Level Three Snow Emergency

Well here I am on a Thursday - snowed in with 15 inches and our county has forbidden anyone to drive on the roads, unless you are an emergency vehicle! So an extra holiday for West Chester! The snow started on Wednesday morning and is just now letting up. John was able to get me to Meijer's yesterday morning around 11 and we did all our Christmas weekend shopping. It took us an hour in the store, but I saved over 40% on the bill with coupons. Unfortunately they were out of a few things. John had to go in to work, so I ventured out to Krogers on my own...we had about 8 inches at that point. Living in Buffalo for a few years helped me negotiate the roads, but I think poor Henrietta thought she was back in Buffalo. I had over an inch to clear off her when I got done in the store. I decided against going anywhere else, although I still have to pick up Daniel's gifts for the boys and a stocking stuffer that I couldn't find. John Morrell even sent John home early last night! If the level three continues, he may not have to go in today. They called Michael at 10:30 last night and told him not to come in. Well, I'm going to spend the day baking and finishing gifts for the office people. I will probably need to go in tomorrow for awhile, as they did not get the Christmas Eve Bulletins finished and Monie is sick. But today is a SNOW DAY!

Two posts in one day?

Yes, because my cousin Cammie just had a baby boy! To see a picture of baby Jackson
www.geocities.com/mommoboys

No time to blog

My posting has had to give way to holiday/work/other commitments. But I thought I'd better say something soon or my mom will wonder what's become of me. Last week was filled with Christmas staff lunches, women's Christmas parties and helping at the Christmas store that our church sponsors for those who need help with gifts for their children or grandchildren. In between has been shopping, wrapping, mailing and working on a 400 piece Christmas mailing for Deaf Ministries International, First quarter statements going out for the church, Choir practice, Children's Church, Daniel getting sick again with a throat infection. Sunday was a nice treat from Michael - dinner out at the Chinese buffet! This is Daniel's exam week and we are looking forward to having Andrew home at the end of the week. Another Christmas party on Saturday and time to get ready for Andrew's 21st birthday on the 21st - which makes it his golden birthday and extra special. We finally got some snow today - very pretty. Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. I made the cookies too early this year, because we've eaten most of them - guess I'll have to bake again. I still have gifts to finish making and my days off are filled! But at least I'm not bored! Well that should bring everyone up to date...until the next time I have a few minutes for the computer - take care of each other!

Monday, Monday

Another week is upon us! Great weekend, lots of family time and lots of crafting time. Started a new Sunday School class taught by Tari and Marc on Worship for the Church Musician. They will include basic music theory also. Never hurts to brush up and I am enjoying the teaching on worship. Busy day at work, but quick. Now that I am working part-time, it seems like I never have enough time at work to finish things. But the time does fly by. Tonight our ladies ensemble practiced - it is sounding very nice. We will sing on December 26. Tomorrow is our staff Christmas lunch at the Wood's and Becky always makes us a delicious meal. So that's the long and short of it for today.

Concert Update

Michael and I attended Daniel's Christmas concert last night. Daniel did such a nice job, playing in both the concert band and the jazz band on his trombone. And then he worked on the technical team for the choral part of the concert videotaping. He has finally made up all his homework from the last round of absences. I will be glad to hear if the rheumatologist has any ideas yet. Another beautiful day - hung out two loads of laundry and enjoyed my walk. Chilly but sunny. I hope to spend the evening working on Christmas presents if my wrists hold out - they have been hurting alot lately, probably from making Christmas cookies and doing alot of crochet. Happy Weekend Everyone!

Happy December!

I am so happy to report that the sun came out today! Yesterday I ended up coming home from work early, feeling queezy and like a migraine was coming. Providentially, it was not a migraine, although I slept from 3 until 6:30! It has been raining, cold and very drear in Cincinnati. Besides kicking up my fibro, I also suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and do not do well when we have so many days without sun. I do use light therapy every morning, but yesterday it didn't seem to help. Every morning I take Daniel to school in the dark, and this morning it began to get lighter and lighter - sure enough, clear skies and bright sunshine. I was able to get two loads of laundry done and out on the line to dry! I really enjoyed my walk. And I finished baking all our Christmas cookies and have tucked them safely away in the freezer. A very productive day - and the sun is supposed to shine tomorrow too!

It's that time of year

Christmas Concert Time! Which means lots of extra rehearsals and lots of extra time in the car. Of course Daniel takes every opportunity to remind me that he could be driving now, if we had allowed him to get his license. Which I always reply to by saying, "You know what you need to do to get your license" Anyway, I love Christmas Concerts, so I don't mind the extra driving. We are getting cold weather now and it is supposed to snow on Saturday. I still did my walk today and it wasn't too bad - not very windy. But I sure could tell I had not walked since Thanksgiving Day - because my muscles were screaming!

Finding Neverland

John and I went to see "Finding Neverland" today and I thought it was an excellent movie. Warning to those who don't like movies that make you cry - this one will. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet both did wonderful jobs with their characters and the children were great! So if you have the chance, go see it - very touching film.
The Christmas tree is up - Michael suggested that we put it in the family room this year, because that is where we spend most of our time. I didn't think I would like it, but it turned out to be a great location. Last year because of my father's illness and his ending up in the hospital in December - we didn't put up the decorations. Michael did set up his little tree on Christmas Eve, so we would have something. I don't know if that's why we were ready to get everything up early this year, but Andrew is home this weekend, so it seemed like a good time to do it together. Tomorrow they asked our family to do the first Advent Reading at church - so that will be a special time. Then right after lunch AJ has to head back to Terre Haute. I guess I'll have to change all the Cedar Rapids weather reports on my websites back to Terre Haute. It's been a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation with the boys and I am a little sad that it is almost over already. But I probably shouldn't get too used to being off work, or I won't even want to work part-time soon. I just love being home so much, what can I say? Well, Muffin just came in from outside and is demanding my attention for some serious petting, so I'd better stop or he'll climb up on the laptop. Happy Sunday to all!

One of my most favorite days of the year!

The day before Thanksgiving and all through the house,
were smells of delicious things baking! I love the day before Thanksgiving! We are supposed to have severe thunderstorms today and snow tonight! Gotta love that Cincinnati weather.
Well this is short today, because I need to get into that kitchen and start cooking up a storm.
Happy Thanksgiving to all - may you have a wonderful day reflecting on God's abundant goodness. We are so blessed!

Ready for Thanksgiving

Saturday I did the Flylady Boogie on the refrigerator and then since I had gotten all the expired stuff out - I went ahead and cleaned the whole thing! Now it is all ready for the holidays. Then I went shopping and now we are all ready for Thanksgiving (and half a week after) meal-wise. This week I saved 29% on the grocery bill with coupons. It took a week of planning but worth it.
Andrew has made it safely home and we are enjoying hearing all about his experiences in Cedar Rapids. We are looking forward to a great week!

Trusting in the Lord

Well we didn't find out a whole lot at the rheumatologist today. Daniel appears to have some type of connective tissue disease, but she wants to run more tests and observe him more before making a diagnosis. So Daniel had to endure another blood draw...and wouldn't you know that the nurse couldn't find the vein, so he had to be stuck twice. So I get another lesson in patience and trust, as I wait for a definitive diagnosis for Daniel. I think that waiting on the Lord is one of the best lessons to learn, because we have to wait for so many things. Andrew comes home tomorrow...and then we can officially start the holidays!

Tired Thursday

Long day but now it is the weekend for me. I have an opportunity to pick up another bookkeeping job that would be 4 hours per week. I need to decide if I have enough time to devote to that - we could use the money since I cut back my hours at work and I would be doing this from home...but I am afraid of over-extension when I am just getting my head above water at home. Lots to think about.

Where has the week gone?

I can't believe almost a whole week has gone by since my last post - but then again I can. Spending much less time on the computer and more time on the Christmas presents that I am trying to finish....so if you don't find a new post on here, you can hope I am working on something for you!
We are still a little shocked by the results of Daniel's blood work and will be glad to meet with the rheumatologist on Friday for a full explanation. We have been trying to get to the bottom of his headaches and fatigue since the spring. Now other things that he has complained about and I just dismissed as "growing pains" or his making a bigger deal out of something than it was - well those things just may have a part in all of this. We are looking at indicators of some kind of auto-immune disorder (possibly lupus) but really don't want to speculate too much and are waiting to talk to the doctor. Keep Daniel in your prayers. Also please pray for safe travel for Andrew this weekend as he leaves Cedar Rapids and travels home for Thanksgiving. Then it will be back to the books for him as he begins the winter quarter at Rose-Hulman and leaves the corporate world behind for awhile. Michael could use your prayers also as he barely recovered from the pneumonia before finding himself back on antibiotics for a sinus infection. The doctor thinks that coughing the stuff up from his lungs has contributed to this infection and I am sure that he is weakened from the pneumonia. He stayed home for one day, but is back at work today. Hopefully the children will not pass any more germs to him. Well it is dinner time again and I need to do an inventory in the kitchen before making out my Thanksgiving grocery list. John is bringing the turkey home Tuesday night, compliments of John Morrell - so I also need to make room in the frig. Now we are really up a creek on Wednesday evenings...John likes "Lost" and so we tape it for him but it comes on at the same time as Smallville - which becomes a problem when Daniel goes to youth group and wants me to tape Smallville for him. We have two vcrs - so this would be possible, except we do not have cable and only one tv is hooked up to the antenna...so the reception on the other tv is not good enough and the tape we taped last week was so full of static, we couldn't stand to watch it. I have to laugh about all of this, because it is such a silly thing and there are such a thing as re-runs that we can wait for...guess it brings home the fact that we are so spoiled in the US. We certainly take many, many things that others would love to have a chance to own or experience for granted. We could spend all day next Thursday listing our blessings.

Flying on Friday

Thanks to Flylady, I can see the top of my dining room table and it is all decked out in it's Thanksgiving finery! Bit by bit I am de-cluttering and getting my house back under control. I still have to tell myself that it is okay to do this in baby steps and not to get frustrated that I can't do it all at once. I also figured out how to add links to my blog...so that was fun. I did some research online for patterns that I was looking for to make some Christmas presents - I love Google....it always comes through for me.

First Hard Freeze Tonight

I'm glad I was able to work out in the garden this weekend because the cold weather is coming! I have almost all of the plants that I am trying to winter inside and a few on the porch that I will bring in when I am done "blogging". Guess I'd better cover my pepper plants, which are still growing and doing well. I meant to dig a couple of the small ones up and pot them and try to bring them inside for the winter, but ran out of time. I also need to either make green tomato relish or wrap the tomatoes up in newspaper to ripen inside. I have two big baskets full! Michael is on the mend, but now I hear Andrew has a bad cold. Guess it's that time of year.

Finally Blogging Again!

For some reason I haven't been able to post for three days...but I'm back! Let's see, so many things to "blog" about. Of course I was thrilled with the result of the election and it was as I had told so many - what people say to pollsters and others is probably different than what they choose to do in the privacy of the voting booth - glad reason kicked in.
The rain has finally stopped, so I went to the garden today and got two huge bowls full of tomatoes and another of peppers - so I am back to canning again. Making Italian Stewed Tomatoes out of this batch. Tomorrow I will pick all the green ones - as the cold weather is on its way and I want to close up those beds. This was a great year for the garden! I think I will sow some barley or alfalfa in some of the beds as a cover crop for winter.
Michael has been sick on and off all week - I thought it sounded like he had bronchitis. So today I dragged him to the doctor and he has pneumonia!! We have him on strong antibiotics, but if we can't get his fever down and his breathing doesn't improve - he'll have to go to the hospital. Daniel is away in Kentucky this weekend on a Youth Retreat. He is on new medicine also and more blood work is being done to check him for an immune problem. The doctor says if the blood tests do not turn anything up, then he wants us to see a neurologist since the headaches and the exhaustion is persisting. It turned out that he is only slightly allergic to cats...so we just need to keep them out of his bedroom. The zyrtec, flonase and singular seem to be helping the allergies.
So that's the news from the Toth house for now...hopefully everyone will be on the mend and I will get to spend tomorrow outside in the yard.

Marvelous Monday

Great weekends make Mondays seem so much better to me. It also helps when the sun shines and the weather is pleasant! It was great to get home from work and walk, then spend some time in the yard and garden. I definitely will miss my garden over the winter, but hope to get a cold frame made, so that I can still do a little growing! This weekend I finally got all the household chores entered into Chore Genie and now we can get the house cleaned up before the holidays. Everyone has their own list of chores and deadlines. I got lots of help through the flylady website, organized Christmas home and chore genie. All the rooms of the house are divided into zones...so you concentrate on one zone each week. We'll see how it goes. Well, time to get dinner out of the oven and then concentrate on cleaning the master bedroom while the bengals game is on Monday Night Football. Hoping for a Terrific Tuesday!

Raining Again Today

Well, the sunshine lasted a total of 3 hours yesterday and never came back. The women's Fall Fantasy was very nice last night...great salads and beautifully and cleverly decorated tables with themes as diverse as "Bath Night" to "Get the Vote Out" to a medical table complete with flowers in bedpans! Saturday has been a rainy day - which only leaves indoor cleaning to do, so I decided to lay on the couch and read "Return of the King"...perfect weather for that. I did manage to print out all the pages for my "Holiday Countdown" binder and went to the craft store with Michael to get some materials to finish the Christmas gifts I am working on. Now it's time to get some dinner together for the guys and then spend the evening stitching. Hoping for sun tomorrow.

Sunshine!

Well it has taken all day - but finally around 3 PM the sun has come out. But we hear that it is supposed to rain tomorrow. I may never get my yardwork done before winter. Oh well, I certainly have plenty to do inside. Today I am feeling overwhelmed with how much stuff is laying around the house. I need a dumpster and just start pitching it all. Where does it come from? It seems like no matter how organized I try to be...it piles up. Well as FlyLady says, baby steps. I just want it all done NOW! If any of you want some encouragement along the housekeeping lines - check out www.flylady.com and www.organizedhome.com - they are great sites.

Sleeping In

Another sunless day in Cincinnati, but I hear that we may finally see it again tomorrow! It's way too early in the season for all this grey! First we have drought conditions when the garden could have used the water and now at the end of the season it's wet. Well as long as it dries out so we can get the rest of the leaves up. Tomorrow Daniel has the day off school - so we are planning to sleep in! A great way to start the weekend.

Lazy Day

Well the weather is grey and gloomy and my allergies are acting up - with a bit of a cold starting, so it seemed like a good day to be lazy and just read! The benedryl knocks me out, so I just read and dozed the day away. Oh well, the housework will still be there when I get around to doing it (no one else does any cleaning). I still need to get alot of the outside work done before the weather gets bad - but it is so wet, I can't get out there. Maybe this weekend we can close up the garden for the winter - except one bed where we are putting the cold frame. Back to work tomorrow!

We're Back!

Back from Buffalo and we had a wonderful trip! Today it was really back to real life as we took Daniel to the allergist and found out that he has been very sick for a long time. Last spring when he was suffering with headaches and we had an MRI done, his GP said that the MRI didn't show anything, except a little swelling in his sinuses. Well after trying medicine for migraines, medicine for allergies, we finally decided to see a specialist as he was missing so much school this fall with a variety of problems.
The allergist read the MRI and said that it shows that Daniel has Sphenoid and Ethmoid Sinus Disease. He also conducted several breathing tests and Daniel is only using 60% lung capacity. He suspects that the allergies have affected his lungs. So we went to the hospital for a chest x-ray and blood tests to see if he is allergic to cats and dogs. He put him on an inhaler, steriods, zyrtec and flonase. We will see him in two weeks to discuss options and see how the meds have helped. So even though we thought that Daniel might be complaining of being sick to avoid school - he really has been sick. He has lost weight and the doctor says that it definitely would effect his sleep - thus the sleeping all the time.
We hope that we are on the right track now. But we hope he isn't allergic to the cats, because we all love them so much! Well it's been a long day with getting back to work, grocery shopping, mail to go through - vacations are great, but it is always a chore to face all the things that waited for you.

Buffalo!

We made it! Great trip yesterday - sunshine all through Ohio and the leaves were gorgeous! We enjoyed a nice evening visiting with my cousin David and my mom and dad. Daddy is doing so much better and is entertaining us with many of his great stories. It is so nice to be with them. Well, back to work on my parent's computers - getting them cleaned up and virus protection renewed, etc.

Cooking, Cooking, Cooking

I am having the best day...in the kitchen! Everything smells so good - it's like the holidays! And now when we go to my parent's house...no one will have to be in the kitchen. This will be the best vacation! Okay, I'm off to pack and settle down to Smallville - then the debate!

Ready or Not - The Last Debate Approaches

Okay everyone, grab your salsa and tortilla chips and let's get through the last debate. I hope we hear something different, like actual plans for paying for everything that is being proposed. And more on domestic policy - I think we know where each candidate stands on foreign policy by now.
I am looking forward to cooking all day tomorrow in preparation for our trip to Buffalo. Taking all the meals up with us, so we can concentrate on visiting with my parents and my cousin, and my sister and her family. Since I love to cook, I am looking forward to tomorrow and can't wait to drive the boys crazy with the good smells and then not being able to eat any of it yet!!!
Here's the menu:
Thursday: Seafood Rice Casserole with Asparagus Almondine
Broccoli Salad
Pumpkin Roll
Friday: Cabbage Rolls
Cheesy Potato Casserole
Chocolate Mississippi "Share" Cake
Saturday: Eggplant Lasagna
Garlic Sticks
Pesto Green Bean Salad
Plus a cheese ball for appetizer and Chex Mix for snacking......yummy, can't wait! If Andrew reads this, he might try to come too. He's probably getting tired of doing all his own cooking. Don't worry AJ - Thanksgiving is around the corner.

How to comment on my blog

Okay, today's lesson is how to post a comment on my blog without joining Blogger:
At the bottom of my entry click on comment. This will take you to a sign-in page asking for your user name and password - and there is a button that says "sign in" now look just underneath this button and you will see the following:
or post anonymously
Click on "or post anonymously" And you will be taken to a page with a comment box you can type into. You will have to let me know who you are in the body of your comment (if you want me to know) because it will say anonymous at the bottom once you post your comment.

I hope that will help many of you who have told me that you want to make a comment, but not join Blogger.

Debates or the Day After - which is more irratating?

Well, I watched the debate but I didn't enjoy it...I heard a football commentator put it well today (much better than his comments on the Ohio State game) anyway he said, "Alright we all know what each of these guys think...let's just get to the vote!" I really didn't hear anything new or different from either candidate. Of course then we have to hear what all the newsies and pundits think today. Well to cheer myself up I visited one of my favorite political satire sites - jibjab! They have a new short on their site about DC - check it out if you have a chance - their parodies are hilarious! It's www.jibjab.com
Our big surprize for the day was that John didn't have to work...those Saturdays are rare - so we made the most of it. Got lots of yardwork done...it has been so dry that the leaves are falling off early. John raked and put them through the chipper to shred them while I got the garden beds ready for the leaves to be put on top of. John changed the oil in the Explorer for our trip to Buffalo on Thursday and I cleaned the garage. Now we are waiting for the eggplant lasagna to come out of the oven and I think we'll spend the evening with "Return of the King"

Gardening is Glorious!

Another perfect day to be outside in the garden! Today's task was to pull all the dry beans and then get them out of their pods. This year because I grew so many tomatoes to re-stock the pantry with sauce, salsa, etc. I didn't have much room for dry beans....but I did try a little of several varieties: soldier, kidney, black, pinto and jacob's cattle. They look so pretty in their glass jars. Have to wait until we get some really cold weather before making them into bean soup!
Still picking tomatoes...and I even have some yellow squash still growing! I picked a couple small heads of cabbage and cooked it for dinner tonight. I fried some bacon, sauted the cabbage and some onion in the bacon drippings and then added some chicken broth. Just before serving cut up the bacon into pieces and added back in. It was very tasty! I also began the big task of washing all the plant containers and putting them away for the winter. I like to clean the containers with a bleach solution after removing the plant and dirt...that way in the spring when I start my seeds - all the containers are clean and ready to use. Well, it's homecoming tonight and Daniel is playing in the pep band at the football game so I have the evening to myself...guess I will watch Bush and Kerry debate - although every time I hear Kerry talk, I get upset with his spin on things. But I would rather hear them both myself than listen to what the media "thinks" they said tomorrow!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and enjoy this gorgeous weather!

Salsa, Seeds and Shopping

A wonderful Wednesday, I got to do all kinds of things that I love to do! The cold weather is gone for awhile, so I worked in the garden, uncovering my tomatoes and peppers and everything looks like it survived the frost! Worked with the tomatoes and peppers I had picked two days ago and got another big batch of salsa started. Michael brought home a whole bag of ripe bananas - so I made banana bread. Monie and I got to try out McAlister's Deli for lunch. It is a great lunch place - soups, salads, sandwiches and stuffed potatos! We're going to recommend it for the next staff lunch. Worked on my grocery list and got $56 worth of groceries for $46! Not too shabby! Picked up Daniel, and then enjoyed some more time outside gathering seeds for next year. Dinner's in the oven and Smallville's on tonight....like I said a wonderful day!

Monday, Monday

Pretty typical Monday...lots of work. Beautiful day weatherwise, but tonight we are under a frost warning. So I spent quite a bit of time in the garden covering up the tomatoes and peppers, and carried most of the flowers into the porch. I still need to throw a blanket over those. Got some work done for Deaf Ministries and entered all of Kroger's products and aisles into my new shopping program "Simply Shopping" - it takes alot of time to set up, but it will simplify grocery shopping - so it will be worth it. When I make my grocery list, it will list the items in the order I walk through the store.
Had several people ask me this weekend what a blog was....short for web log - or online journal is a good way to explain, although many question why I would want to journal online. Oh well, I can't convince everyone to use technology...but I love it!

Fabulous Friday!

What a gorgeous day! Haven't we had the best weather this summer and early fall in Cincinnati? Spent the day outside working in the garden and in the flower beds. Finally got John to clean out the poison ivy in the bed next to the driveway, so I could get in there and clean it out. Put down mulch and added some flowers....much improved! Also dug up all the onions, so they can dry and be stored. Cleaned up some bean beds. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice enough to get out and do more, although it is supposed to be much cooler. We have our first frost warning for Saturday night...guess I need to get the blankets out for the tomatoes.

A Difficult Day

Heard that a pastor we knew committed suicide...our hearts are so sad and full of concern for his family and his congregation. I can't imagine what they are feeling, when I hardly knew him and am so upset. Things like this really put the little things we complain about into perspective...our problems just pale in comparison to something like this.

God had a different plan

Wednesday - my day off work - I had all kinds of plans for today, but one of them was not my car breaking down and spending an hour and a half waiting for a tow truck! But it happened in a parking lot and only caused me to have to cancel lunch with Monie, which we can re-schedule. And John hadn't gone to work yet, so he came and kept me company and oversaw the tow truck getting to our mechanic and setting up the repairs and getting me home.
Even with all that, I was still able to can Italian Stewed Tomatoes this morning, make butterscotch brownies, prepare another batch of salsa to can tonight, take my walk, get out to the garden to pick peppers and look through my new quilting magazine. So it still turned out to be a good day! Well I guess I will tape one more episode of "Lost" - just to see if we actually get to see the "monster" this week, but I'm watching Smallville live! Do you think Clark will remember how to fly?

Missing Landlords

Remember when something went wrong at the apartment or house, we called the landlord and he fixed it?? Oh the joys of home ownership! We found out today that some of the pillars in front of our house are rotting! It is always something, and usually we have to figure out which thing we can let go awhile longer, since there's only enough in the budget to fix one thing. Well, I am sitting here trying to remember how much we wanted to be able to buy our own house...maybe when the mortgage is paid I'll remember easier....oh yeah, equity, that was it.....well I hope it is worth it in the long run.
Chili for dinner tonight and then Daniel and I get to go to college night at the high school. Right now I can't think about college - I just want to get him through 10th grade!
We had a good day at work today, getting lots of work done. Tomorrow is looking great for a day off....wonderful weather with temps in the 70's. I hope to work out in the yard all day. Oh, and I get to go out to lunch with Monie! Should be a great day!

Bush visits West Chester!

Well W was just a few blocks away from my house today at VOA park! I decided not to fight 50,000 people and just watched the speech on TV. He did an excellent job outlining his plans on a whole range of topics. It was exciting to see how many people actually took the time to come and see him...I don't know about all of Ohio, but looks like he'll carry Butler County.
I finally got the fiscal year closed today at work - hopefully everything is all in order for the bank.
Daniel stayed home sick from school today and I feel like I'm coming down with a cold - probably just fall allergies doing their thing. The weather is starting to change and it is quite pleasant!

Saturday Stuff

Not as good of a day as I had hoped....started at 3:30 am with a bad headache that kept me from attending the rest of the Institute. John said we can get the tapes. I did manage to get a batch of salsa ready for canning, and got out to the garden to get some veggies. Daniel is off to a Youth Group event tonight. John got off work early and we are enjoying being able to spend the evening together.

Friday!

Okay, just popped dinner in the oven, so I have a few minutes to myself. Got all the statements done at work and dear Monie offered to finished stamping the envelopes and take them to the post office - so I got off at 1:15 - just in time to kiss John good-bye, make Michael and I BLT's for lunch, get a haircut and get to CHCA to pick up Daniel! So a productive day!

Looking forward to hearing Jerram Barrs tonight at the Institute for Contemporary Christianity. He is going to speak on some difficult issues that we as Christians face in today's society and hopefully give us some solid information to share with others.

Last night I completed my recipe blog and I hope that it will be a helpful site. The web address is home.earthlink.net/~kathylynntoth/recipes or you can access it from my website at www.geocities.com/mommoboys. I'll have to share any recipes we receive with Laura at church as she is trying to get the NCCC recipe book together. Happy weekend to all of us!

Terrific Thursday

Haven't we had the best weather? You can hardly believe that it's almost the end of September. Well it looks like I will need to work tomorrow - couldn't get everything I needed to get done in just 20 hours this week. But Walter said he would give me comp time - which will come in handy next month when I plan to go visit my parents in Buffalo during Daniel's fall break. And I should be able to work outside all weekend as the weather forecast is dry and sunny!

Well my verdict on "Lost" is that is wasn't that great - although it was fun to see Dominic Monaghan. I ended up with 7 quarts of Tomato Sauce and 5 pints of salsa yesterday - amazing that 50 pounds of tomatoes cook down into just 7 quarts of sauce.

Time to go fix dinner - hope everyone else is having a good day.

First Post

Well my son Andrew has a blog and I thought I would give it a try. Seems like a good way to let everyone know what I am up to and what I am thinking about, without sending a zillion emails. Of course, I may be the only one interested in what I am thinking, but hey, I like to keep up with my techno-kids!
So today, my day off work, I plan to spend time in my garden and canning tomatoes - which is a great way to spend the first day of fall. I resisted the temptation to take Daniel to school (at 7 AM) and then go back to bed. Every day I don't have to go into work, it is a fight with myself to stay up and get the day underway. But I am always glad that I manage to talk myself into staying out of the bed - as I can waste so much time when I go back to sleep, or nap.
Then tonight - two tv shows that I want to see....have to tape one. Of course, Smallville - the season opener. Then I want to see the first episode of "Lost" mostly because "Merry" is in it. I don't know that it will be something I regularly watch, we'll see. Well, time to get outside... Have a great day!