Plodding Through Lethargy

Ma is getting a few things done, despite the sudden and totally unrequested onset of late middle age.

At 30, you notice a few lines around the eyes.

At 40, you think to yourself, "Hey...life is probably half over and is it my imagination, or am I having trouble keeping the weight off?"

By 50, you discover that various body parts which used to work just fine, have in fact, been meeting secretly while you slept, drawing lots to see which one will inexplicably ache when you awake. You start to feel more like a grandmother than a mom, and...oh yes, it becomes abundantly clear that all those optimistic people out there have been wrong, they just don't know it, yet.

Lucky for them I am here to set people straight!
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On the Mayo front, I haven't heard from Loren yet today, so I imagine he's quite worn out from the multitude of tests they are putting him through.

Also, he may have had to hire lawyers in a proactive move in case they want to put him back on statins.

(that part is bogus...I've had no word to that effect, but then, I've had no word to the contrary, either...)

In Christmasy news, I have just started on the official Christmas letter! Yes, I have the document up, 2.5 lines written, named and saved!

The rest of the two pages should just fall in place, right?

Also, my Susan Boyle CD, The Gift, arrived today :-D

Have gotten through it twice already. She may not be Renée Flemming, but you can't knock old ladies making it big! If SHE can do it, can Ma be far behind?

At least I'll be able to afford a personal trainer and get back in shape. Fitness DVD to follow, ha ha.

On the morale front, I'm taking most of the kids to see Tangled, tonight.

They almost never get to go to the theater, so this is a big, BIG DEAL.

Once we get home and they're in bed, I can resume my madcap life of lying on the couch and relaxing.

If I feel particularly energetic, I may even eat an apple.
 

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Yo-Yo's as Weapons of Lip Destruction

It's only the first day of Loren being away, and already we've had a slight injury.

Thankfully, it was due to carelessness and not an angry outburst.

Suffice it to say, Trevor will not be swinging his yo-yo casually around, and Nolan will not be standing by, encouraging him.

What Nolan has is a fattened lip, with a bloody spot.

And what I have is one more item to add to the long and useless list of "Things that aren't a good idea."

Oh yes...I would recommend having three boys in a row to everyone.
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Loren is up at Mayo for most of this week. Time for the annual check-up.

He'll be back on Thursday. I haven't heard from him since noon, so I don't have bunches to report. Apparently his cholesterol has risen (just a wild thought, here...maybe they shouldn't schedule yearly checkups immediately following holidays? It's a bit much to expect perfect cholesterol right after feast-filled celebrations).

Speaking of gravy, the kids and I took advantage of his absence to indulge in a non-favorite meal of Loren's.

Egg gravy.

Yes, I know it sounds pedestrian, but the rest of us love it! Everyone but Nolan, that is. Fortunately I have plenty of available narcs to rat him out as he was trying to scoop the leftover sauce into his napkin.

Oh well. I tried not to get mad at him since he has that bruised lip to deal with.

Now, I need to stop goofing around with gravy and get busy on the Christmas letter...
 

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The Appearance of Being Ernest

Thanksgiving break continues apace, with notable occurrences being: listening to Christmas music, muiti-player computer games, Kendra "studying," and Ethan realizing his lifelong dream of eating turkey salad sandwiches two days in a row.

On the computer-fix-up front, Loren has been working long, long hours on Ma's instrument of torture, but so far it's still "no go" for Internet.

I don't mean to be a tattle-tale, but it's entirely possible the phrases, "This doesn't make any sense....this is stupid !" have been overheard.

Loren's trying desperately to get that (see previous two paragraphs) and maintenance on Derek's vehicle completed, before he heads to Mayo, tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

Yes, it's time for the ol' yearly checkup. He'll be back on Thursday, I believe.

Loren could come home on Wednesday, but they do an angiogram every year, and make you stay in the area overnight in case of complications.

Of course, NEVER have there been complications with this guy, ha ha.

I'll be running out later to get a few of those frozen meals that Loren finds so very special. Then it's a matter of doing laundry, which entails getting Ethan someone else to finish their laundry, first.

(every once in a while I entertain thoughts of what it might be like not to have to tell other people what to do or depend upon them to finish a job so I don't look like a loser-parent have the time necessary to blog complete the least amount that's expected of me)

I'll leave you with a quote from the Trevor-lad:

"Mommy....ROCK with us!" as Mannheim Steamroller music floats out from the CD player.

He probably needs lunch.
 

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Greetings From Across the Crowded Room

Or perhaps I should say, across Loren's crowded desk, heh heh. For once there are more piles of papers here, than chez Ma.

Loren has been hard at work on my computer. So hard, in fact, I am beginning to feel a tad guilty. If it doesn't get fixed soon, then at some point in time, I will actually owe him for for all the trouble on my behalf.

But I figure I've got 5 or 6 six years, yet.

In truth, he probably wants to get mine fixed so he won't come home and find me co-opting his double-monitored set-up, again.

Loren's out right now picking up some lug nuts, which may or may not be intended for my computer.

In Thanksgiving Day news, we had a most jolly time, yesterday :-D

The food was ready almost on time, and nothing was burned or underdone. Carolyn took charge of the turkey this year, and a wonderful job she did. Guess Ma can sleep in, Thanksgiving, 1011!

I did overwhip the cream later in the evening, but it still tasted good on Sharon's scrumptious pies. And Justin-the-wonder-SIL made a favorable comment concerning texture and/or extra body :-)

Partly for enjoyment, and partly because we were too stuffed to move, most of us sat around the table after the feast and laughed and laughed and LAUGHED!

Wow. My stomach was starting to hurt.

Very enlightening. Justin learned ever more concerning the family dynamics, the younger kids' growing up, and above all, their renewed, futile attempts at making people feel sorry for their deprivations over the years.

Jason....your name came up, once or twice! Ah, good times.

Hope everyoneall two of my readers out there be havin' a memorable time with someone during this time of celebration.

And I also trust you were as incredibly smart as me, acquiring stuff early and online, preventing run-ins with crazy hoards of Christmas shoppers, to-day.

Bonne Fête!
 

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From an undisclosed location...

...well, it's really Loren's computer.

Mine went on the fritz this afternoon, just when I was updating the AVG antiviral program.

Yeah...I will sure do THAT again sometime.

Around this same time, we lost Internet connection, so I was basically a "Ma without a country," forced to take desperate measures and clean parts of the house.

I know !

Thankfully, I put off the necessary restart for the antiviral update until after I'd ordered the Christmas photocards. It took for-EVER to find something that would take our whole family's picture, without cutting off at least 2.5 people around the edges. And that was after I'd re-sized the photo 25% smaller.

I ended up using a blank card, with absolutely no border. It will be a little plain, but at least I won't have to explain who's missing.

Internet is back up, obviously, and Sharon and Kendra made it safely home. No weather problems, though once they got to the gravel road it became a bit slick.

After all the hubbub and getting the younger ones to bed, we sat around and imbibed Much Ado About Nothing. Gotta love the guy playing Benedict...he did a marvelous job with the character! And Michael Keaton was real laugh, as well.

Now we look forward to seeing Ardith and Justin tomorrow, and chowing down on turkey and all the trimmings!

(or rather...later today :-)
 

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Hurray fer Michael Bublé !

Just a splendid CD, this: Let it Snow! by Mr. Bublé.

And it was only 7 bucks at Wal*Mart! A scant six songs, true, and that means....mmmm...uh...well, each song costs just over a dollar :-D

I think this is the first time I've ever heard, My Grown-Up Christmas List. I was impressed. It's the kind of wishful, syrupy song that would drive a lot of people nuts. But then, I don't make fun of people who cry at mushy movies, so I'll stand up for my idealistic Christmasy lyrics.

And I have to say, Michael Bublé has the style down to perfection.

Not so impressed with my Harry Connick Jr. CD. Song selection wasn't as great, but I guess you can't have everything.
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The weather doesn't look so great, either. The northern part of Iowa could get iffy-n-icy tomorrow, just when Sharon and Kendra will be driving out from Indiana.

We'd appreciate your prayers on their behalf!

And in the Hoytstead yardstead, I managed to get all my strawberries covered up, right abouts dark.

Had around 7 trash bags of pine needles, raked and stored in the breezeway these past weeks. The kids and I confiscated them from a local park where I take care of a memorial garden. Figured it was more than enough. So much so, that I even burned a bag with the trash this afternoon, to make the fire nice and hot.

THAT was a mistake. I could have used that extra bag, as it soon became apparent I was lacking in the pine needle department. Ma had to hoof it over to the other side of the yard and rake the leavings of our own trees.

And now my elbow hates me.

But the berries should be all set for the coming winter.

Now, to get through the coming storm...
 

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No, I Do Not Believe in Omens

So I've just pulled into my Wal*Mart parking space, and what should drive up but a hearse.

Now, I have nothing against hearses. In fact, some of my best friends--if I had any--would probably enjoy having a hearse as an extra vehicle around the place. Might even come in handy if one had to go the lumber yard, needed a few generators from Menard's, or just wanted to park outside an errant friend's house at night, as part of a "scared straight" program.

Judging by the casually dressed guys who got out of the vehicle, I guessed this was not a working hearse.

Then I looked closer at the tag...
...and I thought, "No, this is definitely not a working hearse!

Or WAS it...

The drivers looked to be 20 0r 30-somethings...not really sure....but then, I've heard it's hard to tell with Zombies.
 

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Goodsome Day

What a relief :-)

The sixth high school transcript is done and on it's mail-way. Minus grades for the current (senior) year, naturally.

Only four more transcripts to go!

I don't know why they make me so nervous, but they do. The final push called for el migraine medico.

Also accomplished today, the ordering of the very last presents for Christmas and birthdays, through June of next year

And as if that weren't enough, there must have been a special alignment of planets or somethin', cause we got all three bathrooms cleaned, aujourd'hui!

Si senor, c'est vrai.

The kids are responsible for two, and usually get them done each Saturday.

The master bath is my responsibility and is cleaned in a slightly more haphazard schedule ;-p

But it's done now, and that should do 'er for 6 months or so.

I'm kidding.

Three months, tops.

Now it's time for big band, blogging and quite possibly a chocolate chip or two.

I'm guessin' ol' Ma burned off more than one calorie while counting up credits, half credits, and figuring GPA's for same.

Not to mention tabulating lesson and test scores for a gazillion calculus papers. Too bad I got 2/3 through the stack before Melinda showed me her neat, daily log.

*small scream*

Oh well, it's done.

(can you tell I'm relieved?)

Now, on to the Christmas letter...
 

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The Old Barn That Couldn't Come in From the Cold

Here is one of my favorite barns, which happens to be right next door to us :-D

I think it's go a lot of character, standing up like that, despite the shabby shell and missing chunks of skin.

The gaps might let in the cold, but they let in fresh air, too. Gives the barn a chance to think new thoughts and entertain new ideas. Ideas it couldn't contemplate while housing farm implements, hay, and animals that kept making messes all the live long day.

Sorry the picture isn't in better focus, though maybe the barn doesn't mind. Maybe it doesn't want to be seen too closely, with flaws that would only look more tawdry if covered with paint.

No, I think if the barn could talk it would say something like, "Don't feel sorry for me....I've lived a good life...done a few unique things in my day...experienced joys and sorrows in a pleasing enough mixture to makes for a mellow old age."

Or, the barn might really want to visit Jamaica.
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On the exercise front, Ma got in 4.5 miles on the treadmill yesterday, and 5 more today.

That ought to take care of the eggnog, what say!

In other news, I'm still working on Melinda's transcript, but starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully I can finish up tomorrow. And if I could get it in the mail, well....bonus points for Ma!

In the meantime, I'll get back to Glenn Miller and tabulating scores for Pre-Calc.
 

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Hoo-KAY!

Ma is pretty excited!

Not sure exactly why, though it's ended up being a rather decent day. Let's see:

--Nolan behaved fairly well. In part, to win back the right to play X-pilot and get all mad again, ha ha (he opted for Zoo Tycoon instead...whew!).

--I managed to get through the shopping without much hassle, despite taking Nolan and Trevor along.

--First eggnog of the season. Wow, was that good!

--I even got a 15 minute snooze after the news.

--Or, I guess it could have been that first Xenadrine pill I took, right before supper: "Weight Loss That Works! Get the body you want!"

Yeah, I am reduced to trying diet pills, now. And I wonder if that "body you want" includes one 20 years younger :-p

No matter. I'll settle for a couple pounds lost before Thanksgiving.

If nothing else, I can try it and be able to tell the world that it doesn't work :-p

I could be a motivational speaker on demotivation!
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Another little boost to my day was discovering--I think, anyway--through the miracle of veiled Facebook comments, that another youngish couple is expecting a baby! I won't say who, because most people that know me wouldn't know them, and the people that know them probably already know, but hey, it works for me!

(just think....in 3 more days I'll be taking two Xenadrine pills before every meal, instead of one, and whoo baby, things could get interesting! Maybe I won't need naps!!)

(maybe I'll run out of exclamation points!!!)

Okay, that's enough. I'm not that hyper. Desperate for something to blog about, perhaps, but not that hyper.

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On the Master Gardener keeping-up-appearances front, Melinda and I put in another couple hours at a refresher class last night, so we are both all done with the requirements to keep our status.

My framed certificate stays up on the wall :-D

All I have to do is enter in my hours on the website, which necessitates remembering the username and password...
 

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Some Times You Just Have to Get Away

By morning's end I was suffering a severe case of Nolan-fatigue, so I made the impromptu decision to break from the loony bin, and head over to Prairie Bridges Park.

It meant missing my nap, but oh well.

On the way to the park I was nearly taken out by a pickup truck.

Tooling down a gravel road, minding my own sanity, I spied a grain semi coming toward me. Not unusual at all, and since he kept to his side of the road, all was well. Coming behind him, however, was a blue, two-toned pickup, traveling precisely in the center of the road.

This happens a lot on gravel roads. So many people travel down the middle when by themselves, that the nicest tracks are always in the center of the road.

I waited for the guy to pull over to his side, but noticed that he instead was pulling further over to MY side. As I veered toward my edge and contemplated visiting the ditch, he finally saw me and swerved back on his side.

Of course, even a head on collision would be survivable in the Green Dragon Lady Lincoln, but all in all, I'd rather not be bothered with untidy bits of broken glass, fiberglass shards, and mangled Ma.

I still don't know what that guy was doing, unless he was planning to pass the semi. There was certainly not a lot of dust to obscure his vision. And if there had been, he had no business trying to pass in the first place.

We came within 10 feet of each other before he "woke up."

I wasn't quite sure whether to be mad or scared.

ANYWAY...didn't mean to chase that dust bunny trail so far.

Back to Prairie Bridges Park, that little harbor of tranquility within spitting distance:

With leaves mostly gone, there's a lot of bare-branched imagery.


As well as stark lines


Pebbles and leaves vied for multi-colored beauty


Some wildlife was observed


Slightly deflated red berries


Had a decent little walkabout, though fairly soon after my arrival, some men began burning brush in the back of the park. It wasn't long before a slight haze of smoke spread throughout the area.

Hazards everywhere ones goes, apparently. But it was still nice to get away :-)
 

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Can it really be the middle of November, already?

There are a few things I need to get crackin' on.

Melinda's high school transcript: it's started, but still needs several hours of labor.

Christmas letter: not started. Thinking about using clip-art and a really large font, this year.

Christmas photo cards: pretty much picked out, just not ordered. I decided on the photo with 5 people smiling, 3 people basically not frowning, most everyone looking at the camera, and only one person's head partially obscured. I am reminded of that commercial on TV: "Windows gives me the family Nature never could." (Carolyn and I always get a huge kick out of that one)

Christmas and birthday gifts: actually going well. Only need about 4 or 5 more things, and I have specifics in mind. Went up to my "magic closet" a while back, and miraculously discovered many good possibilities, including birthdays through next June :-D

Today I cleaned off my desk, so I can be mentally ready to attack the transcript. Even discovered some of Carolyn's work from her freshman year, so theoretically, I could get started on her transcript, early.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA"....*on into infinity*....

But before the tidying up got underway, I realized I hadn't written the Hoyt family letter for a while. This isn't too outrageous, since so many of us got together for the reunion in August. But still, there were one or two trivialities worth exploiting.

I tell you, writing the family letter is a blast! I have such fun. To get paid for that exercise in enjoyment would be a dream come true.

For now I'll have to keep my day job, half of which involves napping.

Hmmm, is that clinking I hear out in the kitchen? Must be Carolyn, discovering the intricacies of a Raisin Cream Pie. Yum! Birthday dinner tonight :-D

Should have some pictures up of Melinda's celebration, sometime over the weekend. And while I still have those June birthday pics to post, at least I'm only behind by two.

I'll get those up too...or, I could just wait 'til next summer and do both years at once.
 

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Russian Birch

"Is it agony that has bleached them to such beauty? Their stand
is at the edge of our property—white spires like fingers, through which the deer emerge with all the tentative grace of memory. Your father

loved these trees. When you try to imagine his childhood, it is all old
footage, in a similar scheme: black and white. But he died, and all you know is that they reminded him of home. As they remind you he is gone

to a country as unimaginable as his life before you were born, before
the woman who would be your mother lived as she does now—lost,
wandering at the edge of her life’s whitened gates.

After a storm, one birch fell in the field, an ivory buttress collapsed across the pasture. Up close there is pink skin beneath the paper, green lichen ascending in settlements of scales. In the dark yard it beckons you back

to snow, the static of the past—your father, a boy, speaking in a tongue you never knew, calling down from the branches. Or the letter you wrote to a mother you weren’t allowed to miss—black ink scrawled across the white pulp of the page: I am very lonely without you."

---by Nathaniel Bellows
 

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Things done, things to do

Today was a long one for Carolyn. She spent all morning at the local high school taking the ITEDs (Iowa Test of Educational Development).

They've gone to one day of testing, rather than parts of 4 days, which makes less driving for me :-)

Also, this year she stayed over during lunch and ate in the cafeteria, breaking new social barriers for the secluded Hoyt tribe. In the past, I've come with a packed lunch and picked up kids, had them wolf down their food, taken them to a convenience store to use the restroom, and rushed them back for the last 45 minutes of testing.

I think today's arrangement was better all around, particularly since Carolyn is adept enough in social skills to not be mistaken for an inanimate object.

When it was time to pick her up, we proceeded right on over to Iowa Falls for a little retail therapy :-D

Imagine going to Goodwill and not buying books or clothes! Hey, it happened.

I did scoop up two $.79 VHS's, a travel bag and a high quality towel and washcloth set. And flannel sheets.

It's November. One must not forget to lay in flannel sheets as winter looms.

:-D

On a festive note, I've set my sights on A Christmas Carol, to be performed at the Gallagher Bluedorn, in December.

It will be "Buck a Kid" night, and baby, that sounds good to Ma!

Hopefully...have the tickets ordered by tomorrow. Oh BOY!

I should probably get the Christmas letters out before then.

Which means I should order the photocards and maybe even write the letter...
 

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Carolyn, Sweet Sixteen :-)

Another month, another two birthdays, heh, heh.

Hard to believe Carolyn--a 4-month-old babe when Loren had his cardiac arrest--has now turned 16! Here are a few pictures from yesterday's bash:

The candle de-lighting ceremony.
The cake had "issues." But what it lacked in viewability, it made up for in taste. Sour cream frosting...YUM!

The traditional giving of weird but heartfelt gifts from the younger bros...
This is from Trevor. It's a strap off one of my old purses--which apparently cannot be used anymore--that Trevor transformed into a 'holder-of-stuff-thingy."

Yarn.
"I noticed you've been crocheting a bit, lately...." "Yes..." "Well, now you have to crochet, more."

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
"So...is this a famous book?"

*sigh*

On her stash you might glimpse another book that didn't come out in the picture, The Complete Book of Aunts.

(all books are given with the understanding that Ma gets to read them)

Last, but not least, a CD...Bluegrass Hymns (or something like that)


Throughout the present-opening festivities there were the usual helpful comments by people like Nolan and Trevor..."That looks like a book!" or "I bet Carolyn got a CD! Hey...I never got a CD..."

*sigh*

I should also mention Carolyn's meal. She chose a dish she'd had at her Aunt Elizabeth's, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After some consultation with Elizabeth and online recipes, we came up with this:
Elizabeth's grandmother used to make this, and we've renamed it, "Aunt Elizabeth's Chicken-n-Biscuits." It was YUMMO.

One more anniversary of note. Today marks exactly six years since Loren had his heart transplant. We can remember it since it's nestled right between Carolyn's birthday on November 7th, and Melinda's on the November 9th.

If I recall correctly, I wasn't home for Melinda's birthday back in 2004. There was a lot of choosing between the husband and the kids, during that 9-year span, but I'm very glad we can all be together in the here and now.

Enough reminiscing. Here's to the baby girl:

Happy Birthday, Carolyn!
 

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It's clean, but for how long?

Not the whole house, just the boys' room.

It didn't include moving the furniture and chasing after cobwebs, but we're striving for reasonably neat, not Martha Stewart on steroids.

I convinced Trevor to part with some of his belongings, since he could not close the storage box that's supposed to hold his junk valuables.

And after some discussion, I persuaded him to put all the loose marbles and Legos into small zip-locks, on the off chance they might be more accessible, that way.

Nolan decided to donate his large semi to Goodwill (from which it had come...I like to think of them as a cheap rental toys) and I thought there was going to be a "dust up" when Trevor decided he wanted it.

Nolan: "No! I want to give it away."

Trevor: "But you don't want it any more...you said you wanted to give it away..."

Nolan: "I know. I want to give it a-WAY."

(letting your brother have something you don't want...a---fate---worse---than---death)

I told Trevor he had to pick between the large semi he already had (a Goodwill acquisition), or the old one of Nolan's. He couldn't have both.

After some consideration, Trevor picked Nolan's...no, wait! He chose not to take Nolan's.

In other words, Peace In Our Time.

Sure, it's not mediation between superpowers. But on a very small level, it can't get much smaller.

Additionally, perhaps unwisely, I decided to organize the reading material in the nook (which meant Nolan and Trevor had to clear out their "nest" of sleeping bags and blankets). I figured there were quite a few books I could toss. As in, nearly a trash bag full.

Incredibly enough, I also threw out the potty training literature. Under no circumstances will I ever potty train. Anyone. Ever again.

Not without promise of a seven figure grant, anyway.

Risking divine retribution, I discarded the Danny Orlis books and several forgetables sans covers. Another garbage sack full goes to Goodwill. They're gonna LOVE it when they get Nolan's old semi AND 30-year-old geography books.

The whole nook realign ended up being rather fun, so if anyone out there wants to pay me to organize their books, let me know!

Some day I look forward to cataloging and shelving my own personal collection, stashed in three or four rooms, in unnumbered stacks and boxes.

Until then, it'll be interesting just to see how long the boys' room remains navigable. For the problem with all that clean space is that it practically begs for the dumping of wooden blocks or Legos...
 

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Apple Trees: Bearing Fruit, or Accelerating Old Age?

Am I glad that is done.

Another back-breaking day of applesauce making.

This is where I would insert witty commentary, but I am exhausted. The only thing holding me up is the thought of watching Ocean's Eleven with Carolyn, later tonight :-D

So what did we learn today?

• We learned that fillet knives are not the greatest for coring apples. They do look cool, however, and certain young boys will adamantly expound upon their appropriateness
  
  
• Certain people need to be watched. If they come back too quickly from dumping applely rejects on the burn pile, you should probably go out and discover whether they dumped them in the sand pile, instead. We refer to this policy as "Don't trust. Do verify."
  
  
• Certain people--who may or may not be the same people listed in the above bullets (but let's face it, they are)--will assume that the apple coring job actually refers to matching the halves back together, as opposed to...say, cutting out the cores and passing them on to the slicer.
  
  
• "Passing on the cores to the slicer" means throwing them at Carolyn.
  
  
• What may at first sound like a mouse skittering in the corner, could in fact be the noise an apple seed makes when surreptitiously tossed behind the file cabinets by Nolan (as all pretense is thrown aside concerning the party mentioned above).
  
  
• Never spend time doing your own job correctly, when you could instead complain about not being allowed to do the job of your older brother.
  

Yes, the above points all applied to the same person. HOWEVER, we did get the apples used up. No one cut themselves. It was finished by 4:30. Should end up making around 53 quarts.

I am pleased.

Very tired.

Definitely earned my movie, tonight.

But I am pleased.
 

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Go Ahead...Make My Day

Mice.

You'd think they owned the joint or somethin'.

All it takes is harvest and the onset of cooler weather, and we're sure to see more of our gray, furry friends.

That first day of the huge-storm-of-cycloneness, we caught five.

Between last night and this morning, two more.

One was flopping around the steps as Carolyn attempted the stairway to bed. It was crouching in a corner of a step and I set a trap on either side. Then I poked at it with the yardstick. There was a "SNAP" and an "oh dear" from Carolyn...

I sent her on up the stairs so she wouldn't have to see me "finish it off."

I'm just nice, that way.

Then this morning, I was treading on the mill, when one came right at me, across the basement floor.

I hopped off the rubber, put my Dr. Scholl's to good use, and got back on the treadmill within five steps.

It was a thing of beauty. Well, not the mouse, of course.

THEN, Ethan discovered a mouse going across the dining room floor. It escaped down a hole, but kept peeking out...I placed a trap beside the hole...


Come on....a little further...

Don't worry. I'm not going to show you anything terrible, because it didn't go over the trap.

Later that morning, I heard Trevor lugging the big box of wooden blocks down the stairs.

"Look, Mommy...I made it a house!"
It comes complete with landscaping (note the tree, top right) and a couple of cars, just in case Mr. Mouse gets tired of running and wants to drive.

And I notice Trevor didn't move the trap.

Nothing so far, but I picked up four more traps at Wal*Mart today, so I think that mouse's days are numbered.
 

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Why I am Thankful

First of all, the election is finally over, so NO MORE ROBO CALLS!

While I will miss my new friends, Sarah, Newt and Mitt, I think we can all agree that even if none currently hold office, their names would make a bang-up soundin' rock group!

Secondly, I appreciate the wind picking up, this afternoon. It caused me to postpone the final mowing, once again. Ethan is eternally grateful, also.

Thirdly, due to the fact that I was not out slavin' with the mower, I went through my closet of "goodies," and organized gifts I'd picked out over the last month or so. Coupled with a few purchases online, and it turns out I'm set for Christmas and birthdays, minus four people. This also includes all birthdays through June of next year!!

I am really stoked about that :-D

Which helps to make up for my current downer, Nolan.

I'm sure we've all heard how homeschooling helps to keep negative influences away from kids? Makes it so they respect people more, and don't pick up back-talking habits and mouthiness?

Well, I am here to state that is not necessarily true.

Can't say how he figured out how to do this, but he is combating me at a whole new level, forcing me to really keep on my toes to not lose it.

I figure it's a mixture of sudden bursts of testosterone, interspersed with brief lapses into bipolar mania, and a dash of schizophrenia, all awash in a marinating sauce of ADD.

Of course, it is not that bad. Just seems that way compared to other children I may have been in contact with, over the years.

I am determined not to give up with this boy. He can be very endearing and lovable, but also incredibly impulsive, not thinking of the ramifications of his actions, at all.

He's also surprisingly unaware of how easily he can be "caught out" in his deceptions.

Anyway, I would appreciate your prayers. And of course, I realize I'm mostly talking to myself, since, as one of the children so helpfully pointed out recently, "...hardly anyone reads your blog, Mommy!"

Regardless, I'm quite willing to be my own therapist and cheerleader.
 

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It's November 1st!

Can't believe we're starting the next to last month of this year. Bet I only wrote 2 checks for 2010, and that's hardly enough to get used to the numbers. Ah well.

Today was a day that lived in famy, as opposed to infamy. This either means that something really terrific happened, or else I got to go shopping all by my lil' ol' self...oh wait, I DID go shopping all by myself :-D

Let's hear it for no distractions while driving!

As I returned home and pulled in the drive, what did I see but all the overgrown summer squash, attractively arranged around a prominent pine.
Nolan the artist, at work once again.

I guess it wasn't enough to let them lie hidden in the weedy garden.

Nevermind that I came back from the Hoyt reunion, found them huge and then lost heart in the cultivation of mutant cucubitea.

No...now they are right out by the road, where everyone can see the Master Gardener's missed harvest, and take note that even the beasts of the field have no interest in Ma's garden produce.

I'm sure Nolan thought he was doing a cool thing.

Trevor didn't have anything to show me, but I had something to show him.

I stopped by the Weikerts and retrieved the boy's lost baseball glove. It had inadvertently been taken back to their house after Family Camp.

Inadvertently, as opposed to Trevor being responsible and returning it to our car.

ANYWAY, baseball season may be over, but the bonnie lad is glad for his cherished glove.
Forget the false humility or false braggadocio...I think this is one snapping, great picture.

A bit of back lighting...the angles in the background that contrast with the curves of humanity....the edited soft focus and focal black and white...it all adds up to one thing:

Ma's dumb luck strikes again!

To finish off the evening....tonight's sunset.


When it comes to beautiful skies, You just can't beat livin' in the country.
 

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