SENSATIONAL SATURDAY

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dee: I'm composing in the word processor or my email program and cutting and pasting.

Although sometimes my long posts are just because I keep writing and writing.

Sometimes I somehow hit a key on my computer that goes back a page in the browser and I haven't actually lost my post, I just have to press the forward key. This computer has a page back key right next to the shift key so when that happens I just have to notice and press the page forward key to get back to the posting page.

Sadie: my grandmother (died over age 100) said her taste buds had worn out and everything tasted the same. Food was no longer a pleasure so your suggestion is a good one.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Here are some odds and sods observations from the week. (Not sure if I posted the first part earlier this week.)

One of the biggest advantages of having a female minister is that we can travel together to events like this. My minister and I seem well suited to each other. We have a lot in common.

First the obvious.

1. Our names both start with K

2. We are both married to Ken (although we had to point out at breakfast the other morning that it wasn't the same Ken!)

But the following similarities make sharing a room a bit more difficult.

3. We have the same travel toothbrush. (The agreement was she stores hers closed and I store mine open.)

4. We have the same glasses frames (this one is just spooky although handy because when I lost my matching clip-on sunglasses, I could borrow hers.)

5. Our hairbrushes are awfully similar (even more so when we don't have our glasses on!)

We spent a good part of Monday laughing at the similarities.

Of course, she is far more outgoing and adventuresome than I am so she makes an excellent mentor to push me out of my comfort zones. I had a blast being 'out there.' Of course, I'm going to bed tonight, pulling the covers over my head and not getting up until noon tomorrow (and only then because I have to pick 'my' Ken up at the airport.) Honestly, I'm an introvert playing the role of extrovert.

In going through the photos there were a few more things I wanted to share that didn't really fit in anywhere else but showed the fun we had and the fun things we saw.

We got a great laugh when someone pointed out that Peachtree United Methodist uses
Heavenly toilet paper!

The first day, after the opening worship, I raced to the bathroom to discover a line outside the men's room as well as the women's. I said aloud that this was something I'd never seen and worth a picture (at that point my minister hadn't loaned me her camera so I couldn't follow through on that thought.) Moments later another woman came up and said, "In all my 67 years, I've never seen a line-up to a men's room" so I'm not the only one who was amazed.

The first morning one of the other Ottawa ministers noticed that the milk came from cows not treated with growth hormone and wondered aloud if that was why the milk carton was so small.

I noted the first day the sanctuary piano was a Bösendorfer piano (same as Liszt's.)

But the day of the final worship, the piano disappeared to make room for the orchestra.

They didn't carry it downstairs, they rolled it into a piano garage under the altar.

That got me thinking we could give up the vestry in Kars and build a storage place for our
grand piano under the choir loft. When we get one a grand piano, that is......

Coming out of the church after worship on Thursday, we could hear whistles. Endless whistle blowing.

Turns out two police officers are stationed at the parking lot entrance directing traffic after every service. That's something you don't see in our village!

The people of Atlanta were friendly, welcoming and helpful. It felt as if the expression "it's not my job" was something they had never heard. Even at the end, when we came up to the machine selling a ticket for the subway, we paused in front of it and someone asked if we needed help. We said yes, and he showed us how to run the machine. It was only after we stepped back away that we realized he was a police officer, and not a worker for the subway system.

It was a fabulous week and I thank God for the experience.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Just took a call from my music friend. Her father has dementia and he had a major meltdown while on a fishing trip with friends. They couldn't calm him down so ended up having to call paramedics who took him to the local hospital and the family had to drive up to get him.

So, not only is she in constant pain from her jaw and kidneys, she is also constantly worried.

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~

Kathryn ~ I'm glad you had such a wonderful time at your conference, and glad you are back home safe.

Oh Harriet, the tyranny of a fitting room mirror! I seldom look in a full-length mirror at home, so trying on clothes in a store is always a woeful experience.

Dee, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Yesterday was a good day. Started the morning at the library's coffee club, chatted with a few people I haven't seen for awhile. Since I'm no longer an employee, I miss seeing the regular patrons. The past few weeks I've been stopping in for Friday morning coffee before story time. The first week I took in my own mug so staff wouldn't have to wash so many dishes; since then I've also taken my own coffee. I didn't think I was a coffee snob, but I can't drink it black, and I use filtered water at home, and ... oh well, if I drink my own, the staff doesn't have to make another pot, right?

Ran errands in The Big City, and had a chicken salad wrap for lunch before I bought groceries. Oh that's right, the bag of cat food is still out in the car along with the mail.

Last night I tried a "new" recipe from an old cookbook. It turned out much tastier than I expected. Brown a couple of hamburger patties in a big skillet, then add a chopped onion, 3 cups of frozen French-cut green beans, a can of mushrooms, and a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with 1/2 cup milk. Cover & simmer for 30-40 minutes until the meat and green beans are fully cooked. Take off the lid and simmer a little longer to thicken the sauce. I had a buttered roll with mine, and the "gravy" had enough flavor that I didn't use any other condiments. No leftovers, DH ate it all!

Today we're meeting an old buddy for a late lunch, which will probably turn into talking all afternoon because we haven't seen him for several months. I know DH wants to do some mowing today because we're supposed to get a big storm tomorrow.

[Nancy]

Harriet my mom used to put sugar & salt in all veg. she cooked one tea. of each!

It is overcast here today and will be cooler. 49*-73* I am going to a yard sale on my regular route on my walk. I saw a table saw there mentioned it to h. and he said to be sure and tell sil about it so I told dd and she said that she would drive by on her way home last night.

I enjoyed looking at mags. last night after seeing the Who do you think your are TV show Paul Dean looked up her roots in Georgia it was a very interesting one I'd been waiting for glad I did not miss it.

Started a new yarn project that goes so well with the rug I may rethink it and keep this one! =D Love that! The other one is hum... okay but I"m not loving it so may redo it in a diff. pattern but at least I have learned a new pattern!

I've been hormonal this week I can tell that emotions are just under the surface a book I just finished had me weeping, it's one thing to weep at home or in church but quite another to weep when you see corn in the groc. store!

[Dove]

Good morning!

Woke up before the alarm with lots of energy -- a great way to start the day. Have made a real dent in the pick up & put away that was needed in several rooms. Also spent over an hour in the kitchen; made egg salad, cut up a rotisserie chicken, cleaned out fridge, cut up a watermelon (yum!), & cooked sausage to go with the manicotti I'm making for dinner tonight (I add it to the sauce).

Next up: half an hour of deskwork, wrap several birthday gifts, brush dcat. Dh brushed ddog outside the other day & got enough hair to make 2 large puppies ! Hopefully I can cut back on my vacuuming now that she isn't merrily sprinkling hairs all over the house.

I'm a few days behind here in the village; be back over this weekend to cuop. Waving ~~~~~ to everyone! Have a great day!

[OKay]

Yesterday my movement was extremely limited as my back was giving me "fits". I took 3 rounds of OTC pain meds (extremely rare for me) and used the heating pad for hours. Whatever was out of whack has disappeared and today i'm back (pun intended) to normal.

>>>skippable as I think through this<<<<
Baby Stepping through the research/informational phase so I can have a beginner understanding of how to help LO.
Articulation disorder = difficulty producing the sounds. Hum.... I've noticed that LO does have trouble saying V and G
Phonological delay = uses one sound for several. Hum.....LO's V and G sounds do sound like B
I want to keep in the consideration that LO physical size might be a factor in giving the impression that he is delayed. The nurse mentioned this possibility to me this week because LO is the size of a 5-6 year old and sometimes expectations are that he talk/act like his size instead of his age.

DH has taken LO to Lowe's to do this weeks Kids Build and Grow project. I asked him to pick me up a tripod sprinkler for the garden. The tomatoes are getting "beat up" with the force of water coming from current sprinkler at ground level.

I am in onion harvesting mode. Pulling, cleaning, chopping as many onions as I can each day. I tried dehydrating several racks of them and like how they come out, but it is tooo time intensive (about 12 hours of drying time in the dehydrator). So the majority of them will be chopped up and frozen.

[Harmony]

Hi everyone!

OKay, there is something which happens to some baby's mouth muscles. 2 of my DGSs had that, and it was caught when they couldn't brea st feed and could only clamp down. DD1 did exercises with them, putting one finger in their mouth and press on certain spots. Eventually they were able to nurse. She was told if this isn't caught right away (as ones with bottles aren't because those are easier to suck from) they end up with speech problems. The DGS who needed therupy in 1st grade for a few months is very gifted and in special classes. So his speech certainly didn't hold him back. I'm glad you caught this early.

Dee, it doesn't sound like your DH is taking it easy, with directing traffic and painting a deck. But I suppose it's all relative!

Not sure if this is sensational today, but I'm trying at least to fight my way back to normal. Bed linens just finished, ready to hang. Work clothes outside drying. Watered and weeded and brought in veggies, processed to refrigerator - beans and more broccoli. I wish I could grow onions. I buy a lot of them.

Huge kitchen cleanup done. Pre-packed a bunch of chip bags for lunches, will keep us from nibbling. I noticed DH gets into the big bag every evening too. Laundry folded and put away.

Gotta get back to it...

[Harriet]

((Nancy)) I have wept in grocery, too. They play that music, you know, and any musical bit might touch a memory. Plus, who have we grocery-shopped with in the past - our loved ones, some gone, some we may be worried about right now, so there are visual pangs we might notice. The reasons to cry at the corn in the grocery would just go on and on for any caring person. Sounds perfectly normal to me.

I'm very gratified to hear that the Georgia folks, neighbors of various of our site's villagers, were good to their visitors lately. Kathryn, I've mentioned before that it was Methodist ministers whom I first heard use the phrase, "high church", but I didn't understand that there was anything particularly Methodist about it, just a phrase to describe more formal worship. Smiling at your comment about wasn't there a revolution, lol. Still, nice to think there is a wide spectrum of worship formality within Protestantism, just as within Catholicism or Orthodoxy.

Thank you all so much for brainstorming on the sweet foods. I was interested in the peanut butter cookie idea especially. He can only eat very soft cookies, but that's a thought. No, no nuts or raisins, which lets out most oatmeal cookies, too (raisins are more difficult than those of us with plenty of teeth understand). I simply would not be able to bake enough to keep up with his appetite, but I might be able to find something more on the shelf if I keep searching. I've also thought of sweet canned beans, like Maple versions of baked (navy) beans. He has always asked for canned Pork and Beans (navy) and really liked them better than what I would choose for myself because of the tomato-y sauce, but lately has had no appetite even for them, so maybe he needs a version with more flavor now.

Omelet this morning flipped and slid right out of the new pan as if auditioning for the Egg Roller Derby, so I was a happy camper.

Dstepson is here and is giving us some mowing time. He and dd13 have had some practice with his pellet/bb gun, and I couldn't help but tell OKay's LO story about the 3,000 bbs scattering on the floor!

Cowinkie, you are going to have a TERRIFIC time with new projects, fascinating tangents and time with your Sweetie, SadieTWD and Willis.

Need to join Dove in making some more egg salad.

What a time lately getting Cicely to leave the nest. She is so broody. I keep telling her, honey, you do not have a rooster, you do not have a rooster....

Joining in "fighting my way back to normal" around the house. Sensational may take a little longer.

[Harmony]

Still on the road to normal. Getting there.

Harriet, the peanut butter cookies she made were pretty soft. About half-way from crunchy to soft. I could get the recipe if you wanted. They do take some time. She makes them a couple times a week. Just what you need, another job to do...make a card for that, right? Oh, put some molasses in the beans!

I went to a "high" church once. DD1 took us to Christmas Eve service at their Catholic church she used to attend in the days when she was trying to figure out what she was, and exdh too. Their service was usually simple, but because of the holiday it was "high". Priests in big tall tall hats, robes, procession with bible and poles and incense swung round and round, and much kneeling throughout service. This is the branch of English church that allows priests to marry (someone will know what that is) and some in attendance were wearing kilts. DD1 was and I don't think she went back after that. I thought it was interesting.

More cleaning in kitchen. Another sinkload of dishes (they're multiplying). Cabinets and backsplashes washed. Appliances washed and polished. Up on top of island to clean 2 pendant lights. Receipts gathered and put on desk. Sheets and towels hanging up to dry. Place looking better.

Me: "I want to go out to dinner tonight".
DH: "Oh, ok, are you taking me, too?"
Me: "Of course, with my Mothers' Day gift card to O.G."
DH: "Oh good. OK then."
He thought I meant I was going by myself!