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.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"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!
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!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
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!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, September 18, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, September 14, 2009
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.
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!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Tasty Tuesday -- Blueberry Cobbler
Today is the first day of school in Michigan. Tommy starts his senior year (bwaaah, my baybee...), so this is the last "first day of school" I will ever deal with. Sad, but wonderful -- no more paperwork!!
Ever since the first "first day of school" when Arwen started kindergarten in 1987, I have tried to make a special dinner for the kids to celebrate. Many years it was hamburgers on the grill, but since the start of school is now right after Labor Day, that's not as thrilling as it once was. In fact, when I asked Tommy a couple of days ago what he'd like, he said he really didn't care. But yesterday evening he asked me if I knew how to make the blueberry cobbler that Aunt "Tink" made while we were in Pennsylvania. Since I gave her the recipe in the first place, the answer was "yes"! So tonight's dinner is creamed chicken and biscuits with this cobbler for dessert.
Blueberry* Cobbler
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease a 9 by 9 inch pan or casserole.
In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt and 1/2 cup milk**.
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle on 2 cups blueberries***.
Bake for 40 minutes.
That's it! Much easier than pie!!
* Actually, you can use any kind of fruit.
** I've never tried it, but I bet this would be even better if you used half-and-half or cream.
*** Tink used fresh; I'm using frozen because it's what I have on hand. Canned will also work.
Ever since the first "first day of school" when Arwen started kindergarten in 1987, I have tried to make a special dinner for the kids to celebrate. Many years it was hamburgers on the grill, but since the start of school is now right after Labor Day, that's not as thrilling as it once was. In fact, when I asked Tommy a couple of days ago what he'd like, he said he really didn't care. But yesterday evening he asked me if I knew how to make the blueberry cobbler that Aunt "Tink" made while we were in Pennsylvania. Since I gave her the recipe in the first place, the answer was "yes"! So tonight's dinner is creamed chicken and biscuits with this cobbler for dessert.
Blueberry* Cobbler
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease a 9 by 9 inch pan or casserole.
In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt and 1/2 cup milk**.
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle on 2 cups blueberries***.
Bake for 40 minutes.
That's it! Much easier than pie!!
* Actually, you can use any kind of fruit.
** I've never tried it, but I bet this would be even better if you used half-and-half or cream.
*** Tink used fresh; I'm using frozen because it's what I have on hand. Canned will also work.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Of Time, and Distance, and Going "Home"
One week ago yesterday I was on my way to my fortieth high school reunion. One week ago today I was at a family get-together with all the relatives from both sides of my family who could make it. One week ago tomorrow I was making the 9 1/2 hour drive back to Michigan.
I was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, a town of less than 10,000 sitting nearly on the Mason-Dixon line. Although we only lived "in" the town for less than a year (when I was six), we lived nearby enough to attend the same small country church my mother was raised in, to which my brother and SIL still belong. The exception to this was the year I was five, when my father took a short-term job in southern Maryland. We all felt as though we had moved to the other side of the earth, it was "so far" away. I just checked the distance on Google maps -- it's 117 miles. From 1984 to the early 90's, Roger's daily commute was longer than that. Arwen and Rosie live 90+ miles away, and we think nothing of running down to see them for a day. Expressways make an enormous difference!
When I was growing up, with 1950's ideas of distance, I thought that Detroit was incredibly far away. Now I live an hour north of Detroit, 520 miles from Waynesboro. With six kids in the car it used to take us nearly twelve hours to drive from here to there. These days, with 70 mph limits and drastically reduced pit stops, we regularly do it in 9 or so. On the other hand, when my parents were alive we used to try to visit Waynesboro three times in each two years. When we were planning this trip, I suddenly realized it had been over two years since we'd been there at all. (My brother and SIL did come to see us twice in that time, something they couldn't do when the folks required care.)
So it seems that both years and miles go by more quickly as I age. This is not a new concept, of course, but it's different when you experience it. It seems impossible that I have been out of high school 40 years, but 2009 --1969 = 40, whether I like it or not. And things both here and in Waynesboro change. There were fewer people at the family get-togther than I ever remember at similar gatherings. My parents' generation is all but gone, my children's generation is busy and scattered -- only Maggie and Tommy of our six were there -- and my cousins and my grandchildren's generation will never know each other except perhaps on Facebook.
When we were planning this trip, both Roger and I realized that we were "homesick" for Waynesboro. Since I was a small-town girl -- 60+% of my graduating class still live within 20 miles -- this is not too surprising for me. But Roger grew up outside Grand Rapids, and never went to Waynesboro until the summer before we were married. Furthermore, my brother's current house wasn't bought until after my folks were gone. But the sense of family makes it a part of home.
So "home" is there, and "home" is here, and nothing looks quite the way it did when I was a kid. And we are in the process of finding a new house to "keep" home in, since the state "made us an offer we couldn't refuse" to buy us out for the very long awaited construction project. ( I know I posted about that, but I can't seem to find the post. If I do find it I'll link to it.) And because this world is changeable, I have to live with that. But I am very grateful that (God willing) in the end I will recognize my True Home, and time and distance will be only a memory.
I was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, a town of less than 10,000 sitting nearly on the Mason-Dixon line. Although we only lived "in" the town for less than a year (when I was six), we lived nearby enough to attend the same small country church my mother was raised in, to which my brother and SIL still belong. The exception to this was the year I was five, when my father took a short-term job in southern Maryland. We all felt as though we had moved to the other side of the earth, it was "so far" away. I just checked the distance on Google maps -- it's 117 miles. From 1984 to the early 90's, Roger's daily commute was longer than that. Arwen and Rosie live 90+ miles away, and we think nothing of running down to see them for a day. Expressways make an enormous difference!
When I was growing up, with 1950's ideas of distance, I thought that Detroit was incredibly far away. Now I live an hour north of Detroit, 520 miles from Waynesboro. With six kids in the car it used to take us nearly twelve hours to drive from here to there. These days, with 70 mph limits and drastically reduced pit stops, we regularly do it in 9 or so. On the other hand, when my parents were alive we used to try to visit Waynesboro three times in each two years. When we were planning this trip, I suddenly realized it had been over two years since we'd been there at all. (My brother and SIL did come to see us twice in that time, something they couldn't do when the folks required care.)
So it seems that both years and miles go by more quickly as I age. This is not a new concept, of course, but it's different when you experience it. It seems impossible that I have been out of high school 40 years, but 2009 --1969 = 40, whether I like it or not. And things both here and in Waynesboro change. There were fewer people at the family get-togther than I ever remember at similar gatherings. My parents' generation is all but gone, my children's generation is busy and scattered -- only Maggie and Tommy of our six were there -- and my cousins and my grandchildren's generation will never know each other except perhaps on Facebook.
When we were planning this trip, both Roger and I realized that we were "homesick" for Waynesboro. Since I was a small-town girl -- 60+% of my graduating class still live within 20 miles -- this is not too surprising for me. But Roger grew up outside Grand Rapids, and never went to Waynesboro until the summer before we were married. Furthermore, my brother's current house wasn't bought until after my folks were gone. But the sense of family makes it a part of home.
So "home" is there, and "home" is here, and nothing looks quite the way it did when I was a kid. And we are in the process of finding a new house to "keep" home in, since the state "made us an offer we couldn't refuse" to buy us out for the very long awaited construction project. ( I know I posted about that, but I can't seem to find the post. If I do find it I'll link to it.) And because this world is changeable, I have to live with that. But I am very grateful that (God willing) in the end I will recognize my True Home, and time and distance will be only a memory.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Off to PA!
Tomorrow morning early (around here we call it "zero-dark-thirty", thanks to Roger, my former Coastie) we are leaving for a week in Pennsylvania. We will visit my brother and sister-in-law, climb a bunch of rocks, pick up Maggie from her summer internship, attend my 40th (!!!!) high school reunion, have an extended-family potluck picnic, and drop Tommy off to visit a friend in Pittsburgh. Another eventful week, but this one should be much nicer! I'll see you all on the other side...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Seven Quick Takes -- Eventful Week Edition
This week has been one of the most eventful in the last few years. Starting with:
1. On Sunday morning we dropped Tommy off at the airport to fly to Duluth to visit George. Tommy was gone for two weeks earlier this summer at a "college camp". He took two one-week classes at the school Maggie graduated from in Florida, and really enjoyed himself. Roger and I both enjoyed and disliked our first taste of a totally empty nest. I think enjoyed won, but we still had the cat and the dog to deal with, so spontaneity was not something we got to enjoy. I'm already plotting to hand off the animals to some of the kids as the grandchildren get older....
At any rate, the expectation had been that we'd have another week on our own, and I was looking forward to it. But I was also nervous, because...
2. On Monday morning we got the "offer" from the state Department of Transportation to buy our house. For the last seven years we've anticipated, and then known, that we were in the buyout footprint for a massive road and bridge project. We've spent "the last Christmas in this house" a couple of times, and only didn't feel that way last year because Christmas was at Arwen's house because Blaise was imminent. Of course, in the last seven years housing prices have dropped precipitously. In my opinion, the state was very generous with us. They valued the house at about $30 thousand higher than I would have expected, and in Michigan all homeowners bought out for public projects have to receive 125% of the value. So that's a nice chunk of change, except that we have a substantial HELOC to pay off. The drop in real estate prices means that we will be able to find more house for less money than would have been possible several years ago, but the slowness of Roger's business (hence the HELOC) mean's we're not sure how much of a mortgage we'll qualify for. We'd have been dealing with finding out this week, but....
3. On Monday afternoon Roger flew off to New Mexico because his dad and stepmother were having a health crisis. They had a major one about five years ago, and at that point Roger and his six siblings tried to persuade them to move closer to somebody. (The nearest kids are in California.) But things stabilized, and they decided they'd be OK on their own for a while.
This crisis has persuaded Roger's siblings that something needs to be done now. For the first part of the week they were actively working to make that happen. But through a combination of factors -- which I believe to include personality quirks, old-age-related deterioration, and a complete inability to believe they are loved -- the folks decided that nope, they can still make it on their own. They turned down a very reasonable and loving plan, and have suggested that the kids' self-interest was a factor. My heart bleeds for Roger and my sibs-in-law. However...
4. The working together to set up the plan the folks rejected has brought these three sisters and four brother together in a way they haven't been in years. Between emails and phone calls, everybody has been kept in the loop. And they have realized that even if Dad doesn't believe they love him, they KNOW they love each other. Visits are being planned, and I may even have to dust off the planning stuff for the family reunion that Roger and I were aiming to put together until 9/11 knocked us off track. (And now there are babies, including a great-niece due in about a month!) Roger's family has a track record of only getting together for weddings and funerals, and I think they're planning to change that. This is good!
5. Also good, to my surprise, has been being "home alone" this week. I've been trying to remember the last time I was totally alone for five days and four nights, and I'm sure it was before we were married. Of course I've done the "temporary single parent" thing many times over the years -- the most memorable being about 15 years ago, when Roger was gone 18 days out of 21 -- but this time the only demands on me are being made by JoeDog and LucasKitty, and they're pretty low maintenance, especially when I sit out on the deck in the evening. The deck is what I'm going to miss the most about this house when we move. We put money into it knowing that we'd only be able to use it until we were bought out, and it's been worth every penny.
For the most part I've just been going through my regular routine this week (laundry on Tuesday, grocery shop on Thursday, etc.) The one thing that has NOT been routine is how late I've been staying up. Roger is an early riser, and I'm -- or I was when I was younger -- a regular night owl. Our compromise plan for the summer has consisted of going to bed at 10, with Roger getting up at 6 and me at 7 or 7:30. But the last few nights I've been up past midnight. At least when he comes home tonight he will be somewhat adjusted to a more western time zone.
And I'm REALLY glad he'll be home tonight because.....
6. Tomorrow is our 28th wedding anniversary!
One of the things that's been a little sad about this week (aside from his folks making a poor decision, which is a lot sad) is that Roger and I haven't been able to share one of our silly little traditions. "Twenty-eight years ago today we were taking our families out for Chinese food" (or "setting up the church basement for the reception", or "cutting up broccoli at the C's house" -- we catered our own reception.) But the "being married" is way more important than the wedding was, and even when I'm too old and/or ga-ga to remember any of that any more, I'll still be very happy that we got married!
We do have a celebration planned for tomorrow. We always go out to eat for our anniversary. Some years when there's plenty of money we go to a fancy restaurant on the water. More than once, in leaner years, we've gone to McDonald's, which is more romantic than it sounds. After our reception we went to some friends' house to open presents, and left from there for our honeymoon. Neither of us ate much at the reception, and we were starving, so we went to McDonald's on the way out of town. When our anniversary dinner is there, it's still the same McDonald's!
This year, although things are lean, we have a better plan. For our 25th anniversary we received one of these, and we are going to fill it with wine and cheese and bread and Milano cookies and dress in our laid-back best and have a wonderful dinner somewhere yet to be determined (we're not sure if the park we'd prefer has a "no alcohol" rule.) But we will have fun!
And then Sunday morning...
7. We will drive to Arwen and Rosie's town and pick up Tommy. George made his airline arrangements, and he flies into "Big City Airport" arriving at 12:30 AM!! I may be a night owl, but driving to the airport is not how I plan to spend the evening of my anniversary. So the married kids (who live closer to the airport anyway) are going to retrieve him for the night. We will drive down and join them for mass, and spend some time with the grandkids before coming home to close out our eventful week!
Seven Quick Takes are hosted here.
1. On Sunday morning we dropped Tommy off at the airport to fly to Duluth to visit George. Tommy was gone for two weeks earlier this summer at a "college camp". He took two one-week classes at the school Maggie graduated from in Florida, and really enjoyed himself. Roger and I both enjoyed and disliked our first taste of a totally empty nest. I think enjoyed won, but we still had the cat and the dog to deal with, so spontaneity was not something we got to enjoy. I'm already plotting to hand off the animals to some of the kids as the grandchildren get older....
At any rate, the expectation had been that we'd have another week on our own, and I was looking forward to it. But I was also nervous, because...
2. On Monday morning we got the "offer" from the state Department of Transportation to buy our house. For the last seven years we've anticipated, and then known, that we were in the buyout footprint for a massive road and bridge project. We've spent "the last Christmas in this house" a couple of times, and only didn't feel that way last year because Christmas was at Arwen's house because Blaise was imminent. Of course, in the last seven years housing prices have dropped precipitously. In my opinion, the state was very generous with us. They valued the house at about $30 thousand higher than I would have expected, and in Michigan all homeowners bought out for public projects have to receive 125% of the value. So that's a nice chunk of change, except that we have a substantial HELOC to pay off. The drop in real estate prices means that we will be able to find more house for less money than would have been possible several years ago, but the slowness of Roger's business (hence the HELOC) mean's we're not sure how much of a mortgage we'll qualify for. We'd have been dealing with finding out this week, but....
3. On Monday afternoon Roger flew off to New Mexico because his dad and stepmother were having a health crisis. They had a major one about five years ago, and at that point Roger and his six siblings tried to persuade them to move closer to somebody. (The nearest kids are in California.) But things stabilized, and they decided they'd be OK on their own for a while.
This crisis has persuaded Roger's siblings that something needs to be done now. For the first part of the week they were actively working to make that happen. But through a combination of factors -- which I believe to include personality quirks, old-age-related deterioration, and a complete inability to believe they are loved -- the folks decided that nope, they can still make it on their own. They turned down a very reasonable and loving plan, and have suggested that the kids' self-interest was a factor. My heart bleeds for Roger and my sibs-in-law. However...
4. The working together to set up the plan the folks rejected has brought these three sisters and four brother together in a way they haven't been in years. Between emails and phone calls, everybody has been kept in the loop. And they have realized that even if Dad doesn't believe they love him, they KNOW they love each other. Visits are being planned, and I may even have to dust off the planning stuff for the family reunion that Roger and I were aiming to put together until 9/11 knocked us off track. (And now there are babies, including a great-niece due in about a month!) Roger's family has a track record of only getting together for weddings and funerals, and I think they're planning to change that. This is good!
5. Also good, to my surprise, has been being "home alone" this week. I've been trying to remember the last time I was totally alone for five days and four nights, and I'm sure it was before we were married. Of course I've done the "temporary single parent" thing many times over the years -- the most memorable being about 15 years ago, when Roger was gone 18 days out of 21 -- but this time the only demands on me are being made by JoeDog and LucasKitty, and they're pretty low maintenance, especially when I sit out on the deck in the evening. The deck is what I'm going to miss the most about this house when we move. We put money into it knowing that we'd only be able to use it until we were bought out, and it's been worth every penny.
For the most part I've just been going through my regular routine this week (laundry on Tuesday, grocery shop on Thursday, etc.) The one thing that has NOT been routine is how late I've been staying up. Roger is an early riser, and I'm -- or I was when I was younger -- a regular night owl. Our compromise plan for the summer has consisted of going to bed at 10, with Roger getting up at 6 and me at 7 or 7:30. But the last few nights I've been up past midnight. At least when he comes home tonight he will be somewhat adjusted to a more western time zone.
And I'm REALLY glad he'll be home tonight because.....
6. Tomorrow is our 28th wedding anniversary!
One of the things that's been a little sad about this week (aside from his folks making a poor decision, which is a lot sad) is that Roger and I haven't been able to share one of our silly little traditions. "Twenty-eight years ago today we were taking our families out for Chinese food" (or "setting up the church basement for the reception", or "cutting up broccoli at the C's house" -- we catered our own reception.) But the "being married" is way more important than the wedding was, and even when I'm too old and/or ga-ga to remember any of that any more, I'll still be very happy that we got married!
We do have a celebration planned for tomorrow. We always go out to eat for our anniversary. Some years when there's plenty of money we go to a fancy restaurant on the water. More than once, in leaner years, we've gone to McDonald's, which is more romantic than it sounds. After our reception we went to some friends' house to open presents, and left from there for our honeymoon. Neither of us ate much at the reception, and we were starving, so we went to McDonald's on the way out of town. When our anniversary dinner is there, it's still the same McDonald's!
This year, although things are lean, we have a better plan. For our 25th anniversary we received one of these, and we are going to fill it with wine and cheese and bread and Milano cookies and dress in our laid-back best and have a wonderful dinner somewhere yet to be determined (we're not sure if the park we'd prefer has a "no alcohol" rule.) But we will have fun!
And then Sunday morning...
7. We will drive to Arwen and Rosie's town and pick up Tommy. George made his airline arrangements, and he flies into "Big City Airport" arriving at 12:30 AM!! I may be a night owl, but driving to the airport is not how I plan to spend the evening of my anniversary. So the married kids (who live closer to the airport anyway) are going to retrieve him for the night. We will drive down and join them for mass, and spend some time with the grandkids before coming home to close out our eventful week!
Seven Quick Takes are hosted here.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Fifteen Minute Inane Ramble
So I feel the need to get another post up this week, but I don't have a specific topic. I think maybe this defeats the purpose of the 15 minute thing, where you write for 15 minutes about a topic and see what comes out, but I'm going to fly with it anyway...
Today we went to a 90th birthday party for an old (ok, ok, longtime) friend. Dan was the "corresponding secretary" for our Right to Life chapter for about fifteen years. This meant that he was also the newsletter mailing team. For several of those years, what he actually did was "nag" us (ever so nicely!) to actually publish a regular newsletter. Once he got his way on that, every other month Roger would write and format a four-page newsletter, and Dan would see to the printing, folding, stapling, addressing and mailing. The hilarious part for me was that each of them thought the other one had the hard job! I guess that was a perfect division of labor.
Dan's been "re-retired' for a number of years now. (He was retired from work before he took on the newsletter job.) He's getting slower and well, he's not exactly frail, but closer to that then he used to be. So for this occasion all his children and their spouses, all but one of his grandchildren and their spouses, and all his great-grandchildren (and we're talking a lot of people here) converged on his house for a party. They rented two tents for the back yard, which was good, because it poured rain the entire day. But inside the tents there was lots of food, family, and friends. All in all, I think that amounted to sunshine. Happy 90th Birthday, Dan!
(There I did come up with a topic! See y'all in a few....)
Today we went to a 90th birthday party for an old (ok, ok, longtime) friend. Dan was the "corresponding secretary" for our Right to Life chapter for about fifteen years. This meant that he was also the newsletter mailing team. For several of those years, what he actually did was "nag" us (ever so nicely!) to actually publish a regular newsletter. Once he got his way on that, every other month Roger would write and format a four-page newsletter, and Dan would see to the printing, folding, stapling, addressing and mailing. The hilarious part for me was that each of them thought the other one had the hard job! I guess that was a perfect division of labor.
Dan's been "re-retired' for a number of years now. (He was retired from work before he took on the newsletter job.) He's getting slower and well, he's not exactly frail, but closer to that then he used to be. So for this occasion all his children and their spouses, all but one of his grandchildren and their spouses, and all his great-grandchildren (and we're talking a lot of people here) converged on his house for a party. They rented two tents for the back yard, which was good, because it poured rain the entire day. But inside the tents there was lots of food, family, and friends. All in all, I think that amounted to sunshine. Happy 90th Birthday, Dan!
(There I did come up with a topic! See y'all in a few....)
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Tasty Tuesday -- Potato Pancakes
My friend Tracy recently posted here about her love affair with potatoes. (Say it -- "Po-tay-toes!") I mentioned in the comments that potato pancakes are high on my list, and after thinking about it, I decided I'd post the recipe here. I actually rarely make this recipe myself, because Roger is our "Sunday breakfast chef" -- I am so blessed that he does this -- but I eat them with gusto whenever he makes them. And, as I mentioned over at Tracy's, they're almost as good frozen and reheated, and believe me, I do that too!
The recipe is from Pan and Griddle Cakes by Samuel R. Ogden. The cookbook is mostly odd, since the author is a big fan of what he calls pulv, finely pulverized bread crumbs, as an ingredient. But these are great!
Luchow's Potato Pancakes
Wash and peel 2 pounds (6) medium-sized potatoes; cover with cold water and drain. Grate* and drain off any accumulated liquid. Place in a bowl and mix in 1/2 medium onion, grated. Add 2 T. flour, 2 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 2 T minced parsley**, and mix thoroughly. Fry*** on a hot griddle or frying pan until brown and crisp, turning as needed. Serve while hot.
We've regularly tripled this, and had two pans on the stove going, as well as my electric griddle. Our kids like them topped with applesauce, but I usually eat mine plain, or with a little butter and salt. The original recipe suggests stewed apples.
* We actually grind ours in our meat grinder -- grating takes a while. Note that the pancakes call for roughly grated potatoes, not shredded. Use the side of the grater you'd use for hard cheese.
** Fresh parsley would probably be terrific, but we use dried and it's fine.
*** The recipe recommends frying in butter, but we usually fry ours in bacon grease. And bacon on the side would also be great, if you have enough pans. Bacon makes everything better!
Oh, yeah -- when I reheat them, sometimes I try to keep them as cakes, but sometimes I just chop them up with the turner and rebrown them, in more bacon grease, naturally. Tastes just as good, and is much quicker.
The recipe is from Pan and Griddle Cakes by Samuel R. Ogden. The cookbook is mostly odd, since the author is a big fan of what he calls pulv, finely pulverized bread crumbs, as an ingredient. But these are great!
Luchow's Potato Pancakes
Wash and peel 2 pounds (6) medium-sized potatoes; cover with cold water and drain. Grate* and drain off any accumulated liquid. Place in a bowl and mix in 1/2 medium onion, grated. Add 2 T. flour, 2 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 2 T minced parsley**, and mix thoroughly. Fry*** on a hot griddle or frying pan until brown and crisp, turning as needed. Serve while hot.
We've regularly tripled this, and had two pans on the stove going, as well as my electric griddle. Our kids like them topped with applesauce, but I usually eat mine plain, or with a little butter and salt. The original recipe suggests stewed apples.
* We actually grind ours in our meat grinder -- grating takes a while. Note that the pancakes call for roughly grated potatoes, not shredded. Use the side of the grater you'd use for hard cheese.
** Fresh parsley would probably be terrific, but we use dried and it's fine.
*** The recipe recommends frying in butter, but we usually fry ours in bacon grease. And bacon on the side would also be great, if you have enough pans. Bacon makes everything better!
Oh, yeah -- when I reheat them, sometimes I try to keep them as cakes, but sometimes I just chop them up with the turner and rebrown them, in more bacon grease, naturally. Tastes just as good, and is much quicker.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Seven Quick Takes -- Facebook Edition
Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted here.
1. In the fall of 2007 Maggie spent a semester in Austria. She took LOTS of pictures with her new digital camera, and posted them all on Facebook. The problem was, that meant her siblings could see them, but I had to log into one of their accounts to get a look. So she set up a Facebook account for me. This was two years ago, and Facebook was still an occupation of the college-aged set. Maggie joked that she was going to start a group for "Moms on Facebook". Now my mother-in-law is on, to keep track of her kids and grandkids. She'll be 75 on Monday!
2. Because Maggie set up my account (my kids don't trust me to do tech-type stuff myself, because I'm slower at it than they are) she got to choose my password. I have a password mnemonic system that works for me -- it involves characters in a novel Roger wrote that's never been published -- but she choose instead a rather unusual food that no one in the family in the family likes but me. When I forget what that password IS (as opposed to forgetting that Facebook doesn't fit my system) I'll know it's time to head in for a Folstein test.
3. Facebook is wonderful! In the last few months I've reconnected with a friend I worked with at summer camp almost 40 years ago, some people I knew in another state 30 years ago, and some almost-local folks who attended the same church I did 20 years ago.
4. Facebook is terrible! One of my sisters-in-law had to stop using it entirely because she was being stalked by a weirdo from work. And I could very easily spend more time doing silly quizzes and games than leading a productive life could justify.
5. Facebook is here to stay. I know that Tommy is on his plane home from camp because he posted his status as "boarding" using the airport's free WiFi. Short of putting GPS trackers on them and monitoring constantly, I can't think of a more effective way of keeping track of grown and mostly-grown kids.
6. Facebook can be annoying. I'm unable to join the network for the college I graduated from because I don't have a college email address. Hello! When I graduated (with a minor in computers), it was a big deal that two terminals on our campus were linked to a mainframe on a campus 100 miles away. They don't give out email addresses retroactively. But I'm still part of the "SPC*" community!
7. All in all, I love being on Facebook. Just like any other tool, it can be abused or misused, but so far the benefits seem to strongly outweigh the risks. And if you read this blog regularly and are not already Facebook friends with me, drop me a email and we'll discuss it!
*Small Private College
1. In the fall of 2007 Maggie spent a semester in Austria. She took LOTS of pictures with her new digital camera, and posted them all on Facebook. The problem was, that meant her siblings could see them, but I had to log into one of their accounts to get a look. So she set up a Facebook account for me. This was two years ago, and Facebook was still an occupation of the college-aged set. Maggie joked that she was going to start a group for "Moms on Facebook". Now my mother-in-law is on, to keep track of her kids and grandkids. She'll be 75 on Monday!
2. Because Maggie set up my account (my kids don't trust me to do tech-type stuff myself, because I'm slower at it than they are) she got to choose my password. I have a password mnemonic system that works for me -- it involves characters in a novel Roger wrote that's never been published -- but she choose instead a rather unusual food that no one in the family in the family likes but me. When I forget what that password IS (as opposed to forgetting that Facebook doesn't fit my system) I'll know it's time to head in for a Folstein test.
3. Facebook is wonderful! In the last few months I've reconnected with a friend I worked with at summer camp almost 40 years ago, some people I knew in another state 30 years ago, and some almost-local folks who attended the same church I did 20 years ago.
4. Facebook is terrible! One of my sisters-in-law had to stop using it entirely because she was being stalked by a weirdo from work. And I could very easily spend more time doing silly quizzes and games than leading a productive life could justify.
5. Facebook is here to stay. I know that Tommy is on his plane home from camp because he posted his status as "boarding" using the airport's free WiFi. Short of putting GPS trackers on them and monitoring constantly, I can't think of a more effective way of keeping track of grown and mostly-grown kids.
6. Facebook can be annoying. I'm unable to join the network for the college I graduated from because I don't have a college email address. Hello! When I graduated (with a minor in computers), it was a big deal that two terminals on our campus were linked to a mainframe on a campus 100 miles away. They don't give out email addresses retroactively. But I'm still part of the "SPC*" community!
7. All in all, I love being on Facebook. Just like any other tool, it can be abused or misused, but so far the benefits seem to strongly outweigh the risks. And if you read this blog regularly and are not already Facebook friends with me, drop me a email and we'll discuss it!
*Small Private College
Monday, July 13, 2009
Musical Monday -- Fluting Edition
As I mentioned in this post, more than a month ago I began practicing the flute again -- after a lapse of almost 25 years -- so that I could play part of the accompaniment for a special number our choir at St. Mary was doing. Our choir is an adequate bunch, with flashes of better (and worse), and although we now have eight men compared to the three we started out with 10 years ago, SATB is often beyond our reach. We do a fair number of SAB arrangements, plus our best stab at whatever is in the hymnbook. But this particular piece was simply "men" and "women," with an echo verse and about half a verse of harmony at the end.
If you're wondering why I'm talking so much about the choir in a "fluting" post, it's because the only reason our director let me play the flute was because it was such a simple piece. Usually I need to be with the altos; although there are six of us, only two have enough confidence to sing out and usually know the part, and I'm one of them. But on a "women" part our sopranos could take it away. (I don't mean to slam any of our altos -- they all work hard, and several of their voices are better than mine. I'm just one you can hear...)
Anyway, the piece went well, we said goodbye to Father Simeon -- and I am still practicing the flute. I don't know for sure what I'm going to be doing with it outside my living room. I have been practicing several pieces from a book of "Sacred Solos for Flute" which have piano accompaniment, but whether they will ever be fit for public consumption I can't be sure. But I am enjoying it anyway! Having small children for so many years put a dent in my musical expression, and it feels very good to have that outlet back. I'm just sorry I didn't figure it out a little sooner.
If you're wondering why I'm talking so much about the choir in a "fluting" post, it's because the only reason our director let me play the flute was because it was such a simple piece. Usually I need to be with the altos; although there are six of us, only two have enough confidence to sing out and usually know the part, and I'm one of them. But on a "women" part our sopranos could take it away. (I don't mean to slam any of our altos -- they all work hard, and several of their voices are better than mine. I'm just one you can hear...)
Anyway, the piece went well, we said goodbye to Father Simeon -- and I am still practicing the flute. I don't know for sure what I'm going to be doing with it outside my living room. I have been practicing several pieces from a book of "Sacred Solos for Flute" which have piano accompaniment, but whether they will ever be fit for public consumption I can't be sure. But I am enjoying it anyway! Having small children for so many years put a dent in my musical expression, and it feels very good to have that outlet back. I'm just sorry I didn't figure it out a little sooner.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- 7/8/9
It's very tempting to start making apologies, but I said I wouldn't, so I won't. . .
I am in the middle of Conspirator, the Foreigner book I mentioned here*. I am greatly enjoying it, partly because Cherryh does such a great job and partly because I reread the whole previous series -- nine books -- last fall and didn't need to spend any time getting up to speed on who's who and what's what. I fully expect the ending to be slightly unsatisfactory, because the next book in what is becoming a quadralogy of trilogies has already been announced. But then it's no fun stopping LOTR after The Two Towers, either.
I am also in the middle of a non-fiction, Boy Alone, by Karl Taro Greenfeld. This is an adult writer's reaction to being the "other brother" in the family about which his father, Josh Greenfeld wrote A Child Called Noah (and several subsequent books.) Noah is profoundly autistic, born in a time when even getting a diagnosis was difficult, and I am very interested in hearing "the rest of the story." I find it hard to identify with the extremely secular life the Greenfelds lead, but it is clear that Karl loves his wife, his daughters, and also his parents and brother (all of whom I believe are still living.) It's always interesting to hear a story from an alternate point of view.
I also have a couple of other books out of the library which I may or may not read, depending on whether or not they live up to the quick glance I gave them. What I am going to read this summer, though, is all the Harry Potter books in order. I've been wanting to do it for a while, and the upcoming release of movie number six is as good a reason as any. Now if I can just stay away from the library. . . .
*You may have noticed that this is almost two months after I was first in the library waiting list. That's because when I put my name on the list, it was still "on order." It finally came in the end of last week.
I am in the middle of Conspirator, the Foreigner book I mentioned here*. I am greatly enjoying it, partly because Cherryh does such a great job and partly because I reread the whole previous series -- nine books -- last fall and didn't need to spend any time getting up to speed on who's who and what's what. I fully expect the ending to be slightly unsatisfactory, because the next book in what is becoming a quadralogy of trilogies has already been announced. But then it's no fun stopping LOTR after The Two Towers, either.
I am also in the middle of a non-fiction, Boy Alone, by Karl Taro Greenfeld. This is an adult writer's reaction to being the "other brother" in the family about which his father, Josh Greenfeld wrote A Child Called Noah (and several subsequent books.) Noah is profoundly autistic, born in a time when even getting a diagnosis was difficult, and I am very interested in hearing "the rest of the story." I find it hard to identify with the extremely secular life the Greenfelds lead, but it is clear that Karl loves his wife, his daughters, and also his parents and brother (all of whom I believe are still living.) It's always interesting to hear a story from an alternate point of view.
I also have a couple of other books out of the library which I may or may not read, depending on whether or not they live up to the quick glance I gave them. What I am going to read this summer, though, is all the Harry Potter books in order. I've been wanting to do it for a while, and the upcoming release of movie number six is as good a reason as any. Now if I can just stay away from the library. . . .
*You may have noticed that this is almost two months after I was first in the library waiting list. That's because when I put my name on the list, it was still "on order." It finally came in the end of last week.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Fifteen Minutes and Counting. . . . .
I feel a need to post (um, maybe because it's been over a week??) but I don't have any particular topic in mind. So I'm going to ramble for 15 minutes and see what comes out.
We had a nice Father's Day here today, even if Roger did somehow wind up doing most of the cooking. Of course, Sunday breakfast has been his territory since back when we only had two kids, and even he wanted what we actually had this morning -- strawberry/blueberry shortcakes with real whipped cream. Why save it for dessert when it makes a terrific breakfast? And Roger's the only one who knows which recipe he uses for the shortcake.
Dinner was another one of his specialties -- beer can chicken. There are lots of recipes on the internet, but he has a spice rub that's all his own which is beyond wonderful. We also had rolls, roasted asparagus, and s'mores. I think all of us were disappointed that it really was just a little too cool to eat out on the deck. Global warming ptui! I can't remember a Fathers' Day where we hadn't been able to eat outside YET!
The "we" who were disappointed was only about a third of the family. George is in Duluth, Maggie is at her summer job on the east coast, and Katie is in Italy. Rosie and Anthony and the boys managed to come up for the weekend, but Arwen and Bryan stayed home because Bryan will be traveling for the next few weeks, and they wanted some normal family time. But everybody except Katie did manage to call and/or send gifts and cards. So I think Roger had a good Fathers' Day.
And now that I've added my links above, my 15 minutes is more than up. I'm thinking about what I might like to write about next time. See you then!!
We had a nice Father's Day here today, even if Roger did somehow wind up doing most of the cooking. Of course, Sunday breakfast has been his territory since back when we only had two kids, and even he wanted what we actually had this morning -- strawberry/blueberry shortcakes with real whipped cream. Why save it for dessert when it makes a terrific breakfast? And Roger's the only one who knows which recipe he uses for the shortcake.
Dinner was another one of his specialties -- beer can chicken. There are lots of recipes on the internet, but he has a spice rub that's all his own which is beyond wonderful. We also had rolls, roasted asparagus, and s'mores. I think all of us were disappointed that it really was just a little too cool to eat out on the deck. Global warming ptui! I can't remember a Fathers' Day where we hadn't been able to eat outside YET!
The "we" who were disappointed was only about a third of the family. George is in Duluth, Maggie is at her summer job on the east coast, and Katie is in Italy. Rosie and Anthony and the boys managed to come up for the weekend, but Arwen and Bryan stayed home because Bryan will be traveling for the next few weeks, and they wanted some normal family time. But everybody except Katie did manage to call and/or send gifts and cards. So I think Roger had a good Fathers' Day.
And now that I've added my links above, my 15 minutes is more than up. I'm thinking about what I might like to write about next time. See you then!!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Seven Quick Takes -- Empty House Edition
1. For the first time in a long while I have spent almost all day alone, since Roger normally works from home. He and Katie left this morning to make a business stop and then go to Arwen's house. They will leave there early tomorrow to take Katie to O'Hare for her flight to England, and thence to Italy, where she will be the nanny/English teacher for a couple of very cute kids for the summer. Tommy spent last night at a friend's house, came home long enough to shower and change and then went out to lunch. The "occasion" was the last day of school, but Tommy and his friend were exempt from finals today. (English paper turned in on Tuesday, AP Calculus exam taken last month.) He came home again long enough to change for work; I dropped him off and will pick him up again at eight.
2. To all of you who live where school has been out for weeks -- Michigan law mandates that classes not begin until after Labor Day. So the school-year lasts well into June. This also makes for crazy situations involving sports. There are actually two football games before school begins next fall.
3. I have begun practicing the flute again. (Actually, I don't think I ever practiced much before, but I was better at it when I played regularly.) Our choir at church is doing a special piece with a flute part for our pastor's last mass at the end of the month. (He will be returning home to Nigeria. Our new pastor is Polish.) None of the various young flautists who have played with us in the past are around any more, and none of the band kids I asked were available. It's coming along pretty well,and I am excited to be doing something musical on an almost-daily basis.
4. My friend Tracy mentioned in her Quick Takes that she is a fan of Chain Rxn on Facebook. So am I! She likes the sound, and I am discovering that this is one of the few games where I don't mind the sound effects. I hadn't been playing with the sound on because usually I am playing near where someone is trying to work or sleep. But the house is empty. Bring on the little chime noises!
5. I am going to also take advantage of the nobody-in-the-house phenomenon to cook dinner just for me. I do this periodically when Roger is gone, and let the kids fend for themselves. What's on the menu, you ask? Liver and onions with bacon, grits, and sliced tomato. Except for the bacon and tomato nobody likes any of those things but me. My favorite meal growing up was liver and spinach. Maybe that's why I didn't have a whole lot of friends??
6. I went to the library on Monday and returned ALL my books, and promptly checked out 8 more, including three new books that have a two-week rather than a four-week check-out period. I'm done with one, partway into both of the others. (One is a mystery, one an "Asian family comes to America" story.) Nothing spectacular enough to tell y'all about, unless the Asian one sudenly gets better. I do want to recommend a non-fiction I checked out, though --Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. As a home-birthing mama I'm a bit of a "birth junkie" -- for a couple of years I thought about training as a midwife -- and though I never thought I'd be saying this about anything by Ricki Lake, the book is excellent. It is NOT an "everybody should do home birth" spiel, but a "know all your options and make informed choices" admonition. Read it!
7. It is a beautiful sunny day here, and still cool enough that I wore a sweater when I walked the dog. I've heard reports that this summer is going to be cool-ish, without extreme high temperature or humidity. Since I'm in the "hot flashes" stage of my life, that sounds ideal! I like living where there are four distinct seasons, but if I had to eliminate one, "hot" would be first out!
More Quick Takes can be found here.
2. To all of you who live where school has been out for weeks -- Michigan law mandates that classes not begin until after Labor Day. So the school-year lasts well into June. This also makes for crazy situations involving sports. There are actually two football games before school begins next fall.
3. I have begun practicing the flute again. (Actually, I don't think I ever practiced much before, but I was better at it when I played regularly.) Our choir at church is doing a special piece with a flute part for our pastor's last mass at the end of the month. (He will be returning home to Nigeria. Our new pastor is Polish.) None of the various young flautists who have played with us in the past are around any more, and none of the band kids I asked were available. It's coming along pretty well,and I am excited to be doing something musical on an almost-daily basis.
4. My friend Tracy mentioned in her Quick Takes that she is a fan of Chain Rxn on Facebook. So am I! She likes the sound, and I am discovering that this is one of the few games where I don't mind the sound effects. I hadn't been playing with the sound on because usually I am playing near where someone is trying to work or sleep. But the house is empty. Bring on the little chime noises!
5. I am going to also take advantage of the nobody-in-the-house phenomenon to cook dinner just for me. I do this periodically when Roger is gone, and let the kids fend for themselves. What's on the menu, you ask? Liver and onions with bacon, grits, and sliced tomato. Except for the bacon and tomato nobody likes any of those things but me. My favorite meal growing up was liver and spinach. Maybe that's why I didn't have a whole lot of friends??
6. I went to the library on Monday and returned ALL my books, and promptly checked out 8 more, including three new books that have a two-week rather than a four-week check-out period. I'm done with one, partway into both of the others. (One is a mystery, one an "Asian family comes to America" story.) Nothing spectacular enough to tell y'all about, unless the Asian one sudenly gets better. I do want to recommend a non-fiction I checked out, though --Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. As a home-birthing mama I'm a bit of a "birth junkie" -- for a couple of years I thought about training as a midwife -- and though I never thought I'd be saying this about anything by Ricki Lake, the book is excellent. It is NOT an "everybody should do home birth" spiel, but a "know all your options and make informed choices" admonition. Read it!
7. It is a beautiful sunny day here, and still cool enough that I wore a sweater when I walked the dog. I've heard reports that this summer is going to be cool-ish, without extreme high temperature or humidity. Since I'm in the "hot flashes" stage of my life, that sounds ideal! I like living where there are four distinct seasons, but if I had to eliminate one, "hot" would be first out!
More Quick Takes can be found here.
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