I can hardly wait!

I head down to Ft. Worth tomorrow! I haven't flown in a couple of years now. My flight isn't scheduled until late afternoon, as it was the first open flight after I was sure to be home from work.

Today was a bit heavy on the freight, for a Friday. I was there until shortly after 10:00 am... but at least an hour and a half of that was sequencing wheel hub bearings (WHB). That task is DONE! (To get the WHB done, I first had to do some advance preparations... moving the transmission seals, and then the wheel seals. Almost all of the WHB are big and heavy... not things people should have on shelves above their heads... so I have lower portions of several shelving units with the WHB, and the upper shelves for the seals. Chad really helped out when he arrived. (A few days ago he and Jeff tackled and sequenced another sore spot left in chaos from a relabeling two years ago!) We have really got the worst areas of frustration dealt with now!

I have been using the crock pot a LOT this summer. (As well as the grill!) Last night, Sam readied the grill for some little charcoal steaks I found at the bottom of the deep freeze. Since he doesn't grill as much as Daniel, he put way too much charcoal for the four wee little steaks. Tom grabbed a bag of frozen chicken breasts and tossed several of those onto the grill as well.

Today, those breasts were cut up, and mixed with cream of mushroom soup, broccoli cheese soup, frozen corn, cream cheese, milk, and chopped green chilies. I had a few bits of raw onion in a baggie in the fridge... so I sprayed the crock with olive oil, and scattered the onion across the bottom. I tore up a few corn tortillas and put them over the onions. (I figure that the onions will cook better against the crockery, and hold the tortillas off enough for the juices of the mixture to seep under them. Nothing else was actually raw.)

I poured half the mixture over the layer of torn tortillas, and sprinkled shredded cheese. Next was another layer of tortillas, the mixture, and a tiny bit of cheese.

Then I covered the crock with foil (because I have never found a replacement lid for the one that was broken last year.) It started on high because I wasn't paying attention... but since it is basically a heat through and eat, cooking it on low for three hours should be plenty.

It is the first time I have tried this casserole in the crock pot... though we have made it a number of times in the oven and in the microwave.

I would of added sour cream, but I am out. I might have even added some black olives, but I didn't have any of those on hand either. And I had intended to add salsa, to the mixture, but just forgot.
(Truth/ JoAnne, I believe this will qualify as a gluten free dish!)

Have a blessed afternoon and a wonderful weekend. I am sure looking forward to mine!

Just rambling...

I am becoming my daughter! Reading random blogs of total strangers. I see other interesting blogs.... linked to one I found linked... to one I found linked... and the next thing you know, I'm Becky.

One I recently began reading is "Carrying a Cat by the Tail". It is by a single Dad of six kids. He is very entertaining as well as thought provoking. His kids remind me of when mine were younger.

Today's post reminded me of the several grass fires we had when living in Marlow. Most were started when the kid assigned to burning trash got careless. We became pretty proficient at putting them out ourselves. His kids accidentally started a grass fire with a magnifying glass. The many times I my kids tried starting fires with a magnifying glass- on purpose!- were unsuccessful!

I think that I am pretty lenient with my kids... letting them try things many parents deem "too dangerous". The looks I got at work when I got a call from my middle kids, wanting to use gunpowder in their tennis ball cannon, since hairspray wasn't working. (They had gotten non-aerosol hairspray.) The co-workers were appalled that I would let the kids build a CANNON in the first place- never mind what propellant they wanted to use in it. (I told them NO, they could NOT use gunpowder without adult supervision, on that call.)

The kids once built themselves a catapult... and tried for best distance at chicken flinging. (They were supposed to be using balls! The chicken was ruffled but unharmed. She also became quite good at avoiding capture.)

Yesterday, Dan wanted to build a paper balloon, which he envisioned rising to the air, powered by a tea light candle. He eventually gave up... for the day. (Or else I may have got to practice my firefighting skills again!) He and Sam moved on, this time asking to refit the potato cannon to shoot paintballs instead of potatoes. I vetoed their idea of shooting at one another with the re-fitted paintball cannon. They made a target of an old wooden crate and the plastic swimming pool I planted my 'garden' in last year. They used an empty plastic water bottle inside the potato cannon, cutting the top off the bottle, and putting the paintballs into the remaining portion. It worked quite well.

Not being allowed to shoot this at one another led Sam to lament how people used to get to do things that 'might be' considered dangerous... "like that blogger guy Mom read to us... he got to shoot fireworks at his 'single digit siblings'". Ummm, yeah, I'm pretty sure they missed the part about his parents not knowing his siblings were used as targets!

I let the kids climb trees. That is hard. They scamper up like squirrels... wearing BOOTS rather than sneakers. And they climb high. Every time I see a kid head up the tree, I remember the time the branch broke with Bill Joe (OF COURSE IT WAS BILL!) and he came plummeting down through the branches as Tom ran scrambling beneath the tree to try to catch him.... and Bill caught the last possible branch and stopped the fall himself.

I am thankful my kids have all grown up relatively unharmed!

Have a blessed day!

Plans and annoyances....

Maybe that should be "job security" instead of annoyances. Yesterday, I finished the great brake rotor sequencing. I had maybe 50 rotors left to reshelve, when co worker Jeff came down the aisle I was working on. "You are NOT going to be happy," He tells me. He hands me a stack of new labels. On this coming Monday, August 2nd... this brand of rotors will have their part numbers changed and relabeled . In all likelihood, this will render my sequencing invalid. I will know on Tuesday.

Daniel, Sam and I did the 21 day re-bombing of the house yesterday. I hadn't seen any fleas, but that is the point of re-treatment... to make sure the ones in stages immune to the fog last time are killed before they are mature enough to reproduce. We started our 4 hour exile at the library. Then we proceeded on to the Jones center for ice skating. We struck out there... as has happened the last 3 times we have driven over there, the ice rink was closed for a special event. So I decided we would go check out a park I had seen signs for along 540. It was MUCH farther away than I had anticipated- waaaay east of 540. We finally found the park... and discovered there was an entry/ day use fee! I was too broke to get us in. *sigh* So I took a 'scenic' route home house. I found a couple of ways I cannot get home from 540. But then, knowing the basic "grid" of highways and the direction of the house, I drove back roads until I found a way through. We got back here with 20 minutes before we were supposed to air out the house. I called it "close enough".

This morning, I got to thinking about how we pretty much never use our flight benefits. Tom has been with the company long enough I can fly standby coach for free. So I asked him to set me up to go see my Mom this coming weekend. I can also go see Granny, and Chris. He agreed! So if the flights are clear, I will head down to DFW once I am off work Saturday. He and the boys had already been talking about going on an all night fishing trip. (I'll let you know the flight details when I get them, Mom!)

Meanwhile... tomorrow is Oil Day. Another chance to exercise my muscles! Speaking of muscles, as of this minute, I am up to 39.4 miles on the treadmill for July. I "upped" my goal of 100 miles by Oct. 20th to 150 miles. You would think that walking 40 miles would cause one to lose a bit of weight. *I* would think that anyway. Yet the scales remain stubbornly stuck on 160 lbs. "Muscle weighs more than fat! You are turning the fat into muscle." Yeah, yeah.

Muscle is also supposed to burn more calories than fat... so when does the weight loss start? I would think that the results would start to show after more than a month of consistent exercise.

That's all I can think of for now. Hope you have a blessed day!

It was a dream

I need to say that again: the following was a dream that woke me in the pre-alarm clock hours this morning.

I was in 'my' house, which was a rent house, but not the house we live in now. I know this because it was on a hillside, and Sam had just backed our truck down the hill where it should not of gone, and came running to ask me to see if I could get it back up the hill.

When I walked back inside, the home OWNERS were there, and fixing us pancakes for breakfast. I asked why they were cooking in my kitchen, and the lady said because she could see I needed the help.

Just then the phone rang, and my mom answered it. She looked upset, and I could tell it was bad news. She told me my Granny was doing bad and the doctors said she was going to die by Wednesday night. Mom asked me to call my Dad and Kathie and tell them, as well as my kids that didn't live at home.

I tried dialing the phone, but was so upset, instead of calling Dad, I called my boss Tim. When I realized it was Tim, I told him I had to take time off, and why. Then I tried dad again. I was crying and fumbling the dialing repeatedly. So Evelyn, who is a friend of my Aunt Jean (She rents a room from Jean) helpfully tried to take the phone from me. (My house was suddenly full of people coming to see Granny, or attend her funeral.) Evelyn is a sweet lady... annoyingly over helpful, but sweet. She just tries so hard to DO things for people. As I kept trying unsucessfully to dial the phone, Evelyn kept trying to take it from me, to dial for me. I got mad and threw the phone at her.

People were shocked. How could I do that, when Evelyn was only being helpful? I stormed outside to cry. (I have known Evelyn almost 30 years.)

That was when I woke up. I wanted to call Becky right away, as we have both had dreams about Granny lately. But since it was only 4:30 am, I didn't call. I was afraid she might not hear me say: I had a DREAM....

Anyway, I told Mr C about the dream. I KNOW that my Granny would be happier with the Lord. Still, when the time comes, saying a last goodbye will be hard. And maybe I better avoid Evelyn.

Cutting Costs...

Well, I did it. I called the cell phone carrier and our cell phones will no longer work as of August 3rd. So if you need to reach us, call the house phone number. If you don't have that, call me before the 3rd and I will give it to you, or else email me and I will send it to you.

The cell isn't the only thing we will be cutting- the Direct TV may soon be going bye-bye as well. At least we are not under contract with anyone except the House phone/Internet package. We have plenty of DVD's and with the high speed internet we can watch somewhat jerky videos and old TV programs on HULU, if we need a fix of unreality. (Mr C may really miss seeing cute little Betty Davis and Heather Tesch on the Weather Channel, though!)

Today is grandson Tyrel's birthday. He is 3 years old. He was born on what had been his great grandpa Bob C.'s birthday.


Coming in just over a week is the 26th anniversary of Mr C and myself. No big plans for that. Not even small plans, at the moment.

We are far enough behind in things that we haven't even taken care of Daniel and Samuel's birthday presents yet, and that was six weeks ago.

But, Thankfully, we do have food enough. We have a roof over our heads and transportation to get us to our jobs. We won't be this strapped forever... our cost cutting is what has to be done for now. Everyone is healthy... so much to be grateful for.

Last year, I was whining about the lack of attention to our major 25th anniversary. Within days, our entire world was rocked. Before the month was out, I had a son in the hospital fighting for his life. The next several months went by in a blur. I can do without the drama and upheaval, I believe. I will settle for a quiet anniversary!

May you have a blessed and wonderful day today.

Cleaning out the freezer...

Well, not actually CLEANING it yet. But using up stuff we have accumulated. I haven't bought pork in quite awhile- but found a nice pork butt roast in the freezer. I have been so hungry for BBQ, I am making it into pulled pork sammiches tonight. The drawback to this is: we are out of bread! So I have to go to town. While I am there, I am also low on milk and fruit.

Grandson Connor has been having fun with his Uncles. They are playing Monopoly right now. I am holding off on heading to town until after 2:00pm. That's when Sonic has its Happy Hour! For just a couple of bucks, I can get all the boys a drink. (We have a pretty low on the excitement threshold here!)

I had my annual review at work yesterday. The boss gave me good remarks... and put in for a 10% raise. Still isn't as much as I would make starting out at most places, but: it is a low stress job, part time, and I can take off when I need to (within reason). I have continued to do some "make work" projects... organizational bits that REALLY need done. Just seems no one ever has time to get to them. So I spend 20- 30 minutes of a morning. Today I started brake rotors. This is a BIG job. A Heavy job. I only got through 3 sections, and have so far come up with about 10 rotors that are not on our books. Once I get all the rotors sorted and arranged in simple numerical order, I will get the counts corrected.

You would think numerical order is a simple thing. Even the dyslexic among us should grasp how it works. I KNOW I am dyslexic. So I am careful around numbers. But I can easily go into thermonuclear mode with the way some folks I work with just randomly toss things onto shelves. I guess some concepts of numerical order are harder to grasp... like 5004 and 50005. These parts DO NOT live next to one another. They are an entire place value +/-1 from one another.

Really, most of the reorganizing I am doing is due to product relabels. An entire product line will be replaced by a new brand, and all of the old parts get relabeled with the new brand's numeric designation. This makes the old order they were in on the shelves into chaos. Some of the organizing is brought about because every car manufacturer puts new models on the market every year. As the new cars age, they require replacement parts, and these new parts are eventually added to our stock. Some of the stock is squeezed into a too small area... and adding to it requires moving other items first. The old "But First I Have To_____" situation.

Getting these things in shape a bit at a time adds a few minutes a day to my paycheck... Hooray! I figure that I am not cheating the company by doing this, as being able to find a part when you need to find it, where it is SUPPOSED to be, cuts down the time spend by everyone having to search for a part. Getting out of the parts store quickly with what they need makes the customers happy. We all win.

Well, guess this was pretty boring. Maybe someone will do something exciting for me to blog about. Have a blessed afternoon!

Another week gone by

Last evening was my 'hostage exchange'. I swapped grand daughter Alana for grandson Connor. Connor and the twins slept out under the stars last night. When I left for work at 5:30 this morning, I didn't see how they could of slept at all. It was sooo warm and muggy.

I had another attack of my remaining ovary yesterday. I took pain relievers and went to bed, sleeping it off. It was better last night, and I am fine this morning. However, I didn't do any time on the treadmill yesterday. That was my second day to miss since I started tracking my distance July 1st. I am glad to feel better- for one thing I would never have made work today. It was light for 'oil day'.
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I had this blog finished- rather long- and my internet went out. It has been down all day, and had only 'saved' to the point where the stars above are. I was saving it on the computer... til Mr C got home and shut THAT off. So I had a nap instead.

I spent most of yesterday in bed, but feel so much better today. DS Bill spent some time in the ER. He is VERY allergic to "poison ivory". Just a good wind blowing across a patch of poison ivy before wafting across him can break him out. But this time he must have actually come into contact with it. I hope HE is feeling better today as well!

Becky reports that Tyrel, who will be THREE!!!! on Sunday, has said some too cute things this last week. After watching his Mommy and Daddy competing to see whose name Kimber Ann would say first: "Say Mama!" "Say DADA!" "Say MAMA!" "DADA!"... Tyrel took a moment to coach his sister for himself: "say TY-RAIL!".
He was playing with his toy trucks in the floor, and told his Daddy that his truck needed oil in it.
Stephen asked Ty, "Why does your truck need oil?"
Ty thinks it over seriously for a few minutes and tells Stephen, "I have NO IDEA". (I can just HEAR Becky saying that!)

The camp out boys have all slept all day. (In the relative coolness of the house). I got three loads of laundry done. I also got my treadmilling done.
For suppers lately, I have been cleaning out the freezer. As much as I have tried to keep things rotated, some stuff sifted to the bottom. I found a couple of packages of small charcoal steaks towards the bottom of the freezer. So we will have those on the grill, and some "Southwestern Potatoes" (Boxed from WM+ a few fresh microwaved and sliced real taters+ a can of cheese soup). I will probably also heat up a can of Bush beans.

Well, Let's see if I can pot this this time!
Have a blessed day!

Other Things

When I got off work today, I went right over to get grand daughter Alana. We ran errands together. The downside of going straight to town from work... I get FILTHY at work. I can wash my hands, but until I can get to my nail brush at home, I have at least traces of grime under my nails.
I started out in a clean white T Shirt with the company logo on it. By the time I clocked out, I have greasy rings across the abdomen that look like the olympic symbol of interlocking circles. (I stacked an armload of cans of spray paint to put away against my front.) I have the expected grease and grit and dirt associated with handling the used auto parts I ship out. As hot as it has been, I have been pulling my hair back into a semblance of a pony tail. As short as my hair is, it is more of a puppy tail. With the unruly gray hair and the shorter strands bent on escaping the band... I was a sight to behold when I went to town.

Even on a 'good day' of going to town... a day where I get dressed especially for going out... my mind is on so many other things that I seldom think about my appearance. Not only my daughter, but my BOYS have asked me if I plan to brush may hair before getting out of the car. I am pretty much oblivious to how I appear to others.

So Alana and I ran our errands before heading to the house. One was buying groceries at the WalMart Super Center. I wasn't much more in the door when I was headed off by a young woman in a smock. She started to ask... but then INSISTED I take a coupon good for $3 off a haircut. I said, "I must look like I really NEED a haircut." She sort of grimaced... I think it was supposed to be a smile.... and hands me another coupon. "You better take TWO!" she tells me.

Alana has been "hungry" since she got here. This is after a container of yogurt, a peach, ravioli, iced tea, some "Combo's" pretzel snacks, and now a big bowl of Lucky Charms. She eats like the twins do!

Well, I better get off here. I can hear thunder- so a storm is coming!

New Plans!

Starting tomorrow, I will get my grand daughter Alana for almost a week. I return her home Wednesday evening, and get grandson Connor until the following Monday! Having them one at a time will give them some one-on-one time with us. I haven't heard from my DIL about getting Gavin this month, and the month is half over. (Seneca, CALL ME!)

For an "Oil Day" at work, today wasn't too bad. I had all the freight (Including the oil!) checked in and most of the freight put away before the boss arrived. He even arrived a wee bit early. We are due to have a 'sit down talk' before the week is out: Time for my annual evaluation and pay raise! I have now been with O'Reilly's two years (on the 21st). I was off by a few minutes past nine.

I got home and got on the treadmill. I have been keeping a daily total and a cumulative total of miles on the treadmill since July 1st. I skipped walking one day, and have accumulated 17.6 miles since I started keeping track. I decided to set a 'long term goal': 100 miles by my birthday. (October 20th). That is 97 days away. I should be able to do that easily! Having a long term goal in sight may keep me walking, when I haven't had any desire at all to get on that treadmill all week.

Daniel and I have been browsing a cookbook that I picked up as a 'freebie' at a bookstore sale. (Buy two books, get one from a certain table for free. I was buying the two books anyway.) This cookbook has sat around for a good six months or more without being opened. I pulled it off the shelf a few days ago, and left it sitting out. Dan picked it up, and we have been discussing some of the recipes ever since. Tomorrow, I am picking up some of the ingredients we lacked for Dan to make some Oat Scones.

For supper tonight, I have some chicken thighs in the crock pot. I have some black beans cooking on the stove top. My "plan" such as it is, and subject to change, is to add the black beans to the crock pot once they have cooked. I will also add some corn, some rice, and some salsa. I have fresh basil I can add. I might, or might not add cream cheese, sour cream, Campbell's Cheese soup, and a can of chopped green chilies. Not sure how fresh basil will go with the chilies. And if the boys see me with either cream cheese or sour cream, they won't be as likely to eat the stuff. I may leave out the cheeses and sour cream altogether, for a lighter calorie meal. Still undecided there. I'm leaning towards leaving it out today, and then if there are leftovers, adding it to them tomorrow, along with corn tortillas, for a casserole.

Tommy's flight should be arriving back in Snanjlo soon. I wish I could be at the church to him and the other team members give their testimonies!

For now, I am off to get a shower. While home for lunch, Mr C pointed out that I am filthy. My shirt has grime down the front, with emphasis on 'the girls'. Have a blessed day!

Library day...

After an unusually long day at work. My usual 3 hours was dragged into 5 hours. And that was leaving some 'optional' shipping for another day. Got home and Daniel was doing his Power 90 workout, so (much as I was tempted to skip it!) I slogged out 1.1 miles on the treadmill. I was just getting out of the shower when Mr C got home for lunch. Dan got into the shower- and once he was ready, we headed up here.

We don't really have anything else on today's agenda- just stopping for a loaf of peanut butter and a jar of bread. I laid out some chicken tenders for supper tonight- and the guys are hoping I will fry them. I need to roast some veggies... but if I fry chicken, I really have to make mashed potatoes, don't I? And gravy?

The weedeater bit the dust over the weekend. This one lasted us a couple of years. It is so annoying how these things are made to be 'disposable'. The same with sewing machines. Very wasteful, very aggravating. It is less expensive to buy a new one than get an old one repaired on so many items.

The yard is looking really good... my rosebushes have been blooming like crazy. I am so glad I went ahead and got them. I am sure enjoying them. Why did I postpone planting things I enjoy for so long? They weren't expensive, and if I had done this the first year we moved into the house, I could of had them blooming for five years instead of just this one!

When we were pulling out of the driveway to come to the library... there was a KITTY in the yard! A young cat, similarly marked to Al. Tom went out to chase it off as we drove off down the road. I miss having a kitty.

That's all I can think of for now. Tomorrow the Brazil team heads for home. Thank you for keeping them covered in your prayers!

Busy morning

I slept late this morning. Just couldn't believe it was after 9:00 am when I awoke in my dark and cool bedroom. After I had my tea, I hopped right on the treadmill. Sam and Dan came wandering from their rooms. I suggested they get started mowing the grass before the day got too hot... though it was only in the mid 80's, the humidity made it feel more like the upper 90's.

I trudged out my best distance since returning from vacation: 2.1 miles. I decided that before I showered, I'd take care of weeding the rosebushes. I was really drenched with sweat before I jumped in the shower. Once the boys came in, we started some house work. It was mostly done, since we spent the morning yesterday cleaning. So here it is, noon. We have all the housework and yard work finished. A couple stray loads of clothes left to wash is all.

We need to find something to DO on our days off.

The rest of today, and tomorrow, with no plans at all. Even my plan for tonight's supper must be rethought. I was going to make a chicken enchilada casserole, using the rest of last night's grilled chicken. I cooked extra just for this reason. However, during the night, snackers raided the fridge and now there isn't enough chicken to mess with.

(What really sounds good, anyway, is slow grilled BBQ pork ribs. But I haven't got any. *sigh*)

Guess that is all from here. Remember to pray for the Brazil Team ministry, as they close out their mission.

Here is a link to the "Brazil Team Blog".

This blog is written by various team members, including Tommy. I am standing in awe that the prayers spoken over these young people at the sendoff prayer meeting are coming to pass in such amazing ways.
Tommy and his Team members are having a remarkable time there. (For those of you who don't know Tommy, he is the one in the plaid shirt.)

Please continue to lift them up in prayer as they complete their final week in South America.
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In our completely mundane life here in Arkansas, things have gone on pretty much as usual. One 'different thing' today- a different thing I could live without!...
I got to work this morning to face a VERY large load of freight. (22 totes plus a pallet of larger items and cases of items).
Before I even clocked in, the phone began to ring. (If the store isn't open for business, the phone can ring off the hook and will NOT get answered.) I had the thought, "Maybe that was Tom. I should call Tom". I stifled that thought- I had a lot of work to do and Tom would NOT be calling me at work, the moment I walked in the door! (I had forgotten to take my cell phone!)

So I got started sorting freight. About 15 minutes later, someone begins BANGING on the back door. I am in a building by myself at 5:45 in the morning. It is dark outside, and everywhere in the building except the area where I am working. I got very still and wondered if it was a customer with some emergency that was seeing the lights on in the back room and wanting me to open up. The phone began to ring again.
Should I call the police? I wonder. If I stay still and ignore their pounding, maybe they will go away. I wonder how strong the 'garage' type door is?
The phone keeps ringing.
I took a route through the back aisles of freight to see if I could look out the front glass and see who was banging on the back door. I had no more than peeked around the corner of the aisle towards the glass fronted store, than I see a man standing there with a cell phone in hand, looking right in at me!
I recognized Tom in a nano-second, but not before being so startled I almost faint.

I went to the back door to see what he needed. He called me outside to look at my car. It had a flat tire.
He had heard it "whine" as I backed from the driveway, and tried to call me- discovering my cell phone was left home. Then he tried calling O'Reilly's. As I said, if the store isn't open for business, the phone does NOT get answered. So he came rushing up there to tell me I had a flat! (So I wouldn't drive any more on it.)

Why NO, I didn't notice it was driving funny, nor did I hear the tell-tale whumpity whumpity whumpity one associates with flat tires.
Yes, I am that ignorant.
I HAD noticed, as I left the house, that I was running a good five minutes early, and it was raining. So I was driving extra slowly to work.

Mr C advised me to get a can of fix a flat put in the tire before I came home, or else put the donut on until we could get the tire fixed. He was running late for work, and didn't have time to deal with it this morning.

Boss walked in just as it was getting daylight, and tells me right away, my car has a flat.
Two co-workers remind me I have a flat, as they arrive.
Boss discusses the flat with one of the co-workers, and says they are not leaving me to deal with it myself. Co worker Chad goes out and puts the donut on the car for me. (Yay Chad, Thank you SO much!)
He and I examined the tire, but couldn't find a puncture, or nail in it. Boss was going to send the tire across the road with our delivery driver, to a place that repairs flats... but then the store got busy. (It got busy enough I was answering phones and waiting on customers instead of just putting away freight! That is pretty busy!)

So I finally got all my shipping and receiving done. I took the tire across the street myself, where the mechanic found a hole in the tread, but on the 'side', rather than the part that meets the road. It wasn't quite in the sidewall, which is pretty much unrepairable, but close. He plugged it for me, for less than the cost of a can of fix a flat. I was out in less than 10 minutes.

One more day to go until my weekend. Please remember to pray for the Brazil Mission team!

Shoe

I have really been enjoying this summer, as busy and crazy as it has been at times, and as dull as watching sports on TV at other times. (I was going to say "dull as watching paint dry, but TV sports are even more dull than drying paint to me!)

Contentment has sneaked up on me and wound about me like a cat's tail curls about its feet. Things have changed, but I have been OK with the changes. I miss my kids that have moved out, but I know that their moving forward with their lives is right and expected. I know that God is in control of the situations that I tend to fret over. In every situation that we have had a NEED, God has been there to meet that need.

At times, it seems wrong that I could be so content. I start looking to see if there is a shoe about to drop.

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I have been having a little laugh at how situations seem to repeat. Grandbaby Kimber has had a tasty, tasty cricket fished out of her mouth. At about the same age, Daniel was found munching on a June bug. I told Becky I was going to buy Kimber a box of Kleenex for her birthday. Babies just love to pull things out of boxes, when a new one pops right back up in its place. It wasn't much more than a week after I had mentioned this to Becky, that she called me. Kimber was entertaining herself with a package of pop up baby wipes. She had a nice little pile pulled out when Mommy discovered her!

Bill Joe called me yesterday, with Miss Nickole having a meltdown in the background. He was at wits end over how to handle it. He had been doing all the things I would of suggested, so I reminded him that it cannot be a selective enforcement. She has to have rules and consequences CONSISTENTLY. We hadn't been on the phone more than a minute or two when the shrieking in the background suddenly stopped. Just cut off in mid scream. Bill peeked in on Nickole. She had fallen asleep in the middle of her tantrum. Bill and I went on to talk about dealing with stubborn children on a consistent basis. Not easy, but always necessary. (Maybe I should of told him to keep a high heeled shoe in the back floorboard of the car!) (Family joke- Bill was one of my stubborn kids, taking right after me. My Mom and I were having lunch out one day, in a Mexican restaurant. Bill was being grumpy and un-cooperative. The waitress came around to ask if the boys could have a sopapilla. I said no, not until Bill ate more of his lunch. At this turn of events, Bill began a very loud public display of temper. The waitress reached around me and handed him a sopapilla anyway, to stop his crying. I took it away, and took my screaming son out to the parking lot, Bill kicking and hitting me all the way. I opened the back door of the car and found a loafer in Mom's floorboard. Bill got a couple of well deserved swats on his backside. Once he calmed down, we returned to our food. Bill has stretched the story over the years, telling people I beat him with the pointy heel of a high heeled shoe.)
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Please remember to pray for Tommy and the Brazil mission team!

Galloping Along

July is moving full speed ahead. It has been a very nice July, thus far. Cooler than we could have possibly hoped, and rainfall coming with good regularity.

I have felt very content, in many ways. Not overly eager to rush about here and there. Just happy with the status quo. Contentment with work- not overly challenging- but then they don't pay enough for me to want it to be challenging.

Some days, I get to looking at how much we HAVE. I was taking a shower. In my bathroom, with hot and cold running water on demand, I have choices... two kinds of toothpaste. Three varieties of conditioner, two types of bath soap AND body wash to choose from.
In the kitchen, I have two refrigerators. One is mostly full of condiments! Mustards, mayonnaise AND Miracle Whip, ketchup, three varieties of salsa, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, jellies. Lots of jellies.
The laundry room has a shelf full of various cleansers, air fresheners, bug killers, and laundry aids.

These things are bought and used and so seldom thought about. It is a lot of STUFF. And being my Mother's Child, I cannot throw out a mostly used bottle or can of anything. Not if it isn't empty. I have trouble (but not as much as my Mom does) in tossing out any leftover that isn't yet growing fur. SOMEONE might get hungry for two bites of green beans. I will put away this platter of onion and tomato slices, it will get eaten. But unless I use it myself for another dish, the leftovers sit waiting for their fur jackets before being tossed into the garbage.

Last night, I really wanted to stop at the new BBQ place across the street from where I work, and take home some delicious smelling and reportedly fabulous BBQ. I refrained from it, because I had already planned to make beef and broccoli stir fry. I had a dish of rice sitting in the fridge, coming up on day four. I had fresh broccoli on a veggie platter largely being ignored. I had celery from the same platter, and onions sliced for hamburgers two days before. Even though I wanted the easy route, after my unaccustomed all day work day... I came home and cooked.

My mind keeps going back to the days when we had no options. I don't want to abuse the things God has granted us. Thanks to my Granny and my Mom, every bite of food wasted makes me think of poor starving children somewhere in the world.
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Today, the boys and I set off flea bombs again. I don't know if the (diminishing) rodent population of the house has brought in more fleas, or if they have come in on the dogs, or just because the house is here in the middle of the country. Three weeks from today, we will have to vacate for another five hours.

Today, we went to the library for the boys to volunteer. then we went to the Jones Center to ice skate. THAT didn't take long. It is closed until the 9th! The boys asked if we could check out a Military Surplus store in Rogers. It wasn't where they thought it was, and we got stuck in lunch hour traffic in Rogers. Not a fun thing. We sat through one light some eight times before making it through. We finished our time out of the house with a quick razoo through Wal Mart, where we got a hoe (to give the tomatoes planted in June 'a fighting chance') and birthday cards for my stepfather and my favorite son in law, who share a July 9th birthday.
Then we headed home and aired out the house.

Blackberry 'cop'

I just finished a warm bowl of blackberry 'cop'. 'Cop' is a family word, one that a toddler used when we had cobbler. It stuck. Daniel and Sam picked this batch of blackberries a few days ago, and it was use them or lose them time.

Before the 'cop', I made myself a late lunch... an excellent hamburger. Over the years, my taste in burgers has changed. Once, I would never of dreamed of putting miracle whip on a burger. Then on a visit to my inlaws house, we were grilling burgers. As we set the table with vegetables and condiments, someone set out the miracle whip.

I wondered aloud, who on earth would have miracle whip or mayo on a burger? My BIL spoke right up. "What else would a person have on a burger?" I eventually tried it, and my mustard is often left off my burger these days.

Today, I 'fried' the beef patty. Too lazy to wash out the skillet first, I used bacon grease sediment to saute onion slices and cook the burger patty. Toasted a deli roll, had lettuce and tomato, miracle whip, Baby-Ray BBQ sauce, and pickles on it. If only I would of thought about it sooner, I could of tossed a portabello mushroom into the sauteed onions. It was really good! Topped off my lunch with the small bowl of warm blackberry cop.

Tonight will continue our simple 'picnic fare' weekend meals. Hebrew National hotdogs on the grill, home made potato salad, and corn on the cob.

The guys shot off just under half of the fireworks last night. I had to come in, the smoke and cordite was getting to me. I couldn't stop 'seeing' battlefields and hearing screams, cannons and gunfire in my mind. Remembering the reason we have a Nation's birthday to celebrate.

May you each have a wonderful July 4th! Be blessed!

I got a call from Brazil!

I was at work this morning and got a phone call from Tommy! One of his fellow travelers had brought a computer and a "Magic Jack". Tommy was fixing to go to a training session for the ministers. He had tried some interesting foods, like quail eggs, and a banana pizza.

Once I finished MY chores at work this morning, I asked boss man what he wanted me to do. He sent me home! He forgot to tell me I wasn't needed today to help out through lunch. So I was home a little after 8. Once home, I demanded slavery units. Both bathrooms are clean, beds made. (Except mine, whose sheets are being washed.) The cars are cleaned out... Mr C's demand of the day. I made myself a cup of tea... and had to rewarm it three times. (I keep getting distracted by cleaning house.)

There are still things that remain to be done. So, I'm off here to get busy!

Remember the Brazil team in your prayers!

Hard to believe this is July already...

The weather speaks more of May than July. I am sure grateful for that. One of my co-workers returned, so I am back to my regular 5:30 am shift... sort of. Saturday I will work until noon, so that lunch breaks may be taken. Monday I will fill in for the regular crew members, who get the day off as "4th of July". Since it is my regular day off, I'm thinking I get time and a half!

I do get Tuesday off, as the warehouse personnel are off Monday night. The boys and I are hoping to invite some friends to go skating at the Jones Center. I am almost tempted to give skating another try. Almost.

I am trying to adjust to my kids being flung to the winds. The two eldest haven't lived up to the high hopes they held as they graduated 11 years ago. Life does that to you, throws you for loops you never expected.

My daughter is still pressing towards the hopes of her calling. She is a mother, a budding photographer, and hopes to live a self-sufficeint life one day. That was once a goal her Dad and I held. I can't say we have given up on it, but it has certainly been delayed.

The next two boys are just getting going in their young adult life. Both have steady jobs, and they are working towards their goals.

The twins are my last kids at home. They are volunteering today at the library, after a month away. While they have ideas of what they want to do with their futures, they haven't really started down the path of acheiving those goals. Somehow, 14 seems so much older than 13 did. Maybe it is because they are shaving.

Please be remembering Tommy and the Brazil team in your prayers!

Missionary

My#5 child, Tommy, is now in Brazil. He will be speaking and ministering on his mission trip. Please keep him and his team members in your prayers!