Today

• Second of the Christmas/birthday presents arrived
  
• Cherry Cordial Hershey's Kisses were discovered at Wal*Mart
  
• Grocery shopping completed
  
• Kendra's forgotten shoes from Thanksgiving break were mailed
  
• Found A Bug's Life VHS for 79 cents at Goodwill
  
• Turkey bacon and scrambled eggs for supper
  
• Realized I forgot two important things while shopping, but I can only remember what one of them is right now...
  
• Trevor is dancing around in his "new" pajamas from GW
  
• I listened to Pavarotti and Carreras sing Christmas songs while writing and then deleting a family letter and writing and deleting the post before this
  
• Bedtime approaches. This is good. Always useful to have a time each day when one is not reminded of things not accomplished.
  

 

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Thanksgiving 09 - 3rd Day

Well, the time of overness is fast approaching. The Indiana Two will attend church tomorrow and head back to Hoosierland after the service. In the meantime, one or two more glimpses of Thanksgiving in Hoytdom:

Poor Kendra. Made to sit on the floor to operate her computer...
...she was fine with this. Said she sat on the floor all the time at school. Talk about budget cuts!

There was more than one rousing game of Dutch Blitz.


The kids also had a long "baseball" game this afternoon, but I didn't get a picture, as I was pulling out of the drive to head over to Prairie Bridges Park for some much needed alone time.

Ma cleverly hid behind this River Birch to catch the geese unawares....


...though for some reason they kept leaving in small groups.


Two will be leaving our flock, tomorrow.
 

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Thanksgiving 09 - 2nd Day

This was actually from the first night....

Sharon and Carolyn, The Happy Deboners!
The word "deboner" comes from an old French word meaning, to graciously remove the cooked meat from a dead turkey, with especial charm.

Many cultures include some form of physical activity in their holiday celebrations. For example, Scotland has the Caber toss, where they throw large tree trunks for indefinite reasons.

In America we have football, where they throw live men around in hopes of causing concussions and arthritis, later in life.

Here at the Hoyt household, we push cars.

Behold, "The Pushing of Jason's Car Back Into the Garage."
It is a very fine car, except for the fact that it doesn't start. While Loren works on it, we've given Jason a loaner of the red minivan. It starts and even goes. Doesn't have heat, though...but hey, it's not like we live in Siberia or anything.

Loren was putting snow tires on Jason's replacement vehicle, so the unstartable blue demon had to be pushed out for a bit. Funny how it's always harder to get them back in, especially when it's uphill.

You can clearly see Melinda and Jason. Hidden behind Jason is Justin, newest addition to the family and beginning to wonder about his in-laws (the rest of us have been wondering for a while...). Somewhere in back of Melinda is Carolyn, and possibly Nolan.

I was helping out in my own inimitable way, by taking pictures. And let me tell you, it was pretty tricky snapping photos in my stocking feet while walking on sharp stones. Somehow I survived.

Back inside for a little rest! This is the third picture, after we convinced Nolan to act normal instead of waving his hands like a crazy person. Now he just looks scarily super-nice.
From left to right, Loren, standing, Nolan-on-the-floor, Sharon, Jason, Trevor on the lap of Justin, Ardith, Carolyn, and in the lower right, Kendra's knee.

Jason, Justin and Ardith have headed back to Cedar Rapids, but we are stuck blessed with Sharon and Kendra until after church on Sunday.

Hope everyone is having a grand time!
 

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Thanksgiving 09 - First day

And lo, the pop-timer on the bird of prey did pop up, and only 12 minutes later than expected.

But verily, the white potatoes were oh, so problematic, and they did doth refuse to mash-up without lumpage.

I blame Ethan. He must have planted the wrong type of potato for true mashability.

However, the peoples did not complain, mainly because they knew from whence their turkey cameth. And gravy. And stuffage.
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The pies were not baked until later, their time of eating coming conveniently around the supper hour, wherein Ma had already pronounced she would be making nothing.

Two pumpkin, one pecan and one chocolate.

Oh, and a quart of whipping cream, whipped. D'ya think that'll be enough?

Fun time with the kids eager to smash their older brother, Jason, in a multi-player computer game of X-Pilot.


Downstairs, the mighty Rockwellian flouts his arrogance, "Those guys are going to be toast..."
"Wait...WHAT'S HAPPENING....!!....AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Apparently, even the mighty can be blown up.

After that heartwarming family time, Carolyn and Kendra sit down to the piano for duets.
Thanksgiving evening means the Christmas songs can come out of hiding :-)

More pictures tomorrow, quite possibly.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
 

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It's Snowing!

In lil' ol' Iowa.

(you may have to click on the photo to confirm snow)

A red car drove past just as I snapped the picture, but we'll let him stay. Adds a little color to the otherwise brownish landscape.

In other news, we have been cleaning a bit, washing sheets and getting ready for Kendra and Sharon, tonight.

Jason will come tomorrow--just in time for the meal--and stay one night.

Ardith and Justin will be stopping by on Friday and I told them we'd have leftovers :-D

Providing Jason leaves any.

All the rooms have been swept, the bathrooms cleaned (well, not mine) and some of the clutter removed.

Now I just have to chop up the celery and onion for the stuffing, cook the sweet potatoes and fix the SP casserole, and dredge up something for supper.

I'm thinkin' potato soup.

With a mint chocolate Dove's chaser.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
 

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A Decent Day

Of course, any day is good when you can obtain two naps. But in addition, Ma was able to get a few herbaceous items put to bed for the winter.

1) Japanese Tree Lilac: re-wrapped the entire trunk and more, on the .03% chance that it might survive the winter. I have my doubts, due to severe deer eatage, but we'll give it a shot.

2) Roses: pruned and covered with those adorable foam caps. And I just realized that there are places to hold them down with prong thingies! (always knew this Master gardening business would come in handy) Not having prong thingies, I did the same thing as last year and put a rock on top and clumps of dirt around the edges.

3) Strawberries: covered up the approx. 100 plants with 4 garbage bags of pine needles, raked mostly from the neighbor's property.

4) Daffodils: planted 10 :-) Five, I received from Sarah Hess, at her visit in Oct. That inspired me to buy five of my own and plant them altogether out in the vegetable patch, which is eventually going to be more of a flower haven and place of escape, as opposed to it's current usage--growing a few veggies and letting the rest go to pot.

Now, let it snow!
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On a totally unrelated note, I think it fairly annoying amusing that someone who puts a high premium on truth, gets his jollies out of asking trick questions of people so he can laugh when they make mistakes. And no, it's not a family member.

Such a nice end to my afternoon.

I blame being groggy.

Perhaps my whole World-Nap-View will have to be reevaluated.
 

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Church Thanksgiving Dinner 09

This is where you have to imagine pictures from last night's church dinner. Imagine, because Picasa won't upload my photos from the computer. If it doesn't get going by tomorrow, I'll make do with FxFoto.

In the meantime, close your eyes--well, squint, so you can read this--and think about long tables, set with white cloths and Thankgivingy border paper. Visualize orangey squash/pumpkiny centerpieces, with pretty little candles burning.

Imagine two long tables laden with the parts of 4 turkeys, the contents of several bags of potatoes, relishes and Cool Whippy desserts salads.

Then there was a separate table for just the pies. Tempted as I was to pull up my chair to this haven of pre-diabetes, I did set an example of moderation in only going back for an extra 1/3 piece of pie, some vegetables and more of Kris Helmke's tremendous cherry fluffy stuff (recipe to follow).

After the meal we had the annual time of sharing, where working our way from table to table, people give short (and sometimes very long) descriptions of what they are thankful for (though most people don't end with a preposition, like I just did...).

There were all the usual things, and by the time it got around to our family, a lot of tried and true subjects had been mentioned.

Now, I don't mean to complain (people using that phrase really are), but when you get down to the last 20 of 60 people, you are scrambling for fresh material. Not that I'm that cynical, mind you. I went with what some others said, like,

"I'm thankful for my family, and that we can homeschool."

(of course, this is true, but I sometimes feel the need to put things into perspective, and, unfortunately for some of my family who may have been embarrassed, this was the case, last night)

"I'm thankful there are only 122...no, make that 132 days left in the school year....*nervous chuckles*....and that I'll be all done in just 10 more years...*slightly more nervous laughter*.....and I'm thankful for naps."

*quiet*

I am tired. And I'm not going to apologize or make up a bunch of warm fuzzy phrases to describe my life when I'm just not "feelin' it." I figure I'll "feel it" again, one of these days, but I refuse to lie and act as if everything's hunky dory, when it's not.

And I'm not even going to worry about whether people think I'm nonspiritual for not "living above the circumstances." I'm living above the circumstances by simply living.

Ultimately, I trust God is in control. In fact, I'm less fazed than most conservatives by all the political happenings causing others to be gnashing their teeth to bits.

I figure that makes us even :-)

Now, here's that recipe:

Kris Helmke's Simply Scrumptious, Easy Cherry Fluffy Stuff

--one can cherry pie filling
--one container Cool Whip
--one can sweetened condensed milk
--one sm. bag mini marshmallows (less or more)

Mix and chill to set.

(no animals gave their lives for this dish)

 

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All Done!

Spent the morning online and did all the Christmas shopping plus gift acquirement for the two December birthdays. Let's hear it, for Ma!

By the time I was finished, my neck was stiff, my back ached, and my eyes were blurred out from comparing prices on different websites.

But no one ever said sedentary life would be easy.

Despite my careful list made over a month ago, there were several forced adjustments. A few items weren't even offered at this point (Bummer!) and some things had gone up in price, demanding further substitutions.

But I believe everyone's covered. And slightly under the latest proffered expenditure.

Now all I have to do is get those crazy apples put up into sauce and I'll have another big load offa my puny mind.
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Have to give a few haircuts now, fix tonight's meal and then mentally prepare for an evening of music (Guy Lombardo and Lawrence Welk) and Canadian/British Comedies (Last of the Summer Wine, The Red Green Show).

That reminds me....I learned on Facebook that Red Green is going to be in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in December, I think. It does give one pause, and thoughts of running off to the north....
 

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"New Moon..."

...you saw me standin' all cold,
Without a movie to watch,
without a ticket to hold.

"New moon," you knew just what I was there for,
You heard me sayin' a prayer for,
Something on screen I could care for.

And then there suddenly appeared before me,
A line that stretched from here to Madrid,
And when they couldn't get into their moon flick,
Those vampies stole my movie, instead...

"New moon," I am not feelin' so sanguine,
In fact I'm bitter, and angerin',
I hope the sun comes and melts you.

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In short, Loren and I couldn't go on our "undate" yesterday, since he had one more test up at Mayo. So we decided on tonight, dinner and a movie.

It was not to be. The line outside the Cedar Falls movie theater stretched for-EVER, but that was just for New Moon. They were still selling tickets for the other movies, like the one WE wanted to see...until they sold out.

We ran over to the other theater complex, a mere 20 minutes away. Less of a line, but our movie sold out there, too.

My theory is: so many people came for the vampire flick that they sold out for those, and then people started snapping up tickets for whatever was left.

It's not that I'm bitter, or anything. It's not like we couldn't go out for 16 years due to young children and ill health. It's not as though we had to travel 45 minutes from the sticks just to get to a decent theater.

Alright, it IS that.

We went to Menard's, instead. For men, just this side of heaven. For me, it was a dream. A bad dream, though not an awful dream.

I kept having to quell the temptation to go through the bins and redistribute all the little pieces of PVC. And by the way, did you know that a ball valve would be handy to carry in one's purse? That way, in addition to having that vital part handy at all times, it can double as a makeup mirror.

Also, it was only with the strongest measure of self-control that I didn't go up to one of the friendly workers and volunteer, "You guys could really use more chocolate around this joint....I'm just sayin'...."

I did pick up a couple of discounted movies. The girls and I watched a lovely version of Persuasion tonight, and I also have A League of Their Own, for later.

The evening wasn't a total loss. And I did learn two things:

1) People are sheep

2) Never go to the movies on Friday night
 

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The Mission

 

Realizing he is the only one to appreciate the significance of the situation, a soon-to-be-teenager ascends unto a vantage point atop the rusting apparatus of swingability.

He is there because he cares. He cares, as no one else could possibly dare to care, about the harvest taking place in the corn field south of his GPS point of reference.

Thwarted by combinal activity commencing under cover of darkness, he has already missed the start of reapage.

NO MATTER! He will see what he can see. No one can stop his unbridled enthusiasm for all things agrarian. He lives and breathes the land's life cycle. Whispered amongst the chaff he hears his name...

"Call me...Agricola."
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In the realm of reality, I've finished the rough draft of the Christmas letter. And it's only 1.5 paragraphs over the limit!

Now to fiddle with margins and font size. Then it's back to the text, combing and combing for errors, word repeats, dull patches and most importantly, not enough stuff about me.

The final stage--after approximately 10 editings--will be to send each individual blurb to the respective parties for their approval/correction.

Then we try and find a printer with acceptable toner qualities, after which we do a test printing and have each person in the household read through for mistakes.

After that I pretty much start over and write whatever I want and send it off quick before people see the real thing :-D
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Loren had another little trip up Mayo-way, today. Checking on something to do with his throat, but it seems to be of little to no consequence to los doctoros.

Ahhh, toast is up...the turkey bacon done....the scrambled eggs congealed.

Time fer supper...er...as soon as the combine sweeps by, anyway.
 

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In Which Ma Accomplishes Something

Hoo-KAY, you're not gonna believe this, but I actually ordered the Christmas photo-cards today. But that's not all...I've just started on the Christmas LET-ter, so....kudos for Ma!

I've picked out the heading and written a whole sentence or two, so that's probably enough for one day. I'm getting another migraine, anyway. But the important thing is that I've started. Miscellaneous details can always be fabricated to fill in the body of the letter, later. Oh and hey...I just spelled "miscellaneous" right, the first time!

More kudoingishness!

Pork Jardinière is in el crocko potto, rice is on the stove, and brownies are in the oven. In other words,

EVERYTHING'S UNDER CONTROL.

Boring, but in control. I have the tendency to rotate between brownies, cookie bars, chocolate chip banana bread and ice cream, for dessert, but the kids can always take comfort in not having to eat liver.

On the harvest front, they finished up across the road from us, and late this afternoon, just at TWILIGHT, in fact, the huge combines rolled in for the cornfield south of our property.

OH the flurry of boys' shoes, stomping down the stairs, the donning of coats, the anxious cries of, "Why did they have to come now, when it's almost DARK?"

Someone grabbed a flashlight. A door slammed.

"Yeah...good luck out there in the dark and the drizzle, you guys..."

Talk about your agrarian angst. Not only is it late in the day, but it's cold and wet. Ethan is all atremble that he won't be able to see them harvest the spot next to our property. He could wake up in the morning and it would all be done....done and gone. Another chance to breathe in country corn chaff, all shot to smithereens.
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In other news, we'll be seeing Kendra and Sharon for Thanksgiving, as well as Jason. Not sure how long Jason will be staying, but he's certain to be up for the foodish festivities. Ardith and Justin will be coming by on Friday. Derek has to make do down Tyler, Texas, hobnobbing with intellectual Texans. He'll be home for Christmas, but is sure to have a grand time with two sets of aunts, uncles and cousins almost too numerous to name.

And now, it's time for slightly arthritic fingers to stop tapping and start setting the table...
 

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It's a Baked Oatmeal Kind of Day

Much to Carolyn and Ethan's dismay, baked oatmeal is on the menu for tonight.

It's all Ethan's fault, though. The "Men's Group" from church needed a place to practice and that means I need something quick and easy for supper. Now we'll have time to madly do a pseudo-cleaning of a few choice places. This would involve throwing things into closets and stuffing loose items into the oven...oh wait, I'm USING the oven...scratch that.

Anyway, the "Men's Group" is made up of Ethan and Paul Currier, and a couple of other males that actually qualify as men. We always enjoy hearing them sing in church, though I notice they haven't done, Lida Rose, as yet (barber shop singing style...which basically means four parts, the way God meant it to be).

In other news, I've done a semi-careful calculation of stamps, Wal-Mart photo cards, December birthday and all Christmas presents, and made an offer to Loren, which he has accepted.

Looks like Christmas is ON, people!

It involved complex negotiations, including someone who may or may not go by the name of, "Sharkey," and might possibly reside on an undisclosed South Sea Island.

But I won't have to worry about any repercussions until at least 2012, which as we all know, is not gonna happen.

"Ding dong ding
I can hear the chapel bell chime.
Ding dong ding
At the least suggestion I'll pop..."

 

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Little Bridge on the Prairie - episode 4

I went shopping this afternoon.

Took Trevor and Nolan.

We all survived.

Here are a few more pictures from last week's visit to Prairie Bridges Park:

Kids, searching for stones to skip


Searching for beauty


Fat lady...
...not singing
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On the menu for tonight, a hearty meal of:

Fish sticks, not minced, fillets ONLY! (not sure how they get those big fillets into a little stick, but still...)

Kraft macaroni and cheese, Sponge Bob shapes! They only had the shaped stuff on sale, and frankly, it looks like it doesn't have as much actual product in the box. They appear to be Chinese characters, and I'm guessin' each person will have a whopping 6 letters to eat.

Cottage cheese and pineapple chunks, both on sale! Probably the only healthy food on the menu.

It's not your rip-roarin' supper, but it's quick enough for a shopping day. Plus, we have leftover tartar sauce that needs eating.

This is as good as it gets Life is exciting!
 

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The 2009 Mayo Report

Loren should be starting home from Rochester about now, so that leaves me 2 hours to clean up the house, do laundry and make it look like several projects were completed.

It also means there's only one hour left until Leave It To Beaver comes on so I'd better jot down this blogpost!

Loren talked all the test results over with the doctor and here is the report I got on the phone, last night:

1) The angiogram results were super. Very clean arteries. Unfortunately, the doctor performing the procedure had a hard time finding the right place, and struck a nerve several times. Loren is one of those guys who doesn't take the sedation so he felt everything and it made for a "shaky" experience, all around. But the arteries are absolutely clean.

2) His cholesterol is down a bit from last time, but not quite where they want it, yet. Loren convinced the doctor he could do more things with diet and lifestyle, so they're not going to insist on reissuing the statin, at this time. The statin Loren was on earlier made him feel quite bad, with muscle aches and fatigue and just not being able to make progress.

3) His Echocardiogram also showed improvement, number-wise. Up to 69% Ejection Fraction, though those numbers can shift around from test to test.

5) Kidney Function--fine

6) Dermatology--no skin cancer

7) Bone density is a little lower than normal, but that might just be "Loren's normal." He had complained of some recent hip pain, so they did an x-ray and thought they might have seen a line denoting a fracture. They then ran an MRI and did indeed confirm a very minor hip fracture. I'm not sure of the exact bone name, but I think it's the ball part (in the old days I would have looked up the proper name, but I'm just too tired).

They're going to restart Loren on Fosomax and part of Monday's trip back to Rochester will include an orthopedic consult to see about pain management. As I may have said once or twice....there is always SOME-thing, with that guy...

8) Biopsy--they aren't doing them, anymore! No more chunks of heart taken out via the neck and then placed under a microscope. They have a blood test that works well for people who are stable. And Loren's been so stable for so long that there is little to no chance of rejection, at this point. Good news, no?

I think that about does it. Again, he goes up on Monday for the hip-thing and also to check with an Ears/Nose and Throat specialist to see if they can figure out his nagging throat irritation.

All in all, a pretty good report.
 

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Little Bridge on the Prairie - episode 3

Of course when one is taking a nature walk with children, it's only natural that boys would forgo the beauty of nature itself, and gravitate toward large hunks of man-made cement.

Trevor and The Stone Table.


Nolan, atop the Bermuda Triangle.

Monolith identification courtesy of Carolyn.

On the Mayo front, Loren should be undergoing or finishing with the big angiogram, at this moment. He's always had good results from this test, but they do take a while from which to recover. That's the main reason he has to stay over one more day...the docs have you stay within 30 minutes drive for the first night. They figure you won't quite bleed to death if the wound opens up unexpectedly.

We may have some interesting news on the hip thing, so stay tuned for that.

This afternoon is the appointment with the doctor, where they go over all the results from the tests. Loren's cholesterol has improved a bit from last time.

One might ask, "Ma? What are you doing to kick up your heels while El Hubbo is away?"

Well, nothing that exciting, other than watching a little more TV at night.

I briefly toyed with the idea of changing the toilet paper roll around to the proper way, unrolling from the back instead of from the front, but I thought, "No, Ma...be strong and don't give into such rebellious notions while Loren is gone."

Thinking it might be a good time to clear up my ears, I did undergo the pain and torture of 3 treatments of Debrox, which is supposed to get rid of earwax (yeah...sorry about that if you're eating...). I'd forgotten how bad that stuff is. Not only is it a pain to put the drops in and lay quietly while you feel all kinds of chemical reactions mere millimeters from your brain, but it doesn't work. Which wouldn't be the end of the world, except, not only are my ears still plugged, but now I'm dizzy from leaning over the sink and squirting hot water inside my ears, over and over and over again.

Plus, as I may have mentioned, IT DIDN'T WORK.

My only compensation is that it's not the kind-of-dizzy-that-makes-you-ralph (which I've had), it's just the kind-of-dizzy-that-makes-you-feel-woozy-and-mad-for-not-remembering-this-happened-the-last-time-you-tried-it.

But enough of that.

It's time for one more picture....

I call this, "I wonder if eating these pretty berries would put me out of my misery?"

 

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Little Bridge on the Prairie - episode 2

Pictures in a minute.

I came downstairs this morning and found Nolan "talking" on a little toy phone. I mean, it's a baby's rattle, it's so old.

He was very authentic, though. As soon as he saw me he put his hand over the "receiver" and in a stage whisper said, "It's Bill Clinton..." then went right back to listening, nodding his head and replying at appropriate intervals.

I'm tellin' ya, he's got it down cold.

Carolyn told me later that he'd also talked to Obama and George W. Bush, before I woke up.

While at my computer, cruising new sites and trying to determine if there was any reason not to go back to bed, Nolan sauntered over and leaning against the door frame said, "Hello....Goodwill? Can I talk to the manager, please?" (What? Where did he get that?) At which point I waved him away so I could concentrate more fully on the world at large. He returned in a minute and announced, "I ordered one shirt and five pants."

There's something weird going on...

Anyway, here are a few more pictures from yesterday afternoon.

The boys found a log and of course they HAD to run up and down it.


And see if you could pass each other going opposite ways.

Strangely enough, I had not come to watch them run on logs, but to look at nature and take pictures...every time I said, "Let's keep walking..." they replied, "What? We're going already?"

I guess we don't get out, much.

Down by the creek, we saw tracks from dangerous animals...
....or, it could be the place where people walk their dogs.

Even though the fall colors are past, there is still beauty at Prairie Bridges Park.


In Mayo news, Loren had his echo today and also an MRI on his hip. He's had some trouble with the latter and after an x-ray yesterday, they thought they saw something but couldn't tell what, so they set him up with an MRI.

These people at Mayo...they are so accommodating! I wonder how they feel about liposuction...
 

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Little Bridge on the Prairie

Got through school and my requisite two naps, and then took everyone but Melinda to Prairie Bridges Park. I'll not put up a Picasa album this time, but maybe share some pictures every day or two.

We took bread for the geese. At first they wouldn't have anything to do with us, but later some mallards and a few geese came over and made pigs of themselves.


Pretty leaves, though sparse, were occasional bright spots.


The kids congregating on a peninsula...the boys eager for rocks to throw, Carolyn wishing they were as calm as the water.
(this is why I usually come by myself, Carolyn)

Bittersweet, for a bittersweet day.


Loren is doing OK up Mayo-way. Had three main things today, with three more lined up, tomorrow. He'll have to drive back up again on Monday for a couple extras they threw in, just because they're so nice.
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In line with Veteran's Day, the kids and I watached a PBS program about Iowans who were involved in World War Two. It was a good refresher coarse in history as well as very sobering.

On a more unusual note, we have a nephew studying over in England until after Christmas. Through some connections, Chris was able to attend the big service in Westminster Abbey. I'll link to his blog because, it's really quite extraordinary who he saw from his front row seat!

I'm officially jealous, but also happy for him to have had this incredible experience.

Now, it's off to bed.
 

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Cinco de Mayo

No, I'm not talking about the Mexican holiday.

It's been five years since Loren's heart transplant and he leaves early tomorrow for the annual check-up. He'll be back on Saturday, sometime.

His "last meal" has to be low in cholesterol, so tonight he'll be having two frozen egg rolls, 10 mg per serving. Come to think of it, might be the remainder of the package he had before LAST year's trip, heh, heh. I say, "Why mess with a good thing?" I'm sure they're still safe....

Blood work is always FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, on the first day, so after that, he can eat fried chicken every night. No, no...of COURSE he won't be doing that. But let's just say I didn't worry about what frozen suppers to buy.

It's going to be an early wake-up call. Around 4 or 4:30, I believe. The good thing is they don't allow breakfast before the blood work, so he'll save some time before he gets so hungry he feels like fainting.

Every day will be a new round of the same old fun stuff....Echo, stress test, kidney function test, etc....then on Friday will be the angiogram. He has to stay within 30 minutes distance for 24 hours after that, which is why he can't come back until Saturday.

Ma will try to keep the home fires burning, maybe do a little cleaning (HA!), keep certain kids from maiming each other, and watch the Craig Ferguson show, provided she can stay awake.

Perhaps I'll even finish a book, and if I happen to remember, cook meals for the kids.

Also, I can now snore with impunity.

I look on it as sort of a vacation.
 

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Melinda Turns 17 !

I remember her birth as if it were yesterday. Particularly because it was such a stark contrast to the difficulty of Derek-the-almost-10-pounder-who-was-posterior, birth. I remember Melinda because--unlike after Derek--I could actually walk the next day.

I also remember that good ol' Gary Pitts was in attendance, getting in a little experience by witnessing the homebirth. Mr. Almost-a-doctor even got to bring in his doctor's bag...it was SO EXCITING!

OK, back to today.

I should explain that Melinda is pretty unique in that she does not necessarily go for the meals and desserts that have been tried for previous birthdays.

For her 17th, she chose Cornmeal mush and banana cream pie.

This WHOLE THING STARTED when the kids went out last year and gleaned corn after Farmer Frey's harvest. Then, they shucked the ears, dried the kernels and stored them in covered buckets in the garage.

This is the main reason I have hardly any buckets to use for my garden work, but I am not bitter, oh no.

Melinda then did extensive research and discovered a way to cure it with an improvised "dryer" made from a cut up cardboard box and some of Loren's old heaters (I find it's better not to ask too many questions). THEN she found out how to reconstitute it by soaking it and taking off the hulls and cooking it. And somewhere in there is another step that involves whirling kernels in the blender wherein startling and horrific noises ensue.

Basically, we're set for the winter :-)

I was a little scared of how the family would like this concoction, but most seemed pretty agreeable. Except Ethan. But then, Ethan hates everything.

I wasn't sure whether Loren would want to eat this so I offered to heat up a low cholesterol meal from the freezer (he's going up to Mayo this week for his yearly checkup) but he said, "I like grits. Especially if there's plenty of butter for it."

(like I said, he's watching his cholesterol...)

We had milk on the table, which can make it more of a gruel. Also, there were raisins, "craisins" and brown sugar to add. Ya know...it was not half bad!

But getting back to the actual birthday...Melinda blows on the banana cream pie, to thaw it.


First present...The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics


And a chemistry set.

"What's a chemistry set?" asked Nolan.

It's got chemicals in it...

"WHAT?!" as he quickly scoots his chair to a safer distance.

(Nolan going for safety somehow has an ironic ring to it, but anyway...)

And so Melinda is now 17, with a year and a half before college and the chance to mess with the strong stuff in the real lab.

Happy Birthday, Melinda !
 

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Basking in Reflected Glory

In a nutshell...it's---what---I---do.

All this by way of announcing that my son-the-college-freshman-who-is-Derek, will be reading his critical English paper at the LeTourneau University Third Biennial Student Scholarly Conference! (I have no idea what that means, but it certainly sounds impressive...

WAY TO GO, SON!

I don't know exactly what his paper was written on...probably something like, "Why I Owe Everything to My Dear Mother," or, "All My Coolness Came From Mom."

I may have to rethink the plastic key chain I was getting him for Christmas. Possibly even upgrade it to leather. That way, if the economy tanks and they run out of food at the cafeteria, he can always gnaw on the cowhide...sorta tide him over while writing more presentation papers.

And depending on when the conference takes place, there still might be time to order a life size cardboard cutout of moi that he could set up beside the podium while he reads his paper.

Then he could finish off with a recording of Bette Midler's:

"Did I ever tell you, you're my hero...
.....you are the wind beneath my sails...(blah blah, blah blah)."

Could have a really powerful effect.

Plus, we could both use it on our résumés.
 

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Moon and Mill

 

 

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Carolyn Turns 15 !

Yes, November is a bountiful month. Full of harvesty, thanksgivingy, birthday goodness.

For her special meal--made exclusively by the birthday girl--Carolyn chose carrot casserole and cottage cheese/pineapple chunk salad.

The dessert? German chocolate cheesecake...YUM! Inspired by the Swiss Colony Catalog and produced, thanks to Internet recipe sites.

Ohhhh, the humilation! Not all of the candles were snuffed...


A present from Trevor, carefully wrapped with copious amounts of masking tape.
(I lose more notebook paper that way...)

Oh boy! Trevor just KNOWS Carolyn will appreciate two trucks and his special sleeping hat.
In the background we see the Mouth of Nol-ron.

Oh let's see...a present from Mommy...what COULD it be?


The first three books of the Lemony Snicket series :-D The Trouble Begins


There was supposed to be another present, but I was let down by a certain online seller, who shall no doubt be feeling Ma's feedback wrath. I'm hoping it will arrive Monday or Tuesday.

The cheesecake was jolly good and sadly, not much is left...perhaps just enough for the favored few who watch The Red Green Show ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROLYN!
 

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More Book Material

Unfortunately, I can't go INTO about 75% of the stuff that's going on in my universe. In fact, to protect identities, even if I do pluck a few morsels for a book some day, I'll have to rework the material so drastically that it'll end up being a star-crossed love story concerning two Nerdy Martians that were transported to Pluto by mistake during a failed hijacking of a 747 when they were transported back in time from the year 2038 to the 1970's.

But since I've already given the plot away, probably not. Trust me, though, I hold in my fevered brain, awesome material.

One thing I can divulge is that I've gained a little weight. Not sure how much, since I wisely stopped using the scales before Ardith and Justin's wedding. I'm not crazy, ya know.

But since my feet are starting to hurt when I stand up, and my joints have begun talking to me--occasionally whining, and I'm tired all the time, and even though I mostly sleep through the night but still need two daily naps, perhaps...just PERHAPS, something should be done.

Not that I haven't been trying, a little. Carolyn and I go on a morning walk, 'most every day (I refuse to go when it's raining). We started about 3 weeks ago and we're up to over 2 miles, now. I hope to get back to the 'round-the-block four-mile trek, even though it takes a good hour outta my day.

That's time I could be SLEEPING.

I realize that I'm in a vicious cycle of stress eating. One might feel anxious/low about something and then snarf down some chips, which is pleasing for about 10 seconds until you start to hate yourself and feel like eating again because you are such a loser.

Funny how thinking about that doesn't make the hot buttered cinnamon toast taste any less yummy. If only! But I am going to get a grip on things. I haven't even had a bagel for at least two days, so that should win me some points, ha, ha.

And lest we send anyone into a depression from reading this, Ma will transition to something a little more productive:

I was able to rake up and fill 4 trash bags with pine needles, this afternoon (more bonus exercise points for Ma!)

Also had help from Nolan, his help imposed due to a bad attitude during a baseball game. He's taken to throwing the ball at Trevor if Trevor doesn't respond to being tagged out (don't worry, it's just a tennis ball. Still, it can sting).

For Nolan, a day without disobedience is like a day without sunshine. Which pretty much insures most of my days are cloudy.

At least I get to spend quality time with the kids by homeschooling and sitting around, not burning calories.

Fortunately, tomorrow is Saturday which means:

1) NO SCHOOL! (Oh yay, oh yay, oh YAY!)

2) Extra computer game time! (for them...I don't DO games)

3) Watching 2 episodes of Leave it to Beaver and hoping some of the 50's straitlaced morality will rub off on "certain people." (hey...it could happen)

4) Guy Lombardo, Last of the Summer Wine, THE RED GREEN SHOW! (I need music once in a while and I need to laugh)

5) No working at the church! Yes, I'm enjoying my "freedom." Get this...I can even go grocery shopping on Saturday, if I want, so whole new vistas have opened up for Ma-in-her-declining-years.

"You've come a long, way...Baby.
To get where you've got to, today.
You've got your Saturdays free now, Baby.
You've come a long, long way."

(you probably had to grow up in the 60's to remember that slightly altered cigarette commercial)
 

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I May Never Sing Again

Compared to these young ladies, I am but a croaking frog. They are pretty awesome!
 


Video, thanks to a Facebook post by Kathy (Kent) McCarthy, college friend and matron of honor at my wedding.
 

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Three or Four Things of Note

ITED's, today. As in, the Iowa Test of Educational Development.

I took Melinda and Carolyn in to the local high school for the all morning extravaganza of circle-filling.

The main part is in the morning, with a lunch break, wherein I bring the girls a packed lunch, because....well, we Hoyts are not minglers.

Then it's back to the campus for the final sections, and back to the home front.

In my absence, I'd left Nolan in charge of lunch ("I never get to be in charge of a meal...!") which he got ready by 11:40. The intention was to start fixing lunch around 12:15, but he never changed his watch back, last weekend....so...

However the boys took care of themselves and no one was hurt. I'm happy!
______________

Ethan has now started on a major project to scope out a ball diamond in the harvested soybean field. This actually sounded like a worthwhile goal, until I observed the steps and the addition floor. Apparently, their shoes are picking up a LOT of dirt. Not just your average ho-hum dirt, but God's-own-humus, Iowa Soil.

It's big. It's black and clumpy. It's nice for growing but doesn't look so swell on the kitchen floor. I think I've got the whole "TAKE-OFF-YOUR-SHOES!" thing drilled into them, now.
______________

One more item of note....The Des Moines Register has just issued this breaking news...AN IOWA CAT HAS CONTRACTED H1N1 !

Life is scary, folks.

My favorite part of the article?

"The cat, which was not identified..."

I DEMAND full disclosure.
 

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The Ma Side

 

Della Doe glanced disdainfully at the vehicle and driver which stopped to take her picture. "BIG DEAL," she thought, sticking out her tongue. "Another hapless hunk of metal that can't follow me into the cornfield. These humans are so weak. They have no inkling of the ruminant power that surrounds them..."
 

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I am not above forwarding...

in a manner of speaking.

We all get those forwarded emails because...mmmm...I guess some people have nothing better to do ;-)

Anyway, though I usually delete half without reading, I'll share part of one I received this morning because I thought it was rather revealing of our times. Excuse, please, if you've already read this:

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...


1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.


2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.


3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.


4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.


5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family
is that they don't have e-mail addresses.


6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to
see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.


7. Every commercial on television has a web
site at the bottom of the screen.


8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't
even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now
a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.


10. You get up in the morning and go
on line before getting your coffee.


11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )


12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.


13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you
are going to forward this message.


14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.


15. You actually scrolled back up to check that
there wasn't a #9 on this list.


~~~~~~~~~~~AND
FINALLY~~~~~ ~~~~~~~


NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

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