started. That couple's daughter celebrated her first birthday last month... So, armed with this knowledge, I figured neutral colors would be good.

I just love the little feet in the center of the 9-patch.

They were also at each yellow bar intersection.

And the finished product, ready to present to the new parents. You can't tell from this picture very well, but the ribbon has baby footprints on it, too.

Yes, I am still alive. It's been super busy at the campground until just the last few days, and I've spent those trying to recover. Whew!

We have all of the covered parking areas complete at the campground. It was pointed out by a friend of ours from Maine that they wouldn't handle any kind of a snow load, citing 14' of snow as an example, but we figure that if we get that much snow, we probably have bigger things to worry about, such as the onset of another ice age or summat. It just does not snow in SE Tennessee.

Our next project for the campground will be two more cabins, bigger so they can house 4 people very comfortably. I'm hoping that we can make those happen next spring before we get busy again, but we'll just have to see how the cash flow runs.

Anywhooo...

I'm starting into my winter projects already. Baby afghans, quilts, remodeling the house one room at a time, oh my! I have the room formerly known as the teenager's painted a very nice warm green color, and new flooring ready to go in. I'll probably work on that next week. Once the flooring goes down, a new bed, new curtains & comforter, and wallah!, we have a guest room...

I also need to get back to work on the little house behind ours. Figure out what cabinets need to be bought, put down the new flooring in the kitchen, install the new walls and tub surround in the bathroom, paint, put up ceilings, new light fixtures & fans. That aught to keep me busy and out of trouble over the slow season at the campground.

My Mother and Wiley...

I made a scrapbook page for pictures of my mom with her newest little dog, Wiley.

Yeah, he's cute, and he knows how to use it, too....

Anyway, what I'm so excited about is that I made everything for the page myself, using PhotoShop Elements 6, nothing from a designer who knows how to do this kind of stuff. Woohoo! Yeah, I know, it's relatively simple and all, but I thought it turned out really nice. Go with me on this, let me have this moment of accomplishment... :o)

Then I thought to myself "Self, you've seen dozens of people make quickpages and share them with others, you've taken advantage of what others have shared, why not give back to the scrapping community?". Soooo...

If you go to http://www.4shared.com/file/66014816/b82cc5e3/Puppies_Leave_Pawprints_QP.html, you will be able to download this page, minus the pictures of my mom and Wiley. Most of the scrapbooking progams will recognize the file - it's a .png format. Just set your page size to 8x8 with 200dpi and pull this into your page, then put your own pictures in behind it and line them up.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Oct 11

I signed up to participate in a 5K walk on October 11 for the Susan G. Komen foundation's Race for the Cure. Some folks will be timed. Some folks will run. I'm not one of either. I'm going to be there to walk and show my support, but this chick ain't runnin'.

This is the first time I've ever done anything like this. My t-shirt came in the mail today, along with my little number bib, complete with safety pins. I don't know what possessed me to sign up for this, but it seemed like the thing to do when I found out about it.

The registration confirmation and the fundraising email that I was sent to send out to others had some interesting facts in it. 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. There are 9 regulart readers of my blog - 8 of them are women. 1 of us will be diagnosed at some point. A new diagnoses is made every 3 minutes, and every 13 minutes, somebody dies from breast cancer. Scary stuff.

When I first got these statistics, they were only numbers. This weekend, it hit home pretty hard - one of the ladies at my church has recently been diagnosed and now has to decide what she is going to do.

If you would like to make a contribution to the foundation, you can go to http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1979440 to donate securely online with your debit or credit card. It's a tax deductible contribution, and you'll get a receipt right away.

Presidential debate #1

So, did anybody come away from the first presidential debate last night feeling as uninspired and ho-hum as I did? Neither candidate pulled anything awesome & surprising out of their hat – both were relying on “the other candidate is a bad choice because…” It was like watching Lurch from the Addam’s Family trade verbal barrages with Frosty the Snowman in a suit.

Nope, I’m still as unexcited about my choices as before. I’m going to end up voting against whichever-one scares me the most, not for the one I think is the best. Sad, but true.

I watched the debate on BBC America, and after it was over, they had commentary from various BBC correspondents all around the world, including Iraq, China, and Russia. One thing that really got my attention was something the Iraq correspondent said – he was talking about some Iraqi citizens who were enjoying a cup of coffee at an outdoor coffee shop. They told him that they wouldn’t be able to do that if the Americans weren’t there, that they would be too afraid to sit outside. Gotta’ love the British – they’ll put stuff on the air that CNN or FOX won’t. It was encouraging to hear something positive about our presence in Iraq.

At this point, I feel that it really doesn't matter how we got there, what bad information was given or what good information may have been disregarded - the fact is that we're there. Now, what are we gonna' do about it? That's what the candidates need to answer, not who's fault it is that we're there in the first place. For what it's worth, I think that it’s time to start slowly backing out and letting the Iraqi people learn to maintain their own peace. A rapid pull-out would be a bad idea, but we don't need to stay forever. The Iraqis need to start taking over more and more of the responsibilities of running their country and keeping their citizens safe, so we can start bringing our soldiers home.

Enough about Iraq, back to my little soapbox about the media – I really dislike our media’s obsession with reporting only the horror stories, only the negative aspects of our government and military activities. No, it’s not a perfect government, but show me one that is. I have a really hard time trusting that I’m getting the full story with anything. I don’t think there is anything fair and objective about any of the reporting that goes on by US news providers – each news website, each news channel, reports on events with a definite lean in whichever direction they go. Thankfully, you can now get all of the speeches and debates online without having to listen to any of the commentary that goes with them.

And now for my little soapbox about voting – do it, or don’t complain when the next administration isn’t to your liking. And for Pete’s sake, don’t go out there and say “I’m with XX party, so I’m gonna’ vote that way” without finding out what that party’s candidate stands for and plans to do. Granted, I don’t like the media coverage of the race, but you can still listen to what the candidates have to say in their speeches and statements. You can still research each candidate’s record to see what they have or have not done, how often they’ve said one thing and done another, how often they’ve actually done what they said they were going to do. Make your decision based on what you discover, not on what someone else tells you to think.

Okay, I’ shut up about the presidential race for now. I reserve the right to jump back on the soapbox after the vice-presidential debate next Thursday. I think I’m going to watch it on BBC America, too. You get to watch Monty Python afterwards.. :o)

Happy News

I can't stand it any longer... I've been waiting for a picture, but that's going to be awhile...

Jenna, our 2 year old granddaughter, was wearing a rather interesting t-shirt at church Sunday night. It said "I'm the big sister-to-be". I wanted to get a picture of her wearing that shirt and post it here, but nobody can hold still long enough to get kid, shirt, and camera all in the same place at the same time.

Jessica & Lance are thrilled. Jessica says she thinks the baby will come in May.

The little house behind us that we were fixing up for them has been put on hold for various reasons. I guess we'd better get back on it, huh?

Funny stuff

I don't care who you are, this is funny, even if it is politically based...




Found this on Ann's blog, felt the urge to share.

Keeping up with the blogs...

I have just discovered a nifty little feature of Blogger - it will help you keep up with the blogs that you read!

If you use Blogger, after logging in, go to the Dashboard. Down at the bottom of the page, you can add the blogs that you read regularly. If the blog offers an RSS feed, it will automatically update your dashboard every time the blog is updated.

I know, there are lots of services that do that, but I confess to being easily amused.

You man now resume your normal day...

Take a minute today to pray for the people involved and who's lives were forever changed by the events of 9/11/2001. Pray for all the vicitims of that day, their families, the emergency workers who risked all they held dear to help those in need.

Pray for the people who planned and carried out these horrible actions, and those who would follow in their footsteps.

Pray for our troops who are in harms way now, whether we should be there or not, who are doing their best to carry out their orders to fight terrorism in lands far away from home, from their families and all they hold dear, in a culture that we neither know nor understand.

Pray for our country and our leaders, whether you agree with them or not. Pray for our upcoming leaders, whoever they may be. Lift them up, asking for wisdom and strength for them, wise counsel, and to do what our country needs, whatever that may be.

In a word:

PRAY!

We've been invaded...

Yup, the US Army has invaded our campground.

Jack served in the Air Force, my dad is retired USAF, and we both know how difficult it is for our military guys to make ends meet. On top of that, they don't get nearly the appreciation and respect they deserve for what they do for our country. They often bear the brunt of unpopular decisions made by those over them, and that is most unfair.

To show our support and appreciation, we offer active duty military members of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard free camping, and if they want to stay in a cabin, their first night is free, too.

Last week, I was contacted by a unit leader looking for somewhere for his people to stay while they brush up on their motorcycle safety skills by riding an extremely curvy road around here that is well known in the motorcycle community as the Dragon. It seems the military bases are pushing safety for their riders now. Good idea, as far as I'm concerned. Polishing up skills is as good an excuse as any to go riding, right? :o) They're also calling this their first annual memorial ride for the victims of 9/11. Very sobering thought there.

I got my dates mixed up and didn't expect them until Friday. I got home from church this evening to find a message on my phone that they were here, and which cabins were open? Eeeek! Fortunately, all of them were clean and ready to go, just needed towels in a cabin or two. Whew!

My New Little Brother

My parents came down this weekend and stayed in their camper at the KOA. Some friends of theirs were already in Knoxville, at a campground up there, then came to visit us. Mom & Dad met them.

We all went to the flea market today. Mom picked out my new little brother.

Meet my Mom and Wiley.




Wiley is Mom's birthday/retirement gift to herself. He's 12 weeks old and shouldn't get any bigger tan 4 or 5 pounds. He already has Mom wrapped around his little paw.

My sister had sent Mom a picture message, showing her an apple pie sitting on my mother's stovetop, with a piece missing out of it, and the caption "Mmmmmm....". I took the picture above and sent it to her, saying "We'll see your apple pie and raise you a Yorkie."

She answered "AW CRAP! Not authorized! 1 Ralph, 1 Sam (referring to the Yorkie and Burmese cat that mom already has), the roster is empty, no names left." The critters Mom already has are neamed after a Bugs Bunny cartoon, where the wolf and the sheepdog are clocking in to start their day, and they're saying "Mornin', Ralph", 'Mornin's Sam" to each other. My first thought when reading my sister's comment about the name was 'Wiley E. Coyote, Supergenius'. I showed the message to Dad - he says "Wiley". I showed the message to Mom. She says "Wiley". So I sent a single word back to mys sister - "Wiley". Her reply? "That's exactly what I thought, too." Man, it's scary when a family is on the same wavelegth like that!


Wiley won't be ready to leave the breeder's place for another week or two, but when he does, Sam, the other Yorkie, is in for a major shock to his little world. :o)

GC is home!

Jack's dad came home today. His appetite is up, his color is good, his voice is strong. It doesn't take much to tire him out, but that's to be expected. The drugs he was on for pain right after surgery worked really well, too. He commented to Jack today that "They were really good with that surgery - I didn't hurt a bit..." Um.... The good news is that he isn't taking anything for paind now - he doesn't need it. Yay!

Update on Jack's Dad

Jack's dad is doing great! The last of the tubes and IV's were removed and disconnected today, he's feeling pretty good, alert, and ready to come home. If his bloodwork is good, he should do that tomorrow.

Yesterday we found that percocet makes him goofy. When asked if he knew where he was, he answered, "Sure I do!". When pressed for his location, he said "Well, can't you see? I'm right here!" He had his nurses rolling. One of them stopped us this evening and said "Your dad is a hoot! We've loved having him with us."

GO VOLS!

Yes, it's football time in Tennessee again, and if you ever need to go to the grocery store, do it while the Vols are playing a televised game - the stores are ghost towns of orange and white...

They played their season opener last night against UCLA in the Rose Bowl Statdium on the West Coast. The game was a close one, with no clear winner until the last minute and a half, when UCLA scored a touch down that put them 3 points ahead. Or so we thought... The Vols came back in the that little bit of time to score a field goal and tie it up with 5 seconds left, forcing the game into overtime. Wow! Talk about edge of your seat action!

UCLA scored a field goal in the first overtime, UT missed theirs, ending the gamein a win for UCLA, but man, was it close. I don't care if they didn't win by points - these players won by heart, from both teams. It was a most excellent game from all angles. Beautiful game, UT Vols!

Just a quickie here...

...as I'm on my way to take a nap.

We rode up to Ohio last Monday to visit with my folks for a couple of days. The campground had no reservations & it was supposed to rain, so we didn't expect any business for the first ahalf of the week. I wasn't too sure about riding the bike for any distance - I'm convinced I cracked my tailbone when I fell in the basement a couple of weeks ago, it's quite sore, and I had no clue how it would react to 7 hours in the saddle. It actually was more comfortable than if I had sat in the car for that long, so it was all good, even the rian. I was just happy to be out and about with my sweetie, on the bikes.

Monday was Dad's birthday. He didn't know we were coming, but wasn't all that surprised to see us, either. He said "Not much you do surprises me - you're too much like me". I guess there are worse things in life than to be like my dad. :o)

Got to visit with my friend Ruth on Tuesday, (Ruth, I'll get those pics posted as soon as I can get them downloaded from the camera) and go riding with my sister that evening (no rain). We got a call that Jack's dad was on the way to the ER with a possible bleeding ulser, but we were told we didn't need to rush back right away.

We rode back on Wednesday, also in the rain. Our plan was to head straight for the hospital, where Jack's dad was still having tests done. North of Knoxville, we weree tooling along at the speed limit, +/- 5mph, when we rounded a curve to find traffic in front of us stopped. The tractor trailer came to a sliding halt, sideways, as did the one *behind* us. Must not have been our time to go, is all I can figure, because both truck drivers did wonderful jobs of getting their rigs under control without anything more than the seats of all of our respective vehicles getting hurt. I know mine probably has a permanant crease right up the middle of the leather from the pucker moment I had....

We got to the hospital to find out that GC had had a mild heart attack. The ulcer was being pushed to the back burner while they dealt with that. Thursday, he had a heart catheter which showed 100% blockage of at least 1 major artery, and his heart was only pumping a 40%. He was transfered to the best heart hospital in the area and underwent a triple bypass yesterday morning. The doctor was very pleased with the results, sys the heart muscle itself was weak from lack of blood flow to it, but that no damage had happened yet. Woohoo!

Jack went in to see him this morning before we left the hospital - he was awake, alert, and giving the nurses a hard time, so he's doing *great*! The talk is that if he continues to improve today, he may be moved to a regular hospital bed this evening. The digestive/ulcer thing that brought him into the hospital was a major blessing in disguise!

We stayed the night in the ICU waiting room with Jack's mom last night and have come home to catch a shower, nap, and a load of laundry before going back. The campground has been on autopilot since we've just stopped in long enough to check the bathrooms and say hello a couple of time since this all started. Luckily, everything was clean going in, and a note on the door explaining the situation tends to bring out the best in people. We stopped in this morning before coming to the house to meet this weekend's guests, and we had a houseful this time.

Anyway, that's what *we've* been up to... I'm going to bed for a bit now.

Spoiled Rotten Cat..

Jack snapped this picture after church today. Spook, the rescue cat that was so uptight and scared of his shadow when we got him a year ago, has really come a long way towards coming out of his shell. There's no way he would have sat like this long enough to contemplate the photo op, get the camera, and take the picture for a long time after he came to live with us. When I let go, he sat like that for quite a while before I finally gave him a little push to get him moving. He was quite content to sit in Mom's lap and purr.

Lessons from an apple tree

There is an apple tree behind our house. Usually I don't pay the tree a bit of mind. We don't spray it, we don't trim it or prune it, we don't do *anything* to it to encourage apple production. It's just an old tree we have in the yard. A few days ago, Jack came in holding some smallish, green apples. They were from the tree back there. Tart little boogers, too. I'm not sure of the variety they are, but other than being small, they're great cooking apples.

So I decided I was going to attempt sugar-free apple jelly and some apple butter again. The last time I made it, the jelly never set up, but the apple butter was pretty darn good. I got a bucket and went picking apples this morning. It never occurred to me that one should wear protective eyewear during the apple-picking process, but it did occur to me - shortly after something fell into my eye. Lesson #1 was an owie. I valiantly contnued to pick apples, my eye running tears like a faucet, filling up the bucket (5 gallons), and staggered back up to the house.

I left the bucket sitting by the kitchen door and went into the house to flush my eye. No good - still felt like something was in it, although I couldn't see anything with the good eye and a mirror. I thought I might have scratched the eyeball itself, so I decided to go to the local pharmacy to get some lubricating eyedrops to help it not be so irritated. Of course, right after I bought the rotten things, whatever it was rolled out on a tear drop.

Once the eye felt better, I decided to go ahead and get the things I needed to do the project - jars, fruit pectin, new lids, and bought some other stuff we needed at the house. I was gone probably an hour and half. When I got back, my second discovery of the day was that apples, when left in a bucket in the sun, will begin roasting inside their little skins. Lesson #2. All of the apples on the top of the bucket had turned a nice, toasty shade of brown and gotten quite soft. Had they been on a rotisserie, they probably would have been very nicely baked.

So far I have 4 half pints of no-sugar added apple jelly with apple pie spice added to it. The jars have sealed, but the jelly still has to set up. This is the nerve-wracking part - waiting. It could be up to two weeks before it sets. If it doesn't set, we'll have apple pie spiced apple syrup for our pancakes. I have enough juice prepared to make at least two more sets of jelly, so I'll probably make a plain no-sugar added set, and a full blown sugar set, to give away as Christmas gifts.

The apple butter is still cooking down. Like and idiot, I put wayyy too much water in the pot and have to boil it down much longer than it would normally take. Lesson #3. Oh well... I'll finish it tomorrow.

******

Speaking of Christmas gifts, I went into Hobby Lobby yesterday to get the stuff to make this year's cards, feeling pretty darn good about getting a head start. Got in there and was immediately blown away by the rows and rows and rows of Christmas stuff they've already got out. And here I was, thinking I was early...

Tailbones and stuff

I think I broke my tailbone when I fell in the basement last week. If I didn't break it, I at least ticked it off really really well...

The basement is just about cleaned out, by the way. At least, the soggy stuff is. We really do need to go through what's left and decide what we should keep, give away, yard sale, or what have you. We have some very disorganized shelves that sailed right through the flood, and there was some stuff that was a layer or two up on the stack that never got wet. What we decide to keep, we probably should store in *plastic* boxes if they're going to be setting on the floor, eh?

Went and got my hair colored yesterday. First time in forever I've had it professionally done, and I must say, I like the results. A somewhat different look for me, but not too outrageous - think dark red, with lighter red highlights. It looks dark brown in dim light, but walk out in the sun, and wow, it lights up. It was torture to sit still for so long, though - the tailbone was making it's displeasure quite obvious.

I've started reading a book by Beth Moore call "To Live is Christ". It's the story of the apostle Paul's life, from his probable upbringing (based on Jewish traditions and customs of the time) through his ministry for Christ. So far, I've read about his childhood and early adult life. I never realized how steeped in tradition and ritual the Jewish faith is. Wow. I can see where it would be sooo easy to fall into a rut of just going through the motions and forget that it's all supposed to be based on love of God. Not just those who follow the Jewish faith, but any faith. It's given me something to think about in relation to my own walk with Christ already. I don't want to be doing things just because it's expected of me by the people around me - I want to serve Christ because I love Him, and out of that love should come service. So deeper into the book I will go...

The Aftermath of the Great Hunt Flood of 2008

Who would have ever thought you could have so much stuff in a basement that turns out to be really insignificant?

I've gone through most of the boxes that got wet in the Great Hunt Flood of 2008, and found things that we never knew or realized we still had. I managed to save most of the pictures I found, only one or two were mangled beyond total recognition.

I realized that college accounting books weigh a ton when they're soaked, and they never open right once they dry out. *toss* Old papers from high school? I graduated 20 years ago, don't think I'll need these... *toss*... Old paperback novels we forget we had... soaked and stuck together... *toss*... and so my day has been for the last week. I found old cross stitch projects, old magazines, old newspapers, financial aid stuff from when I started college, from when Jack's daughter started college... all of it useless, soaked, and turning into huge spitwads. ...*toss*.... ...*toss*... ...*toss*... and so on... we hauled a rather larger trailer full of trash to the convenience center this weekend, and will probably have another one to go next weekend.

I did save a journal that my son wrote for his third grade class. He'd write in it once a week about what he had learned that week, and I'd write back. It was very sweet. I'm glad that survived. In reading it, I realized that my fluffy grey cat will be 10 years old this October. It's scary to think of him as the old cat of the house now, but he is.

I also found and saved the commendation certificates that came with the medals that Jack earned in the Air Force. They're not quite flat anymore, but a cool iron and a piece of tissue paper will take care of that. Some of his old Arabic reference books survived with only slight dampness. We got really lucky with the pictures from Jack's days in the service - they were in a box that was on the floor, all of them together, still in the envelopes they came back from the developers in. But it was a plastic box and they all stayed dry. Woohoo! Still, no more pictures are going to be stored in the basement, unless they are in plastic or on a shelf.

I still have some things to go through, lot of laundry to catch up on. My basement smells damp and musty now. Bleah. Not sure how long it will be before that goes away. It will probably help when we can get the heat pump fixed and start using our central air unit again. Yeah, that went out this spring. We've been using window a/c units through the summer, but we have to get this thing replaced before it starts getting cold - it's our heat unit, too, and I don't think they make window heat units. It's been a rough summer for our house.

Jack found this nifty little item called a "Noah's Flood Alarm" on ebay. He ordered several of them to place in various point around the house and campground. When one gets wet, it squeals. Loudly.

It will be our luck that we'll be out of town the next time this happens, though, and only the cats will hear the alarm. Sweet little furry beings that they are, they're not going to stop the water. No thumbs...

Well, off to fold another load of laundry...

Stuff

There are times, like now, when I really hate the fact that I am a packrat. And, not only am I a packrat, but I am married to one, too. So, in the wake of the great household flood, I am getting to go through all of the stuff that we have jointly and separately accumulated over the years.

Man, they're not gonna' like me at the dump...

On the bright side, we've needed to go through everything for a very long time. We just keep putting it off and putting it off. The flood has pretty much forced our hand about it, because if we don't do this, our basement is going to stay damp and musty smelling. Yuck.

I'm finding a lot of things that are perfectly good, but we'll never use them. Can you say "Yard sale"? Things that haven't seen the light of day since we got married, they need to go somewhere else and quit cluttering up our house.

Okay, breaktime's over... back to work...

Coming up for air... literally...

Yes, I do still exist. I am not a figment of somebody's imagination. If I were, I'd have to smack said somebody for not makeing me thinner, but that's another story...

Do you have any idea how much water a basement can hold? Danny went downstairs to the laundry area yesterday and came running back up - "MOM!!!!!! THE BASEMENT IS FLOODING!!!!!". Yup. Sure did. At least 2" of water throughout the basement. Found out it's pretty level, too. And was there a drain in the basement? Of couse not! But that's a whole other story about the idiot house builder and is certain to bring a growl from Jack, so we'll just leave that one alone, shall we?

Thank God, it is a walk-out basement. So, Jack, Danny, and I spent most of yesterday afternoon sweeping water out the door. Jack went hi-tech on us and got the shop vac and sucked it up on his side while Danny and I grabbed brooms and shooed water for hours. I managed to get a piece of glass in my foot, and later I was the only one to actually fall. Landed on my butt in a half inch of cold water. Grrr.....

And everything we had that was on the floor is soaked. We have most of the water dried out, but now we have boxes and boxes of stuff that is just flat out soaked. And we're both horrible packrats, which certainly dosn't help. I'm going to start going through things today. If it's mine, and I haven't used it since we got married, and it doesn't have any great sentimental value to it, it's outta' here. Not exactly how I'd planned on spending my day, but it's gotta' be done.

The Spoon Game

I don't know how my husband finds these things...



I've told the teenager he should get one of his buddies to go in on it with him and whack his brother-in-law.

Happy 4th of July!

Pay It Forward

Okay, here's where I get to find out who reads my blog, other than Heather & Ruth. The deal is called "Pay It Forward" and here's what it's all about - I will make a gift of some sort for the first 3 people to post a comment to this entry, provided they post on their blog the same deal... and be willing to follow through with it. Heather & Ruth are already doing this on their blogs, so I really can't expect them to repost it.



Now, I have no idea what the gift will be yet, and I can pretty much promise you that it won't get sent in the next few days, but I will make something for you and it will be sent within 6 months of now. If you're one of the first three, post a comment here, on my Blogger site (http://www.loris-space.blogspot.com/2008/06/pay-it-forward.html if you're seeing this through my Facebook feed), then send me your mailing address in a private message or an email.

This is gonna' be cool!

Freedom Isn't Free

I know this is a couple weeks early for the 4th of July, and wayyy late for Memorial Day, but it's so true all of the time, we shouldn't wait for a specific date to be reminded of things like this. I received this poem in my email this morning. I don't know who wrote it.

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at Him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square And eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves ?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen,'
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington .
No, freedom isn't free .

Father's Day

I did make it to Ohio for Father's Day - a day late. He didn't know I was coming. Melissa just told him on Monday that dinner was on it's way. What she didn't tell him was that I was stopping at the grocery to get some steaks to grill out. I walked in and asked "Did anybody order any steaks?". It took him a moment. Mom was pretty dumbfounded, too, which doesn't happen often. :o0

We had a nice dinner, then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Very good movie. Yesterday morning I had breakfast with Danny. He's doing OK. His job future is in question since his employer was bought out by a competitor, his living arrangements aren't working out too well (he lives out in the middle of nowhere, with no vehicle to get back and forth to anywhere with), but he seems to be managing. He wanted a dose of real life, he's got it. He did admit to me yesterday that "The real world really kind of sucks, doesn't it , Mom?" Heheh, yup, it sure can, son. I've told him that if he finds himself without a job, head on back to TN and we'll work on knocking out his school. He has a class and a half left to earn his diploma, and the job market here might be better than what he's looking at up there. He'd definately have something to drive to be able to get to work, which is always a bonus. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, and I'm not expecting him to stay if he does come down. I just hope he finishes his school, and if I can help him do that, I'll be a lot more comfortable when thinking about his future.

Anyway, a great visit with dad and son. It was wonderful. :o)

Lori's Theory of Vinyl Tile Adhesiveness

The desire and ability of old vinyl tiles to stick to a floor is directly proportional to your desire to remove them from the floor and inversely proportional to your ability to remove them.

Yup, we're still pluggin' away at this little house. We have the ceilings down, most of the trim removed, most of the floor tiles up that need to come up, the bathtub surround is gone, and so is most of the musty smell. The walls have all been scrubbed, although they're going to need it again before we paint because of all the dust the tile removal is stirring up, but we're getting there.

We should get the tiles finished tomorrow (tonight if I feel energetic after church), and we're going to put up a vapor barrier on the ceilings before the new ceiling tile goes up. I want to get the vapor barrier up before painting the walls to help keep things currently falling from the ceiling from getting into the new paint. And, I want to paint before we put up the ceiling tiles and before we put down the new floor tiles. We'll have a LOT less trim work with the paint that way. See, I do think on occassion... and sometimes it's even a good idea! I hope to have things ready to paint by the end of work on Saturday, so we can start putting things back together.

Jack will be renting a little backhoe this weekend to work on the drainage issues. Keeping things clean while he's doing it will be quite a treat. I figure it would be pretty pointless to try to paint with all of the dirt work going on outside, so the painting will actually happen next week.

So, after the paint comes the new ceilings, new lights and ceiling fans, new bathtub surround, and upper trim. And we'll get the cabinets painted at the same time. They already have several coats of paint on them, so one more isn't going to hurt. Then floors - half of them will be new vinyl tile, the other half will be painted concrete. Oh joy.... thank goodness for area rugs! After that, the place will be pretty much ready to move into, although there's still a lot of things that need to be done.

Bwahahahaha!

Truer words have not been spoken...

In case you were wondering what my dad is up to, how does up to his knee in mud sound? Okay, errr... dirt.




Yup, that's Dad, playing in the dirt at the Tick farm. They now have water, and this is their water meter/main spigot. I guess this picture proves that boys will be boys, no matter what chronological age they get to be. :o)


You can see Dad's prostetic leg off to the left side of the picture, complete with a black sock. I'll bet it's a gold-toe, too. He loves those things.


My sister wants to take Dad to see the newest Indiana Jones movie for Father's Day. I've been invited, but I'll have to see how it's going at the campground. If I can, I'll sneak away Saturday night and be at their place in time for the movie on Sunday, but it will be a last minute decision, based on what's happening around here.

The Lord's Prayer - as you've never thought of it before.

The Lord’s Prayer

As you’ve never thought of it before!!

This is very, very good. It is in two parts, ”the PRAYER” (in BLUE type) and GOD (in RED type) in response.

****************************

[Prayer] Our Father Who Art In Heaven,

[God] Yes?

[Prayer] Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.

[God] But -- you called ME!

[Prayer] Called you? No, I didn't call you. I'm praying…. Our Father who art in Heaven,

[God] There -- you did it again!

[Prayer] Did what?

[God] Called ME. You said, "Our Father who art in Heaven". Well, here I am. What's on your mind?

[Prayer] But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like fulfilling a duty.

[God] Well, all right. Go on.

[Prayer] Okay, Hallowed be thy name .

[God] Hold it right there. What do you mean by that?

[Prayer] By what?

[God] By "Hallowed be thy name"?

[Prayer] It means, it means . . good grief, I don't know what it means. How in the world should I know? It's just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?

[God] It means honored, holy, wonderful.

[Prayer] Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what 'hallowed' meant before. Thanks. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

[God] Do you really mean that?

[Prayer] Sure, why not?

[God] What are you doing about it?

[Prayer] Doing? Why, nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if you got control, of everything down here like you have up there. We're kinda in a mess down here you know.

[God] Yes, I know; but, have I got control of you?

[Prayer] Well, I go to church.

[God] That isn't what I asked you. What about your bad temper? You've really got a problem there, you know. And then there's the way you spend your money -- all on yourself. And what about the kind of books you read ?

[Prayer] Now hold on just a minute! Stop picking on me! I'm just as good as some of the rest of those people at church!

[God] Excuse ME. I thought you were praying for my will to be done. If that is to happen, it will have to start with the ones who are praying for it. Like you -- for example.

[Prayer] Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that you mention it, I could probably name some others.

[God] So could I.

[Prayer] I haven't thought about it very much until now, but I really would like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, you know, be really free.

[God] Good. Now we're getting somewhere. We'll work together -- You and ME. I'm proud of You.

[Prayer] Look, Lord, if you don't mind, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. Give us this day, our daily bread.

[God] You need to cut out the bread. You're overweight as it is.

[Prayer] Hey, wait a minute! What is this? Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden you break in and remind me of all my hang-ups.

[God] Praying is a dangerous thing. You just might get what you ask for. Remember, you called ME -- and here I am. It's too late to stop now. Keep praying.

(pause)

Well, go on.

[Prayer] I'm scared to.

[God] Scared? Of what?

[Prayer] I know what you'll say.

[God] Try ME.

[Prayer] Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

[God] What about Ann?

[Prayer] See? I knew it! I knew you would bring her up! Why, Lord, she's told lies about me, spread stories. She never paid back the money she owes me. I've sworn to get even with her!

[God] But -- your prayer -- What about your prayer?

[Prayer] I didn't -- mean it.

[God] Well, at least you're honest. But, it's quite a load carrying around all that bitterness and resentment isn't it?

[Prayer] Yes, but I'll feel better as soon as I get even with her. Boy, have I got some plans for her. She'll wish she had never been born.

[God] No, you won't feel any better. You'll feel worse. Revenge isn't sweet. You know how unhappy you are -- Well, I can change that.

[Prayer] You can? How?

[God] Forgive Ann. Then, I'll forgive you; and the hate and the sin will be Ann's problem -- not yours. You will have settled the problem as far as you are concerned.

[Prayer] Oh, you know, you're right. You always are. And more than I want revenge, I want to be right with You . . (sigh). All right all right . I forgive her.

[God] There now! Wonderful! How do you feel?

[Prayer] Hmmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all! In fact, I feel pretty great! You know, I don't think I'll go to bed uptight tonight. I haven't been getting much rest, you know.

[God] Yeah, I know. But, you're not through with your prayer are you? Go on.

[Prayer] Oh, all right. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[God] Good! Good! I'll do that. Just don't put yourself in a place where you can be tempted.

[Prayer] What do you mean by that?

[God] You know what I mean.

[Prayer] Yeah. I know.

[God] Okay. Go ahead. Finish your prayer.

[Prayer] For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory forever. Amen.

[God] Do you know what would bring me glory -- What would really make me happy?

[Prayer] No, but I'd like to know. I want to please you now. I've really made a mess of things. I want to truly follow you. I can see now how great that would be. So, tell me . . . How do I make you happy?

[God] YOU just did.

Another update on Dad, from Dad...

Yes, it's been forever since we heard about my dad. It's hard to believe that this time last year, he was told that he needed to have a fairly routine arterial bypass surgery performed on his left leg. They didn't feel that it was an emergency situion, though, so they scheduled it for July 2. Then, 4 weeks and 5 surgeries after the original surgery, on August 1st, he ended up with an amputated left leg. It is not how I would suggest spending quality time with your family, but it did bring us all closer together than ever. And now we get reports like this from time to time from my Dad:

Mark Young's Sporatic Condition Report - 16 May, 2008

Good evening one and all. Time has been passing quickly and it has been a while since my last report. Of course time flies when you are having fun and I suppose that I have been having about as much fun as I could be at this time. My progress seems to be growing upon its self and just about the time I feel real happy about doing something for the first time or maybe better, some other new and improved something comes along.

I have been working a full 8 hour day for some time now, but in the past three weeks, I have been going out and performing actual hands on work. The first four hours of the day are spent at the hospital repairing locks, changing lock cores and preparing my in-house lock shop. The afternoon is spent back at the home office desk monitoring the phones and making distribution runs – it is a loooonnng hallway. I also spend some time in the lock shop making new lock cores and cutting keys. So far I have been able to create what I hope to be all the worksheets I will need while changing all the cores (about 1500) in the hospital.

Another project we are running in parallel to the core changes is a survey of the condition of the doors. There are over 2700 doors in the building and most of them are over 20 years old and have been used heavily all that time. The hardware is just about shot and many of the doors are a bit beat up. The facility manager wants to have a program of refurbishing the door system and wants to know just how big his problem is. It is big.

The past three days have pretty much been go in to work, hit the floor running (well, sort of) and not sit down until lunch time some four hours later. Today my watch had stopped and it was well after lunch time before I decided to sit down for a few minutes.

Last night I removed the face of the truck’s dashboard and pulled out the radio. A new one was installed three weeks ago but the front speakers have quit working and I was hoping it was just a loose connection. It still might be a loose connection, but not the ones I could get to. Wiggling around in the floorboard was not nearly as easily as it used to be, but it can be done. Of course wiggling around in the floorboard is something that becoming less easy well before now.

A couple of days ago, during a rare dry day, I got the weed whacker out and ran it around the yard. It took a while, take one step – plant the feet – whack a weed – take a step – etc – etc – etc…. I was a happy tired when I got done.

Last weekend we went down to the Tick Farm and while Barb mowed the grass, I puttered around with the trailer and the digging out of roots that were unearthed last fall when we had the yard landscaped. I spent the day walking around on the less than flat gravel driveway and up on the steep of the hill side, most of it without the cane.

This is a lot of natter about things other than my physical condition, but I am excited about finally doing something constructive.

Oh, by the way, most of the walking and standing I have been doing for the last week or so has been without the use of my cane. It is still around, but I do have a problem of remembering where I left it last. When I pull my work cart around the building, I am using it a bit as a cane I suppose, but not leaning on it as much as just having it there if I need it. I do know that I can move faster without the cane than with it.

I have had to go to the leg store and have some adjustments done to the leg. My stump continues to shrink and the socket needs to be shimmed when it gets to be too loose. The tech says we can do this a couple more times and then they will look into making a new one. In a perfect world, there would be no shims in the long term usage leg. Other than that, the leg continues to perform as advertised.

It is not a stretch to say that I am tired in the evening and more than ready to remove the leg when I stop, but for the most part I am satisfied with what I have been able to accomplish during the day. I really do not know what sort of maximum performance I can expect to achieve with my leg, but I do know that my progress has been rapid lately. Let’s just hope it keeps on keepin’ on.

Barb has been doing well. She goes to work each day knowing that it is one day closer to her impending retirement. Preparing the house for sale has kept her, Melissa and myself busy, but the progress is slow. We still have two rooms to paint and a lot of work in the garage to do before we think it ready to put on the market.

As always, I Sincerely thank you for your continued interest and support.

Mark

Yayyyyy Dad! The hospital that he talks about doing the maintenance in is the same one that his surgeries were done in last year. His boss would visit him *every* day, and make sure that whatever Dad neede or wanted (within reason...), he had. If you're going to be stuck in the hospital for a few weeks, make friends with the facilities manager first. :o)

Neat way to raise money...

Clay Lubbers is combining two of his loves - the school that he teaches for, and motorcycling. He teaches for a Christian school in Michigan, which is privately funded. It looks to be a small school that really tries to teach children the fundamentals of public school while laying a good foundation in the Bible, too.

Clay is going to be doing an endurance ride later this summer, and has decided to make it into a Ride-A-Thon. He's set up a webpage at http://www.claysrideathon.org that give details about the project, and to accept pledges and donations, which go directly to the school. Very neat.

Take a gander and make a pledge if you're so inclined.

I am sooo out of shape...

We've started working on the little cinder block house behind ours, getting it ready for Jack's daughter and her family to move into. It belongs to Jack's parents, and they let family members live in it for the cost of their utilities, so long as they take care of it and keep it maintained. They've been taken advantage of with that deal - some of the previous tenants really trashed it, and the very last tennant, Jack's neice and her family, had to move out a huge dumpster full of junk before they could move in. They lived in it for a little over a year. In that time, they were able to save up enough money and get their credit lined up enough to buy a really nice place in the country. I think Jessica's plan is to live in it while she builds her house on the land that Jack gave her as a wedding gift.

It needs a lot of work. The house is cut into a hill, and the dirt was never filled back in, so it has a pretty serious moisture problem. We started cleaning out the trench around the back of the house today, and I'm pretty sure we pulled the leaves of 10,000 trees for the last 5 falls out of there. All them were wet, and smelled like dirt. Gee, I wonder why we have a moisture problem?

The plan is to reseal the block, install some drainage tiles for the gutters to drain into, and fill in the trench. Before we can do that, though, we have to clean out the trench and dig through the dirt that has collected there to put the drianage tile next to the foundation.

After fighting with leaves, armed with a pitchfork, for a couple of hours today, I am soooo sore. But, on the plus side, I burned a bunch of calories that I normally wouldn't have! :o)

It may be awhile yet before the house is ready to move into, but it's exciting to start getting something done with it. For inside work, we have cleaning, painting, new floors in the kitchen and maybe the living room. Jessica wants to paint the panelling in the living room, but it is a very pretty panelling, old school stuff that you just don't anymore. I hope a good cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap will brighten it up for her. The floor tiles are kind of dingy, and the ceiling is, too, so maybe doing something to brighten those up would help, too. The ceiling tiles are actually styrofoam. There are places in the ceiling where people have melted the tiles with lighters. I see a new ceiling in our future...

OK, Labels have Arrived...

I've decided to add labels to my posts. It'll make it a lot easier for me to find my own blasted recipes, 'cause chances are that I've not saved them *anywhere* else. I've gone through and labeled some of the old ones, but haven't made it through all of them just yet.

It's official - my parents are retiring this fall. Mom is eligible in September, Dad can follow her in October. They're getting their house ready to sell and will put it on the market sometime in the next few months.

If it sells as fast as their previous house did, they're going to be living in their travel trailer with their cat and little dog for awhile before they can move to their retirement land. Of course, if they sell their house quickly, that will be that much sooner they can begin building the house on the retirement land that they want to build.

The house I lived in when I was going to high school was in the same little town. 20 years ago, Mom decided to put it on the market for an outrageously high price, just to test the waters, so to speak. The stinkin' thing sold in a week - somebody came along and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. We had 30 days to find another house (the one they're in now), buy it, and move. Dad has added a *lot* of woodwork to the place - built in book cases, parquet flooring, hardwood flooring, shelves, all kinds of beautiful woodwork. It can only help, right? :o)

Mental illness isn't funny

It's very, very scary. Have you ever seen "A Beautiful Mind" with Russell Crowe starring as the super intelligent college professor who battled schizophrenia? It is based on a true story. Watch it sometime if you haven't already seen it. Very well done, and I think it gives people who don't deal with mental conditions a glimpse into the world of someone who does. I've come very close to mental illness over the last couple weekends through some of the guests here at the campground.

One of them, Jack and I have known for years. He's been struggling with bi-polar disorder most of his life. He came in to the campground a couple of weeks ago for a get together of the motorcycle group we all belong to. Lives fairly local, and seems to have taken a serious liking to me and Jack. He managed to get his meds mixed up while he was here and started taking 2 doses a day instead of one, which is not a good thing. After three days of this, he was seeing things that just weren't there - bad things. He knew somebody in the camp was plotting to kill him, and they had code names like "Evil-1".

This is where it's easy to make fun of somebody who's going through this - if you don't know them. These things were very very real to him, to the point that his fight-or-flight sense took over. Thankfully, he chose to leave and didn't hurt anybody, but when he started up his truck, we didn't know what was going on in his mind. He made it as far as the gas station a mile up the road before he stopped and went in to ask the clerk for the phone to call 911. Jack had followed him and was able to convince the police that our friend was having a bad reaction to his medication, that his wife was only an hour away and she was on her way to get him (which she was by that time).

I'm really glad that he was at our campground, where we know him and we try to look out for him, instead of at one of the others he'd been going to last year. As it was, he was somewhere that he trusted somebody, and we were able to calm him down. Even after he was calm, he would float in and out of lucid conversation - sometimes he was still talking about what "Evil-1" was saying right that moment.

His wife later told me that was the worst break he'd had in 22 years, and apologized all over the place for us having to go through that with him. Um... where else, besides home of course, would you have rather he'd been? Chances are, he's considered a nusiance at some of the other campground because he is pretty weird, even when lucid. I don't know that somebody else would have gone after him.

And, it turns out, that the camper right next to him takes medication for... you guessed it... bi-polar disorder, also. He'd been with us a week and a half at that point, and had been fine. He confided in us after the incident with our friend that he had the condition, too.

Shortly after that, he started acting strange. And stranger. And stranger still. He spent Saturday riding laps around the perimeter road of the campground on a full dress Harley Davidson, in full leather gear and a rainsuit over top of it. Not exactly something you want to do on a warm day, in gravel, with a bike that weighs as much as an elephant. Yesterday morning, he was asleep in the parking area in front of the office, wrapped up in a towel, according to some of our other guests.

We'd gone to church and missed it all. When we got back after church, he'd packed up and left, shoving a bunch of travelers checks under the office door to take care of his bill. He called while we were at church yesterday evening and left a message on the machine that he'd checked out and was doing fine, on his way back home. He was here almost three weeks - I wonder how much of his medicine he brought with him.

He's a very nice gentleman, very respectful and courteous. Had he not told us about his condition, we wouldn't have had a clue until he started going weird on us. I think he may have run out of his meds and decided to try to wing it for awhile. I hope he wings it back home safely.

I never realized that bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia go so closely together. Both of these guys, intelligent, interesting people, take meds for bi-polar, and displayed symptoms of schizophrenia when their meds got out of whack (I'm guessing the second guy's were out of whack,anyway). I'm sure it's possible to have one without the other, but if left untreated or over treated long enough, does bi-polar trigger schizoprenia? I don't know, but I do know that it's scary enough to be on the outside looking in, wandering what I can do to help. I don't want to know what it's like on the inside looking out, knowing what is going on and not able to stop it.

Newest bookmark in my internet listing

10 Steps to the Body You Want

Pretty neat assortment of motivating items to help people stay motivated to keep up with a fitness or weight management program. So, in the interest of getting underway, here goes with one of the suggestions - a personal contract with myself, adapted from the website with ideas and beliefs that I agree with and a smattering of my own thoughts and goals in there.

I, Lori H, commit to starting my weight loss program on April 15, 2008.

I believe that I can accepts and complete my challenge of losing 19 pounds (10% of my body weight) to the best of my ability.

I realize this is work and accept the self-care price that I must pay to achieve my mental, spiritual, and physical transformation. I believe that without any one transformation, the others will not be permanant changes in my life.

I commit to keeping a daily journal that tracks my progress and forgives my slipups. It will be found on my SparkPeople blog.

I will practice these principals to help myself stay the course:

• I will find my motiviation.
• I will learn to let joy in.
• I know that I may (and probably will) whine, but I will get the job done. I refuse to let my brain keep my butt on the couch.
• I will forget the search for "perfection". It is an impossible ideal that nobody ever reaches.
• I will focus on embracing my progress.
• I will strive to reduce stress and replace it with peace in my life. If I can't do anything about a situation, I will not worry over it needlessly.
• I will give myself a license to chill.
• I will fight for my self care.
• I will form a 911 squad of special people in my life that I can turn to for support in times of weakness, who will remind me of my goals and the reasons for them.
• I will expect and adapt to adversity and see tough times as learning opportunities.
• I will strive to take actions and not to ruminate, gripe, moan, or whine.
• I will be self-assertive and fight for the right to take care of myself.
• I will acknowledge and reward myself fo rmy achievements along the way.

I will do battle battle with my inner demons that will try to pull me back into my familiar, self-destructive way.

But in the end, I WILL WIN!

Every time I embrace this challenge and use these principles, I am one step closer to the best person I can be.

I won't bore folks with my efforts too much, or daily journaling of my activities related to this, but I do reserve the right share any yummy recipes I come across and humorous stories that may stem from my weight loss efforts here. And, I imagine, an occasional progress report wouldn't be too bad.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

I found this through a blogroll the Knoxville news has. My blog is listed on it, so sometimes I get hits from the Statcounter that lead back to it. When they do, I remember "Oh yeah, it's there, let's go check it out..."

So anyway, there 's a blog on there called Dave And Thomas Daily Timekillers (http://daveandthomas.blogspot.com/). They describe their blog this way:

Dave And Thomas are Knoxville, Tennessee's most unusual duo. We strive to find you the most intellectual news about beer, movies, and midgets that money can buy. We update daily on the odd news and pop culture that makes our world so great!

I don't know much about it, except that perusing the blog titles is interesting. I haven't looked at any of the stories yet, other than the one I'm about to share with you. I do kow that one of the titles I saw had something to do with John McCain being a cylon or something. Interesting...

Anyway, on to the video... Whoever did this had wayy to much time on their hands!