Well, it’s still not the wonderful bit of writing I promised you, but I figured I’d best check in to let you know that the munchkin is doing much better.  I have a good bit of paperwork to deal with before I turn in for the night.  It just never seems to end.  Between homeschooling, the business, and my home obligations . . .ugh.  I guess I’m just tired.  Sometimes I’d love to shut my business down, but the fact is we depend on the extra income to cover our expenses.  Maybe I need to figure out additional ways to cut corners.  Maybe I need to pray about it and figure out what God wants me to do.  What a novel concept! 

I think my girl’s eyes look elvish — something about the shape of them just makes me think of some “Lord of the Rings” character, living in Rivendell.    She’s so beautiful!  Yeah, I’m slightly biased, but hey!  I have that maternal right, no?

I just sat down to write something entertainingly witty, but my girl has announced that she’d “like some lunch, please.”  She’s been a bit under the weather these last couple of days, poor thing.  We’d planned on participating in “Austin Town” — a historical reenactment of pioneer life in 1832 Texas.  I made her dress (a two-tone red calico with tea-stained apron, using ribbon to gather the sleeves and neckline, as elastic wouldn’t be historically accurate!), found black slippers, and was pretty much ready to go . . . but a 102.6 degree temperature wouldn’t allow it.  Temp’s down to 99.6, but I’m making her rest and drink plenty of fluids.  She has no other symptoms.  I suspect it’s some sort of viral thing blowing through with the changing weather.

I’m off to make a “grilled cheese sammich” for her and will try my hand at writing maybe later this afternoon.  Have a great day –

Another great year at the fair!  While we aren’t going until tomorrow evening, Jami and I took a “sneak peek” to see how the family did.  My niece won a 1st place blue ribbon for her decopaged Christmas box and my nephew won a 2nd place red ribbon for his handpainted plaster mare with foal.  Jami won a 1st place blue ribbon for her delicious “Goofy Cookies” that she entered in the Kitchen Pride Bake Show (Junior Division).

I entered five photos in the photography show and three placed.  Here to the left is one of the photos I took during our amazing, once in a lifetime (if that) Christmas snow.  This is the view from my kitchen window (it’s a tulip magnolia, and a slightly pyschotic one at that — it blooms at the weirdest times . . .)  Anyway, this one received a 3rd place ribbon.  Whee!

The picture to the left is Mission San Jose in San Antonio, Texas.  Jami asked if we could go to see the Alamo last spring break and we ended up doing the whole Mission Trail thing.  It was wonderful — we had great weather and a kid who loves learning things.  So it turned out to be a lovely trip.  This photo received an honorable mention

This photo is one of  my favorites!  The girl just LOVES strawberries, and goes almost spastic over strawberries covered in chocolate.  I called this one “As Good As It Gets” — it received an honorable mention, too.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow evening because we’ve managed to keep our lips zipped regarding Jami’s cousins’ ribbons — I love seeing the looks on their faces when they realize that they’ve won something — and something based on their talents and achievements.  There is something so encouraging about that to a child.  Mommy and Daddy can say “You’re the best” everyday (and they should), but there’s something about other people without emotional ties giving that stamp of approval, too.

I’ll be back with stories from the fair!

For the carnivores among us, a new meaning for “PETA” —

People Eating Tasty Animals

Muah ha ha ha!  Oh, how that tickles my funny bone!

The weather is turning a bit cooler and my guy is already thinking deer season.  I hope he has as successful a hunt this year as he did last.  He brought home two deer and we have just a bit of it left.  We’ve really enjoyed the sausage, ground venison, and roasts these last months.  Fourth of July we made venison burgers for our cookout and everyone just loved them.

Our adventures in homeschooling are going pretty well.  One of the wonderful things about home education is the ability to reconfigure things for your child’s needs.  I’ve discovered that my daughter has a very weak grasp of the multiplication tables.  Apparently she learned them well enough to get by last year (and get good grades), but when you ask her what’s 8 x 7, she pauses and it’s obvious that she’s counting in her head — she needs to know it immediately, like she knows her name.  So we’ve set aside the math book for a couple of weeks to focus on getting those tables in her little skull!  Today I had her copy the 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s tables three times each into her spiral notebook and I had her say them out loud as she copied them.  I’m hoping the repetition of copying and repeating them will help them stick.  We’re also working with flashcards and “Wrap Ups” — I’ll keep you posted.

One thing I have come to realize — this is not some glorified “Little House on the Prairie” experience.  It’s hard work and sometimes we don’t get everything done.  A lot of times we don’t get everything done.  We just pick up where we left off and keep on pressing forward.  And while we may not get everything done, I’m fully convinced that the experience we’re sharing is greater than anything the public school system could provide to us. 

Well, tomorrow is math, language, choir, and recorder band, so I’d better sign off for now.  When we’re through with all that, I’ve got to meet with a potential client regarding window treatments . . . I need some sleep if I’m going to be worth anything tomorrow.

A quick update from the coast . . .

We’re okay.  We went up to my cousin’s on the north side of Houston Wednesday evening and came home yesterday afternoon.  House is perfectly fine, aside from a couple of limbs in the yard.  God is good, all the time.  I have to be honest in saying that part of me fully expected my house to be gone when I returned.  But everything’s okay and God has proven Himself faithful once again.

I’ve decided that while things are pulled out of closets, etc., I’m going to do a thorough housecleaning.  Spring cleaning in September, if you will.  It seems a good time to purge all the stuff that got in my way while I was trying to decide what was truly important to save.

This has also inspired me to get caught up on my photo albums.  I am not exaggerating one bit when I say I took a truck bed full of boxes containing photo albums, loose photos, memorabilia, and negatives to my sister’s house before I went up to my cousin’s.  A truck bed full.  If all those photos and memorabilia had been in albums, it would have been so much easier!

I’m glad to hear those of you also in the Houston area seemed to have fared pretty well.  

Special note to Lori:  Have fun on your mini-cruise and don’t sweat the three pounds, girlie!  The last few days have been stressful for all of us and heaven knows we deserved a little chocolate comfort! 

I have some most exciting news to share with ya’ll . . . !

A few months ago, I asked that all of ya’ll keep a dear friend of mine in prayer.  Actually, he and his wife, as they were expecting a wee bairn and they’d had difficulties in the past carrying to term.  Well, I think there must have been quite a few praying over the months, because yesterday morning their sweet daughter was born!

She was 5 weeks early, but doctors say she’s looking great, weighing in at 5 lb. 15 oz. and measuring 19 inches long.  A cutie for sure, and healthy as can be.  Mom had a bit of a rough time, so continued prayers in that regard would be appreciated.  But the entire family is doing well and looking forward to going home.

A big congrats to Lloyd and Vicki and a great big welcome to little “Eleanor Rose” (I was told the name’s in pencil at the moment, as there were a couple others in the mix . . . I guess we’ll know for sure the next time Dad writes . . . )

And something not nearly so “grande,” but exciting in its own little way . . .

We welcomed our own little bundle of joy into our home Sunday afternoon — a tiny Chihuahua girly that my daughter has decided to name “Sweetie” (I was pulling for “Margarita” — but oh, well . . .)  She is a fawn-colored puppy with white markings, weighing about 4 lbs. right now.  She’ll probably gain 1 more lb. and then she’ll be done.  She’s a sweetie for sure, and I think she’ll add a lot of fun to the household (as if we didn’t have enough, already!)  I have to say it will be nice when she sleeps through the night — we’re crate training her and she’s just miserable right now.  I turned on the stereo super soft with some praise and worship music and it seems to be helping intermittently. 

And just in case you’re curious about homeschooling . . .

It’s going fairly well.  We’re still in the adjustment phase, trying to learn to juggle all the obligations we have from an educational, business, and family standpoint (not necessarily in that order).  I’m waiting for a homeschool planning software CD to arrive that I think will help me plan out entire days, not just lesson plans.  I tried to download it the other night and wanted to scream when 4 hours and 47 minutes into the 5 hour download, I lost my connection.  (We can’t get DSL out where we live . . . we’re stuck with dial-up.  )  Needless to say, I wasn’t going to start that mess all over again, and so I decided to wait for the CD to arrive.

The munchkin is doing well, though, and really looks forward to lessons.  In fact, she gets rather perturbed if something gets in the way of her lessons.  What a blessing to have a willing student, heh? 

Well, I’d better sign off for now.  I have tomorrow’s lessons planned, but if I don’t get some sleep I may sleep through them.  Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. 

There’s been a slight delay . . .

I’d hoped that we’d begin our homeschooling lessons today, but honestly . . . I’m just not ready.  I know I’ll be ready by next Monday (hopefully before), but our remodel on the classroom/library/office has taken longer than I expected. 

Originally, we just planned on ripping paneling down, putting up sheetrock and painting.  But we decided that, considering everything was moved out of there, it would be the perfect time to refinish the red oak floors, too.  Not a huge area square footage-wise, we just couldn’t get excited about setting everything up and then having to take it all out again later to do the floors.

So we rented the sanding equipment and sanded the floors.  Went over them twice with tacky cloth to remove all the dust, etc.  Painted “Red Oak” oil-based stain over the entire area twice, leaving it on for 10 minutes the first time and then 15 minutes the second time.  The color is very pretty.  It had to dry at least 5 hours between each application and before applying any sealer.  The sealer (Varathane) had to dry 4 hours between each application and a minimum of 3 is recommended.  We decided to go ahead and do 4, since that’s what a friend had recommended to us.  Their floors are beautiful and the finish is very durable.

I finished putting the fourth coat of Varathane on the wood floors at 3 a.m. this morning.  It has to dry at least 24 hours before light usage, and preferably 3 days before normal usage. 

We’re going to see if we’re brave enough to gingerly try to install the baseboards before the 3 days — I think if we wear socks and only go in there to measure, then out to the garage to cut, then back in to nail the baseboards in place, we won’t hurt the floors.  By the time the 3 days is up, I can paint the trim and move everything back in.  And get back to real life.  Whew!

I’d try to start school right now in the middle of it all, but I’ve got stuff all over the place . . . I’m just not quite ready and I don’t think it will hurt us to wait another couple of days.  We may do some math and some spelling . . . I think I can put my hands on that stuff without too much trouble.

I’m kind of stressed about it all, but I keep reminding myself how blessed we are that we have a home, food in the cabinet, and each other.  So many right now have so much less . . . thinking of this really helps one to keep perspective, hmmm?

Have a blessed day.

And people wonder why the rescue effort is going so slowly:

Hospitals struggled to evacuate critically ill patients who were dying for lack of oxygen, insulin or intravenous fluids. But when some hospitals try to airlift patients, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan said, “there are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, ‘You better come get my family.”’

To make matters worse, the chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of New Orleans police officers — many from flooded areas — turning in their badges.

“They indicated that they had lost everything and didn’t feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives,” Col. Henry Whitehorn said.

(from MSNBC)

 

Thoughts on the Storm and its Aftermath . . .

This morning a good friend left a message on my answering machine. We’ve been playing telephone tag for a number of days and so I guess she decided to leave a lengthy message on the machine in “conversation.” I’ll probably leave one on hers as well, and eventually we’ll both know what’s going on in each other’s lives. She said the kids are good, she’s been very busy, and she’s horrified by what she’s seen on t.v. regarding Katrina. Then she said something that would normally really tick me off. (However, we’ve been friends since childhood and that allows for a little patience when either of us says something stupid . . . )

She said, “If one baby down there dies, I’m never voting Republican again.”

ARGHHHH!!!!!

I’ve not had a chance to talk with her yet, person to person, but I can’t believe how anyone can cast blame at the Republican party for something that dwarfs any and all catastrophes that have struck our native soil in well over a century. Granted, she is a more liberal conservative (or maybe a more conservative liberal), and she did vote for Clinton (I’ve forgiven her, really, I have . . . ) But how can anyone blame the Republican Party and more specifically George W. Bush for how the relief effort is progressing?

I am still having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the magnitude of the damage . . . and I’m about to say something that may tick some people off, but bear with me while I try to explain what I mean. This is so much more horrific than 9/11 in a way . . .

As a specific event, 9/11 had a beginning and an end. The Towers fell and the cleanup began. Survivors grieved, but they were able to find shelter, food, water. They had places to go. For instance, HOME. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there were any apartments in the Towers. I may be wrong, but I don’t remember hearing about any apartments in the vicinity that were damaged beyond repair when the Towers fell. So while there was great loss of life, those who survived did have a place to go to and many received financial assistance from the government (the Republican government, I might add).

Hurricane Katrina may be “gone,” but the effects of her visit will go on for years. The levees (which were not built strongly enough to sustain this type of storm YEARS before President Bush came into office, and therefore cannot logically be blamed on him) must be “repaired” with something, anything, in order to drain the city and then rebuilt to withstand future assaults by WEATHER SYSTEMS. The city must be drained and then cleaned up and honestly, I don’t know if that is even possible. My sister is a nurse and she commented that the hospitals need to be bulldozed and rebuilt. She said that she just didn’t see how one could possibly bring a hospital contaminated by the toxic sludge now flowing through New Orleans back to the relatively sterile state it was before the storm. I think of all the homes that are soaking up the filth and wonder how they can ever be restored. It’s simply mind-boggling . . .

People are clamoring for help, and yet the people trying to help them are getting shot at. What’s that all about? Another blogger thought it was terrible that it was suggested that looters be shot. Yes, it is terrible . . . but if that looter is packing heat and threatening rescue workers trying to help those who really need help, I say “take ‘em down!” They are preventing the continuation of the rescue mission and in doing so, may be costing even more people their lives. So to some degree, they are to blame for the slowness of the process. And as harsh as it may sound, some of them don’t deserve saving. (Not very Christian, I know, but if reports can be believed, some of those who’ve taken refuge in our Astrodome have committed rape and other crimes even as we try to help them.)

As far as the current administration’s actions, while nothing will seem “fast enough,” I’m confident that they are taking proactive steps to handle the situation as well as can be expected, considering the great magnitude of the task ahead. What I would like to know is, where is the foreign aid? Where are the people that we’ve helped in times of trouble? There were Americans en route to London after the bombings (a much, much smaller catastrophe by comparison) even before the dust settled. We have sent so much money to aid in the tsunami relief effort (and yet were criticized for not sending “enough”) – where are our international brethren when we are in need? Hmmm? And if I have missed something, if in fact someone has sent us aid, please let me know so I can correct my thinking.

It’s going to take a long time to get this resolved, and criticizing the current efforts is counterproductive. It wastes energy. Instead of criticizing, find out how you can help. There are currently approximately 750 people staying in the hotels in my little community alone and the churches are coordinating efforts to provide meals to these people. A spaghetti dinner will be served tonight. Spaghetti goes a long way and is relatively cheap to prepare. I purchased eight cans of Kroger spaghetti sauce (79¢ each), two (3 lb.) packages of Kroger spaghetti ($1.99 each), and three loaves of garlic bread ($1.99 each) for a total of $16. It will make enough to feed 48 people one meal. Not necessarily a lavish meal, but a meal that will fill their tummies and give them energy for a few more hours.

If everyone will do this or something similar (and many are, I know), it will go a long way toward helping those taking refuge in our communities. If 15 people do what I did, it is enough to feed those 750 one meal. The Brazosport area has a population of approximately 30,000. Fifteen goes into that 2,000. So if every person donated $16 toward that, 750 people could be fed 2,000 meals. Quite amazing, huh?

Well, that’s all I have to say on the subject right now. I think the main thing is: Don’t point fingers, keep praying, and show compassion both for the victims of the hurricane and our administration. Can any of us honestly say that we could handle this situation better if we were in charge? It’s very easy to say “Why aren’t they doing this? Why did they do that?” The fact is, there are many, many militating factors slowing down the recovery process including the magnitude of the crisis and the fact that our president doesn’t have a national “checkbook” at his disposal requiring only his signature. I’m sure that if he could, he would sign off on unlimited aid, but that’s not possible. There are checks and balances and processes that must be adhered to, no matter what the crisis.

It’s very late, got a busy day tomorrow (actually, today!) what with my girl having choir and recorder band classes and all.  I’m hoping to get some lesson plans figured out during the three hours she’s in class.  Gas is too expensive to drive home, so I’ll find a corner somewhere to perch until she’s finished.

Just a reminder (like any of us need one), to keep all those along the Gulf Coast in our prayers.  I, myself, am a Gulf Coast girl — albeit the Texas Gulf Coast.  I live a mere 8 miles from the beach, and I keep thinking “there but for the grace of God, could have gone I . . .”  Texas hasn’t been hit by a big one since ’83, when Cat. 3 “Alicia” came roaring through.  The damage was incredible with that tiny storm (compared to Katrina, that is).  My dad lives in New Orleans, and thankfully left town Saturday before the storm hit.  He and his girlfriend went to stay with family near Victoria.  I’ve not been able to reach him, because his cell phone is a Louisiana number and I keep getting a busy signal.  At least I know he’s safe.  Their house lies a mere 3 miles from the Superdome, and so I don’t have a clue what they’ll return to — if there’s anything to return to.  It’s a two-story house and I’m hoping against hope that it’s in one of the areas where the waters were less deep . . .

I’m gone for now, but I just had to try this out.