Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- Disappointment

Well, I finished April Lady, but as I mentioned on Friday, I spent half my time being annoyed by the Gibson Girls on the cover. Somewhere along the line I discovered that this release of the Heyer books is under the HQN imprint, which turns out to be Harlequin romances under a slightly different guise. This completely explains why I was unable to read the Kasey Michaels book for more than a few pages -- it's just a Harlequin in a frock coat. Your choice of disappointing or disgusting.

Another disappointment came today, when I stopped by the local library to pick up the books they have on hold for me. Veterans' Day = closed library. (Pout, pout.) I am making do with fiction I have on hand until tomorrow, when I will get my hands on Blackwork by Monica Ferris and Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander. These are both the latest numbers of series' I enjoy, so I'm hoping for no disappointments once I actually can read them.

One book that is NOT disappointing is the work on synesthesia Wednesday Is Indigo Blue which I mentioned last week. I'm reading it in short snatches because it's fairly scholarly, but even though I'm not synesthetic myself I keep having "aha" moments which help me understand my family better. (It turns out that Roger is also a synesthete, which makes me agree with Kelson -- I'm a little bit jealous. The only consolation I've found so far is being able to use all these great words: synesthesia, synesthetic, synesthete. I also found the word for somebody with photographic (eidetic) memory, which is eidetiker. Luscious.)

And that's it on the reading front for today, sadly. But since the library will be open then, I say with Scarlett O'Hara "Tomorrow is another day!" See ya then!

Tasty Tuesday -- Busy (or Lazy!) Day Meals

Everybody has them -- days or even seasons in our lives when there seems to be just no time to cook. Culturally, we are bombarded with messages that tell us this means we should hand over the responsibility for dinner to the Colonel or Mickey D, or maybe we should "hit the Hut." But what if we don't have the budget for this? Or what if we could eat out every night, but don't think that would be good for our family either spiritually or nutritionally?

I'm about to enter one of these seasons (heck, I've already started packing boxes), so I'm relying on the meals I've learned over the years are easy for me AND have a high success rate with my picky eaters. But what I'm really relying on is something I learned from my mother. While she wasn't a great cook, she had a repertoire that would keep her family happy. And since she taught third grade for all of my growing up (actually, until after Branwen was born) she never had a whole lot of time, especially on week nights.

I've heard of mothers -- some with multiple children -- who go to the grocery store three or four times a week. Mom didn't have time for that. She made a weekly shopping trip for perishables and such, but she also did the thing that has saved my whats-for-dinner? neck more than once -- she stocked and maintained a pantry. I talked about this a little last NaBloPoMo, but today I want to specifically mention the kinds of things to have on hand when life gets crazy.

First on the list is canned protein -- tuna, different kinds of beans, even that old standby Spam! Our dinner last night consisted of canned chili beans over rice, with cheese for those who wanted it. Although the rice cooks for 20 minutes, my actual work time was about five -- measured the rice and water, set the table while it boiled, set the timer, went and did something else for most of the time, and microwaved the beans for the last few minutes.

Obviously, to make this kind of dinner work, you also need dried starches on hand. This includes all kinds of pasta, rice, and instant potatoes if you like them. (We don't.) If you have a large freezer, frozen potatoes and corn and flour tortillas expand the range even more. I also freeze breads and rolls and bagels-- since I have three freezers -- and because Roger loves to make them I always have frozen chili and spaghetti sauce on hand. If you freeze them flat in zipper bags thay will thaw in mere minutes under running water.

Canned and jarred sauces are an option if you don't have an in-house chef, and I actually keep canned pizza sauce on hand, although I like my homemade stuff better. And canned vegetables are great, especially tomatoes. I also keep canned soup on hand for lunches, but they don't become dinner unless something drastic occurs!

The one perishable that I would recommend regarding as part of your pantry is cheese. Bought in 8oz. blocks -- they regularly go in sale for $1.50 or less in my area -- it keeps for months. And with the other staples I've mentioned, it's the heart of bagel pizzas, and quesadillas, and tuna melts, and plain old grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Tonight we're having something a little fancier: broiled salmon with baked potatoes and peas. But since I portioned the salmon before I froze it, and the peas are from a bag, this almost qualifies as a pantry meal. If you tell me what you have on hand, I'll tell you how it can become dinner! (Unless all you have is chick-peas and chocolate frosting, in which case a pantry restock is in order...)

Box 'em Up!

We are approaching having a closing date on the house! There is one more hoop to jump through, a visit from the bank's appraiser, and that is happening even as I type. It would have happened sooner except that a communication got messed up somewhere -- the appraiser kept trying to get the key from the law firm which is the "seller of record" when in fact our agent has the keys, and so do we. But now that that is straightened out we are hoping for a closing date this week.

Once we close we will shift into overdrive; cleaning, painting, doing various repairs, and installing carpet and hardwood. Meanwhile, I am packing a few boxes every day or so. Today it was four more boxes of books. This means that three of our eight bookcases are empty. Of course they're the smallest three...

I also acquired some more packing boxes today. We were walking the dog through our emptying neighborhood discussing which houses we know to be empty and which ones were going next, when we saw a big pile of junk -- it's trash day today -- in front of one. Now we have had big piles of trash in front of our house twice already, so this could have meant just cleaning out, but when we go to the pile we saw that it contained 20 or so boxes in good condition. They must have moved already, or they wouldn't be throwing their boxes away. So when I got home I hopped in the van and drove back, and collected about half of the boxes. (The rest were very large boxes, of which we already have more than enough.)

My goal is to have all our boxes packed before moving day, so that I can spend my energy unpacking necessary things. I get a pass on the heavy lifting -- that's what sons and sons-in-law are for! And a bunch of Kelson's friends have been promised copious quantities of pizza and pop to assist. Right now my most-likely bet for moving day is December 12th, but we shall see.

Coming Clean

(This is the post I would have done on Friday if my computer hadn't been kidnapped.)

As most of you know, I use my real name here, and also my husband's name, but except for Arwen, who uses her real name at her blog -- which I think is how most of you got here-- I've been using pseudonyms for the rest of my family. Since Arwen has been using real names on her blog bit by bit, and all my kids are active online, in the interests of simplicity I'm going to give you "The Name Post."

In order of appearance my children are:
Arwen Elizabeth (you knew that ;-) ) ,
Branwen Elanor ("Rosie" -- Rose is her confirmation name, and her husband "Anthony" is really Larry),
Miriel Margaret ("Maggie"),
Brandon Ransom ("George" -- confirmation name again),
Tirienne Anne ("Katie" -- confirmation name Catherine) and
Kelson Reuel ("Tommy" -- our last name is Thomas.)
I actually have been using our grandchildren's real names, so Daniel, Camilla, Matthew and Blaise they remain.

The names are mostly all from Tolkien and Lewis. "Arwen Elizabeth" scans the same as "Arwen Undomiel". (And if you're not a total Lord of the Rings geek and don't know this already, "ennorath" in Arwen's blog URL is Quenya (Elvish) for "Middle Earth".)

The name Branwen is used a lot in the Brother Cadfael novels of Ellis Peters, and is the name of a major character in the Wrinkle in Time books. Elanor is both Samwise and Rose's daughter in LOTR and a tiny white flower of Middle Earth.

Miriel was both an Elf (the mother of Feanor - Silmarillion)) and the last ruling queen of Numenor (read the appendices of LOTR). Margaret just sounded good with that, AND we were trying to give the kids one "normal-sounding" sorta-kinda-saint's name to use if desired. (Elanor sounds like Eleanor).

Brandon's name snuck in there when we weren't looking -- we wanted something that sounded good with "Ransom" (Elwin Ransom is the main character in Lewis' Space Trilogy. The name became popular about 17 seconds after we picked it!

Tirienne is named for Tirian, the last King of Narnia. We loved it, but didn't think you could do that to a boy, so we feminized it. It's pronounced "Tee-ree-ENNE". (Or, as we told my dad when he struggled with it, think of a letter N crying -- a "teary N".)

Kelson is the main character in the first-written trilogy of Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz. And Reuel is for John Ronald REUEL Tolkien. I guess we'd given up on the "normal" by then, although Reuel is a Biblical name meaning "Servant of God."

I realize this is a lot of information packed into a small post, but I thought I'd head off the most obvious questions in advance. Feel free to comment, and be aware that I'll be using real names from now on!

Sloppy Saturday #1 --- 2009

I am really grateful that I started the "Sloppy Saturday" category for last year's NaBloPoMo, because that means I can be sloppy this year and not give it another thought! Today has been a mixture of awesome -- taking the visiting kids/grandkids to see the new house, Indian Summer weather, pleasant -- singing in the choir for 5PM mass, a great casserole for dinner, and painful -- the last hymn at mass (I can't stand bad theology) and falling down hard on my hands and knees by tripping over the slipcovers while trying to let the dog out.

Currently I am sitting here waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in...

Maybe I should have called this post "Klutzy Saturday", except that I definitely can be klutzy any day of the week. When I was in junior high school about half a dozen of us had a "secret organization" called Cordo Plus. Yiddish slang having not yet penetrated our little Pennsylvania backwater, we had never heard the term "klutz", but we knew what we were, and "cordo" stood for "uncoordinated." And man, we were.

A couple of years ago I read a news article about a high school gym class where the grading was based not on how far or fast you could run, but on whether or not you kept your heart rate in the target zone for long enough while you were running. This required high-tech monitors, of course, but man, how we cordos would have loved it. We worked twice as hard as the natural athletes in order to earn C's to their A's.

(Dear children of mine who are half the readers of this blog -- yes, I know you've heard this rant before. My knee has stopped aching, I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight!)

Seven (Incredibly) Quick Takes

1. My plan was to blog later this evening.

2. My son wants to play Starcraft head-to-head with his friend who is visiting from out of town.

3. My computer is the only computer other than his (out of seven in this house) which is suitable for this purpose.

4. I am going to have to change my plan.

5. The new plan is to finish April Lady.

6. I will enjoy the book, but I will try not to look at the cover, because I will be annoyed.

7. Publishers who put Gibson Girls on the covers of Regency romances ought to be shot, especially if the Regency is by Georgette Heyer.

And that is all. See you tomorrow, if my computer survives the battle.

Ch-ch-ch-changes; or, Why I Hate Shopping

Today I ran a couple of shopping errands. It's my "off" grocery shopping week, which means I needed to pick up milk, juice, bread, and some items from the deli. I usually spend 85 to 90% of my grocery budget on the "on" weeks, so it really was supposed to be quick fill-in trip. I also needed to pick up some things that we'll need in the new house: towel bars, toilet paper holder bars (why would people take those with them?), a shower curtain rod, and some new toilet brushes and plungers. Riveting stuff.

I also wanted to get an inexpensive pair of socks in the same khaki as my pants, and maybe a couple of pairs of knock-around pants to replace the two half-worn-out pairs that I fully intend to ruin while painting the house. No jeans; I gave up jeans years ago. Yes, you can call me an old fogey.

My first stop was at Wal-Mart. I used to love Wal-Mart, and I still think its prices can't be beaten on a lot of staple items. But several years ago my beloved Wal-Mart was replaced by a new Super Wal-Mart, which is ugly, annoyingly laid out, and has pretentions of grandeur. I looked in "bath hardware" for my shower rod. Lots of shower heads and toilet seats, but the rod, towel bars, and TP rollers are in housewares, as apparently they are now fashion accessories. Toilet brushes were also difficult to find. There were either the decoratively disguised ones in housewares for $14.97 a pop, or ones in hardware that looked so spindly that I feared they'd break if I actually used them.

I decided to change course and look for some socks and pants. I actually bought two pairs of socks, but the ones in the color that I actually wanted came in a three-pair bundle pack with two colors that I never, ever wear. So, not a deal. And although over the years I have bought multiple pairs of knock-around pants -- inexpensive elastic-waist woven pants with pockets -- there, they have once again changed brands/suppliers and there wasn't anything that I liked. And even if there had been, I went through every pair in the possibly acceptable colors and the were none in my size. NONE. (Insert picture of me with steam coming out my ears.)

Giving up on Wal-Mart as a bad job, I paid for the stuff in my cart and wended my way to Meijer. If you're not from the Michigan area, you may not be familiar with this chain, which originated in Grand Rapids, and which Roger loves! He would willingly drive past Wal-Mart to pay more for the same item at Meijer. (I think Meijer is what Super Wal-Mart wants to grow up to be; brighter, better organized, "nicer". But the prices are higher.) Same song and dance -- wimpy toilet brushes, no pants in my size, annoying multi-packs of socks.

At this point I decided to cut my losses, get my grocery items, and go home. The juice I wanted was out of stock. The cereal I had planned to buy had every variety on sale except the one I wanted. The bags of candy which were supposed to be on sale scanned through at the regular price. At least the lady in the deli was nice! (Although the lady in line behind me was probably annoyed, because she was very slow...)

So what I have to show for three hours of shopping is: a few groceries, a couple of pieces of bathroom hardware, two pairs of not-quite-right socks, and a headache. But at least I got a blog post!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

Well, I finished all the Michael Ruhlman books. I really enjoyed them all. I found it fascinating that the essence of "what makes a chef" seems to have changed over the 12 years these books cover. It seem that the omnipresent media culture has affected this along with everything else.

I also finished Born Round, the autobiographical work by Frank Bruini, NY Times restaurant critic, who Ruhlman mentioned repeatedly. Bruini's book is a look at how he overcame childhood chubbiness and disordered eating to become a fit, healthy restaurant critic. Unfortunately, it's pretty clear from the book that the disordered eating was only one symptom of a neurotic complex that he still hasn't acknowledged. I felt compassion for him, but I wouldn't recommend the book.

My current non-fiction is Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia by Richard Cytowic and David Eagleman. I became interested in this topic after reading this post of Arwen's. (And Lindsay, I know you have it too.) I'll report back after I finish more than the first chapter.

On the fiction front, I picked up April Lady by Georgette Heyer from the new book shelf on a hurried sweep through the library. With a copyright date of 1957, the book is not itself new, but is out in a new paperback edition. I love Georgette Heyer, and when a scan of the first page didn't immediately produce an "oh, yes, this is the one where.." I grabbed it. Don't get me wrong, I know I've read it, but I seem to have forgotten enough details to make it almost-good-as-new. Heyer is always a joy!

One feature of this edition of AL is a foreword by Kasey Michaels. I've read some of her mystery/chick lit stuff, which is meh but OK if you don't have anything better. but it seems she also writes Regencies, so I'm giving her A Most Unsuitable Groom a try. It can't possibly measure up to Heyer, but I wanted several books and was in a hurry. That's what I love about the library -- If you hate it you can just take it back!

I have exactly 10 minutes before I need to go start supper, so excuse me, I'm going to go play a dumb game on Facebook. Catch you tomorrow!

Tasty Tuesday -- Pork Sausage Casserole

This dish is adapted from the More-with-Less Cookbook. I've been making it "forever", and it's one the whole family at least tolerates. It's also one of the few recipes I haven't reduced in size as the kids moved out and on. Most of the leftovers* will vanish just the same.

Pork Sausage Casserole

In a pan, brown 1 pound ground sausage** and one onion -- chopped. Drain fat and juices. Combine in large greased casserole with 2 ribs celery -- chopped, 2 cups raw rice***, 1 t. salt, pepper to taste, 1/2 t. poultry seasoning, 2 t. parsley flakes and 3 1/2 cup boiling chicken broth****. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350F. (I like to stir it midway through cooking, or the rice ends up on the bottom.)

* When reheating leftovers of this, I have found that adding a little water helps retain the texture, stovetop or microwave.

** I usually use plain sausage, but you could use hot, or sage, or even Italian or chorizo. I think with these last two I'd leave out the poultry seasoning.

*** The original recipe specifies long-grain rice, but I've made it OK with medium. You might have to adjust the liquid a bit.

**** I don't actually use "boiling chicken broth". I use water and chicken bouillon granules, and usually I make it ahead and refrigerate. If you do make it ahead, bake it for 1 1/2 hours to be sure the rice is done.

A Purchase

We went to the furniture store this morning. I had been through several stores a couple of weeks ago, "idea shopping" as I told all the ever-so-helpful salespeople. After mulling those ideas for a while, we went back to the first store I checked out. It's locally owned, and much of our current furniture came from there.

We bought a couch, and ordered a recliner in a coordinating fabric. They actually had a recliner in stock in the fabric I liked ("The country's most popular" apparently -- I'm boring!) but the back was low enough that when Roger fully reclined his head was almost dangling. So we ordered one with a higher back.

I said that we bought a "couch", but what we actually bought was a sectional with matching wedge ottoman. I think in a pinch our whole extended family could sit on it, if the babies sat on laps and people perched on the arms. Technically it's two love seats with a recliner on one end of each, plus a corner seat. But since we can seat four friendly people on each of our current couches, I'm thinking three on each loveseat, one in the corner, two on the arms, two babies on laps, and an adult plus two preschoolers on the ottoman. I would almost like to try it!

It's a chocolate brown chenille, and the recliner will be a similar color of marled pseudo-leather. If you're thinking "three recliners??" the answer is YES. All of us like to have our feet up!

Although I am not looking forward to the actual moving (and for those who have asked, we don't have a closing date yet but are hoping for mid-November) I AM looking forward to being moved. The little niggling things wrong with out current house keep piling up, and there is no incentive to fix them, although we did replace the florescent bulbs in the kitchen fixture finally, after three of the four died.

So another step in the move has occurred, and tomorrow the state-required inspection happens. And maybe then we'll be able to close and start making changes. I'll keep you posted! (A little NaBloPoMo humor ;-D)

NaBloPoMo -- The question

November is National Blog Posting Month, otherwise known as NaBloPoMo, or even NaBloP. As those of you who have been around for a while (or bothered to read all the way through my archives - HA, Ha, ha, ha ha!) know, I have done NaBloP for the last couple of years. And this year I'm going to give it another shot.

I have been considering recently why in the world the inventor(s) of this insanity chose November. November is the start of the holiday season. November is when everybody is even busier than usual. What would have been wrong with having NaBloP in February??

Furthermore, November for me this year is moving season. I have an enormous number of books to pack, along with all the other assorted household bits and pieces. In the end there will be more boxes of other things than of books, but there will be more boxes of books than of dishes, or of bedding, or of Christmas decorations, or of any category you care to name. Man, have we got books!

Also, there will be painting. I mentioned before that I was struggling to find paint colors to bring the bathroom tile into the 21st century. I'm still struggling. And there will be flooring. We could afford to do the "basic carpet throughout" thing, but for the same general cost we can have self-installed pre-finished solid hardwood in the living and dining area, so we're going for it. And probably going crazy getting it installed. And that's not even mentioning the kitchen floor, which currently is ghastly worn-out indoor-outdoor carpet. I might like ceramic tile someday, but a kitchen remodel is a couple of years down the road, so we're going with vinyl. Self-installed vinyl.

So the NaBloPoMo question mentioned in the title is this: Will she or won't she be able to pull off all this and daily blogging too? Stay tuned, because at this point only God knows for sure!

Bonus points to the first reader to identify the product that inspired the phrasing of the question!

Seven (Very) Quick Takes, mostly about the dryer.

1. We got a new dryer today. Ours has been moribund for a couple of months -- after at least four repairs over the years -- and on Wednesday decided to stop heating forever, thank you. So we got a new one.

2. To make it a little easier, a new dryer was in the plan. We were expecting to get it delivered directly to the new house for simplicity's sake, but are glad we have it here.

3. The reason it would have been simpler to have it delivered directly to the new house involves our doors. This house is over 100 years old, and most of the doorways are narrow. Any new appliance must come in through the front door, because the back door which opens directly into the laundry room is 2 1/2 inches too narrow.

4. Bringing appliances in through the front door is not without its problems. Because of the layout of the living room, with the front door on one corner and the kitchen arch diagonally across, there is always at least one piece of furniture in the way. Today I moved three.

5. Then I moved the kitchen table and chairs. It was the least I could do, since the door from the kitchen into the laundry room is also diagonally across from the arch. And it is also narrow. There is literally less than half an inch clearance on each side of an appliance passing through. And this door is modern. When we had our kitchen remodeled in 1993, they put in this narrow door. :-/

6. Actually, they put in a narrower door. We had put the appliances into the living room during the remodel, and when they tried to put them back, they stuck. They had to rip out the trim and enlarge the doorway. Fortunately, the contractor took responsibility. But through lack of shrewd planning, the door could NOT be any wider without ripping up new cabinets. So we coped.

7. It took the dryer installer about 17 minutes from pulling into the driveway to pulling out again with the old dryer. It probably took me twice that to move everything around and then put it back. (I haven't even mentioned all the stuff --pet food, detergent, trash cans -- that I had to move in the laundry room.) But the new dryer is installed, my laundry is finally done and put away, and Roger and I are going out for drinks in a little while. Success!

Seven Quick Takes are hosted at Conversion Diary.

Day Late and a Take Short

I completely missed Seven Quick Takes (hosted here) yesterday, so I'm giving all seven of you readers the "Sloppy Saturday" version....

1. I started cleaning out the basement today. I set a goal for myself of 5 trash bags taken to the curb. I got four bags and an ENORMOUS pile of mildewed cardboard boxes. Our family tends to throw all "might be useful later" boxes onto a big pile in the basement. The ones on top were fine, but the bottom layer was beyond disgusting. And you really don't want to know what happens if one of those boxes went down the stairs filled with eco-foam.

2. On the plus side, the near half of the basement is now organized. There are piles for "take with", "let the kids decide because it's their stuff", useful boxes, packing peanuts -- the styrofoam kind!! -- and "not sure yet". The last one mostly consists of old sheets which we don't really need but which might come in handy for protecting furniture when we move, and a set of rollerblades which we'll probably donate. I'm uncertain which kid was once the owner, or whether they're the ones Roger had for a while. I hope all my keep-or-toss decisions are this trivial!

3. On Monday I intend to start actually packing things. A couple of weeks ago Tommy moved into the downstairs bedroom which has traditionally been allocated to the oldest high-schooler in the house. I was kind of hoping that he wouldn't bother, for simplicity's sake. But it has been a blessing on the getting-ready-to-move spectrum. His old room is empty except for empty furniture and a big pile of books in the corner. Those are going into boxes on Monday.

4. Actually I'm optimistic when I say the room is empty. There are two huge closets in there, which Tommy never used. (In fact, he barely used his dresser, and in the new room he has one laundry basket for "clean" and one [sometimes] for "dirty". He likes clothes, but the ones he actually wears are relatively few in number. When he moved downstairs, we donated four garbage bags full.) I think most of the stuff in those closets -- things like gift wrap and strings of twinkle lights -- is in boxes, but I'm not sure it is. So that comes after the books.

5. When we were in the new house last Wednesday, I discovered that a number of the rooms have vertical blinds. They all work OK, but I'm not sure if I will like them long term. Anybody with experience here? I tend to be a fan of old-fashioned curtains, which I can make myself, and vinyl mini-blinds when rooms need to be darker. (Actually, I also like the old-fashioned roller blinds, but nobody else is a fan.) The main window in the living room is huge, and I'm not sure how much improvement money we're going to have right away, so it may be verticals for a couple of years. On the other hand, the ginormous purple swags which the previous owners left over the windows are OUT.

6. I'm also looking for advice on how to tone down vivid bathroom tile with the paint colors in the rest of the room. The main bath has (fairly bright) pink, and the half bath has dusty green with muddy mustard. I'm (unfortunately) not kidding. I plan to go with white or cream with the pink. Currently it has sunshine yellow. (Huh???) But I don't know what to do with the green/mustard? Maybe hunter green? I foresee dragging 85 paint chips in there in the hope that something makes it look better. All the tile is in great condition, so financially it makes no sense to replace it, but I'd sure like it to retreat into the background!

And that's my six quick takes for a sloppy Saturday. I'm off to help Tommy put the kitchen table back once he finishes mopping.

"New" Neighbor!

Today we were able to get the keys to the new house for a couple of hours. We can't make any changes until we actually close -- and that date is yet to be determined -- but we can go in, make lists (four sets of doorknobs are missing!??!) and measure for carpeting, curtains, and so forth. We spent about an hour and a half there today.

Toward the end of that time, Roger heard somebody mowing the lawn at the house next door and decided to go over and introduce himself. He walked around behind the neighboring house, and thought "Gee, that lady looks familiar." She ought to! She's lived two doors down from us for the last 20 years or so, and was bought out a little ahead of us. We knew that she had bought a house somewhere in the same general area, but we thought it was about a mile away. Nope! Our "new" next door neighbor is Lisa!

Man, You Guys Are Amazing!

So my last post wasn't even up 12 hours before we got a call that HUD finally accepted our (lowball) bid. We have a house! And moving, but that will unfold here as it happens. Gotta run -- grocery shopping. THANK YOU for your prayers!

A House Is Not A Home

Almost a month ago I posted that we had sold our house to the state, and had 90 days to find a new one. I also mentioned that I hoped that a house we had been through once seemed ideal. Well. We have a close friend who is a builder who walked through it with us, and his opinion is that even if we had unlimited money --ha, ha, ha-- that we shouldn't waste it on that house. His exact words were "This thing should be bulldozed."

He also walked us through two additional houses, both of which he deemed acceptable. One of them was a foreclosure, offered at a very low price to sell it quickly. We offered 50% more than the asking, and were beaten out by a bid only slightly higher. It appears that this was our gain, however, because when our agent told us how much the winning bid was, he also mentioned that they had found mold all down the chimney, which runs between the family room and the master bedroom. THAT I would not like to deal with. (I also give myself observation points, because I had spotted a little of the mold in the corner of the secondary master closet. The door for the closet was behind the door of the room, and I expect that most of the bidders never even saw that there was a closet there, let alone the mold.)

The third house is in no way my "dream house", but it certainly could be made to do. A major drawing point is the truly dry basement, a rarity here in Michigan. Plenty of room to put a big family room down there, and there's already a fireplace. The drawback to this house is that it's a HUD home, subject to electronic bids, and it simply went on the market at far too high a price. The asking price has come down nearly 25% already, and it's still 20% above our maximum, since we won't buy anything we'd need a new mortgage on. (Ideally we'd even like to save some of our cash for repairs and updates, but we're becoming resigned to paying cash for the house and taking out a minimal HELOC for fixups.) So every day our realtor submits another bid, and every day HUD ignores it.

Since on Friday we will be down to 60 days, this seems to be a less-than-stellar plan for the long haul. So tomorrow we will be looking at MORE houses -- including another HUD house -- and probably more next week. Ninety days sounds like a long time, but man, it isn't!

I was talking to our three-year-old grandson Daniel on the phone today. We have been trying to prepare the grandchildren for the fact that Grandma and Grandpa's house is not going to be here any more. (In point of fact, 7 of the 18 houses on our block have already been flattened, and three more are empty, but that's another post.) We have been telling them that when it's time to move, they will help us by loading the toy box into the car and taking it to the new house. Daniel was telling me about this today, and then he said "Jesus is going to find a new house for you." Suddenly I have a renewed understanding of the faith of a child!

I've never felt, throughout this whole process of waiting to see if the state would be buying our house, that we'd be losing our home. Our home is where we are, and all we'll be losing is the house we keep it in. But I'm certainly ready to find the next place for home to live! All prayers are appreciated, for "the right house at the right price at the right time". And while you're at it, pray for me to have a faith like Daniel's!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- One Week Update

Well, Cold Comfort Farm totally lived up to its promise. I'm thinking about buying a copy -- for a fan of the movie, the cover of this edition alone is worth the price. On the other hand, the book by Alys Clare is NOT a "worthy successor to Ellis Peters!" The medieval setting is adequate, so is the writing, but Clare's understanding of the period is somewhat less than zero. My suspicion is that she herself has only a hazy concept of God, and so her characters can do no better. It's a pity, because I was hoping for another series to get into. Sigh!

I have not yet started The Reach of a Chef because Arwen was here last weekend and advised me that I should read The Soul of a Chef first. I think she's right, as I am blitzing through that with enjoyment, but also noticing things that I think will be foundational in understanding Reach. And I appear to be falling into a Ruhlman vortex; I have also checked out his book Ratio, about the basic ratios of different types of cooking. For example, cookies are 1(sugar) to 2(fat) to 3(flour). Everything else is just bells and whistles. Now I know how Goldy in the Diane Mott Davidson books invents things so easily!

On another note, today I reread (as I do on this day every year) G.K. Chesterton's poem Lepanto. I have a number of "theme poems" for days of the year, and this is one of them. (Next up is In Flanders Fields.) I'll try to remember to link to each one as I read it. And now I need to stop typing and tidy up a few details before bed. Goodnight!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I am very excited because I just got a new book at the library today -- Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons. I have been a great fan of the movie, and spotted the book (a reissue, with a foreword by Lynne Truss) when it appeared at Barnes and Noble, but it took another watching of the movie Saturday night to spur me to check it out. I can't imagine I'll be anything but delighted, but I'll let you know.

I also checked out a non-fiction, The Reach of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. I enjoyed his The Making of a Chef, about his experiences at the Culinary Institute of America, and am sitting on Arwen's copy of The Soul of a Chef. I'm not sure which order I'll read them in, since library books usually trump things that don't have to be returned on a given date.

Which is why I'm waiting to plunge into Cold Comfort; I have to finish The Tavern in the Morning, by Alys Clare, which I've had out for a couple of weeks. The jacket says "A worthy successor to Ellis Peters", but so far my take would be "Not bad, and writes in Ellis Peters' genre, so I'll take it." I'll let you know if that changes.

Roger is home early from tonight's meeting -- third night in a row for something, and I have choir tomorrow -- so I'm going to post this and hag out with him. See ya around!

Seven Quick Takes Friday -- 9/18

I'm posting twice in one week! Whee! And all the credit goes to Jen at Conversion Diary, who thought up Seven Quick Takes and hosts them weekly. Go see -- but don't forget to come back.

1) For those of you who own pets (of the cat and dog variety) -- no matter HOW tight finances are, do not think you can save money by skipping the monthly flea dosing. This is a bad decision, which will come back and bite you. Literally. I'm just sayin'....

2) We sold our house to the state on Wednesday. (This is for a major public works project, that I talked about here.) We are no longer homeowners, but we have way more money in the bank than we have had in decades, or probably ever will again. We have a 90 day grace period to move out; if we can't manage that, we pay rent to the state.

3) We hope to put a bid on a new house on Monday. We have already had one bid declined, on a different house. I am really hoping/praying that this second house is "the one". Despite needing some cosmetic upgrades, it has all the features I really hoped for in a house AND is in our price range. But we need to have our friend who is a builder give it a once-over for all the details we don't know how to evaluate, and anyway our real estate agent is "upnorth" for the weekend. So we will bid Monday at the earliest.

4) It this is not the right house, we have some serious looking to do. We have already scanned, and sometimes toured, the "possible" houses in our price range. Some of them are impossible. One of them rejected our bid. Of course, God could have a hidden jewel out there which isn't even on the market yet. The house we bought 24 years ago -- the only house we've ever owned -- never technically went on the market at all. The sellers came to our agent -- a friend -- to list it, and Bill realized that it was next door to some good friends of ours; in fact, the builder who will be checking over our possibility! We bought it without it ever showing up on anyone else's possibility list.

5) In an interesting twist, the woman who now lives in the house next door (it's already sold to the state as well) is the woman from whom we bought THIS house. It was a rental property, not her home, but it was distinctly odd when she bought our friends' old house. But she's been a good neighbor and friend. Denise, we'll miss you.

6) If I talk any more about our housing situation I might start to blubber. Four of our kids were born in this house, and it isn't ours anymore. I said once that I expected it to be easier to have it torn down than to see other people living in it, and that's still true, but that doesn't make it easy. Tonight at dinner I looked up and realized that in a relatively short time the view from my table will be different. We aren't losing our HOME -- that will be moving with us -- but this house will soon be gone forever. Sniff.

7) Last night our church choir began rehearsing again after our summer break. I love these people, and it was great to be back together! But -- I didn't sing enough over the summer. I've lost two notes from each end of my range. With regular rehearsals and masses and some hard work on my part they'll probably come back, but I shouldn't have let it happen. I resolve to do better next summer. My voice is, unfortunately, getting old and stiff like the rest of me. Exercise is no longer optional.

And that's it for another week; see you again soon!

Musical Monday -- Triumph of the Cross

Today is the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, so I'm posting a few of my favorites. They're good any time... :-D

First and foremost --

Lift High the Cross

Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Come, Christians, follow where the Master trod --
Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.. Refrain

Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine. Refrain

Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died. Refrain

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee. Refrain

So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory. Refrain

The words are by George W. Kitchen, modified by Michael R. Newbolt. The tune is Crucifer, by Sydney H. Nicholson. You can hear it here, although they are missing the first verse.

Next up --

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

1. In the cross of Christ I glory,
 towering o'er the wrecks of time;
 all the light of sacred story
 gathers round its head sublime.

2. When the woes of life o'ertake me,
 hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
 never shall the cross forsake me.
 Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

3. When the sun of bliss is beaming
 light and love upon my way,
 from the cross the radiance streaming
 adds more luster to the day.

4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
 by the cross are sanctified;
 peace is there that knows no measure,
 joys that through all time abide.

5. In the cross of Christ I glory,
 towering o'er the wrecks of time;
 all the light of sacred story
 gathers round its head sublime.

The lyrics are by John Bowring; the tune, Rathbun, is by Ithamar Conkey and can be found here.

Last but not least -- Isaac Watts' marvelous

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

The tune is Hamburg, by Lowell Martin, and can be heard here.

I hope to weigh in on Friday with a Seven Quick Takes, so I'll see you then!