A Listing Sort of Week

When I think about starting another post in this weekly blog, I look to see what photos I've taken this week.  I see this week it mostly outside ones.  

I have a "52 lists for the year" journal that Lynette gave me for my birthday.  I don't always make the list because, well, I don't make play lists to listen to with my non-existent desire to have one, for example.  I despise ear buds.  

So, I always find something to say on the subject and since I'm not being tested or judged on how well I follow the instructions on each page to the letter, I don't really care if there is a list there or not.

I'm enjoying the opportunity to write about different subjects.  

One of the lists was favorite things about fall, so I took my camera out on my (nearly) daily walk and took a few photos.  

My favorite thing about October is its "bright blue weather."

I notice in spring we tend to get those bright blue skies as well, so I'm assuming it has something to do with the angle of the sun at that time of year, since we live in an area where the sun varies its place in the sky in wide sweeps in the course of the years.  

So, before I go on with some of the more exhausting events of the week, here are the photos.

I'm taking it easy today and I'm enjoying it.  I've been so busy since the beginning of September that I don't know whether I'm coming or going and have been feeling the effects of it.  

(Mostly exhaustion)

Friday, Jim and I went up to 'the farm' to cut wood.  I didn't walk that day because I thought I would get more than enough exercise, putting some wood chunks in the pickup.  I did. Way too much and I had to sit and watch the rest of the time.  I don't like to sit around and watch someone else work, but sometimes I have to, whether I like it or not.  

Saturday we attended the funeral of a very dear aunt.  She was always young at heart, and loved to play with her nieces and nephews.  I would like to do some sort of a tribute and find photos, but I haven't done it yet.  I've been busy and tired.

Sunday we had company.  We took Lynette's future in-laws out to dinner (at noon) because after being gone all day with a 3 hour drive to the funeral and back, when Lynette said, "I forgot to tell you, we need some dinner", only she probably said lunch. I really tried to get the breakfast, dinner, supper idea ingrained in my kids, but it didn't work.  

They are all the 'breakfast, lunch and dinner' kind.  Sigh.

I think we would have been better off if we could have stayed with Lorene's idea when we was about three years old, 'breakfast, first eat and second eat.'

So, there wasn't any dinner at our house, so we went out.  We needed to have a celebratory dinner anyway for Lynette's 21st birthday.  

The rest of the day would have been fine and not stressful with time to rest, except I got a bladder infection and had to go into the Quick Care Clinic and be miserable for the rest of the day.  

Monday... Normal stuff, only a lot of it.  I should have done some laundry already, there were errands to run and a trip to look at Bridal gowns.  I had an appointment with my oncologist in the afternoon and I remembered when it was about time to go to check and see if the chest x-ray he ordered had been sent over from my clinic to his.  

"No."  ARRGH

That x-ray was taken a week ahead so this wouldn't happen.  I specifically told the x-ray nurses what was supposed to happen to it, and "oh, yes, we'll take care of it."  

They didn't.

Anyway, after the oncology appt, I stopped in at the clinic to check the status, and they "were working on it".  I got the call yesterday that my x-ray was fine, so I'm assuming the x-ray and the oncologist finally met up.   And there is a puddle of water on the floor.

And I forgot to do payroll.  Fortunately, it doesn't really need to be finished until 5 pm on Tuesday, but an extra day is a good thing.

Tuesday...Jim had a physical and I went to knitting group. It's fall break for Lorene so no boys this week.  I was making a nice supper when ....where is all this water coming from?  I emptied the cupboard under the sink; the the drain is leaking.  I mopped the floor and cleaned out under the sink (good chance to get it clean, plenty of water), and put a bucket under there.  I don't know what Jim had planned for the evening, but it turned out to be, fix the pipe under the sink.   

Wednesday...I had a physical and mentioned the x-ray business and obviously there had been a bit of a flap going on over the deal, because my doctor said he told his nurses anyway, what protocol with

x-rays need to be and hopefully we won't have this kind of kerfluffle again.  

That word is really supposed to be kerfuffle, (no L).  Sad, I like my way. 

Then as I was having a leisurely look-see through Menards, I got a call, "company's coming for supper", and no birthday cake made.  So, I worked like crazy all afternoon, cooking squash to run through the seive, making birthday cake, getting supper and dumping one of the cakes, not quite done, all over the oven floor and into the 'pots and pans' drawer.  

Sigh again.  

I'm taking it easy today.  

Yesterday's sunrise. 

I have run on quite long enough in this blog. 

I wonder if you can see that little curl of hair poking out from behind my ear? (left side of photo)

That represents how long it has been since I've had surgery on any ear.

YAY!!!

Happy Birthday to my baby.   

“October’s Bright Blue Weather”

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson

Twenty-One Years

I have so many things I want to blog about and I just can't keep up.  

We brought Jim's sister home with us and while we had a most enjoyable week, 

it was one of the busiest.  

She stopped over for a week before heading north for another week and then she flies off into the wide blue yonder to the east coast.  

Twenty-one years ago she took, what we thought then, was a giant leap away. 

And now she is taking a gianter one.

Twenty-one years ago I had a preemie and was fighting to feed her.  

Today she is in her first year of nursing school.

A lot happened in those 21 years. 

That baby grew and thrived.  She rolled over, crawled, walked, talked, ran.

She went to kindergarten.  She was afraid when the towers fell.

She finished elementary school and went to middle school.

She made friends and went on trips.  

She learned taekwondo.  She learned to break boards.

She played outside, she played in.  

She skied and she snowboarded.

She swam, she biked, she read. 

She did chores and raised calves. 

She went to high school and tried theater.

She learned to drive and got a job.

She had friends that were like family.

She learned to cook and clean and wash clothes. 

She learned to study and get good grades.

She's in college now, and she's engaged.  

She's gone from a 3# 13 oz. baby to an adult.

In 21 years.  

It doesn't seem so long at first thought, but...

Think of all the things that were done, thought, felt, and spoken in those years. 

They were good years;

those years my kids were growing up.

The best years of my life. 

Okay, that's one off my list. 

Anyway, this week we went up to the farm where Jim grew up to look around and remember. 

Then we had a family dinner to make new memories.  

Papa and Paislee 

Paislee with a Gramma knitted blanket 

Aunties 

Great Auntie  

It's not often I get a photo with all my kids, all smiling.  

All looking different directions. 

Quite good photo, since three little boys were involved. 

October 6, 2016

Four years ago today, I had my last chemo treatment.  

All these four years my hair has been growing except for the little patch behind my left ear that has been cut twice for surgery back there.  That piece is only about 2" long and annoyingly long enough to stick out from behind my ear and not tuck up nicely into my French roll. 

4 years

3 years

2 years

1 year

That one year photo was part of my monthly hair blogs and before I had the idea of showing the length.  You can get the idea.  It wasn't much below my collar.

Smart?--Not!

It's resting hour at this household and I decided I'd spend the time blogging.  

I got my list of things I wanted to mention, and then went looking for the camera that went with us on our trip in which we were gone for four very special days.
On that camera was a picture of Jim and I and I can't remember what else, but I can't find the camera.  It's not in my purse, it's not in the pocket of my coat where it was for several days and the last place in my memory.

If something is not where it belongs, I cannot remember anything else about it.  No going back step by step is helping here.  There is a very small chance that it is still in the car.  I'm going to be very sad if it is gone for good.  It has been my 'go to' camera for motion photos.  None of my other cameras are good for motion.  

I do have a new phone *gasp* don't faint on me here.  It has a decent camera, but I don't know how good, I haven't tried it, and I do like something I can hold in my hands to click, not these flat things that I'm more likely to drop than get a good photo.

The reason for the new phone, is a story, if not for another day, at least later in this blog. 

For this blog I want to remember:

Tuesdays with the boys, getting ready for school, breakfast and lunch for Zane, play dough with Christian, laughing hysterically over sticky monkeys that don't stick to the walls after all, finding shoes for the second school run of the day, tea parties with two little boys for their snack, chasing little yellow butterflies on sunny days, trampolines filled with little balls,  Frozen puzzles, and more Frozen puzzles and cheerful clean clothes, 'putter awayers.'

Little boys hands fluttering goodbye through the open window as they drive away.

A slender golden moon rising as we leave on our trip, and the pale white crescent at sunset on the way home.

Sunny fall days meeting old friends and new and enjoying spiritual refreshment. 

I don't have very many new photos and that isn't entirely due to the missing camera.  I've been busy.

I made this sweater.  This is the first time in a while that I've knitted a wearable garment. Anytime I make anything with sleeves, the sleeves don't work.  This was knitted all in one piece.

Now I want to make another.  This is a bit big.  

Political statement for the year.

Borrowed from my daughter.  Those boys love to play with these beads.

And saving the best for last.

I have the cutest granddaughter ever!!

And now, the phone story.

I have a very real love/hate relationship with my cell phone.  I don't like to spend money and I don't like to waste time and I don't like to learn new things, so I've been holding back on getting a new phone, knowing it would have to be the 'smart' kind.  

I liked my old phone.  I could drop it on the concrete once a month, and it didn't phase it.  However, it wasn't receiving emails properly all the time, the keypad wouldn't always respond correctly and I knew it's days were numbered.  

So, when I left it at the Hardee's where we had lunch on the first day of our trip, I resigned myself to the fact that my absent-mindedness must come to an end.  I would have to join the crowd of smarties with a new phone that is more easily ruined and I must keep track of it.  

If we would have gone back the same way we came, we could have picked it up, but we didn't.

So, after enjoying nearly a week with no phone, here it is.

Monkeys

I can't blog on Tuesdays right now.

I'm not sure I can even blog on Wednesdays.

I mean I can't even keep up with the pictures I take.

These are from a 'boy day' two weeks ago.

On a more current note, Zane is pretty pleased he is allowed to drive the 4-wheeler by himself.

(Papa is on behind.)

My folks were here for a visit so there were photos.

They didn't turn out very good.  This is what happens when you have active little boys. 

The honoree of the occasion. 

And a later photo from her mama.

What big eyes you have!

More Paislee

Today is not Tuesday.  It isn't even close.  

It's Friday.  

I've been busy this week.  The garden is overproducing, and I need to quit even if the garden doesn't.  My jars are full and my freezer is full.  

This looking after boys on Tuesdays really tires me out.

I've been to a special 4 day event, I've had impromptu overnight company and I have company again.

I'm not tired of the company even if I'm tired of the garden.  

Here are a few photos from the last two weeks.  

Christian--all by himself in the morning while the boys are at school

Paislee

Lynette is starting clinicals.  One very cold day the group spent it doing blood pressure and skin checks on passers by at Husker Harvest Days. 

Paislee again

Three rambunctious grandsons don't like to sit still for a picture. We took too many for their taste as they were required to take one with Papa and with great-grandparents and by themselves.  

Poor kids. 

August 26th, 27th, and 28th

I forgot to blog Tuesday.  I didn't even think about it on Wednesday.  

I was busy.  

Tuesday isn't going to be a good day to blog since I spend time and energy looking after little boys.  

Wednesday, I made pickles, and zucchini bread.  

A lot of zucchini bread (8 loaves) and 11 quarts of pickles.  

Tuesday isn't going to work as a blogging day.  And it is very unlikely I will blog next week at all since Tuesday is full and Wednesday starts a very special trip out of town.  

Last week was a special week.  

Lynette participated in the 'white-coat' ceremony which introduces new nursing students into their nursing program.  I did a minimal amount of research and it is a common ceremony among other health science students.  

I am guessing it replaces the white cap ceremony because caps became annoying and obsolete as more male students became nurses.  

That was Friday, August 26th.

August 27th was Barry's birthday.  We had a party the week before and all those photos are still on the camera that in order to get those photos on to the computer I would have to get up and go get the cord. 

This was taken by his folks, on the day, in his favorite restaurant.   

August 28th, a visit to see Paislee, 

And from last week....