New Year's Eve

The last day of 2006 - sometimes it is hard to believe that we've already lived through 7 years of the new millennium. The end of the year has had it's surprises - the death of Jerry Ford & the very quick hanging of Saddam Hussein. As we've watched the national funeral for Ford, John and I are struck by how much HISTORY has happened in our lifetime. And just how many more "icons" we will watch pass away in our lifetime. Today I am still trying to get over a bad head cold - but I do want to spend some time today to begin to plan 2007's garden. And hopefully I'll be able to fix the boys' favorite New Year's Eve snacks for tonight. Happy New Year everyone!

Thursday - Back to Work

Well the holidays are over and it's back to work. I actually worked a few hours on Tuesday doing the deposit, but no one else was there so it didn't count. Today - back to regular hours. For those of you who do not know - I've changed my hours at the church AGAIN! Now I work Monday and Friday from 7:30 am to 12:30 and Tuesday & Thursday from 10 am to 3 PM. Hopefully the two early days will enable me to concentrate more on the financials without alot of distraction. I will continue to do Deaf Ministries bookkeeping at home - my preferred way of working. Michael had to go back to work yesterday...he said there were not many children there though.

I took some time to begin to look through the seed catalogs yesterday. So many new varieties - I wish I could grow them all! I need to spend some time figuring out how to lay out a few new flower beds.

More later!!!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful day! I wonder how many other 49 year old women out there were excited to get a flash drive in their stocking and a stick of ram for their laptop??? But that wasn't the only surprize - the boys got me something that I've wanted for decades!! A cobalt blue kitchen-aid stand mixer! I'm getting ready to try it out right now! My arthritis has been really keeping me from doing alot of the baking I like to do because it hurts my hands so much to stir and knead, etc. But now the mixer will take care of it for me. The boys said it was a partially selfish gift - as they were looking forward to lots of food being made.


Well, just a short note for now - gotta go make our ham dinner fixin's. Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!

We enjoyed a breakfast of Ambrosia, Sausage-Egg Casserole, Cheese Grits, coffee and juice. So nice to get out the special Christmas dishes and gather around the table with all three boys! Of course the conversation centered on computers and who wanted to switch which parts around. I just smile and nod! We listened to the Cambridge broadcast of Nine Lessons & Carols, that I mentioned in yesterday's blog. Then we did our stockings. Everyone was pleased with what "Saint Nicholas" had left. There were several surprizes in my stocking, that I didn't know about! Next we will enjoy a leisurely day, the boys are all on their computers, Daniel still has to wrap gifts, but the rest of ours are done and under the tree. I'm fixing a pork tenderloin, asparagus casserole, & potatoes for lunch today and then we will have our traditional Swiss Cheese fondue and Shrimp cocktails tonight while we watch the Bengals play. Then off to the candlelight service at 10:30 PM....should be a wonderful day. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

It's Saturday - the day before Christmas Eve and all the boys are home! So the celebration starts today. John and I are enjoying a quiet morning with coffee and bagels while listening to Weekend Edition, while I plan out my baking for today. The gifts are wrapped and under the tree and all the groceries are in the house - so we are ready. We are looking forward to lots of visiting, watching movies together and of course as is usual in this household - lots of computer talk, fixing, tweeking, etc. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May you have a special time of worship this holy day. Our church is having our traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight service of Lessons and Carols - patterned after the one in Cambridge England at King's College. You can probably find out when your own public radio station is broadcasting it - ours will be LIVE on Sunday morning at 10 AM. If you are interested in the history behind this service - check out the website
www.wguc.org/events/nine_index.asp

Where has Kathy been?

Not on the computer! Well here it is almost Thanksgiving and I haven't blogged for over a month! Mom was here in October and we kept pretty busy so I didn't have alot of computer time - but we had a wonderful month! We did so many special things and enjoyed each other's company so much! Then more recently I have been quite busy with work, yard, getting ready for holidays and recovering from a concussion received from a fall here at home. I'm fine now - but it did cut down on my leizure time activities (like blogging).
Okay - how to catch you up -
John is working days now and all of us love it! Family dinners & devotions again!

Daniel is keeping busy with school and Robotics Club and Skills USA (a leadership club). He just went to the fall conference for Skills USA in Columbus. He serves as the parlimentarian for his chapter. His senior year is going well and he is also active in the youth group at church and attended the Fall Retreat in Kentucky the first weekend in November.

Andrew is home for Fall Break and already has been hard at work helping John clean out the gutters and fixing all our computer problems.

Michael has had a rough Fall so far healthwise...several colds and sinus infections. I guess it's a side effect of teaching two year olds.

We are all looking forward to a great Thanksgiving week, filled with alot of cooking, eating, football, movies and visiting! Because of work schedules we are unable to join the Harris Family in Hamburg - but they will all be together at Jacque's and will be in our thoughts.

Still Gardening

We've had glorious weather for October and it's hard to believe that the gardening season is drawing to a close. I am definitely trying some cold frame growing this year and some winter sowing. Gardening is just too much fun to give up for a few months.
Still being so blessed with my mom's visit. I can't explain how special it is to be able to sit in the evenings and chat with her, watch a show together, even just sit quietly while we both read. I'm so happy to have these memories to store up and treasure.
Took down the lettuce bed, corn bed and part of the bean bed today. I want to ammend the soil and then plant my winter rye (green manure). Chopped a big kettle of tomatillas tonight for salsa verde. We're getting excited to see Andrew later this week on his fall break.

Welcome October!

Well it will be a wonderful October this year...my mom is here in Cincinnati for her birthday month! We've already had a great start to the month with a Birthday Celebration on the 3rd for mom's 72nd birthday! It was so fun to have her here on her special day to treat - it's been quite a few years since we've been together for her birthday.
Then yesterday we went to Tall Stacks
- a Cincinnati Festival that happens only every 3 or 4 years. This year 18 steamboats have come and docked along the riverbank. The day was a balmy 85 degrees. We got to hear many of the music groups perform, including The Real McCoys - an Irish group who sang one of my dad's favorite songs, "Loch Lomand". We are off to a good start to a fun month!

That time of year

GARAGE CLEANING DAY! We started early and we are almost done at 7 PM. I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you what a chore this job was! But it's time to begin to put things away for the winter and I wanted to be sure that Henrietta (the Beretta) had a cozy spot to park this year. (I hate to scrap off ice) Anyway we are getting very close to needing a shed for the mower, the chipper, the tiller, etc. So that is on our wish list.
Yesterday was Daniel's birthday, but we are celebrating in stages. Tonight is his special choice dinner and cake... so as soon as John gets home from work, we'll eat.

Red's Game

John was given 4 free tickets for today's game against the Giants. I was hopeful for a win, because they won last night - but they couldn't pull it off. This was the first chance this season to attend a game - so I enjoyed it, even with the loss. We invited Mary Jane and the international student who is staying with her until UC starts. Her English is very good, so we were able to explain the game to her. It wasn't the most exciting game to watch, but actually was played at a pace that was good for someone to learn about baseball.

What's a labrum?

The shoulder joint has a cuff of cartilage called a labrum that forms a cup for the end of the arm bone (humerus) to move within. Well I just found out that I have torn mine. I do not know alot about it at this point, except it does explain the severe pain I have had in my left shoulder and arm for two weeks. I see an orthopedic surgeon on Monday and will let everyone know more then. Guess I've done a little too much yardwork?

Great Weekend!

We had a beautiful break from the heat on Saturday and I was able to spend 11 hours working outside. But yesterday the heat returned and it was not pleasant sleeping last night! We had our small group over for dinner last night - our first "party" on our porch this year! We had a wonderful time, it's been a month since we got together, so lots to catch up on in each other's lives. I had fun giving tours of the garden. Now it's back to the work week with a big agenda! Today I need to do the deposit and get all the reports ready for a big financial meeting tonight. Plus closing July and beginning to enter the budget for next year. Then I need to begin the process of closing the year. At home the big projects are APPLES! I have a bushel that need attention, plus all the daily things like watering and weeding. It's definitely a busy time of year....so I'd better get at it. Have a great week everyone!

Wednesday's Heat

The sixth day of heat emergency here in Cincinnati! I'm up early to get my outside work done as quickly as possible. At 7 AM it is already 78 degrees! Sounds like after today, we will finally get some relief....at least they anticipate a cool front coming through tomorrow. Well, it's off to the garden.

Tomato Time

I will have to note in my gardening records that today was the first day we had ripe tomatoes (other than the cherry ones). Enjoyed one of our favorite meals: falafel....I learned to make it in Israel and we always celebrate the first of the cucumbers and tomatoes with this yummy meal. I will have to post the recipe up this week. The hot and humid weather has turned the garden into a lush jungle. Everything has doubled in size and I see "harvest time" just around the corner. Time to check all my canning and freezing supplies. We are under a heat alert until Wednesday - so looks like I'll be up early checking in on everything and getting the watering done before work tomorrow. Wish I could have jumped in my sister's pool today! John and I watched movies in the air conditioned house while I worked on the DMI newsletter (folding, stuffing, labeling, stamping & sealing) - a perfect job to do while watching movies. Well, time to get to bed so I can beat the heat tomorrow!

Saturday

Another hot, humid day. The cicadas are out and making a racket! I think we are fully into summer now. I know my tomatoes need hot nights to ripen, so I tell myself that this is worth being a little uncomfortable. Today is my day to plan for the next week - so menu planning and grocery shopping are the order of the day. John has things set up so nice for me to be able to work on the porch using the wireless with my laptop...with the ceiling fan going it is comfortable. I think if there is air moving - that always feels better. I also need to work on the DMI newsletter...so not alot of time for gardening today. Maybe tomorrow it will be cooler. I think we'll have our first batch of green beans soon - seems like after a rain everything really grows fast! I've changed my page a little on the sidebar...including the days that I plan to update each blog or website...hopefully that will help anyone who regularly looks at this know which other site to check.

Friday Focus

It's raining again today, so I've spent the morning researching several projects I have in mind. One is to turn our foyer/hallway into a pantry - so I've been measuring and online shopping Home Depot to see if it can be done without having to put up a wall. Now if my brother-in-law John lived closer, I'd pay him to put up a wall and I could do the finishing. The other thing I am working on for Walter is a job description for my work at NCCC. And I've been doing a little online shopping for cars - although it'll be at least a year before I've saved enough money. It has helped me determine what options/models/types I'm interested in.
The rain has not lowered the humidity at all - so we're taking things slow today. I've also been working on plans for a storage shed to be built or bought and put at the back of our driveway. This would enable us to actually use our garage for cars this winter. Lots of projects - always easier to dream about and plan than to actually put into place.

New goals

I've decided to update my blogs weekly on different days to try to be more consistent. For a list of my schedule check out my main page
www.geocities.com/mommoboys
I am trying to organize my time more strictly as the end of the summer nears and things begin to get hectic with the start of the school year and the start of the ministry year at work.
We'll see how it goes. Today is my day off and I've already gotten my 30 minute walk done, as it is going to be a hot one! I'm heading out to the garden with my long list of "to dos" and plan to enjoy this respite from WORK (meaning at NCCC) by "working" outside until the heat gets unbearable. I have some inside jobs in my pocket for the heat of the day. I miss the freedom of vacation and the open feeling each day had - but I intend to make my day off each week be my mini-vacation as much as I can. Will update everyone on my progress tonight on my garden blog.

Goals

One of the things that I took time to do over vacation was to review my goals for this year. We are 6 months into the year and a good time to see how I'm doing and re-assess to see if I still desire these goals. It is a good exercise for me - I sometimes set too many goals for myself and then get depressed because I can't pull everything off. A mid-year reevaluation helps me keep my expectations in line. One thing that I do want to be more committed to is writing. After visiting with my Uncle Joe and being reminded by him of the importance of recording our memories - I want to take more time to do that. So I need to set aside time each day or two to record memories. A blog seems like the perfect place to do that.

Vacation is over

We have had a wonderful vacation and now it is time to return to reality! It was great having some days to "play" in my garden. Then a wonderful time in Indiana and Michigan with our family reunion. We got to visit with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Kay - getting a chance to see my Grandpa's farm and all the hard work that Dick has done there. Time at Posey Chapel, visiting my dad's grave. A great Mexican meal with Uncle Joe and Aunt Pat, Mike & Patty, Dick & Kay! So much fun to have everyone together. Lots of nice visiting time...got to go to the Lake, shopping, our traditional lunch at Carlson's Drive-In, driving by all the old houses. Uncle Joe & Aunt Pat treated us to a wonderful dinner at Ryan's and then we got to look through Joe's scrapbooks from the trip he & Aunt Pat took with my parents to Scotland. Several of us went to see "Pirates" at the late movie. Then John & I drove to Iowa to see Andrew. We had a wonderful time in Cedar Rapids. Andrew took us to see a great garden, where they had every variety of flower and had them all labeled. It was so cool! On Wednesday, Andrew took the day off work and we went to the Amana Colonies. The history at the museum was so interesting. I got to see several old looms, all kinds of farming equipment. We visited Lilly Lake and all the lillies were in bloom. Then we've had several days at home to catch up on everything before going back to work.
Well that's the short summary of 2006's vacation...I'll post pictures as soon as I locate my cable to download them from my camera.
Everyone have a nice week!

Miss my Mommy!

It was so nice to be able to talk to mom whenever I wanted - and now I am really missing her! We did get her safely home and I think accomplished all the things she wanted us to help her with. Now we are planning for a big weekend with Andrew driving in from Iowa. I have a 4-day weekend and so does Daniel... we weren't expecting Monday off, but Marc told me to switch my days off so I could be home with AJ and Daniel just found out he has both days off.
Spent the day cleaning out the greenhouse and re-potting alot of plants. I have way too many tomatoes and peppers...so if anyone wants some - let me know. Back to work today and also have a DMI newsletter to get out. So it'll be a busy weekend.