It's been a long freaking week....

So I'll start from the top.

Sunday, over at Dad's for lunch. We never did make it to church, but I needed sleep a little more than I needed to hear a sermon. DD ended up in a bad mood because she & the niece had a disagreement over which movie to watch. Resulted in DD throwing a tantrum (she's 9-1/2 and yes, she still throws tantrums) and bitching about how she hates her life and wishes she was never born. *rolling eyes* Yes. It looks like the tendency towards depression is carrying on through a third generation. Lovely.

Monday, I had to head into town early to sign some final papers so we can get a home equity loan to pay off all our bills and do some work around the house. After bills are paid we're going to have enough $$ left over to get: 2 canvas car-ports for our vehicals; a 12x16 deck on the back of the house; a front walkway consisting of crushed white granite; a new mattress for our bed; and hopefully a couple of months rent on a storage space. After signing the paperwork, DH and I went to lunch across the street from the bank before we both headed to work (me to start my day, him to continue). Of course I don't get off till 9:15 on Monday evenings, so it was a late night.

Tuesday was nothing special, my usual 6 hour day at work.

Wednesday, following work, I headed down the street to the Fairbanks Youth Soccer Assoc. soccer fields to watch DD play. It's the first game I've seen her play this season. She was in the goal for the first half of the game, and of the 7 or 8 shots the other team took, DD only let one shot through. Second half, she was playing center and doing a decent job, but the girl playing goalie let all 4 shots taken on her, through. Didn't save a SINGLE shot. *sigh* All in all, our team couldn't keep the ball down on opposing team's side of the field long enough to get a goal at all. Final score, 5-0, our loss. DD was in a nasty mood after this loss, of course. Griping and whining about how she hates soccer and never wants to play again. She'll come around.

After the game, we went to dinner at one of our new favorite resteraunts, this little oriental place called Choice Rib. Come to find out, they were featured in the "new eats" article in the paper that same day, so by the time we got there they were out of soup, chicken, and lemonaid. And running low in other ingredients & items. LOL I was kinda bummed to not get soup or lemonaid, until I found out that it was because they'd been run off their feet by people who didn't know they were there. Sounds like they got a LOT of good business out of that article, and most everybody likes their place. Good. It's a nice little resteraunt. We didn't get home till almost 9:30 Wednesday night.

Yesterday, Thusday, was an early morning as DD had a dentist appointment at 9:30. A cleaning. It went well. The hygenist said that there are NO cavities and her teeth look fantastic. I hope that if DD hears it often enough she'll realize that it's a GOOD thing for me to check her teeth over every night (or every couple of nights, at least). Ran DD back out here to day-care, stopped by the house and watered the dog & my flower-beds, then headed back to town for work. Got off at 6, of course, and came home and made stew. (All I could find in the freezer was stew-meat and burger, and as warm as it was, I made stew for dinner last night.)

This morning I had a dentist appointment (also a cleaning) at 9 am. Wouldn't you know it, I must have been half-asleep when I reset my alarm clock last night because it didn't go off at 7:40 this morning, and actually read as 2:29 am instead. *sigh* Got up and used the bathroom and when I flushed the toilet overflowed as I was trying to plunge it. *BIG sigh* Threw a towel down on it to sop things up a bit, once I finished unplugging it, finished getting dressed, and woke up DD. Made her a PB&J sandwich & gave her a baggy of raisins for breakfast. Made her lunch sandwich and ran her over to the daycare before I could even head into town for MY appointment. And it's at least a half-hour trip each way to & from our dentist. I'm seriously considering finding a dentist closer to home, but it seems more trouble than it's worth. Anyway, my teeth don't look nearly as good as DD's (big suprise), and I got the usual chewing out from the hygenist. Then I got home, scrubbed the bathroom floor, tossed the towel & scrub-rags into the wash. Now I'm sitting here eatting some toast & a glass of milk for a bit. Soon I've gotta get back off, go water my plants, and get ready to head into town. I've still gotta swing back by the bank and pick up our check for the loan before I can head to work.

This afternoon, DH is going to be meeting with a guy from DOT about that street light that they're proposing planting in our front yard. Evidently it's not the city at all, but DOT, that plans to put these street-lights up and down our streets. And the guy from DOT insists that the survey-post they put in is IN the ease-way and they're well within their rights to do what they want with that part of our yard. I'm wondering why the freak we're paying taxes on this property if they (the government) can come in and do whatever-the-heck they want with it anyway. Anyway, DH is going to point out how much more sense it would be to put the light-pole on the property line between our place and our neighbour's place, and how it will be out of the way for vehicals (snow plows as well!) and how it won't pull our property values down if placed there, and how it won't keep us up nights with bright lights shining in our rooms. And hopefully DH is also going to call the bank and get them to write an official letter about how this will hurt our property values and mess up the loan we just took out with them. I'm still of the opinion that I'll sit in that very spot on the lawn all summer long, if needs be, to keep them from plowing up my yard for a street-light.

I'm GOING to sleep in tomorrow. And Sunday, and all next week. And next Saturday and Sunday too. DD's daycare is closed next week, so I took the week off except for 4 hours on Monday evening when I've got to go in.

Tomorrow we've got to go pick up the new mattress that we're buying off of one of my coworkers who's got a brand-new (3 years old, but still in it's box) mattress that she's going to give us for $75. Ours is over 15 years old, and is a hand-me-down at that. My coworker had planned to replace the mattresses in the rooms at her B&B, just before they decided to shut the B&B down instead. So she's had this mattress in the downstairs room for about 3 years now, still in it's box, never used. They were cleaning up a couple of weeks ago, and found it. She also had heard me griping about how we needed to find a new mattress for our bed, as ours is so old that it's starting to be painful to sleep on. (Springs poking us in the back!) Anyway, so we're going to pick up the mattress tomorrow. And DH is going to rototill out the walk-way and put in a better walkway of crushed white granite (over a layer of sand, over a layer of gravel). We're also hoping to pick up the materials for that back deck, so DH & FIL can build it NEXT weekend.

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In other news.... Looks like our garden over at the inlaw's is about ready to be abandoned. DH said that although a good portion of the plants have come up, they're looking very stunted this year and are nowhere near producing. Any of them. *sigh* So FIL figures that if it's not growing anyway, he's not going to keep watering them. I can see his point, but I SO wanted zucchini and swiss chard this year.

On top of the fact that the garden isn't producing, though. SIL was home with her younger son one day (he's 3) and sent him outside to play and told him to go check out the garden. FIL got home and found that the nephew had gotten out and walked on a lot of the plants & broken some, and crushed others. *sigh* And SIL got pissed when confronted about how she allowed (encouraged, more like) the nephew to go play in the garden. She doesn't seem to think that it should make any difference where the nephew plays, and it's just a garden. *rolling eyes* Just when I'd stopped hating her and started feeling sorry for her instead, she pulls this.

I told DH that I don't figure I'll ever feed SIL from my table, and my food supply. If she has so little regard for the fact that FIL, DH, DD and I worked long & hard to put that garden in, so that we would hopefully have produce to help us get through the winter, that she's unmoved by the fact that she encouraged her child to get out there and do his best to ruin our garden & our food supply...... I told DH that if she's starving, I won't be feeding her. She can starve, and good riddance to her. I won't put my resources in front of somebody so self-centered & disrespectful of me & mine. If (when) TSHTF and she's in need of shelter & food, she won't get it from me. I'll take her sons in, because they're children and they're good kids who haven't yet learned to be as self-centered & disrespectful of all as SIL is. But the SIL will freeze & starve, for all I care. I'm sick & tired of her using & abusing me & mine, and expecting us to welcome her back with open arms when she periodically decides she needs to stop treating us so sh**tily. She only does it in order to get people (us, the family) to let her back in and start caring about her again, then as soon as she's got us back where she wants us, she starts acting the b**ch again, using and abusing till the cycle starts again. (I say us, meaning the family: FIL, DH and MIL. Though it's been a long time since I, personally, have been snowed by her. And really, MIL never actually decides to see what SIL is doing. MIL's completely blinded and thinks that SIL is faultless..... *sigh* For that matter, MIL doesn't see why FIL, DH and I are up in arms over the garden, because as the SIL said, it's "just a garden.")

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Let's see.... I haven't heard anything back about either of the two jobs. One of my coworkers (the only other circ-page who applied for them) said she got a call from HR saying that she was the only who met the barest of requirements for the acquisitions position and that they were going to make the position open to the public. She was rather offended that they didn't just call her in for an interview and give her the job if nobody else from "in-house" was qualified. I reminded her that they need to give anybody who might be qualified an option, if there's only one from in-house who is qualified. And I told her that at least she GOT called. I didn't. I'm not heart-broken, but I am a bit bummed. I would have loved to be in a position to be purchasing books for the library's collection. But, as I thought, the fact that I didn't have any office experience ruled me out for that job. Anyway, I'm hoping I do hear back on the regional job. But, nothing yet.

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Other than that, the last few days have been almost miserably hot. I know my mom & middle sis (and other folks in warmer climates, and esp. folks thinking of Greece) will think I'm just being whiny, but we've had a few weeks in a row now where the temps have been hitting well into the 80's. I know, that's not really terribly warm when you consider how hot Arizona can get, and how hot Greece has been. But, for us, it's hot. And though we've had days where the forcasters were predicting thunderstorms that would relieve some of the heat & humidity, those thunderstorms seem to go right on around us, not dropping the rain that we need.

Ok. I think that's about it for now.

Have a Blessed Day!

I HATE this F***ING CITY!!!!

So, y'all recall all the trouble we had a couple of years back when the city decided to pave the roads & put in new sewer & water lines, and they dug the crap out of my yard, and I'm only JUST starting to get a yard back????

Well, guess what.... They think they're going to try it again.

Only, NOW they want to put a freaking STREET LIGHT in my FRONT YARD!!!! I'm NOT shitting you. They had surveyors come through while I was at work today and placed a orange surveyor stake over 5 feet up from the road, and over 3 feet in from our drive-way (parking spaces), and they think they're going to plant a big-ass street light RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PROPERTY!!!!! Those idiots can think again. I swear I'll plant my lily-white ass on that very spot and not move it all freaking summer, if I have to, to keep those morons from digging up my yard yet again and planting a damned street light there!

Gods.... I'm so pissed I'm shaking! I don't know WHY they don't plant one on the property line between my house & J's. But Nooooooooo. They wanna plant one smack dab in the middle of my yard. Like hell! And why the freak couldn't they have put it in 2 years ago when they were doing the pavement and the sewer lines???? WHY wait 2 years, when we've finally got our yard coming back, to tell us they're going to do this to us again???? F**K THAT! Grrrrr.......

Anyway. Just had to rant. Because this is quite honestly VERY rant-worthy!!!!! We purchased this danged house, and granted we can't do much about the easements, but they're NOT going to co-opt my front yard for their street lights. I won't put up with it.

Hope everybody ELSE had a Blessed Day.

Weeds, Bread, and Visiting....

First off, some pictures. This first is my pea-patch. Some of the plants are starting to get to the point of being ready to grab onto the lattice. Not long now and they'll be producing peas!!!! YUM!



The next pic is my 2 rhubarb plants. They're rather small, really, for having been in that spot for the last 5 years now. Probably because I haven't been very good about weeding around them and picking the rhubarb and using it. Maybe if I used it more, it'd produce more. Then again, that theory is kinda shot when I think about my next-door-neighbour's rhubarb patch that is huge. And he NEVER uses it. At least, never EATS it. It's a decorative plant as far as they're concerned. They just don't care for the flavor of rhubarb. Silly people.




And finally is my poor pathetic chive plant. I let my weeds over-take my chives for far too long, so when I finally got out and pulled the weeds & cut the wild-grasses surrounding my chives, it was just easier to cut down my chives along with everything else. I pulled all the fire-weed, which is now invisible, though I didn't get all the weeds pulled. A lot of them just got cut with hand-shears. Like the wild grasses. And the dandylions. I didn't have the energy, once all this was done, to go find my weeding-fork and dig out the dandylions.




Ok. Well that gives you a little glimpse of the yard-work I've been engaging in a lot lately. This doesn't include my flower beds, because they're quite honestly nothing worth seeing yet, though a lot of the flowers are coming up. But they're still just seedlings, and sparsely spaced ones at that. When the flower start coming up I'll try to get a picture then.


It's amazing how yard-work ALMOST becomes addicting, when you've got something you're looking forward to enjoying. Still not completely addicting. And exausting. I'm sitting here absolutely bushed, after cutting and pulling those weeds, then raking the weeds into a big ol' pile. Don't know yet what I'm going to do with that pile of weed-rubbish. Probably just pull it into the back-yard to degrade, when I get more energy. For now, I think I'll let it sit where it is..... 3 yards to the left of that pathetic chive plant.

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No more pictures of the baby-afghan for now. I've gotten quite a bit more of it done. I'm approximately half way done with it. We still haven't heard from M&B whether they've had a little boy or a little girl. *shrug* So, that buys me time to keep working on the afghan. *grin*

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Also making a couple of loaves of bread today. It's golden-egg-bread with a touch of rye-flour in place of some of the wheat. We'll see how it turns out. I didn't use much rye, so I'm hoping it rises well. (Actually, what rye I mixed in was only as much as it took to make it kneadable without leaving stickiness all over the table. So probably less than 1 cup of rye to the 4 cups of all-purpose flour.)


DD had a friend sleep over last night, so this morning I made waffles and bacon for breakfast. Yummy sourdough waffles, though I didn't actually have any of the waffles myself. *wry smile* I'm not a breakfast person, so I didn't even eat till about 2 pm as I was making my bread. Then I ended up having the last 4 pieces of bacon made into a bacon sandwich. There's left-over waffles, though, which is nice because they wind up in the freezer to be pulled out on weekday mornings for a quick breakfast. Much better than eggos! I did have to chuckle when DD's little friend saw I was actually MAKING waffles she was suprised and says that her mom always just buys the organic ones from the store. Evidently when I asked last night if they wanted waffles for breakfast this morning, she wasn't expecting me to actually bake my own. *grin*

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And as for the visiting.... DD and I will be going over to Dad's house tomorrow for lunch. It's been a couple of weeks, so we're due for another visit. It's really working better to only go over every 2 weeks, instead of every single week. Gives DD more time between visits with the niece. The niece is still beyond whiney and quite annoying. And she doesn't really play well with others (or, at least not with DD). Doesn't make for very happy visits. But, as I said, it's better when we're only going over every 2 weeks.


We're also hoping to get over to see Great-Grandma tomorrow. It's been about 2 weeks since we've been to visit her either, and as she's not got much time on this earth left, we really do need to be making the most of it. Made even more important by the fact that she's got alzheimers and it's starting to get noticable. She still recognizes us, but she's getting a lot worse about even remembering what she's just done. Her general health is also going down-hill, and it's only a matter of time before she winds up catching a cold that she can't recover from, or some other ailment that so many elders die of. And besides, it does DD good to know the one remaining great-grandparent she's got. Gives her experience with being around people much older than her. She tries to be gentle with Great-Grandma. (Doesn't always succeed, but she tries.) And I hope that even with Grandma's failing mental capabilities, DD grasps how much wisdom lie in the minds of our elders.


Great-Grandma is my Mother-in-law's mom. MIL's dad died before I met DH. FIL's parents both died when DH was still in elementary school, and DH barely remembers them either. As for my grandparents, DD DID get to meet my Dad's mom. But DD was only 18 months at that point, and certainly doesn't recall meeting Mom-mom. Pop-pop died when DD was only about 3 months old. My grandma (Mom's mom) also died very shortly after DD was born. And Grandpa (Mom's dad) died when I was a teenager. So, again, I'm glad that DD has the chance to build memories of her Great-Grandma.


I only wish she'd had the chance to remember Grandma when Grandma was still an active, healthy woman. Only 5 years ago Grandma was making big vats of chicken-noodle soup (really almost Amish-style chicken & dumplings) that she'd portion out in containers for everybody in the family. (And this is a BIG family!) She made the BEST brownies, and an incredible "Peppermint dessert", and some of the best popcorn balls. We still make the popcorn balls every christmas (one fore each member of the family, over 2 and living in town), but now it's DH and I and DD, and DH's Aunt M. who do the honors, and Grandma presides and tries. But her hands are no longer strong enough to press the popcorn into the balls. She no longer remembers how to make her brownies (and I never DID get that recipe from her before she forgot how). And she doesn't have the strength to whip up a pan of Peppermint Dessert (and mine just doesn't taste as good as Grandma's). I was lucky enough to get Grandma's Chicken Soup recipe, though. As she doesn't write anything down (therefore her recipes are all in her head), when DD was about a year old I made a point of going over and observing her and writing down her directions for her Chicken noodle soup and peppermint dessert. DH actually says that my Chicken soup is better than Grandma's was, those last couple of years that she made it. Mainly because she'd started getting sloppy (not trying to rag on her, just stating the fact that her mind was starting to go, but nobody realized it yet, and also didn't realize that she was quickly loosing physical strength) and not straining out the chunks of fat & cartilage & bone. Though he's still admant (as well he should be!) that in her prime, NOBODY could TOUCH Grandma's cooking skill. *grin* Now to figure out how to make that danged Peppermint dessert properly!!! LOL And I DO have Grandma's Popcorn Ball recipe, as well. In fact, after writing it down a couple of years ago, I always remember to bring my cookbook with the recipe along when we make them, so that we don't have to rely on Grandma's memory.

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Ok. I think that's about it for now. Thanks for the sweet comments over last week's post. I still haven't told DH how much it hurts that he never tells me I'm pretty. Not trying to sound vain our anything, but sometimes a girl just needs to hear it, ya know??? And who better to hear it from than the man she's married to. *sigh*


Have a Blessed Weekend!

1 long weekend, no pics....

Well, the party Friday night went about as well as could be expected, considering DH and I were the only 2 that didn't get completely hammered. In fact, I was the one who came closer to being hammered, but I stopped when I realized how quickly that one drink was going to my head. LOL Yes, one drink. And no it wasn't vodka! It was a can of somethink called Sparks. Kinda had an orange crush flavor, minus the carbonation. It was about the size of one of those "Rock Star" energy drink cans (tall & skinny). Anyway, the alcohol content was about 7%, which is considerably higher than the 4 or 5% wine-coolers than I usually drink. LOL And my limit has always been one. I've yet to ever have a hang-over, but I do get drunk very quickly.

So, anyway, we got there late and the Best Man (Bruce) wasn't there. Neither were Dt & Cindy, or Steve or Jack. And it was pouring rain. Fortunately Tony thinks about that kind of thing well in advance and he'd erected a huge tarp awning over the cement pad for his future garage, and had the grill tucked under it along with a bunch of outdoor chairs & a table. All the ladies (that were there) were inside getting drinks made & pot-stickers & egg-rolls fried. I was promptly directed to let the guys get to grilling (shish-kabobs) and go hang out with the ladies. Ok, fine! *rolling eyes*

Of course we all wound up outside standing around the grill chatting & laughing and Bruce & Steve finally got their with more shish-kabobs ready for the grill, and chicken drumsticks with this kick-ass marinade that Megan (Bruce's wife) made. It was like a tomato-based marinade that was both sweet & spicy, and I never did get her recipe. Anyway, then Dt & Cindy showed up, and finally Jack. DH and I haven't seen Jack in ages. It was good to see him, but he's looking rough. His brother died this past winter in Iraq, and it really hit him hard.

Well, as is the norm around these folks, the longer we were there, the more drunk everybody got. I got only about half-way through that can of sparks before I realized how drunk I was getting, so I sat it down till the food was done & I could fill my stomach with something other than alcohol. DH of course stopped at his normal 2. And he stopped fairly early on so that he'd be good to drive when we finally left. By the time the shish-kabobs & drumsticks started coming off the grill, the rain had stopped and Tony & Casey's siblings showed up with all the kids in tow for just a bit. They only stayed for a while, though, as it was evident that most everybody who'd already been present was thoroughly intent on getting completely drunk and T&C are smart enough to not want their little ones to see them that way. So the sibs left with the kids, and the party resumed, but moved on out to the fire-pit at the other end of the yard.

Then Casey announced that she had fixin's for smores, if anybody wanted them. Which Megan and I were completely amped about, of course. LOL So, Megan and Jack and I went and cut some willow sticks for roasting marshmallows, but no sooner did we get the first one cut & peeled than Steve took it. The second one, Dt absconded with. Bruce took the third. And NONE of them had roasted marshmallows or smores on THEIR minds. I swear to god, all 3 of these guys is pushing 30 (well, Bruce is actually 35, but point being...) and when you get them as drunk as they were.... They were no better than un-controlled 5 year old boys chasing each other around the yard with sticks. They started cracking each other along the backs of the legs, the butt, and up onto their backs with those dang switches. And of course Steve insisted on mooning the rest of us so that we could see the marks where Bruce broke his switch over Steve's back-side. That was a view I could have lived without! *rolling eyes* It's funny, because supposedly these 3 are like the best of friends..... Wouldn't know it the way they were beating the crap out of each other with those sticks. Then again, maybe it WAS obvious, because as much as it hurt when Bruce broke that switch on Steve's backside, Steve didn't retaliate by cold-clocking Bruce like he probably would have to somebody he WASN'T best buds with. *sigh* Over-grown boys. Even Tony got in on the retaliatory swatting, a bit. DH was wise enough to stay on the other side of the fire-pit, though.

And I had to chuckle because DT (trashed as he was) commented about swatting me with one of the switches. I told him that if he so much as tried, I'd kill him. That not even DH gets to swat me, I sure as hell wasn't going to let DT do it. *shaking head* Morons.

DH and I finally left, stopped by Blockbuster on our way home for some movies, then came home & watered the yards here and at next-door-neighbour J's house. DD went with J&T fishing this weekend so that we could go to the party child-free, so we were watering their lawn for them while they were gone. Anyway, turns out that AFTER we left, Casey got so rip-roaring drunk that she was standing on the benches surrounding the fire-pit, singing at the top of her lungs (and very badly, from what I gather). About 1:30 she staggered into the house to use the bathroom, only to come back out without pants. At which point Tony decided it was time to end the party & everybody better go on home.

Ahhh, I'm so glad I know better than to make that kind of idiot of myself.

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Saturday we didn't get up till about 10:20 (after not going to bed till about 3 am after watching a couple of movies), then had to immediately get going to the wedding. We got there and found that some of the smaller details had been forgotten. Like candles, a communion goblet, and materials for said communion. (I've never heard of having communion during a protestant wedding ceremony!) So Tony handed DH a $100 bill and asked us to run to Ben Franklin's & the grocery store & pick up a bottle of wine & some candles & some wine glasses for communion. We did. Got back and handed the preacher the glasses (bride & groom champaigne glasses were all we could find) and wine and got chewed out (by the preacher) that it was supposed to be a GOBLET, just 1 of them, and GRAPE JUICE not wine. *rolling eyes* We were just doing as we were told by the GROOM, buddy!!! So, there went Tony's $100. Granted it was his money, but I'm sure he could have used it for their up-coming honeymoon, instead of wasting it on wine & glasses that will never get used (and likely got tossed by the preacher). Oh well.

The reception was 2 hours after the ceremony, in town at Pioneer Park (formerly known as AlaskaLand, for Mom & Shelli) in the civic center. It was incredibly boring, and DH managed to piss me off. Not 2 days before the wedding he'd been griping at DD & I about how we always seem to dress rather casually, that he wished we'd be more careful in our dress & appearances. But I've never been a person to be terribly concerned with outward appearances. He's known that for 10-1/2 years. I don't know why he's just griping about it now. So, Saturday I dressed up for the wedding in a nice new skirt, and a pretty, low-cut top. (I DO dress up when called for, but normally I try to stick to things that I'm not too concerned about staining or getting dirty). Did my hair up in a pretty, complimentary hair pin, put in earrings & all.... The only thing I DIDN'T put on was make-up because I wind up looking worse than if I don't wear it. Esp. if I wear mascara. I cry so easily that I'm always causing my mascara to run (even if it's waterproof!). So, I was dressed up nicely, not wrinkled. Not covered in dog hair. And NOT ONCE did DH tell me how nice I looked. (MUCH LESS that I looked pretty!) In fact, he almost completely ignored me for the duration of the wedding & the reception. *rolling eyes* It was only when we left the reception & started walking around AlaskaLand that he so much as put his hand on my back, or held my hand. Jerk.

Is it any wonder that I don't dress up more frequently when he doesn't bother to compliment me when I DO???? And NO, I didn't tell him that this ticked me off. If I tell him and he compliments me next time, how would I know if he's complimenting me just because he thinks I want to hear it, or because he truly means it. I can't tell you how long it's been since he's told me he thinks I look pretty in something. It's literally been years. And yet he's got NO problem griping when I'm looking grungy & working in the yard. *rolling eyes*

Anyway.

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Another late night Saturday, then got woken up on Sunday morning at 9 am by two of our neighbour's dogs. B&W (across the street from us) have 5 mutts. Wendy tends to rescue these pound dogs, and she's always got more than she can truly handle. They're poorly behaved and they bark non-stop. They've ruined the blinds & curtains & screens in her window, and I dread to think what they've probably done to the inside of her house. And Sunday morning she'd put two of the yapping-est of them outside, together. *sigh* So 9 am, and I'm awake listening to these dumb-ass dogs bark, non-stop!!!!! REALLY makes me wish I had the courage to do a little BB-gun sniping!

I eventually went over to Dad's to give him his Father's Day card and just say hi for a bit. Then headed back to NP. I had to stop in to Ben Franklin's & get the info needed for my job applications (which still aren't completely filled out, and their due tomorrow by 5 pm!). Then a bit of grocery shopping. Finally home. I made a couple of loaves of golden-egg-bread with minced, dried onions & some dill. Turned out very good!!!! And tastes delicious with a ham&swiss sandwich! And we had burgers for dinner. Watched a couple of episodes of our newest favorite TV show (Dead Zone). DD got home from fishing in time for dinner. Turns out that on Saturday she caught 3 good size grayling. DD outfished everybody else that was up there that day. (It was DD, J&T, and their daughter Jamie & her boyfriend Chad.)

Then back to the beginning of a brand-new work-week. *sigh*

So, there's my update. And no.... Still no pictures taken. Sorry. But, by the time I DO get them taken I'll probably be able to get some pics of the seedlings coming up in my flower-beds as well!!!! All 5 of the sunflower seeds I planted (WAY TOO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER!) came up. ROFL Pulled 3 of them out and replanted them farther apart, this morning.

But, now I've gotta get to work.

Have a Blessed Day!

A thing of beauty....

If you haven't already seen this clip, check it out. Incredible, awesome, beautiful.... All are words to discribe the voice this guy has!


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This is going to be a busy weekend. Tomorrow our friends Tony & Casey are getting married. I've long since stopped thinking of them as NOT married. They've been together for about 5 years now. Casey has 2 little girls by a past boy-friend, but Tony has been their dad since the moment he started seeing Casey, and they quickly moved into Tony's house with him. T&C have since had 2 more little girls together. And they're finally tying the knot. Tomorrow will be their wedding & reception.

Tonight they're having a barbeque at their home for their friends & family as sort of an alternative to any batchelor or batchelorette party. Just a bunch of folks getting together for some drinks, some food and some fun. But that means I've gotta head right over after work. *sigh* Not even time to change clothes.

Sunday will be Father's day, of course. I know we're not going to be doing anything for Father's day, as we just don't have the money. DH has to go shell out some of that non-existent $$ on a nice pair of black slacks & a nice white shirt for T&C's wedding. DH is an usher in this one. We've got another wedding to go to next month for Chris & Jennifer on the 7th, and then my reunion on the 21st. So, he'll get some good use out of the slacks & white shirt, even if he doesn't use them till next summer when he officiates for DT (his initial's & pronounced "deet") & Cindy's wedding. It's funny seeing all our friends just now getting married, when DH & I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in Nov. It feels like we're saying "FINALLY" to all these people, but in reality we got married rather young. I was 18, and DH was 23. (Of course, DD was also 2 months old at the time, which felt like putting the cart before the horse to a LOT of people.)

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Still no flowers in the flowerbeds. *sigh* I'm hoping they come up in the next couple of days. I really want my flowers!!! But my sugar-snaps are doing good. They're getting quite big already. I'll have to take a pic of them to post on Sunday, if I remember.

Hoping to get over to the FIL's place to weed & look over the garden, on Sunday, as well. I haven't seen it since a couple of days after we put it in. I'd like to see how our veggies are doing. I'm hoping that with all the rain we've been getting that they're getting big by now.

We woke up to rain againt his morning, but it's partly cloudy & dry for now. It's enough rain to keep the ground moist, but without being so much as to drown the plants. I like it like that. I hope it keeps on like that through the rest of the summer.

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I still haven't finished the afghan, but I'm maybe 1/3 of the way done with it. I need to work on it more than I am (didn't work on it at all yesterday). Of course we still haven't heard from M&B about the baby. I don't think B was due with the baby until a couple of weeks from now, but seeing as it's her 4th (and by then the babies come pretty quickly), and it's safe any time after 38 weeks.... They were kind-of expecting her to have the baby by now. I'll try to get a pic of the afghan taken & posted along with my sugar-snaps on Sunday, as well.

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I'm going to apply for 2 different positions coming open at work. One is in Regional. Which means that I must have a very good grasp of the materials available to us in our library & through our programs. I would be partly responsible (partly because there's one other person who works in regional) for getting materials out to folks who live in the bush. Trappers, home-steaders, folks in the villages, kids who are home-schooling from their parent's cabin out in the (literal) middle of nowhere. There have been scholarships to Harvard awarded to some of these homesteading kids. There are Rhodes scholars who come from cabins out in the bush. And if I were to obtain this position in Regional, I must be prepared to help these folks get the best education possible. The woman who would be my boss said that it also means having a good sense of what somebody is looking for, without them having to give me a title. Like trappers who only have room in their packs for 1 book, so it's got to be a very, very GOOD book if they're going to spend 3 months pouring over it while they're working their traplines. We'll see if it's something I've got the capabilities for! This one is listed as full-time, but seems to have hours closer to part-time. I would also have to spend 2 nights a month at the circulation desk (mentioned a little better below). The pay for this one is $17.04 per hour with benefits the same as I've got now.

The other position is in aquisitions. IE: purchasing books for our collections. I DO think I'd be good at this job. And I've got experience as a book-seller as well. So that may give me a bit of a benefit for dealing with grumpy salespeople. UNFORTUNATELY the requirements for this position include 1 year library experience (I'm coming up on 5 years) and 1 year office experience (none!) or a recent associate's degree (nope!). I'm hoping the fact that I'm good with people (it includes a little time each month helping out at the circ desk, and one must be good with people for that) and that I have sales experience weighs in my favor. Unfortunately I've got no experience (newer than 11 years old, anyway) with the programs they specify, like Word Processor and Excell. And I'm not very good with a 10-key, though I'm sure I could pick it back up rather quickly if I had some practice. I hope it really comes down to the ability to learn quickly and be upbeat & positive about it. Because I KNOW I'd do well at it, I just need a chance to learn. The pay for this job is listed as 15.56 per hour, with 40 hours a week, and the same benefits as I've got now.

Anyway, so today I've got to get over to Ben Franklin's & get some information about address & phone number so that I can fill in the appropriate boxes on the library-job apps with my experience at Ben's.

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Well, I think that's it for now. As I said, I'll try to get pics taken of my flowerbeds (lacking in flowers), my sugar-snaps, and the baby-afghan posted on Sunday.

Have a Blessed Day!

Works in Progress.... Mine & Mother Nature's

First, here is a pic of my latest work in progress (otherwise known as a WIP, in crafting terms). A former coworker/friend of DH's and the friend's wife are having another baby (this makes her 4th, his second). They're not sure whether they're having a boy or a girl. Fortunately I've got a boyish afghan done (stashed away for a rainy-day), but I'm in need of a girly-colored afghan. And this is it. I'm barely begun, and seeing as how M&B will probably be parents again next week, it probably won't be done in time. Also seeing as how it's a summer baby, I don't know that I'm going to make the usual hat-mitts-bootie set that I usually do to go along with the afghan. I may pop a couple of crocheted wash-cloths in the gift-bag with the afghan. Then he's got a current coworker who's due with a little girl in Oct. who I've got to make an afghan (and hat/bootie/mitt set) for as well. But I've got time to work on that. First things first, get this afghan done for M&B.

This second picture is certainly not the best of pictures. But, this is a small stretch of my little sugar-snap-pea plot. We had 3 straight days of rain, which really benefited our plants. My peas are coming up, and if you can tell, along the line of dark soil there (potting soil that I covered over the peas with, as I didn't have any quality top-soil) there are a number of pea-plant shoots peeking up through the dirt. There are also weeds at the bottom of the pic, but please ignore them. *grin* Anyway, this is one of Mother Nature's many WIPs, and one of the few I got to help with. More pictures will be taken as the plants get bigger and more visible before the camera.

Just thought I'd share a little bit of the works-in-progress taking place at my house over the last week.

Have a Blessed Day!

Busy, busy, busy.....

Well, we never did succeed in getting my flowers planted. Or, not all of them anyway. We planted under our bedroom window, but DH decided that digging that up & tilling it by hand was too strenous for even him. So he got the rototiller from his dad's the next night, and we dig out a good 6 inches of fill-gravel from a strip of ground along the rest of the front of our house, under the living-room & computer-room windows. Found more gravel there than dirt, so we dumped what was there into the (outside) dog kennel. Fills in some of the holes Puck & Jenny have been digging. *grin* Anyway, but now we've got a nice little 6-8" deep trench along the front of the house that we need to REFILL with top-soil (or, at the very least, fill dirt) and get planted. My peas aren't coming up yet, and neither are the flower seeds I planted under our bedroom window. (That part WAS top soil, because it was re-seeded with grass-seed by the city a couple of years back when they came through & dug it out to put in new sewer & water lines.)

I guess the seedlings that we put in on Memorial Day over at the FIL's have all died, and none of the other seeds have come up yet. *sigh* Maybe we won't get ANYTHING from our garden this year. That'd suck!

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I was woken up at 8 am this morning by a mosquito buzzing around my head. Nasty little freaks! I told DH that this is it, it's time to get a couple of those pest strips. I know the things probably put off nasty toxins, but 2 of them will keep our house mosquito-free for the rest of the summer. I'll take a little toxin over serious lack of sleep caused by constant mosquito-bzzzz in my ears all night. *wry smile*

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DD had her first soccer game of the summer on Monday. I missed it, of course, being at work till 9:15 as I am on Mondays. They lost, 6-1. DD's team suffered greatly from their lack of team-work & team-spirit. There are a couple of girls on DD's team who are of the opinion that DD doesn't know how to play, simply because this is her first season. So, regardless of the fact that she played (and played well) at school during recess all year, they refuse to pass to her. (Once she does get ahold of the ball she does really well moving it -legally!- down the field. Kid's a born athlete! Even if she doesn't know the sport well, she picks up on it quickly.) So, she was out there getting frustrated that her teammates wouldn't pass to her even when she was open. One of the girls threw a tantrum when she got to the game 5 minutes late and found out that goalies had already been picked (the coach has already picked up on the fact that DD is a good goalie, thanks largely to her experience in hockey) and that she wasn't allowed to just walk in and say she wanted to play goalie. DH said that after this girl's initial tantrum, she refused to play, standing back with her arms crossed. *sigh* Then there are the two ball-hogs who are convinced they're the best on the team, even though the "best on the team" titles really go to the two smallest of our players. (They're small, but fast.) *shaking head*

It's ironic, I see very little poor team-spirit & team-work in hockey, but a LOT of poor team-spirit & team-work in soccer & baseball. At least at these younger ages. I'm starting to be convinced that what it really comes down to is the commitment level and desire to play in the children on the team. With hockey, parents generally make darned sure (after the first year or two, which are always spent in learning to skate anyway) that their children want to play before they shell out the $$ for all that hockey gear. Kids don't generally play hockey just because it's there. By the time they've been in hockey for 4, 5, 6 years, a parent is pretty sure that this is what a child wants to do. And the child is aware of how much money Mom & Dad are spending on them for registration fees, ice-time, and gear. So, both are well aware that this is a commitment & not something to be taken lightly. Not to say that we don't have our off weeks. We sure do. But if DD starts the season gung-ho about wanting to play hockey, we make it clear to her that she better play her best. Now, if she were to mid-way-through decide that she didn't want to play anymore, yes we'd push her. But only till the end of the season. Hockey is not a sport a child can join for part of a season then decide to drop out. Too much money goes into it for that. But, if at the end of the season DD is still adamant that she really doesn't want to play again next season, we would honor that request.

Soccer & baseball (at least at this age) seems to be considerably different. Little money is spent on decent gear & registration fees. Even tournament fees are considerably lower than were the fees for our hockey tournaments. So, the commitment level seems to be considerably less. With hockey, if you child drops out mid-season, you're out several hundred dollars. (DD's hockey last year, without sponsors or fundraising, would have been in the range of $2000, including our tournament fees.) With soccer, if DD were to drop out, we'd be out about $150. And I think parents & children realise that. So, as I said, I don't feel as though the commitment to being a team-player is there with baseball & soccer as it is with hockey (and possibly football). *shrug* DD is pretty disappointed, already, in how this soccer season is looking. With 2 teammates that can't stand her, and whom she can't stand, and another who's lazy if she doesn't get her way (at the expense of the others, no less), DD is pretty well aware that their competing well in games this season is slim.

And, as much as other people say "It's not about winning...." Sorry, to disappoint, but it IS about having fun, and children who lose every single game aren't generally having fun. Not to say that it's ONLY about winning, but to keep spirits up, a game must be won every now and again. Otherwise your team quickly comes to believe that their team sucks and what's the point. Heart is lost for the game, and children drop out. So, though it's NOT all about winning, winning a game every now & again certainly helps with the general enjoyment of the sport itself.

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We've had some crazy-humid weather the last couple of days. I mean, like folks from chicago, and florida, and texas are saying that they've never experienced this kind of humidity in Fbks, AK before, that this is something they're used to down in the states, but not up here. Still no thunder-storms (at least, not that I've heard), but very humid. I left work Monday night feeling like I could probably swim from the building to my car. Crazy. We did have some of that moisture actually drop on us yesterday, but not enough. WANT MORE RAIN! LOL

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I'm back to working a full 5 day week, again. Man, that couple of weeks with an odd schedual was incredible. I decided that I'm going to schedual myself a week off, twice a year, to just relax. I mean, a week where anything I get done is a bonus. Not a week spent camping or fishing or hunting. Not a week spent franticly preparing for christmas. A week in which my primary goals include catching up on laundry & dishes & my favorite shows or movies. A week in which I'm not rushing around, but just relaxing. I felt so damned good when I went in on Friday of last week. And even though I'm still tired, I feel pretty danged good this week too. (The mosquito this morning certainly didn't help, though.) I realized that I really just need that time off every few months to unwind & relax without any real pressure to do things. And, ironically, even after all the time I took off in May for jury duty, I've still got 160 hours of leave-time available to me. And more ecruing every day. And after July 1st, I'll have 2 more personal holidays available, above & beyond my leave-time. So, there's really no reason I can't afford to take a couple of weeks off a year, just for relaxing. That's not even including what I take off for trips or doctor's appointments.

And I realized, too, how often everybody else takes time off! I've got one coworker who takes off a week every couple of months. Not every 6 months, but every couple of months. And who's takes off whole days for a dr's appointment (and she works a 40 hour week). My boss takes a week off roughly every month & a half. Other coworkers who give themselves 4 day weekends every couple of months, along with 3 week vacations in the states to visit their family every year.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm being lazy, but I've been working non-stop for the last 5 years now, most of it without leave-time available. Only the last 2 years have I had paid leave. Last year I took 2 weeks off for my surgery, but because of the surgery it wasn't exactly a relaxing 2 weeks. I need to start being nicer to myself and giving myself a chance to relax, if I really want to stay healthy.

Anyway..... I suppose that is it for now.

Have a Blessed Day!

I am a Ravenclaw!

I'm a Ravenclaw!

Just a bit of fun, is all.

Did you hear that Universal Studios is planning a World of Harry Potter theme park???? Dude, now THAT may get me to go to Florida! I mean, they're planning on having Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest, and Hogsmead..... How cool would that be??? Or, to do the entry to the park as though you were really entering through the Leaky Cauldron, into Diagon Alley..... Man, can you imagine some of the stores one might truly find in Diagon Alley or Hogsmead???? *sigh* DD & DH can go to "the happiest place on earth", I wanna go to this Harry Potter Theme Park. *grin*

Here is a link to yahoo's article: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20070531/118063398001.html

Have a Blessed Day!

This 'n That.....

First off, here's my favorite Challah recipe. Remember, I did NOT come up with this recipe myself, but I unfortunately don't recall the cookbook I obtained it from. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to infringe on any copy-rights. I just don't remember.

Low Cholesterol Challah Recipe

2 pkg dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp, if you buy it by the jars)
2 c warm water (divided)
1/4 c sugar (though I always up it to half a cup, I like my Challah a bit sweet)
1-1/2 tsp salt
7 to 8 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs (divided)
3 Tbsp veggie oil (though, as I'm not cooking Kosher, I usually use unsalted sweet-cream butter)

Proof yeast in 1 cup of the water with about 1 tsp of sugar. Mix remaining sugar, salt & 7 cups of the flour in a large (and I DO mean LARGE) bowl. Pour proofed yeast into well in center of flour mixture and stir into flour. Add 1 of the eggs (beaten) and oil, and knead into flour. More flour may be added as needed. Dump out onto lightly floured surface & knead till dough is (relatively) smooth & elastic. (I never seem to get to that "smooth as a baby's bottom" stage. Even after kneading for 20 minutes the other day, my dough still resembled my cellulite-ridden ass more than it did a baby's smooth bottom. But, as pictured, it rose beautifully anyway.) When dough has been kneaded to as smooth a texture as it will allow, let sit on the floured surface (a kitchen table works well!) while you wash out that bowl & pour in a small amount of oil (not called for in recipe). Pop your dough BACK into your bowl, turn over a couple of times to cover in oil, cover with a clean dish-towel, place in warm spot, and back off for about 2 hours, or till dough has doubled in size.

Now, the origional recipe gave directions for forming this into braids, but that's harder than it looks, and as I said, I'm not making this for Seder, I'm making this for yummy toast in the mornings. So, instead divided the dough into 3 or 4 loaves (as equal in size as you can manage), and place into lightly greased bread pans. Cover & allow to rest for another hour or so, till again doubled (at least) in size. (For a glossy finish, beat that 2nd egg together with about a Tbsp of water & brush over the loaves just before baking.) Bake in 350 deg (farenheit) oven for about 40 minutes, or till bread sounds hollow when you thump it with your fingernail.

There ya are. My favorite Challah recipe. I don't know if it's quite as good as the Challah I remember from those Seder dinners, but it's darn good anyway, and it only uses one egg, so if you don't have many eggs to go around..... No harm done.

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We finished up our Jury Duty today. I don't have to go back tomorrow. Which is kinda bumming me out. I'd taken today and tomorrow (Wed. & Thurs.) off from work so that I could keep those last couple of checks. I'd planned on using both of them to help pay for my class reunion meal tickets in July. Now I won't get but 25 dollars for today, nothing tomorrow. *sigh* I do have to go back in Friday to finish off my work-week. Next week will begin my summer hours without any interuptions. I'll be working Monday through Friday through the summer. I really don't like that. I love my winter hours, when I work Sunday through Thursday, and have Fridays & Saturdays off.

However, we're supposed to have reasonable weather tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get outside (not spend all day online or in front of the TV) and do some gardening around the house. My plans include pulling out the fireweed that's growing in with my chive & rhubarb plants & in the space that I want to plant with sugar-snap peas. We've got a small trellis on the south side of the house that I've planted sugar-snaps against in the past. I didn't do it last year though. I need to get out there tomorrow & weed it out, then get those sugar-snaps planted so I've got a small supply here at home for a few days this summer.

And for the record, I love fireweed. Just not when it's clogging up my chives, my rhubarb, or my sugar-snaps. There are plenty of other spots in the back yard for it to grow. The south side of my house (since it's only a few feet of property on that side) is for these other 3 of my plants.

I'm also hoping to get some shasta daisies planted around the bottom of my scrawny little birch tree in the front yard, and some delphiniums & lupines planted between the windows along the front of the house. I want some flowers, and these are some of the prettier flowers, in my opinion. I may also see about putting in a sunflower or two on the south-east corner of my house. I think that'd be a pretty way to hide that corner of the house. (And it'd be right in front of my sugar-snaps.)

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I sold ANOTHER bag today. I didn't even get this one finished to photograph when one of my fellow jurors mentioned how beautiful she thought the colors were. They were just the sort of colors she always wears. So before I'd even gotten the bag done, she asked if she could buy it from me. Well.... YEAH!!!!! And she also seemed suprised when I told here I was only asking $20 for it. On the other hand, she also said she'd tell her friends who she bought it from, when they ask. *grin* Word of mouth is the BEST kind of advertisement.

And the red, white & blue one sold last week to the other fellow juror who'd mentioned that she liked the colors.

So I've now sold 3 of them, and I haven't even taken any to that gift shop yet. I may just go ahead and hold onto them and sell them to folks who ask me as they see me. When I was at the grocery store last week, the clerk who was ringing my items up mentioned how fantastic she found the idea, and I told her right off that if she wants to buy any, I've got some to sell. I'm keeping them in a big trash bag in the back of my car so that I have them with me.

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Ok, I think that's it for now. Just a bunch of little goings on.

Have a Blessed Day!

Oh I love a rainy.... day!

Yep, we got a good steady day of rain yesterday, and into the early morning this morning. Refilled the water tanks over at the FIL's for the plants this summer, and watered our new seeds & seedlings in well.

(The FIL does have a well, but it's nearing the point of needing to be redug, so we water from the rain barrels as much as possible, to preserve water for the FIL & MIL. When it's very dry, the FIL & DH have treked through the brush behind FIL's house down to the gravel pit/fly-pond that's back there and pumped water from the pit/pond to the barrels for watering purposes. But, we'll take the rain over the pond-water if it's given to us.)

Anyway, so DH & DD spent about half of the day in town yesterday with FIL shopping & bumming around, which gave me a chance to do some baking & watch recently taped episodes of SG:1 and SG:Atlantis. *sigh* Ahhhh, bliss!

Here are a couple of pics of the baking: These are only 2 of the 3 loaves that came out of this batch. (The third went over to my next-door neighbour before I snapped this pic.) They all 3 rose beautifully, but I don't know WHY this one loaf is so much bigger than the others. I guess it must be my inability to estimate quantities & sizes. I have a hard time making evenly sized loaves. But, it's homemade, so it's all good, I suppose. And it tastes delicious, so what more could a person want??? *grin*

For the record, this is my favorite Challah recipe. I'm not of Jewish descent or anything (not that I think it'd be a bad thing if I were, I'm just not), but as a teen I babysat for a Jewish couple with 2 darling little girls. At first they had me take care of their daughters at their home, but then invited me to go along with them to their Sabbath service to care for their daughters during the sermon (or whatever they call it). I would be downstairs during the religous part, but would bring the girls up during the Seder dinner that they would share as a congregation and was welcomed to take part. It was a very small congregation, of about 20 or so people all together. As a rule, about 14 people would show up for the sermon & Seder. The rabbi's wife did the baking of the bread (as was customary, it seemed to me), and the main dish (a brisket, I believe). The rest of the congregation would bring accompanying sides. All kosher, and all delicious, though the Challah was my favorite. And She (the rabbi's wife) made the most beautiful big, golden braids. Both brushed with egg white after baking for that sheen that mine don't have, and one of them sprinkled with poppy seeds.

I fell in love with Challah during those few Seders (the family moved not long after, or something, and I stopped sitting for them), and spent a few years trying to find a good recipe and learning how to bake yeast bread for myself. Took some trial & error on my part & some searching, but I finally found a recipe that I like (and didn't use a crap-load of eggs), and figured out the proper way to buy & store yeast so it wouldn't die on me before I could use it. Anyway, so I use a recipe called "Low Cholesterol Challah" using only 1 egg in the bread, and 1 for brushing over the top, though I don't do that part. I don't recall the title of the cookbook I found it in, only that it was this fat, silvery-gray paperback cookbook that I found at the library.

This was DH & Puck, making dinner last night. DH brought home a whole, cut-up chicken to barbeque. We boiled it first, for 20 minutes, in lightly salted water seasoned with a Mesquite barbeque seasoning (a dry seasoning). Then he grilled it nice & slow for about an hour & a half, till it was cooked through, basting it with a honey barbeque sauce (store bought, I don't recall the brand) towards the end. We had some HUGE artichokes that he got at the grocery store, and some mac & cheese (the blue box, certainly nothing fancy). But oooooohhhhh, the chicken & the artichokes made up for the humdrum mac & cheese. (DH & DD wouldn't give me any ideas for what they wanted to go along with the chicken & artichokes, so I just did up a box of the mac&cheese really quickly as SOMETHING to go along.) I just thought this picture was too good to NOT snap. Puck wanted to be out there with his daddy, and DH was sitting out there listening to the rain fall on the roof above his head while he grilled. They both looked rather bored & chilled. *wry smile*

Anyway, so that was MY Memorial Day. A nice mellow rainy one. I hope everybody else had a peaceful, mellow day with loved ones. And while I'm glad for the rain we had, I hope most of the rest of y'all had sunny days for getting outside & sharing the time with your family.

Have a Blessed Day!

How does your garden grow????

No silver bells, or cockle's shells here.... Instead we've got swiss chard, spinach, collards, carrots, zucchini (lots & lots of zucchini, hopefully), crookneck squash, broccoli, cabbage, rows upon rows of green beans & long beans, peas, lettuce, 3 different kinds of radish, green onions.... And I'm probably leaving some things out. (Though, DH is arguing that we didn't put in collards yesterday, but I could swear that we did.)

Our garden isn't here at our house. We just don't have that kind of room in our yard. But we've had this garden for now 4 years over at the FIL's house, and the soil is finally looking beautiful. Still somewhat sandy, but so is most of the soil in our area. The FIL is actively talking about a compost heap to mulch into the garden at the end of the summer, which is the first HE's mentioned it. But, I got out in there yesterday in my bare feet, walking up & down the rows, picking out rocks & stumps & roots with my toes, instead of trying to find everything with my fingers. And that's doable this year!!!! The past years, the tilled up soil (my hubby does the really hard work of rototilling) contained far too many clumps & rocks & sticks & such to safely walk about it barefoot. This year, that was the best way to get in there & get the remaining rocks & sticks & leaves out, and to tamp down the aisles between rows.

The garden measures about 30ft by 60ft, and this'll be the first year we've actually used ALL the space. Today and tomorrow we'll be planting in the rest of the beans (we only did one row yesterday, we need more seeds). We're hoping to have a bumper crop of them so that we can can & pickle a good lot later this summer & fall. (The beans did well last year, but in the process of rototilling back up the center aisles, FIL's gas-tank on his rototiller was too full & one of the 2 rows of beans took some heavy spraying of gasoline which burnt the plants & the beans & rendered them inedible. The same mistake won't be made twice. *wink*)

So..... Here's to a reasonably rainy & warm summer, keeping our rain barrels filled & our plants growing. We realized that IF our garden produced to it's fullest, there's no reason we couldn't, both families, can & freeze enough of the produce to last us the rest of the year (or almost). Oh, we'd still have to buy things like cucumbers, tomatoes & peppers. We don't have a green house in which to grow those warmer weather, more tempermental plants. But, we could have all the greens & beans that we could want, if this garden just produces to it's fullest. It would be nice to be able to stop buying these things from the grocery store. That money could go toward other groceries that we can't produce ourselves, like meat & eggs & milk & pasta & bread-making supplies.

And even the meat, if we EVER get a moose or a caribou again, CAN be partially taken care of locally. And we may well decide to buy a whole pig from the local butcher this next winter, instead of getting our pork piecemeal from the major grocery-store. DH really enjoyed the meat that came from the half-a-pig we bought last winter. The flavor has been much better than that of meat purchased at saf*way. And the pig was bred & raised by a small-farmer from Delta Juction (a farming town about 60 miles south-east of us) instead of a mid-western factory farm. It was even brought up here to the butcher's live, where it was butchered & packed by a local person. That's neat. We may not know who raised the pig, but we know that it was raised humanely & in better conditions than the meat we would buy at saf*way. And we may not be in "friend" terms with the people who own the butcher's but we know they live within the same town as we do. And that same butcher's shop is where we have any moose or caribou meat processed (what we don't do ourselves, in FIL's garage) when we're lucky enough to get one.

Anyway... Sorry no pictures, but there really isn't much to show yet. It'd just be a tilled up patch of brown earth that I could show you, at this point. Only a bit of the vegetables that we planted yesterday were seedlings: half the swiss chard, and half the zucchini. The rest were planted in as seed. So, literally nothing to show. Sorry.

I hope y'all are having a peaceful, blessed Memorial Day weekend. To the families of the newly lost soldiers who are now memorialized in this day, my thoughts & condolences on the loss of your loved ones. May your memories of your times spent in the company of your loved ones bring you comfort & peace.

Have a Blessed Day!

Some creativity & hard work....

Well, the first picture there is of some aloe plants I have just repotted this morning. The biggest leafed in the terracotta planter is the Mother Aloe DH gave me on my first Mother's Day, 10 years ago. I pulled and cut a good 20 leaves off of that, to trim it back to where it is now. It has been cut back 5 times now. I don't have the heart to kill it off, though DH wishes I'd get rid of it and keep one of the babies. The other 3 aloes in the plastic pots are 3 of the 4 most recent "babie aloes" that have spung up in the last year. The 4th was too small and broke before I even got it out of the big pot. Those three will probably survive. The first "baby aloe" to ever spring from my Mother Aloe is in my kitchen window, and is now actually bigger than my now-cut-back Mother Aloe. DH was wanting me to keep that one, and get rid of my Mother Aloe. Hopefully he will not flip when he finds out I've simply cut my Mother Aloe back and replanted it. Oh well, if he does. Anyway, so I now have these 3 baby-aloe to find homes for. My MIL wants one, a coworker wants a second of them.... Now to find somebody to take the third off my hands. *wink*

Anyway, I woke up this morning, saw that it was already 60+ degrees out and sunny, and decided today would be a good day to get this repotting done. By the time I'd finished these 4 pots, it was 70 deg. And it's now REALLY REALLY warm outside and I'm glad I did this when I did instead of waiting till later in the day. As it is, I've watered these plants well, and now they're sitting soaking up the sun & hopefully recuperating. As hard as it is to believe, Aloes are a hardy species of plant, and as long as one gives them good drainage & plenty of sun, they'll come back from some pretty serious damage. Some plants wouldn't survive the way I cut back my Mother Aloe. I didn't get to leave ANY of the origional root, but instead peeled off the huge leaves & cut the stem back to where it'd fit in the pot. It'll look shitty for a while, but it'll start putting roots out from the stem and will gain strength and in the next couple of year's I'll have to be cutting it back massively again. Probably have more babies to transplant in the next 2 or 3 summers, as well.

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The second pic is of the 7 cotton-net grocery bags I've made to sell (not including the previously pictured red one, which is already sold). The red, white & blue one on the upper right side is actually as good as sold to a woman who's in Jury Duty with me. The other 6 are going to go to that local gift shop, unless I get somebody to buy them before I take them down. I've got yarn for 1 more bag, before I must buy more yarn, but I'm going to take a few days off from crocheting. I've done so much crocheting in the last couple of days that my left shoulder is bugging me again. Not as bad as it has in the past, but enough to remind me that I need to let it rest for a few days. Besides, if I get that next bag made NOW, I won't have anything to crochet on during Jury Duty on Wed. & Thursday.

What isn't pictured is the bread I made yesterday. 2 loaves of yummy "Golden Egg Bread". Half of one loaf is already gone. The other loaf is in the freezer for later. *grin* I also didn't take any pictures of my bacon & pancake breakfast I made this morning. That didn't last long enough for pictures. *wink*

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Thanks again for all the support y'all have given me over the decision whether or not to hold DD back. Yesterday as I picked DD up after her last day of school for the 2006-2007 school year, the principal told me that DD's standerdized test scores came back in the "proficient range" on all 3 categories: reading, writing & math. The principal commented that with those scores, even if I was certain I didn't want her passed on to 4th grade, they wouldn't let me hold her back. They'd pass her on to 4th whether or not I gave my consent. Which kind of pisses me off, that the school will actually go over the parent's head in regards to the child's education. And, seeing as how the teacher evidently didn't have a single child in class who didn't pass on all 3 categories, I have to wonder at the strenuousness of this test. Has it been created to be SO easy that all the kids will pass, or is the teacher just that good of a teacher??? I don't think she's a BAD teacher, but I do know that in her normal math tests, DD hasn't scored very well (S-minus, as previously mentioned). And I know that there is one student who has been suspended 5 times during the school year, and one would wonder how this child has managed to score proficently when he's spent most of his time in detention or suspended. (For every 3 times I was at the school, he was in the principal's office one of those times.) Again, makes me wonder if the test has been created to be so easy to pass in order to prevent the school from losing governmental funding.

I hope every one of my friends is having a similarly sunny & warm day.

Have a Blessed Day!

And so, we go ahead.....

I took today off work & went in to talk to the teacher, the special ed teacher that's been supervising DD in her speach therapy, and the principal. I explained my concerns, they agreed that she isn't exactly comfortable with some of the skills she's been working on this year, but all seemed pretty thoroughly convinced that DD will catch up. I'm not so convinced, still.

The special ed teacher made a comment that at a recent seminar, the special ed teachers were told (and I quote) that "any teacher that still holds any student back should be ashamed of themself" and supposedly that a large quantity of children held back eventually drop out. (To which I promptly told her what a crock of BS I think the no-child-left-behind plan is, and that I don't see ME holding my child back as her being left behind or abandoned as I see it as giving her a second chance to learn what must be learned.) I don't know if that's because of the child's being held back, or because of lack of parental involvement. I personally think that if a child drops out, it says more about the parent's attitude toward school, than it does about the fact that the child was held back. And I remember oh-so-many classmates 10 years ago who were either held back from continuing on along with classmembers older than myself, that then graduated WITH me, and my former classmates that wound up graduating 1 or 2 years behind me after being held back. But, MOST of us graduated. Heck, most of the kids I knew who didn't graduate on time with their class weren't held back, but dropped out anyway. Anyway, that single comment kind of told me that the special ed teacher was going to be a hardliner against me holding DD back, though the principal said it was my choice, and DD's regular teacher said she thinks I'm being very brave to bring this before them as a serious option when so much of the country is opposed to daring to tell our children anything that may wound their fragile views of the world. *wry smile* So, I had one in my corner (at least theoretically) and 2 against me.

And, of course, the special ed. teacher suggested that in the fall we test DD to see how she's doing in ALL her subjects, rather than just reading & comprehension as she has been tested to now. The last time she was so tested (in first grade) she was a little low, but not so low as to make her eligable for the special ed. program. Now, of course, the special ed. teacher wants to test her and see if she qualifies, but now I'm very reluctant (knowing what I do) to put her INTO the special ed. program. I would prefer to hold her back and allow her to catch up, then to push her so far forward till she's so far behind that she qualifies. That just doesn't make sense to me. Of course, that's what was being advocated. It helps, though, that DH spent his whole middle school & high school careers (till he dropped out in favor of homeschooling, from which he finally graduated 2 years later than the rest of his "class") in special ed., frustrated because he was treated as though he was stupid. (He still thinks he's stupid, though I don't. He's not NASA material, but he's not stupid.) So, it certainly helps that DH is on the same page as me as far as holding DD back, instead of passing her on only to have her put in special ed.

Anyway, DD's reading grade is up to average, she's even reading, occasionally, at a 4.6 level. (That is, this is the upper number she's reached, at this point, not that she reads consistently at this level.) I did, actually speak to DD's reading tutor and told her that I was seriously contemplating holding DD back a year, and she said that she thinks it would do DD a world of good.

DD's math scores are pretty consistently about S-minus. Which realistically is maybe a C, possibly down into a D. I'm not comfortable with that. And I made that incredibly clear to the 3 educators present. Her teacher DID say that while DD isn't caught up to where they would like her, in class she's gotten very confident, asking questions and not giving up just because she gets the wrong answer the first time. She seems to think that we can continue to build on that confidence and that DD will continue to work hard in class to improve her grades. I just wish she was as confident & self-motivating here at home as they say she is in school. The teacher did, of course, suggest that if we could just drill the math facts into DD's head she'd do so much better. They don't seem to realize that outside of school, DD isn't nearly so amicable to doing school work. She tends to fight & yell & whine for about 45 minutes (wasting 45 minutes) before she finally settles herself down to do a half-assed job of whatever the homework is, before she throws another tantrum when told to fix her work and finally settling down enough to do the job correctly.

Handwriting and spelling also came down to a direct comment from the teacher stating that DH & I simply must pull more time out of our already furiously busy (most of the time) scheduals and work with DD ourselves. *big ol' sigh* Part of me seriously wanted to ask the teacher if she wanted to take DD home with her for a taste of DD's after-school behavior, seeing as her oldest is just graduating with his PhD in something-or-another and her younger is going to be getting married any day now. I mean, she's raised two well adjusted adult children.... Maybe she'd like to give me a break & take a try at raising mine???? *wink*

Now comes the part I'm still not comfortable with..... Despite my serious misgivings about passing DD on to 4th grade, the principal informed me that there will be a joint 3rd/4th class next year. She suggested that for the next year we place DD in that 3rd/4th class as a 4th grader. That IF DD seems to be falling behind right off the bat, we can bump her back to a 3rd grader (so she'll be doing 3rd grade work, instead of being pushed ahead into 4th grade work, most of it repeating from this year) without it appearing so to her age-mates. I'm not nearly so concerned about the appearance to other kids, but I know that if DD feels attacked by her age-mates because she has been held back, then it may make it harder for her to concentrate on the truly important issue of improving her skills.

Of course, one of the concerns raised by several people (DD's day-care teacher, when I spoke to her about this today, DD's current teacher, the principal, and the special ed. teacher) is that seeing as DD is one of the oldest children in her grade (birthdate Sept. 30th, so she'll turn 10 at the beginning of this next school year), if we hold her back in 3rd grade, that will mean that she'll be turning 18 at the beginning of her junior year of HS. After which point if she decides to drop out, I can't stop her. She could opt to drop out, rather than being a 19 year old senior in HS, or even finishing her junior year. That is a possibility. I would hope, though, that if DD is that close, and DH and I are consistent in our insistence that she graduate & recieve a highschool diploma, she will carry our value of even a basic education at least far enough as to graduate. *sigh*

I guess it does sometimes come down to the biblical proverb to "raise up your child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it". And while I may not hold faith in a lot of what is said in the bible, I know for a fact that this particular proverb does hold true to an extent. We all deviate a little bit from what our parents say to us as we grow up, but I do think that many of us still hold at least some of their values to heart. And I hope that being consistent in my insistance on a decent education will be one of the values that DD holds throughout her life.

So, that's where we're going to go, for now. We'll consider her in 4th grade, but she will be in this combined 3rd/4th grade class. If ANYTHING goes wrong (and I DO mean anything) I've made it clear to the principal, her current teacher, and the special ed. teacher that I WILL have her placed back in 3rd grade, regardless of what their feelings on the matter may be. And I have DH backing me up, and DD said she understands (though it's clear she doesn't necessarily like it) my reasoning.

The day-care teacher (upon learning that DD is struggling in various educational aspects) expressed that she would appreciate if we could share DD's weak spots with her, and she will be sure to help DD concentrate efforts especially on those weak spots in their 2 hours a day they will spend on education at the day-care, this summer. So she's also very adamant that hopefully we can bring DD up to speed during the summer, instead of watching her fall back again.

So, that's where things stand for now. Thanks for the support. I really appreciate it.

Have a Blessed Day!

End of the School Year Blues.....

May I formally say that I am, ironically, a supporter of year-round schooling. I can, as a mother, appreciate how beneficial it would be to our children to have a shorter summer break, and a school term that ran longer than the normal 9 months with a 3 month summer vacation.

On Friday night, when DH came home he checked the mail. In the mail was one of those letters addressed to the parents of.... The sort that carries report cards, or official school letters. I opened it expecting to find the DD's results from the standardized tests taken in April. It wasn't. It was the result of a test called the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices, administered by the "Extended Learning Specialist" at DD's school. The letter starts out with defining the test: The SPM consists of 60 items arranged in 5 sets of 12 items each. Each item contains a figure with a missing piece, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. Below the figure are alternative pieces to complete the figure, only one of which is correct. Each set involves a different "theme" for optaining the missing piece, and within a set the items are roughly arranged in increasing order of difficulty. The SPM measures visual perceptual skills and the ability to form perpetual relationships. It measures a student's ability to reason by analogy, which helps sudents to understand new material more readily. It also measures a student's ability to make sense out of complex data. The test was designed to be independent of language, culture, or formal school experience. It does not measure math skills, though it correlates with that ability. It also does not measure reading skills or your child's verbal ability.

IE: it's an IQ test of sorts.

The total score was possible out of 60. DD achieved 16 correct out of 60. Which put her in the 10th percentile, well below the "average" which ranged from 16% to 84%.

Quite honestly, I feel as though I've been told by the school "Your child's an idiot, and with one week left in the school year, there's not much you can do about it." I know that this is probably not how they intended it. But I hid this letter from DD, not even letting her know that it'd come, because I didn't want to discourage her about her own abilities. And then, yesterday, I called and talked to the E.L.S. for the school, and found out that the E.L. Program is what we used to call the "G.T. Program" (Gifted & Talented). He said that this test was origionally given back in Oct. (OCTOBER!!!!! I could have had some knowledge of this all winter!!!) but that when DD didn't test INTO the program, he disregarded the results (along with the results of all the other children who did not test into the program). Then last week he was informed that the parents of all the students who took this test STILL needed to recieve the results of this test, though I was never even aware she TOOK this test in the first place.

After finding out what this test was about, I called the office to ask about setting up a conference between myself, my daughter's teacher, and the principal to discuss DD's progress for the year. Even though this test was taken back in Oct. and even though it doesn't track her progress in the basics throughout the year, it's reminded me that with my child I must be ever-attentive as to her progress. I was reminded, with one week left in the school year, that it may not be in DD's best interest to pass her on to 4th grade next fall. And I hate to do that to her, for social reasons. But I would also hate to pass her on to 4th grade, knowing that she doesn't have the skills needed to keep her head above water, much less succeed.

And wouldn't you know it, the teacher mentioned this test to DD, and the fact that I was wanting to come in to discuss DD's readiness for 4th grade. And DH clarified that for her when he picked her up from Daycare with the statement that I would be discussing with the principal & teacher the possibility of holding her back. So I barely made it in the front door last night, after work, before I was subjected to yelling & crying over how mean I am to consider holding her back. (The yelling and crying from DD. DH understands though he also finds it almost heart-breaking.)

And of course, the teacher was planning on taking today (Tuesday) off, so I can't talk to her about it today. And tomorrow (Wed.) and Thursday I'll be in Jury Duty for the part of the day when the teacher would be at the school, so I won't be able to conference with her then. Friday, the last day of school, will be the next time I'm able to speak with the teacher & principal about this. At this stage in the game we should already be almost celebrating DD's passing onto 4th. Instead, because I haven't been as attentive as I realize I should have been, and because the school is content with the status quo, we're still struggling to decide if this is even the right thing for DD.

And I know that I'm going to face opposition from the teacher and probably from the principal. Mainly because this damned "No Child Left Behind" program has put them into a position of passing children that they KNOW aren't ready to be passed, or risk losing funding for the school & their teaching positions. I don't mean to sound like I'm blaming DD's lack of academic skills on the teachers individually, as I know they've done the best with what they've got. But they've also been consistently extremely reluctant to consider holding a child back, even if it's in the best interest of that child to have another year to catch up, before being forced to drop even further behind (in academic skills, though not in grade level) the rest of her class. I really do think it would benefit DD to spend another year in 3rd grade, reiterating with herself all that she's learned in one year, and solidifying the concepts that she doesn't have down yet. Hopefully by the end of that second go-round in 3rd grade, she'd be at the top of her class, having had sufficient time to grasp all the concepts before moving on to 4th.

So, I'm really kind of bummed these last few days, considering doing this to my daughter. I recognize that my primary job in life is not to make sure that she's an imbicilic social butterfly, but instead to make sure that she IS a mature, strong woman with a solid educational foundation underneath her upon which to build her future.

She seems to understand, sometimes, that this would probably be best for her. She seems to understand that she can't be a veterinarian without making decent marks in school so that she can get whatever college education is required for a veterinarian practice. And even on the days when she insists that all she wants to do is play hockey for the rest of her life (and one doesn't need to know how to read, write and do math to play hockey! *wry smile*), she WILL need to know how to read & write in order to read hockey contracts & sign autographs, and basic math skills will go into making sure she's getting paid enough to play. *big wink*

So, now all I've got to do is meet with the teacher & the principal & go over her scores from beginning of the year to now. I'm not 100% decided on if we'll hold her back, but I'm at the point where I really do think it'd benefit her more than it'd hurt her, in the long run. And I've been assured by other parents & past teachers that if she's not got a good foundation in 3rd grade, then she'll likely drown in 4th grade. That is the point where the basics of reading, writing, and math are used as a foundation upon which further academic knowledge is built & solidified. And if that foundation is so weak as to be unusable, then she'll never catch up. And we're already aware of how reluctant the teachers are to hold a child back, for fear of looking bad themselves. I don't see it as a failure on the teacher's part, and I don't necessarily see it as a failure on the student's part. In this case, as in some others, I see it as a legitimate validation that not all children are ready for advancement at the same time. There are some that pick things up more quickly (those generally wind up in the E.L. program) and there are those that pick things up more slowly. And rather than putting those slower-to-learn children in special ed. WHY not hold them back???? To get into the Special Ed. program, a child must be IN their "age grade" but be 2 years behind in their skills. And then they must be passed on to the consecutive grades with their age-mates, regardless of their skill levels, simply because they ARE in the Special Ed. program. I don't see that as a solution, I see that as a hinderance. You're still saying that the kid's got to be in the same class, but they just don't have to learn as much. Why not pull the child back a bit & let them get their foundation solidified before letting them build ever higher????

Anyway..... I know this has been another long, poorly written post. Thanks to all my friends who've read my meandering & ranting. Even if I don't write clearly sometimes, it really helps to solidify things in MY mind, and it helps to know that I've got friends out there in cyberspace who'll support me & back me up, even though most of you don't know me in person. It's great to have that support, esp. when one must go about being a "mean mommy" and flouting the conventions in the effort to do what is truly right for one's child.

Have a Blessed Day!

A nice, quiet weekend....

That's what I needed, and that's pretty much what I've gotten. Yesterday I didn't even take off my jammies, except for a shower. I sat & crocheted & watched TV all afternoon. I now have 5 bags to sell, the red one having been sold last week, and another one that I didn't take a picture of having been given to a friend for a belated birthday gift. I've got yarn (as of today) for two more bags. Some of the women I've talked to LOVE the colors, but feel that light colors are too easily dirtied, even if the bag is cotton & easily washed with their towels or such. So I've picked up a couple of moderate-toned solids in pretty blues that I'll whip up this next week. I've been averaging 2 bags a week, and a third one started. If I don't sell any this week, I'll take the lot of them in (should be 7 by then) to the gift store just up the road, and see if she'd like to put them out for sell on consignment.

Anyway, today was somewhat busier, but in a mellow sort of way. Got up and made bacon & a flat of Hawaiian sweet rolls for breakfast. (The rolls just had to be popped in the oven to warm for 5 minutes, I didn't really make them.) I'm not a big breakfast person. I like continental style breakfasts most, when I eat breakfast at all. Anyway, after that I sat & crocheted while DH played a video game & dd played on the computer, for a while. Then we went to Sam's club for some bulk grocery shopping. Spent a little too much ($$ wise) there, but we didn't get anything that we didn't truly need. And we actually didn't buy some of the things on our list, when we saw that the prices at Sam's were actually higher than our local grocery store. Then over to Michael's for a bit more cotton yarn, and then to Walmart for some Mother's Day cards. Then we came home, and dinner is about done (we eat dinner late, here). We'll settle down & watch a movie as soon as we eat, then it's to bed & start the week over again tomorrow.

For the record, dinner tonight consists of Parmesan Herb Chicken breasts, buttered egg noodles (DH likes them very plain, for some reason), and Cucumber Salad (our favorite family recipe, Shelli!). YUM!

I hope all my femail friends have a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY tomorrow. And may EVERYBODY have a Blessed Day!