The 'Snooze

I Survived

2012-01-18T18:18:00.007-05:00

I'm going up in this tiny toy plane?

Immediately after David landed on Saturday and collected his congratulations from his instructor and us, he offered to take us up for a flight. The Professor excitedly said, "Yes!", while I hesitated and seriously thought about staying on terra firma to be the official photographer. But as I considered, I realized that I would come to regret my decision. There is only one chance to be the very first passenger in my son's flying career, right?

So I cautiously said yes too, and soon I was buckled into the front seat next to David. I got a set of earphones and gulped as we taxied out of the parking space and headed toward those crisscrossing strips of concrete. Past the air control tower the plane did an odd sideways skitter; I was certain there was obviously some sort of mechanical failure and we must head back. But no, David smiled and said, "This plane does that; it even did it when the FAA test pilot was in the plane."

David chattered with the tower and suddenly we were in the air. All was smooth, but very steep, at first, and then we hit air bumps. Not fun air bumps. I hate air bumps. More and more and I was quite scared (I hate that falling feeling). David offered to go back but he also assured me that once we were at altitude the air would be smooth. I white-knuckled it as I tried to take a few pictures and suddenly it really was smooth.

And then it was fun. We flew north over Lake Allatoona and east over the northern suburbs, past the interstate, to Lake Lanier. When we spotted a regatta of sailboats David said he would go down for a closer look. That was a mistake because we hit air bumps again. So we went back up.

Eventually, of course, we had to come back down, and that meant more bumps. Our house is directly under the airport approach, and I was too scared to look out the window to see it. I just clutched the edge of my seat and stared at a red handle imbedded in the floor.

Near the runway again I could relax because we weren't that high. I said, "It's ok now because we could actually jump from here." We actually couldn't, but thinking so made me calmer. Our landing was one of the smoothest I've ever experienced.

It's Official!

2012-01-14T17:09:00.002-05:00

David is officially a pilot now: he passed his check ride this afternoon. Congratulations David!

Here he is,coming in for his landing, a tiny speck in the sky (look over the building).

And on the runway, safely landed. (above the front plane).

Brazilian Steakhouse

2012-01-09T10:45:00.005-05:00

The Professor recently bought a couple of dinner-for-four Groupon deals at a Brazilian steakhouse. (Gotta love Groupon!) We thought it would make two nice evenings out with our daughters.

We invited Greta and Daniel for the first deal. They had never been to a Brazilian steakhouse so it was fun to introduce them to the concept. Daniel, especially, enjoyed the long parade of skewered meats offered. He also loved the baked bananas offered as a side dish. We kept asking for refills! Greta filled up very quickly so she didn't sample as many meats. This particular steakhouse wasn't as high-class as some are. The salad bar, for example, wasn't as extensive and the decor wasn't as elegant as some we have been to. (we recommend skipping the potatoes on the salad bar. They were not good at all.) But it was a nice intro to the concept. And it was a very enjoyable evening with our grown up daughter and son-in-law.

Happy 60th Karen!

2012-01-06T11:25:00.001-05:00

Last week, while The Professor was off work, we went to SC for a surprise birthday party for sister Karen's 60th birthday. Her daughters-in-law planned the whole event and did a wonderful job. They kept saying, "She knows. She won't be surprised. No one can ever surprise her, she already knows something's up."

But they were wrong - she really was surprised. Bill was clued in just a few days before, and he helped with the logistics of getting her to their church that evening. He told her some story about needing to sign a check or something. When she saw cars in the parking lot, she was very worried that they had forgotten about some church event. As they walked up to the building she could see in the windows and commented that it was a reception that they had missed. Then she saw someone "who didn't belong there" and she realized what was going on. So she was surprised until the very last moment.

Meantime, I made sure I wasn't visible through the windows, and The Professor was hidden too. She sheepishly walked in the door and looked around, acknowledging the guests. I watched as her eyes passed by me, and then she did a double-take as she realized it was me. That was lots of fun.

The family had put together a memory/tribute album for her with contributions from family and friends far and wide. I got a chance to look through it briefly, but not as much as I would have liked. I'm sure she will treasure it.

We enjoyed helping with the surprise, but even more, having the chance to visit with extended family that we hadn't seen in quite some time. Although we were given an invite to stay the night, we needed to head back home that same evening since The Professor hadn't brought along his very important RX meds.

Thrifted China

2012-01-05T17:04:00.001-05:00

Greta found eight place settings of Mikasa Cameo Platinum at the thrift store. They didn't get any of their wedding china, so she was thrilled to find the pattern that had been their second choice.

Thank you, Gram!

2012-01-04T17:07:00.002-05:00

New soap dispensers for our bathroom from Gram. Daniel picked green, and I picked yellow

A Patio Party Tonight

2011-12-30T22:50:00.009-05:00

We ended up having a spontaneous cookout and patio party tonight because Greta and Daniel arrived suddenly. It happened like this:

1. David gave me a new fire bowl for Christmas.

2. Heather and Jared borrowed my van to move some furniture today, and the boys stayed here with us while they did it.

3. Luke and Patrick helped me put the fire bowl together after lunch today.4. Then we just had to try it out.
5. I couldn't get a fire started, so David and Jared stepped in.

6. We needed more logs, so Jared tried to chop up our huge tree sections with a teeny, tiny hatchet. It didn't work, so he went to Home Depot to buy a real axe.
7. Then of course he had to try it out and he ended up splitting about a dozen of those logs into perfectly split firewood.

8. Finally Jared and David got our rather damp logs and kindling dried out enough so they would burn.

9. The fire got going very nicely.

10. Heather posted a picture of our campfire on Facebook and Greta was curious what we were doing.

11. She said they would come over too.

12. We decided to roast hot dogs and make s'mores over the fire.

13. Chuck went to the grocery store to buy the food we needed.

14. We roasted and ate and roasted and ate some more.15. It was very fun.

Beethoven's 9th and Christmas Tree Lights

2011-12-28T12:30:00.002-05:00

We targeted today, December 28th, as the day to dispose of our Christmas tree. Taking off the lights is the most tedious part. As I take off each string of lights from the tree, I inspect the string for burned out light bulbs. I do this by plugging the lights into an extension cord and checking each bulb. I replace the burned out bulbs with a good one from a stash of bulbs collected from a dead string with a few good bulbs. I then wrap the lights up in a compact way that protects them.

While doing this, I was listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth is rich for me, not only because I love the music, which is skillfully crafted, each segment building on the previous that washes over me unlike any other symphony -- but also because I have many memories associated with the Ninth.

In second grade, I saw The Bell Telephone Science series "Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays" where Dr. Research (in real life, Dr. Frank Baxter, an English professor at the University of Southern California) introduced me to the mysteries of cosmic rays (as known when the film was made in 1957). In that program, part of the choral music of Beethoven's Ninth was at a pivotal point pondering the mysteries of the cosmos -- and that music burned into my conscious fabric about the universe. I didn't know then where the music came from, but I wanted to find it.
One day, a couple of years later, while listening to my favorite music station in Los Angeles, 92.3 KFAC FM, I heard Beethoven's Ninth for the first time. I heard the NBC Nightly News music in the second movement -- and then the hauntingly beautiful music of the "Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays" revealed itself in the choral section of the last movement. I had loved Beethoven's other symphonies and his ninth was instantly my favorite.
Soon I wanted to buy all of Beethoven's nine symphonies and finally did it when I about 10 years old. I saved up my allowances and gift money and purchased a collection of vinyl LPs. I treasured that set.
Growing up in church, on occasion we'd sing the hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", or I'd hear it in a performance, all along knowing the music came from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth, with the words substituted in place of Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy that Beethoven used. I love that hymn.
In high school, in German class, the German teacher wanted a class devoted to listening to German cultural music and asked if anyone had any music. I volunteered Beethoven's Ninth symphony. The teacher played the last movement in class; I regretted it for two reasons. First, the teacher played my LP on a school record player, and I cringed at what it must be doing to my precious album. Secondly, a cute girl who sat next to me (who never talked to me before) leaned over and said, "This must take a special temperament to listen to this." I looked around the class and saw boredom in everyone's expressions. Big mistake.
I attended my first live concert of Beethoven's Ninth when I was in college. The Riverside Symphony Orchestra played the symphony. I loved it.
The love of my life loves "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and she wanted to come down the aisle to it in our wedding. So Beethoven's Ninth showed up at our wedding.
We transitioned from vinyl LPs to CDs. I decided to give up my Beethoven vinyl collection - a difficult thing for me to do, but we weren't going to keep a turntable just to play them. I no longer have a complete collection of Beethoven symphonies. Someday I'd like to have all nine symphonies again. I do have two different CDs of Beethoven's Ninth.
On Christmas Day in 1989, we watched on PBS as Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Berlin. The Berlin wall had just come down weeks before. I was a child of the Cold War and this performance put a capstone on that Cold War period.
On rare occasions, very rare now, I will humorously pontificate in song my fractured edition of the opening chorus words of Beethoven's Ninth, humming out the orchestral part between the words -- all in German (well, my ridiculous attempt at German). It has become part of our family lore and tradition, one that our new sons-in-law had to endure at least once.

So, if I ever appear distracted when Beethoven's Ninth is being played, the beautiful music and the memories it evokes are the cause...

Oh yes, I need to finish those Christmas lights.

Christmas Day

2011-12-27T20:24:00.005-05:00

Patrick's artwork on the left; Luke's on the right

The Professor and I got a Very Special Christmas Present this year: Luke and Patrick had made angels for us, with help from Mommy, of course. As they worked on them, Patrick told his mommy,

"Give Papa."
"Have eyes and face and beard! Mommy draw it."
"I do good job."
"Papa 'ov green. Papa like it."
"Papa say, 'oo, dat's pretty!' "
"Papa say, 'Dat's giffi-cult.' "

Luke apparently worked without much comment, but he mastered the scissor work and the hole-punching.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

We have to share around here, so this year our family "shared" the married ones with their in-laws for Christmas Day, and we got the 26th for our Christmas Day. We also got the late evening of Christmas Day for our Christmas Eve. Got that?

On our Christmas Eve we had our annual traditional St. Lucia dinner, with Swedish meatballs, ~~lutefisk~~, seafood, potatoes, lingonberries, and many other goodies. This year I also made a cookie tree using a set of cutters that I found at a garage sale in the summer. Love those bargains!

Later, we hung our stockings on the mantel. There were two very excited little boys running around. It was amazing that we got even one non-blurry boy.

Busy Day at Church

2011-12-18T23:19:00.010-05:00

We woke up today knowing that our day would be very full.

Today was the inauguration of the "new room" at church, the room to yet be properly named, the room some are calling the overflow room. (That sounds so much like leftovers or something unwanted. Surely we can think of a better name than that!)

Ready for worship today

I worked 30 hours this past Monday to Thursday, helping to get the room ready for worship today. Others put in many more hours too. We started with a bare room, then built some wall extensions, patched and painted, then painted some more (that seems to sum up my life this year). I sanded the water-damaged ceiling, helped hang lights, I ironed 18 curtains and hemmed 10 of them; I helped hang curtain rods and I even helped hang the TV's. Then I "built" shrubs from greens and added Christmas decorations.

In process: the painting is finished and the carpet is being installed

So this morning I felt responsible to make sure all the details were in order in the new room. I am also the unofficial candle-lighter in the sanctuary for the Christmas season, and that takes a bit of time to complete. I also rounded up help to move the fake trees from downstairs to the "new room". That was all before church began.

After church, we stayed to help set up for a Christmas dinner in the gym this evening. I was put in charge of setting and decorating the tables. We had 32(!) tables filling the gym. All the decorations coordinated; they did not match. We used what we had, and we used up almost all the remaining bits and pieces of Christmas decor the church owns.
The starting point for the centerpieces was a tall glass candleholder and greens or florals in sprays coming off the center candle. Below are a few of the pieces we put together.

Everything was stored in large bins in the small closet off the sanctuary. We trollied the bins downstairs to the gym after church, built the centerpieces, then tore the florals apart again after the dinner and returned the pieces to the bins. I got help to trolly the bins back to the closet off the sanctuary. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

We arrived home ready to put our feet up!

Christmas At Church

2011-12-16T12:38:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday at church the 2's and 3's sang Away in a Manger (a long-standing tradition at our church and their intro to singing in front of the church). Usually there are tears from at least one child, but not this year. That's not to say that they were all pleased with being up there; we did see a few unhappy faces.

Two boys who looked quite happy were Luke and Patrick. Luke sang and did all the motions. Patrick didn't sing a single word or do any of the motions. He stood up there grinning the whole time, and waving to the congregation. It was hilarious!Blurry picture, but you can see Luke in red, doing the motions, with a classmate next to him, mad about being up there.

Patrick in white, grinning and waving to everyone.

Thanksgiving Turkeys

2011-12-15T22:06:00.001-05:00

Luke and Patrick came to visit Aunt Greta one day before Thanksgiving, and made clay turkeys. The turkeys then got fired in the big, giant, hot, hot oven. Patrick's is the one with the waddle on top of the head.

Happy Birthday Boy

2011-12-06T01:16:00.003-05:00

Look who's four!

We were invited to the birthday party on Saturday evening, with the other grandparents, and most of the cousins and aunts and uncles. Luke asked for meatballs ("no sauce") for dinner, and cupcakes.

He hopped on his new bike and rode with no hesitation. He may be dumping the training wheels soon!

Celebrating Christmas

2011-12-05T22:35:00.000-05:00

As December speeds by, we looked at when we could set aside time to buy a tree. Every weekend is already filling up, the Professor is scheduled to work late some evenings, and the tree lots might get emptied before we can get there. So I decided to go buy a tree all by myself.

And I did it: I walked in the nursery, saw a tall tree, pulled it out, and bought it. In something like 15 seconds. I even unloaded it from the top of the car and carried it to the backyard. Then I left it for the Professor to set up in the house. He also gets to string the lights. After all, I have to draw the line somewhere.
When he opened the bin of lights, he saw the lights as he left them last year. I have never seen such tidy, neatly wrapped lights as these. Aren't they cute little bundles?

Santa's Workshop Moved

2011-11-30T19:15:00.000-05:00

Santa's workshop moved from the North Pole to take up residence in our dining room.

It all started with making a green pig (from the animated game, Angry Birds) stuffed animal for Luke. Proud of how well it turned out, I posted a picture on Facebook. Orders started pouring in. Daniel also did a little boasting at work, and returned home with not only an order for a green pig, but one for an apron and requests to know what else I might make; one co-worker (short on time but not on cash) would like to give as many handmade things this year as possible.

In addition to the assembly line of green fleece, I am making some other things for family and friends for Christmas. Fabric and craft supplies are slowly taking over the apartment; but I enjoy this process as I carefully think about each person and evaluate what they would like. December is going to be busy!

Finally! New Sofas in the Family Room

2011-11-16T00:53:00.004-05:00

We've lived a sofa-less life for a year and a half now, at least in our family room. Having everyone share one chair just wasn't working for us (except the person who got the chair).

This past weekend Ikea had a special deal going on their upholstered seating...AND a free meal if you spent over $100. So we were down there early Friday morning. Now Ikea isn't considered the best quality furniture, and it isn't usually my first choice, but they are one of the few manufacturers who make the covers removable and washable. I've come to value that highly. The other companies are so far out in left field price-wise that Ikea became our only choice.

Here is our new Ektorp sofa and loveseat in green. The green doesn't show true on the computer screen; it isn't as yellow as it looks. Later on, we plan to buy the matching chair. Then we should be set for seating a roomful of friends and family.Come for a visit soon!

Farewall, Trees

2011-11-03T09:45:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we had 17 trees taken down in our backyard (sob!). It was hard to see them go, but they were old and diseased and in danger of falling on the house. 16 of them were along the back property line, at the top of the hill. All Sweetgums, they were already mature when we bought our house 19 years ago.

The final tree was our dogwood next to the patio. We had cut out so much dead wood from it that it was seriously lopsided. And it really struggled to put out the leaves every spring.

Our neighbor also had a tree removed, a messy volunteer that hung over our fence and dropped debris in our yard spring, summer, and fall. We're relieved to have our gutters clean again.

Here are some before and after shots:
Before, the treeline along the fence is quite dense. The Sweetgum trees on our property have a backdrop of pines and native hardwoods growing on surrounding properties.

After. You can see the native trees have been thinned out considerably. All the remaining trees except one are on surrounding properties.
Before, showing our neighbor's tree hanging over our house, and our dogwood by the patio:
After:
You can also see that our neighbor's poplar was also trimmed (they "raised the canopy" on it).

We have three 6 ft red maple saplings awaiting their planting on the hill. We hope that soon they will fill in and recreate that wooded feeling we're missing already.

Do we have a future Jeopardy winner?

2011-10-25T20:09:00.004-04:00

Luke, who is almost 4 (or as he announced today, "two twos is four! I'm going to tell people that I'm almost two twos") is a thinker and a talker. He does his best thinking in the car, and I wish I had a tape recorder to capture all the hilarious brilliance that comes out of his mouth.

Here is a sample from our car ride this afternoon. These questions were asked in rapid succession. As soon as I answered one to his satisfaction, he moved onto the next without even a pause.

"Patrick is a couple."

"Mommy and Daddy have a couple of boys."

"Luke and Patrick have a couple of parents."

"God has lots of Mommies and Daddies."

"When was God...where was God a baby?"

"Is God taller than the Big Chicken?"

"Where is our country?" (He meant flag, the flag wasn't on a flag pole it's usually on)

"Is California way way way way way farther away than a galaxy?"

"Is a galaxy farther away than the bright white star?"

"Why is the dog star Sirius?" (he is learning the difference between serious and Sirius)

"Why does my soul never die?"

"Where is my soul?"

"Why can't I see inside me?"

"If I find lots of money on the ground and give it to Mommy and Daddy, can I fly on an airplane?"

"Why does the brown airplane only have seats for the pilot and the people who work there?"

"Why don't they let people fly on a brown airplane?"

"What does 'house' start with?"

"What does 'Jamaica' start with?"

"What starts with tree? No, not 't', what letter makes 'ch' sound?"

Finally, there was a pause. I looked in the rearview mirror - he was asleep.

A Romp in the Leaves

2011-10-20T17:06:00.002-04:00

Luke and Patrick surprised me with a visit first thing this morning (they brought their mommy too). They joined me for a bowl or two of granola, and next thing I knew they were outside on the patio.

Luke felt he needed to sweep all the leaves into a pile. Patrick felt just as urgently that he needed to ride his tricycle right through that pile of newly-swept leaves.In the end, Luke used the big, big backhoe and the "snow shovel" to scoop up the leaf pile and dump load after load into the flower beds. Thank you for all your hard work, Luke!

Daniel's Busy Year

2011-10-17T13:32:00.007-04:00

In July Daniel started a new job with PRGX. Don't worry, no one else has heard of them either. They are a profit-discovery firm (in plain English, they look at companies' contracts, see where they're overpaying, and get the money back). Sounds perfect for an accountant, right? Except Daniel is not in the accounting department, he's in HR! They hired him to help with updating a bunch of reporting things while the head of the accounting department makes room for Daniel.

After a month to get settled into his new job, Daniel started an accelerated Masters of Accounting program at KSU to be finished in one year, with classes two or three nights a week. He is thoroughly enjoying being back in an academic setting

The Vacation That Wasn't

2011-10-11T16:31:00.002-04:00

The Professor and I were planning and looking forward to a vacation in Florida this week: warm sun, beaches, snorkeling, exploring The Keys, seafood restaurants.

Then a transmission went out, the second one this year. There went the vacation fund! So we planned an alternative vacation, one where we would enjoy the local sights and eateries we hadn't had the chance to get to yet. We began collecting as many Groupon deals, half-off coupons, and "freebies" as we could find, and researching local places of interest. We even put together a vacation binder.

The weekend arrived, and The Professor's two-week-old respiratory virus didn't seem to be improving. Then I got sick with a completely different mystery illness. When we felt better we journeyed out to a couple of quick, local places. And The Professor still sounded bad.

Today, I insisted he see the doctor, who pronounced him sick with pneumonia.

So our vacation has become a stay-at-home hospital with yummy treats of antibiotics. Oh, and Diet Coke - to soothe the fevered brow.

A Taste of Fall

2011-09-28T23:05:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday Heather put together an outing to the northern mountains, to apple-picking country. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for our romp through the orchards.

We picked our quota of Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, and Gala apples, and the little ones thought it was really neat to pick apples right off the trees! And then to eat them right in the orchard too. Patrick chomped down at least three whole apples by himself. (He eats them straight through, core and all.)

Papa helps Patrick reach the fruit.

Later, the guys enjoyed watching the apple cannon.

And then there were the sticks to throw and drag and shoot. And yelling to be done from the big rock.

We all contributed to a lavish picnic lunch under the pavilion...
...and Heather and the boys finished the day with a free hay ride around the orchard.

Bithdays Celebrated at IKEA?

2011-08-21T23:41:00.009-04:00

We celebrated the August birthdays in the IKEA restaurant this year. Isn't that an odd thing to do?

As it turns out, it wasn't really an odd thing: IKEA was having their annual all-you-can-eat Crayfish Festival last Friday. After consulting all the birthday people, we bought tickets all around and headed downtown. Greta and I went a bit early so I could snag a long table and set it up to look more festive than standard formica.

IKEA had kindly installed a row of artificial trees for the event, and our table was adjacent to them. It gave a nice backdrop for all the birthday photos.

Patrick entertains us with peek-a-boo while we wait for everyone to arrive.

Besides HEAPS of crayfish, the menu consisted of shrimp, smoked salmon, meatballs and gravy, boiled potatoes, lingonberries, mashed potatoes, salads, cheeses, breads, and assorted mini pastries.
HEAPS of crayfish, although I preferred the shrimp and meatballs.

Greta cozies up to a crayfish.

Patrick is tickled with a crayfish.

We created a tower of birthday treats in lieu of birthday cake. Since flames are not allowed in IKEA, I bought flameless tea lights to stand in for birthday candles.

Luke couldn't figure out how they "blew out" the birthday candles; he tried and tried to get the light to turn off!

Jared is trying to open a birthday gift.

Greta was thrilled to fianally get the white comforter on their wedding registry.

Heather actually knew ahead of time what this gift was: vintage dessert sets in "her" pattern.

Three wonderful kids whom we love VERY much!

Florida after the Shuttle Launch

2011-08-05T19:15:00.002-04:00

I see I never posted about our Florida trip back in July, as I promised, so here goes:

After seeing the launch Friday morning, we went for seafood by the bay, and then we headed north on the coast route, Hwy A1A.

We stayed in a cute beachside condo in Daytona Beach that night, where Dennis and Wendy made us drive on the beach. To Californians, that's an odd, even sacrilegious, thing to do. But we did do it and it was fun.

We also climbed the stairs to the top of Ponce Inlet lighthouse, and ate more seafood.

Further north, we stopped at Fort Matanzas, an old Spanish fort near St Augustine, which is a National Monument. We rode the boat out to the fort and took a quick tour just before a thunderstorm hit. The park rangers set off the cannon just in time; any later and the lightning would have been too close to safely set off explosives.

We did a swing through historic St. Augustine and kept going.

The one time we decided to stop at the beach to get a swim, another storm blew in and thunder sent us running back to the car.

Chuck and I remembered taking a tiny river ferry many years ago, from Jacksonville to Amelia Island. We had some trouble finding it, but we eventually did, and we crossed the river at dusk. More rain pelted us as we found a motel Saturday night, and as we ran across the street for another seafood dinner.

Sunday we headed for Savannah at Wendy's request. We all enjoyed roaming the streets, admiring the architecture, and sweating profusely in the humidity.

Back to Atlanta Sunday night.

In Which Daniel Takes Matters Into His Own Hands

2011-07-19T22:27:00.003-04:00

We had a surprise visit from Greta and Daniel this evening: we weren't quite ready to eat, it being so hot and all. Eventually dinner made it's way onto the table and, truth be told, it looked a bit sparse. I don't know where my brain was.

But Daniel really did take matters into his own hands. He rooted through the pantry and decided on nachos. Soon a piping-hot platter appeared on the table to supplement the meager offerings I had made. It was a good thing, too, since the cucumbers for the cucumber boats were nasty bitter.

Do note the tidy grid of chips laid out on the baking sheet. The refried beans topping the cheese was similarly tidy. That's an accountant for you.

Thanks Daniel! I'm pleased that you're comfortable in my kitchen!

The Last Shuttle Launch

2011-07-18T23:01:00.005-04:00

We finally made it! We saw the shuttle launch, the very last one there will ever be. We made it to Cocoa Beach/Canaveral Beach by 6:00 am, and waited patiently for 1) the clouds to clear, and 2) the actual launch scheduled for 11:30. #1 never happened. #2 did, about two minutes late. It was very exciting, even though we had to watch it play peek-a-boo with the clouds.

The glowing cone shows just above the distant buildings.

High up in the clouds, it will soon disappear from our view. We couldn't see the separation stage.

Dennis and Wendy had flown out for a quick vacation, and they met up with us at our house a couple of days before we left for Florida. We all drove down together and we had a wonderful time with them. We spent the rest of the weekend traveling up the coast. I'll tell more about in in the next post.

Happy Birthday to Patrick

2011-06-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

Two years old!A family cookout party in the park,

then a train cake and presents at home,

and ending the day at the pool! What fun we all had! Happy birthday, Patrick!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T22:29:00.001-04:00

The Professor and I don't have our fathers around any longer, but we want to wish a very happy day to all the young dads out there. In their honor, I'm posting this photo of assorted life keepsakes left by The Professor's dad when he passed away about 18 months ago.

Flying...

2011-06-03T16:10:00.009-04:00

Now that I have made my entrance into the 'real' world of work life (and all the good things that come with that - namely a real paycheck), I decided now would be the best time to tackle something I have always wanted to do. Anybody who knew me when I was younger knew I had a borderline-unhealthy obsession with any man-made object that seemingly defied gravity.

The picture above is of the Cessna 172 I flew last weekend. We live about 15 - 20 minutes from a small general aviation airport, which is actually the third-busiest airport in the state. I picked a flight school at the airport and started lessons last weekend.

Normally, the first flight is where the instructor lets you try flying for 5 or 10 minutes and gives you a taste of the experience. I suppose all my years of trying to make the flight simulator on my computer be as realistic as possible paid off, because the instructor took off then had me fly for the next hour, all the way down until a few seconds before the wheels hit the runway as we landed. And you thought teaching your kid how to drive gave you gray hair? :-)

I loved it so much I was back the next day for a "real" lesson. I hope to be flying two or three times a week until I meet all the requirements and pass the final checkride. I should note that this is just a hobby - my boyhood dream of flying for an airline will never happen. Given the industry today, I think that is a good thing.

There He Goes, Into the Wild Blue...

2011-06-01T05:47:00.000-04:00

David really needs to tell what he's currently up to. It won't surprise anyone who knows him, but I will leave it for him to tell.

A Red Letter Day

2011-05-31T22:25:00.002-04:00

This evening marks the end of a long, dirty, difficult process: I finally finished scraping all the nasty popcorn texture from our ceilings.

The family room and kitchen were scraped about 12 years ago; the kids bedrooms were scraped one year ago. That left the master bedroom, bath, and closet; the two hallways; and the living room and dining room, all done in the past month.

I also finished patching and sanding the dings and holes today.

Next up: priming and painting the ceilings, then painting all the walls and trim in the master bedroom, bath, and closet; dining room, living room, family room, and kitchen; and back hall. The family room and kitchen ceilings need repainting, so I might as well do them while I have the paint tools out.

Memorial Day Fun

2011-05-30T19:50:00.003-04:00

Trike Tricks

Heather and Jared suggested a day at the lake in celebration of Memorial Day. We concurred, and Greta and Daniel joined us at our favorite beach in the morning. Not wanting to get sunburned, we left by noon and headed home for a feast of Chuck's (becoming) famous ribs with sides. We finished off with homemade ice cream.

The Ice Snatcher

Shuttle or No?

2011-05-02T20:05:00.004-04:00

Our attempt at viewing the next-to-last shuttle launch last week didn't pan out, but we had fun in Florida anyway. The Professor and I drove down on Thursday (and saw a tornado-damaged area on the way).

The next day we made it all the way to a quiet spot on Cocoa Beach before we heard that the launch was canceled.
Oh well. Our walk on the beach was fun and the day was beautiful. The next morning we enjoyed a picnic on the beach before heading home.

A Blessed Easter

2011-04-24T22:47:00.007-04:00

Happy Easter! He is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)

Wonderful music and worship at church

A delicious ham 'n lamb dinner on the patio...

...the boys prefaced it with an appetizer of an entire can of olives (just the two of them).

Fun family times at home

Ready for the little kids' egg hunt.

Luke on a collecting spree...

...while Patrick discovers that eggs grow on trees!

The big kids' egg hunt.

Moving Days

2011-04-21T13:45:00.006-04:00

Heather and Jared are mostly moved in now; just a few boxes remain here in the closet.Patrick welcomes you to his new house.Come on in!Making things comfy.
Part of the moving crew hoping for a lunch break.
Lets' eat! The dining room is barely big enough to hold the table.

Granddad puts together Patrick's crib....

...so that Luke can get back to playing.

Boys horsing around.

Busy Spring

2011-04-08T06:48:00.004-04:00

We're in activity overload right now.

Today is moving day #1 for the foursome. They have an apartment awaiting them about 12 miles away, not too far from Jared's new office. Today Heather and I will move as many boxes as we are able, using my van. Then tomorrow the rental truck will be packed with all the heavy things. And helpers are scheduled to be here bright and early.

Palm Sunday evening is our church's Seder banquet. I'm on the committee; my main responsibilities are recruiting helpers for all areas, and getting the tables decorated and set. I have identified tasks for 25 helpers so far. I'm pricing paper tableware, and I'm hoping we can finally buy real metal flatware instead of plastic.

Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are special events for childrens' Sunday School. I have a number of extra jobs to get done for both of those Sundays.

Our annual garage sale is tentatively scheduled for late April. Half the garage is full already, awaiting pricing and setting up on tables. It will be a big job as usual, but I expect all sellers to help with pricing and set up. My rule is: anything I have to price becomes mine.

House renovations begin the day after H and J are fully moved out. I promised myself that I will take this opportunity to scrape all the remaining popcorn texture from our ceilings. I will start in the master bedroom and bath/closet, and then proceed to the hall, the living room, the dining room, and then finally the little back hall. After scraping, I will need to patch and sand (maybe several times; it depends on my scraping skill). Then I will prime and paint the bare drywall in all of the listed rooms. Then I will move on to paint the walls in all of the same rooms, plus the kitchen and family room (that's most of the house). After the walls comes the trim. Next, there's a little electrical work that needs to be done professionally. And then, finally, I will get to start fresh on decorating the master bedroom. I hope that will include some new furniture, as well as new window coverings and bed linens.

Maybe I will finish by Christmas.

Brothers

2011-04-07T12:08:00.003-04:00

This week our weather has been so lovely; we have eaten meals outside several times now.

The boys have been having a grand time in the backyard. But they are a little too brave in their explorations ~ they love to climb the stairs and venture out on the steep hill and across the top of the high retaining wall. Nanas don't like to see them up there alone.

They each have their own tricycle now and they love to ride all over the patio, one chasing the other. Patrick can't reach the pedals so he runs his little feet faster than a blur across the patio. It is really funny.

My New Job

2011-04-06T13:28:00.005-04:00

My "Office"

I'm the third family member to get a new job recently: I started in March. I'm working about five hours a week at church, as assistant to the Childrens' Ministries director. My responsibilities are varied, but first the backstory.

Four years ago, our church started a new Sunday School program for Pre-K through grade 5. It takes hours of prep for our 100 students; too much work to expect volunteer teachers to accomplish during the week, and then teach their class on Sunday morning. Our director wisely asked a team of ladies to stay late on Sunday afternoons to help do the preps for the following Sunday. I am part of that team. As time went on, we saw that there was still a lot of work to be done (some weeks needing more time than others), so two years ago I volunteered to get a headstart on it and work during the second hour of church in preliminary preps. Then in March I was hired to do even more of the work.

Now, my duties for the paid portion of my work include:

Make photocopies of worksheets, memory verses, teaching aids, and craft projects
Laminate, cut apart, and punch memory verse cards
Make sample crafts so teachers know how they are to go together
Color in some of the b/w photocopies to add a little color to hold interest
Measure and cut yarn or string for crafts (and other time-consuming preps)
Cut out crafts projects for the youngest children
Shop for elements needed for crafts
Hunt up props for the Bible stories
Keep the colored pencils sharpened
Keep the tape dispensers filled
Redo the file system in my spare time
Make new file folders
Refile unused supplies for the next go-round
Process all unsolicited donations: decide if we want it then file it, or dispose of it
Keep the resource room clean and orderly

For the Easter season, I have a few added responsibilities:

Bake 14 dozen palm branch cookies
Design a paper lamb centerpiece for children to recreate
Solicit free paint stirrers from Home Depot
Make a "palm branch" sample craft for children to copy
Find a source for inexpensive hot cross buns without the fruit

There is probably more too, but I can't think of it right now.

It's a fun job that I enjoy. I like the varied activities I do, and I like the opportunity to use my creativity. I also like to be able to clean out and purge!

David's News

2011-04-01T20:15:00.005-04:00

Amidst all of the April Fool's Day fun, I'll post something that is not a joke. I'm excited to be starting at Symantec (the largest security software company, for those who don't know) in a couple of weeks, as an information security consultant. I'll still be physically working at Coca-Cola Company, helping to manage their threat and vulnerability management side of information security. And I'm happy to not be "just" the intern now!

Mom adds: This is a salaried, real career job. David managed to land this while he still has over a year left before he graduates. Congratulations David!

A Phone Conversation

2011-03-25T00:45:00.005-04:00

The woman on the other end had a thick accent. Although she was difficult to understand, I eventually caught on that she was doing a background check for a potential employer. She stated: I am calling to verify that David ___ graduated from "Homeschooled" on (date). Then she asked my name and position at "Homeschooled". Apparently, she never noticed that we share the same last name, and therefore, I am his mother.

Hmm, you think the company uses cheap labor from India?

Later~

Several companies are vying for David's attention. Today he had two lunch dates, both wanting to employ him. His second lunch date was at Ruth's Chris. Poor guy.

Jared's new job!

2011-03-08T23:45:00.004-05:00

Around the beginning of the year, Jared decided he needed to apply for a job on the local police force. We weren't thrilled about the schedule or the possible dangers of the job (or the no beard requirement - I almost cried when he shaved it off for first time in 10 years!), but the starting pay was decent and we knew we could adjust our family life to accommodate Jared's work schedule. In late January, he easily passed the preliminary test and obstacle course, and then prepared for a 2-month wait to see if he would advance to the next round.

An unexpected phone call came later that week. Jared had sent his resume to a benefits enrollment company last fall, but despite several friendly phone calls, it seemed nothing was going to come of it. The phone call came out of the blue: "We just created a brand new position in the company. Can you come in for an interview this Friday?"

As the hours ticked by that Friday morning, I was simultaneously worried, excited, and trying not to get my hopes up. Even if the interview went well, our experience told us it would probably be weeks before they would be ready to make a decision. Finally, Jared called. "They unofficially offered me the job. I should get an official offer this afternoon."

The overwhelming, undiluted joy and excitement (and relief) I felt at that moment puts it squarely on my top 10 list. (You know, in there with moments I will remember forever like driving away from the church after we got married, holding my newborn boys, realizing I was on. my. own. at college, catching the first glimpse of Notre Dame in Paris)

The official offer did indeed arrive, followed by the offer letter. Jared started his job on February 14 - a great Valentine's Day gift! - and quickly acclimated to his new position. He is in charge of computer and printer hardware, as well as training and enrollment supplies. He spends most of his days fixing printers, installing printer drivers onto laptops, fixing people's computer problems, and shipping things all over the country.

The boys had to adjust to Daddy's new schedule. He used to spend the morning with them before work (his schedule at the bookstore was noon to 8 pm) but now he's gone before they wake up and home in time for dinner! The commute seems long for someone unaccustomed to typical rush-hour traffic, so we are looking at apartments in an area that's closer to his office but still no farther from church than we are now.

A week after he started the new job, he did get a letter from the police department saying he would not be continuing in the application process. Oh well! We only needed one job offer, and we are happy with the one he got.

Early Spring

2011-03-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

We got a little taste of spring last week. The temperature was nearly perfect, the sky was bright blue, the cherry tree was clothed in clouds of pink. So sorry it didn't last long. We're back to cold winter temps.

Poor Little Head

2011-03-06T22:16:00.002-05:00

OUCH! The little one took a tumble head-first into a metal door jam at church...and came up bloody. We tried to put a towel on it to contain the bleeding, but he fought and screamed and shook his head hard. Blood flew everywhere ~ something like a sprinkler spraying back and forth.As friends mopped up the mess on the kitchen floor, the hallway carpet, the door jam, the walls, and the refrigerator, we ran to the car with wads of paper towels; his face was covered in blood and pouring down more by the second. Off to the ER, a four-hour wait, and then four dissolvable stitches in his forehead.

All is well now.

It Takes Two to Tango!

2011-03-05T13:34:00.005-05:00

"Slow, slow, quick, quick" -- various permutations of those words echo through my mind throughout the week. My beautiful bride and I are taking ballroom dancing lessons. We started in February and are now in our second month of Thursday night group lessons. Our instructor is a young lady from Bulgaria. Although she is no older than her thirties, if that, she will sometimes refer to us 50+ year olds as her children.

Foxtrot, waltz, tango, and a few others are the dances we've been learning. It is fun but definitely challenging. It is one thing to learn the sequence of steps in my mind, but quite another to get my "legs to remember" each step. It reminds me when I first learned to ride a bicycle; it was very unnatural at first. We need to practice more during the week, so sometimes we practice in our cramped spaces at home. We are looking forward to warmer weather to practice on our large patio.

A New Garden Closet

2011-02-23T21:23:00.007-05:00

Last month we hired a friend to build a shed/closet/cupboard on the side of our house, specifically to store all the assorted yard equipment accumulating in our garage. Here it is, primed and ready to paint (Adie's job). But that will wait for warmer weather.

We have it filled with most of our equipment now, and hooks and hangers installed to organize it all. It was built on top of our newly-poured concrete pad inside the fenced area. A new sidewalk connects this area to the driveway. It makes it handy to drag the trash cans out to the curb: no more mud to contend with!

A Sweet Day

2011-02-17T21:05:00.002-05:00

We had a very pink family celebration on Valentine's Day evening, our favorite way of celebrating the holiday. The girls put together a heart-filled menu and decorated the table with pink and red and hearts:

heart shaped meatloaf
pink mashed potatoes
red berry heart jello
green salad with heart shaped tomato slices

chocolate chip Bundt cake with pink glaze
and raspberry sauce
chocolate marshmallow truffles
a chocolate treat on every plate

That is Patrick's little candy box at the top of the photo; he isn't much of a sweet lover.

Celebrating

2011-02-05T23:20:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday, guys!

We celebrated the three February birthdays tonight with quite the menu for dinner:

steamed mussels
prime rib with horseradish sauce
marinaded yellowfin tuna
grilled shark
asparagus with Hollandaise sauce
Brussels sprouts
fresh fruit tray with raspberry sauce
twice-baked potatoes

chocolate mousse tort
chocolate mini cupcakes
pumpkin pie with whipped cream

Sisters

2011-01-19T21:53:00.001-05:00

Lisa came to visit for a day when she joined John on a business trip. While John attended a conference by the airport, Lisa drove up to our house. We hung out for a while, then I took her to Mittie's, a lovely southern tea room and an Atlanta institution. Our waiter was very informative, very talkative. But maybe he had nothing better to do since we were almost the only ones in the restaurant at that late hour.

Next we visited the Roswell Mill ruins and the Chattahoochee River, where we saw a little of the remaining snow. We also tried to tour an antebellum mansion but we got there just a few minutes too late.

We went up the road to Out of the Box, where Greta works. It turns out she was on her way to work for the evening, so we waited until she arrived. She gave us a quick tour.

Thanks for coming to visit, Lisa!

A Helper on a Cold Day

2011-01-13T16:28:00.002-05:00

The jammied vacuuming guy hard at work getting the nooks and crannies clean. He wanted the chair moved.

Snow Days

2011-01-12T14:34:00.001-05:00

Even with a stomach bug raging through the house, some of us still had to go out to enjoy the unusually deep snow. We have been housebound for three days now.

Sunday night, as the snow began to fall

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T11:32:00.003-05:00

Christmas Breakfast

We will be celebrating late this year since all the married ones are spending Christmas Day with their in-laws. Tomorrow is our day, and that makes today a quiet one in this house.

The tree is ready for the hordes tomorrow.

Nana's Helpers

2010-12-23T13:38:00.002-05:00

Luke and Patrick wondered what Nana was doing: poking sticks into an orange? They wanted to help, of course. But they couldn't get those little cloves into the skin, so they sprinkled the cloves across the table. What helpers!

The Graduate

2010-12-15T20:49:00.005-05:00

Greta has her BFA!

Bachelor of Fine Arts, that is. She graduated yesterday at 1:00 pm. She was one of approximately 40 students graduating from the College of the Arts, while 400 or so graduated from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

She wore a tangle of honor cords around her neck, choosing the ones she was most proud of.

Receiving her diploma

David's on-campus job was working with the sound and film crew to record the ceremony and stream it live over the internet.

Poison Ivy

2010-12-03T23:17:00.002-05:00

So, it turns out I have poison ivy. In December. It's all over my right cheek, under my chin, up to my eye, across my neck, and into my ear. Inside. Waaay inside my ear. So I'm quite red and hot. I threatened to paint green spots on the left side of my face to be Christmasy. What do you think?

Tree Time!

2010-11-29T23:56:00.002-05:00

The Professor and I scoped out the various sources for cut trees before we dragged the entire family out on the hunt. Surprisingly, we found the best trees at the best price at the local garden center. The bargain bin had wonkier trees still bundled in rope, but we found a reasonable tree that is quite narrow, perfect for our narrow corner.

And to all a good night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T20:39:00.003-05:00

This year we lost a child for our family celebration, but we gained the "other" grandparents. (And Greta and Daniel joined us in the evening.)

Can you guess our menu this year?

Patrick entertains us with peek-a-boo

It turned out to be very warm, so, after eating mid-afternoon, we lounged around on the patio until dark.

Luke entertains us with the beach ball game.

Oops! Too much pie, Jared?

Celebrating Early

2010-11-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

We had an early St. Lucia celebration when Diane and Paul were in town last week. Greta claimed this will be her last year to play Lucia, so she took the opportunity to train Luke as Star Boy. He thought it was great fun to wear the candle crown and serve the bread.

New Concrete

2010-11-18T21:37:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't want to be the one pouring and forming concrete today, but I'm glad someone is interested in doing it. We are very happy to finally be getting a concrete pad poured on the side of our house, with a sidewalk connecting it to the driveway.Papa and Patrick check out the BIG truck on our driveway.

Soon after this area was troweled it started to rain. They quickly pulled tarps over the wet concrete but some pits formed regardless.

All done!

A Happy Saturday

2010-10-30T23:36:00.003-04:00

1. Breakfast at Douceur de France

2. Hiking at Leita Thompson Park
3. Dinner at Olive Garden (we haven't been there in years!)

Fall in the Mountains

2010-10-16T21:45:00.005-04:00

The Professor and I set out this morning with plans to "do something fun", but we didn't know what it would be. We headed north because north is where the fall color is, and eventually we thought of Brasstown Bald in the mountains.

We wound up the steep mountains, enjoying the beautiful colors, sparkling against the sunny sky. At Brasstown Bald we had a choice of hiking the 1/2 mile to the visitor center at the top of the mountain, or taking the shuttle. Not feeling particularly lazy today, we opted for the very steep hike. We saw more color that way.
We heard rumors that someone famous was also hiking today.
If you go, you can skip the movie in the theater. Take our word for it.

Later, as the afternoon waned, we looked for someplace interesting to eat dinner. We stopped at an apple orchard, but they only had a deli. Next to the deli I spied a tourist brochure rack, where a riverside restaurant was advertised. Off we went, following the brochure's directions. On and on we drove, deeper into the forest. It was beginning to look a little hopeless, when suddenly we saw cars parked all over both sides of the narrow road. It must be trailhead parking, I thought, but no, there was a a funky old mountain building on the side of the road. It turned out to be a very good restaurant specializing in mountain trout. Sadly, it was beginning to get dark and cold, so we didn't sit on the deck overlooking the river. Next time maybe.

Operation Christmas Child

2010-10-13T21:15:00.005-04:00

The Professor and I decided to get into the holiday spirit last night by doing our shopping for Operation Christmas Child. Our tradition is to begin the season this way. This year we put together four boxes (four, because we already had four stuffed animals, four packages of pencils, and four bandanna scarves for wrapping.) We crawled the aisles at Wally World and we had so much fun buying toys, caps and sunglasses, school supplies, and hair fancies.

Apple Picking

2010-10-05T21:37:00.001-04:00

The Professor and I drove up to the mountains on Saturday to check out the "Apple Highway", and perhaps buy a bag of apples. We hadn't been up there for over 10 years, so we really didn't know what to expect.

It was a beautiful, warm and sunny fall day. At the first orchard, we bought a half-bushel of Rome Beauty apples so I could make applesauce. At the second orchard we bought a bag of Stayman Winesap apples, just for eating. After that, we decided to stop at every orchard along the highway, and buy something different at each one. Soon we had tried apple cider doughnuts, fried apple pies, dried cinnamon apples, and many varieties of fresh pressed cider.

At BJ Reece Orchards we saw a sign for picking apples. How fun! Soon we were roaming the hillsides, picking a few of one variety here and a few of another variety there, until we had our full weight of 10 pounds.On Sunday I baked an apple pie, and on Monday I turned the Rome Beauty apples into 10 pints of unsweetened applesauce.

Oops. Oops. Oops.

2010-09-22T20:54:00.001-04:00

Three kids, two events in under 18 hours.
Kid 1: a trip to the ER for a severe allergic reaction
Kid 2: a car accident (the other driver's fault; no one hurt).

Garage Sale Again

2010-09-19T21:41:00.000-04:00

Today: a quiet day of rest after a very tiring week of preparing for a garage sale all week, and holding the sale on Friday and Saturday. We sold lots and lots and lots of little stuff, but very little in the way of pricier items such as furniture. We actually sold none of our furniture. That was disappointing, but I was pleased with my final income.

Labor Day Fun

2010-09-06T21:49:00.004-04:00

Moment's notice backyard BBQ this afternoon: Jared did burgers, dogs, and chops on the grill. Heather and I cleaned out the refrigerator and made (almost) hundreds of sides.

Then homemade, hand-cranked ice cream for dessert! Yum!Luke discovered a tray of patriotic cupcakes his Aunt Amber brought over.

Fun at the Lake

2010-08-13T15:09:00.002-04:00

Heather bought a pass this summer for Army Corps of Engineers parks. It gets us in to the swimming beach at the lake. I drive; Heather provides the pass. It's been very nice to swim and cool off this blistering hot summer. Luke and Patrick have taken to swimming like fish.

Luke is learning to "swim" a little bit.

Patrick throws sand in his face, in his hair, in his mouth.

Blueberries

2010-07-07T11:36:00.003-04:00

Luke helps Papa harvest blueberries: We have three little bushes we bought as one gallon pots last fall, and now we can pick a small handful of berries every two or three days. We don't get many berries, but considering their young age, I think we are doing quite well.

July 4th

2010-07-06T22:41:00.006-04:00

We had quite a celebration for July 4th this year, a celebration lasting three days. Friday, Day 1: a tailgate picnic, patriotic concert, and fireworks at a nearby church.

Saturday, Day 2: 27 friends over for a backyard BBQ ("cookout" down south). We provided the meats, they brought the sides. Lots of fun!

Sunday, Day 3: a roadside picnic while we staked out our spot for the fireworks display put on by a neighbor city. Tradition! It's our third year to camp out at this spot. It's convenient because Publix is right across the street so we can go buy a box of Luigi's Italian Ice, and borrow Burger King's restrooms directly behind us as needed. And there is a handy grassy slope for kids of all ages to play on.

David Goes Corporate

2010-06-18T14:46:00.001-04:00

Our family has suddenly become a fan of Coke products, not because we like them, but because David is a new intern at Coke's HQ. He began on Monday. So far, it's been meetings every day. He works in the department called "Information Security and Regulatory Compliance". Really. He will be getting class credit for two semesters as well as a paycheck.

He reports that all drink vending machines in the building are filled only with Coke products and all drinks are free. There is even an online map showing which drinks are stocked in which vending machines, just in case your fave drink is one of the more obscure ones and only one machine has it. It's a nice perk, but he sticks with Dasani bottled water.

Happy Wedding Day

2010-05-30T21:05:00.001-04:00

The new Mr. and Mrs.

All the attendants with the newlyweds.

First dance.

Father-Daughter dance.

The wedding cake: Greta made the ceramic figurine as a cake topper, but it turned out to be too heavy for the cake. At the last moment we added hydrangeas as a topper and the ceramic piece became a table decoration.

A close-up view of the cake topper.

The groom's cake was a surprise for Daniel. We asked a friend to make it to fit the keyboard cover of a real piano. It was so realistic that most people thought it really was the keyboard.

Cutting the cake

The bride's bouquet.

The guests are ready and waiting for the newlyweds to run through the rice.

Daniel is carrying a handful of chocolate coins to toss back at the guests as they reach the car. Greta got this idea from watching Jane Austen movies.

To see more pictures of the wedding, go here.

Spring Explosion of Color

2010-04-19T07:40:00.002-04:00

I wish I could keep all our blossoming shrubs just as they are for the next month, until the wedding. So much is in bloom right now and after such a cold winter, it is a real treat to see the beautiful colors.

Azaleas in white and many shades of pink...

Monet's iris, Chinese Fringe, dianthus,

redbuds, dogwoods, and cherry, all in pink.

Easter

2010-04-18T23:01:00.006-04:00

After church on Easter Sunday we enjoyed a houseful of guests and dinner on the patio in the beautiful sunshine. Later, Luke really got into the business of hunting for eggs and it didn't take him long to discover TREATS inside the eggs.We also were treated to a mini concert of a capella hymns sung in three-part harmony by the Street family. Beautiful!

Our Human Vacuum

2010-03-25T17:36:00.004-04:00

We find it hard to keep the floor clean enough for Patrick. Anything he finds on the floor, he eats. Ick!

It's very odd that he enjoys floor dirt so much because he won't touch jar baby food. Cheerios? Sort of ok, but he gags on them. Tiny dices of banana? Sometimes acceptable, if he's in the right mood. Miniature chunks of strawberries? Maybe, if it's Thursday. But lint, dead bugs, paper scraps, or dead leaves? Bring 'em on with a shovel!

New York

2010-03-16T17:58:00.000-04:00

Yep, I'm still alive, although you wouldn't know it by seeing how little I post on here.

A few weeks ago a group of 15 people from Student Government went to New York for a Student Government conference. We were ready to brave the apparently record snowfalls for the weekend as we left early Friday morning.

15 minutes after taking off, we checked our emails to find out that the conference was canceled because of snow. Now, we live in Atlanta, and are used to 1" of snow shutting down the city for a day or two. One would imagine that New York could survive 24" of snow just fine - but apparently not.

As we approached New York, we found out that the airport was closed and ended up landing in Baltimore to sit on the plane for a while. They let people off but warned us not to go far because they would leave the moment they were able to. Unfortunately for the only passenger that did get off, he did not make it back in time to get on the plane. Oops!

We spent Friday and Saturday splitting up into groups to go see all the sights. I was able to check off most of the "big" ones, except for the Statue of Liberty which we only saw from a distance.

A few guys and I decided it was too expensive to sleep in New York, so we spent all night Saturday night walking across the city, going from Central Park to Lower Manhattan, to the U.N., back to Central Park, Times Square, and eventually the hotel to get an hour of sleep. 16 miles of walking from about 4pm to 6am!

Despite the conference being canceled, we all had a good time and hope to actually go to a conference next year!

Look at Me!

2010-03-14T20:25:00.001-04:00

This little guy can really chatter now. We think we hear some real words but we're not certain. He also plays happily by himself and pulls up to stand.

Washers and Dryers

2010-03-12T09:18:00.004-05:00

I really wonder what's happened to American workmanship. Our 11-year-old laundry appliances both died recently: the washer gave up in October, and the dryer quit suddenly last week.

Our new Frigidaire dryer has never worked properly since we bought it. I takes two hours! on maximum heat to dry one little load.

Our new Maytag washing machine started spraying water all over last night. On closer inspection, we realized it has been doing it for some time because the wood floor on the other side of the back wall is now "pickled" like waterlogged fingers get. We also saw suspicious black shavings on the floor under the washer. The washer repairman is scheduled to be here on Monday.

The dryer service hotline is having technical difficulties and can't schedule me right now.

Snow Day III

2010-03-02T16:36:00.002-05:00

Our third snow day of the year! This is a record for us since we moved here 17 years ago. It's fun, though, to see our yard and neighborhood all covered in snow.

Reshuffling in the Computer Lab

2010-02-18T16:32:00.004-05:00

Our printer broke recently. When we bought a new one, it was too big to fit where the old one had been. We puzzled over where to put it until inspiration hit. David dragged a piece of furniture from his room ~ but it didn't fit where we wanted it.

Thus began our furniture reshuffle. Our end result:

The dining-room-turned-computer lab, view from the living room. In the lower left corner is Heather's desk area; under the window in the upper left corner is David's desk; next to that is Mon's desk; to the right of that is the china cabinet; then a drop-leaf desk used as dining room storage; next is the red-roofed toy cupboard; on the far right is a "spare" desk that Greta and Chuck share. Sometimes it becomes a project table; it's purpose varies.

View from the kitchen: far left is Heather and Jared's kitchen table used as a computer desk for both of their computers; in the left corner is the little cabinet holding our new printer and paper; David's desk with the double screens is next; Mom's desk is to the right of David's; the chair in the far right corner sits at the "spare" desk.

Snow Day II

2010-02-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

Checking out the neighborhood after yesterday's snow. Brrr! It's cold! But Luke and Patrick were fascinated by the cold white stuff.

David Scores

2010-01-18T20:50:00.003-05:00

Not one to frequent garage sales, David visited one today (in January!), looking for a fleece jacket. Instead, he found this:He called to tell me about it and convinced me that is was exactly what we needed to replace our original, decaying kitchen faucet. When he got home he even installed it! Thank you, David! We like the pull-out sprayer feature on the end of the faucet.

Later, Chuck and I saw the same model at Home Depot for $130, a 96% savings. We added the matching soap dispenser to the right.

Snow Day

2010-01-08T12:38:00.002-05:00

This little bit of snow shut down Atlanta. It's not the snow that's so bad, but the melting stuff that refreezes instantly in the 17 degree air.

Dad/Grandpa

2010-01-07T23:09:00.005-05:00

Don Noren: 1924-2010

Went to be with his Lord and Savior Wednesday morning, January 6. At breakfast in the dining room, he told his friend and table-mate that he was tired, then he slumped over. Nurses administered CPR until the paramedics arrived, but he was already gone. It was a blessing that he didn't suffer.

A Vivid Imagination

2009-12-31T17:39:00.004-05:00

Luke frequently takes the shoelaces off his shoes. This time, he laid the shoelace on the floor and told me it was a "worm tail."

Patrick on the Prowl

2009-12-29T10:07:00.000-05:00

The week before Christmas, Patrick started dragging himself around by his arms. That soon progressed to a quick scoot, and each day he scoots a little faster. Now he doesn't want to be carried; he'd rather explore on his own. He likes anything Luke is playing with, balls small enough to hold onto, and strings, cords, and ribbons.

As a result, Luke has learned some new phrases: "No Packick!" and "Dat's MIIIIINE!"

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T15:47:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!
Patrick found a little present under the tree (not for him) and dragged it around with him all morning. He especially liked the way the curly ribbon felt on his gums.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

Luke enjoyed the Christmas Eve service. When it was time to light the candles, he stood up on his chair and carefully held it very still.

New Job

2009-12-16T15:47:00.007-05:00

About a month ago, I started on a new job at Kennesaw State University (where I go to school). I work for Multimedia Development Group (MDG), which is the department responsible for - well - basically anything technology related except for the computer infrastructure on campus.

Officially I do event support (setting up and running sound, any video and lighting), but most of the time I edit/fix/archive video recordings of all of the sporting events that take place at KSU, which we film as well.

This week is graduation at KSU, so everybody in the department has been working on the event. We have four graduations over two days. We stream the graduations online for out-of-town family and friends of the graduates, or for those who could not make it to the graduation. I'm mostly babysitting the stream and also running any presentations on the projector, which are few and far between (we mostly just have a live video feed from four cameras on the projector).

Here's some pictures of the whole setup:

Two of the four cameras. The other two are on the sides, a level up, towards the stage

A/V booth. You can only really see half of it... sound stuff is on the other side of the perpendicular table.

They spent $115,000 on three of these cameras. Best to avoid dropping them...

Took about 6 or 7 hours to rig the whole thing and then raise it up. Fortunately that was contracted out and we didn't have to do it.

Last graduation is at 7pm tonight - and we get to take this all down afterwords.

Engagement

2009-12-12T01:10:00.006-05:00

Daniel proposed to Greta Friday night, and she said yes!

Outside my bedroom door when I woke up this morning, there was a bouquet of red roses and a love note saying that Daniel had arranged for a massage at a spa. After teaching my art class, I had a wonderful looong massage, then browsed at some upscale shops nearby.

Since the school semester had finished yesterday, we were planning to have a celebratory dinner at our favorite restaurant. Once Daniel picked me up for the dinner, he got a phone call from a photographer friend saying he was stranded at school: his car had broken down, and no one else was around. So, we drove to KSU to rescue him from the art building. But instead of walking into the art building, we continued past it, towards a beautiful bridge that had been our special place on campus. At that point, I knew!! The whole stranded friend story was a ruse. But what a surprise!

The bridge and the path were lined with luminaries, lights were in the bushes, and red rose petals littered the stone path. After delivering his speech, Daniel dropped to one knee with the ring and proposed. We got pictures of the whole thing from that not-stranded-after-all photographer friend!

After dinner at Cafe Lily, the server brought a cake with a sparkler. Seeing my ring, the whole restaurant clapped and cheered for us.

Christmas preparations

2009-12-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

Luke turns 2

2009-12-10T11:06:00.001-05:00

If you ask Luke how old he is, he'll say "Two tan-uls. Bow tan-uls." (Two candles, blow candles). All he wants for his birthday is a "yiyyo muffin" (little muffin) with a candle to blow out. And yet, we actually haven't had a real birthday party for him - emergency travel plans and Luke's bad cold have delayed it. Luke: one pumpkin muffin, coming right up!

Dad/Gramps

2009-12-07T23:55:00.006-05:00

John Walker: 1928-2009

Went to be with his Lord and Savior on Sunday morning. Ten of us were privileged to surround him and sing hymns and praise choruses as he lay in ICU. He wasn't able to respond much, but we saw his lips move a little, as if he was trying to sing with us. A few hours later he passed away.

The Last Hurrah of Summer?

2009-11-14T16:11:00.005-05:00

Today we worked on painting the house, as well as several other outdoor chores. Jared decided to grill some lunch for us, and that made us think of eating outside. This may be the last patio meal before cold weather drives us inside. So sad!

Heather Bakes

2009-11-12T15:44:00.003-05:00

Heather made a double batch of pumpkin muffins for the family to enjoy. Half have chocolate chips in them, and half don't.

Luke loves 'em!

Whose Shoes?

2009-10-30T21:16:00.002-04:00

A pile of shoes in our house, and NO ONE claims them. How does that happen?

Laundry

2009-10-29T12:44:00.004-04:00

We returned from vacation to a broken washing machine:

1. A repairman visited us three times in three days, first to evaluate it, then to fix it.

2. Later that day, while busily chewing away at the ginormous pile of dirty laundry, the washer sprouted numerous water leaks.

3. On his third visit, the repairman pronounced it dead. It had lived a full life of eleven years and needed to be replaced.

4. With much gnashing of teeth, we started looking at new equipment.

5. All the salesmen pushed front loaders as being far superior to top loaders, but I wasn't convinced.

6. One salesman told us that all front loaders need to be have the door left ajar if more than a couple of days go by between loads, because mold has a tendency to build up on the door.

7. That settled it for us: our laundry closet does not allow enough room for a washer door to be left ajar, and the adjacent hallway still be passable.

8. We bought the only washer that fit our requirements: top loader, dials rather than push buttons, stainless steel tub, and in the Whirlpool family.

Vacation, Part 2: Florida and the Bahamas

2009-10-28T22:28:00.002-04:00

Sunset on Key Largo

On our way home from the Stone Mountain Games, the Professor mentioned that he still had one more week of vacation, and that we could go somewhere else. Where would we like to go? I asked for someplace warm. Early the next morning we got up, threw our dirty clothes back into our suitcases (broken washing machine, remember?), and headed south to Florida.

The Professor had a niggling idea that a short cruise would be fun, but when we tried to arrange it, it seemed that we were a tad too late. We headed toward the Keys instead. Florida turned out to be as warm and balmy as Mexico, and we really enjoyed the quiet time for just the two of us.Dinner at Islamorada Fish Co, an outdoor restaurant on the gulf.

On Monday, we stopped at a rest stop and I browsed the brochure racks for info on the Keys. But another brochure jumped out at me: Celebration Cruise Lines was advertising 2- and 3-day cruises to the Bahamas, out of Fort Lauderdale. The Professor called right away and booked us for Wednesday, two days away.

Meantime, we decided to make a run for the Keys anyway, and see how far south we could get. In that day and a half, we made it all the way to the end of the highway and back up to Fort Lauderdale. It was beautiful (except for Key West, or rather "Sodom and Gomorrah").

Our quick cruise to Nassau, Bahamas was fun too. We really like being transported from one location to another while we sleep. We snorkeled on the reef outside of Nassau, shopped in the outdoor market, and wandered around the town. We also ate well onboard, and relaxed on deck.

In downtown Nassau

Back in Florida, we had two days on the gulf coast before we had to head home, back into Coldsville.

Stone Mountain Highland Games

2009-10-27T22:31:00.003-04:00

The day after we got home from vacation we went with the Leonards to the Highland Games at Stone Mountain. It was very cold and rainy; even glove weather. What a contrast to balmy Mexico!

Luke really enjoyed watching the massed bands in particular. We enjoyed watching him in the new experience.

Sadly, David had to work, so he was not able to compete or participate in any way. We have really missed his competitions this year, and hope he can eventually get back to piping.

Vacation, Part 1: Puerto Vallarta

2009-10-26T16:17:00.011-04:00

The Professor and I had a wonderful week in Mexico! We stayed with my family in a condo (actually, we needed two units) in a beautiful resort right on the beach. Waking up to a view of the Pacific Ocean every morning, wearing swim suits most of the days, swimming in the warm, tropical water...was heavenly.

Chuck went parasailing one day:

We both acted like monkeys when we swung from a rope swing into a river:
Dinner out every night at the local Mexican restaurants:
Shopping the local markets in downtown Puerto Vallarta:When we arrived home, we heard that the washing machine had broken, with smoke billowing out. Welcome home to us!

Greta the Art Teacher

2009-10-03T12:42:00.004-04:00

Every Friday I co-teach Art History to 15 late elementary school homeschool kids. Every Friday morning, I bounce out of bed eager to hear what hilarious things those kids come up with.

The girls are at the age where everything has to be perfect (the boys either don't care yet, or will never care). The art they come up with is so cute, too! Libby and I alternate between showing them how to make it better, and convincing them that it looks good the way they have it. "Miss Greta, are you just saying that? I know you don't mean it when your voice gets all squeaky."

The art games we play often contain shouting matches; especially, when playing Art Jeopardy, one little boy got so excited he would shout out [correct] answers at every opportunity: even if it wasn't his team's turn. He won the opposing team (known as the Needle Tools) 500 points doing that! His team mates were not too happy with him!