This and That

Late yesterday afternoon we got a call from the Cincinnati Police Department letting us know that our car that had been stolen in June had been found. It was just down the hill from us in Over The Rhine. Nothing was taken out - car seat, ratchet set, tape deck - but it had been hot-wired so it now starts with a screwdriver! It sounds terrible....they evidently ran it pretty hard and probably so as not to draw attention to themselves just parked it. But it's nice that we get the money for the metal instead of someone else. 

This was one of my projects last week after discovering that the little leak I was seeing at the wall by the dishwasher was actually a big leak. But after replacing the motor (since the gears were almost stripped and it also needed new O-rings) it's working like a charm - and I discovered that I'd forgotten how long it takes to wash dishes by hand. So blessed to have a dishwasher!

We hosted a picnic for the Ministerial Division at our house on Saturday and a good group was able to come. So glad to have the students back!

The Grillmaster

Then we took some friends to a presentation on the Second Amendment and a Gun Safety lecture for a quick field trip. It was very bright that day and no one wanted to look at the camera - at least Uriah and Josiah looked.

The couple doing the presentation raised chickens so Allan got to hold one.

Squirrels stripped one apple tree of all but three apples and took about 20 off of this one before I finally was able to stop them by putting a plastic paint drop cloth around the bottom branches. So far they've left it alone...but I did holler at a two footed creature who was checking them out over the weekend.

This is a fall garden.....dying......very much in need of the attention ....looking really pathetic. It's good I got what I could before school started. I could use the excuse that this is my cover crop........  Just need to pull the carrots and onions and then wait for the broccoli and cauliflower to produce.

So looking forward to fall and am starting to see some leaves changing and the cooler weather seems to have settled in. Lazy, fall days - love them!

No Story - Just Life

I'm taking a break from working on these:

to brew a cup of tea since I'm running a fever from some kind of allergy induced sinus infection. And when that's done I'll tackle another batch of Lima beans that were picked yesterday or hem a pair of tuxedo pants for a wedding Saturday. When that's finished I'll check Allan's remaining English exercises and prepare school lessons for tomorrow. What I really want to do is sleep! But that's for people who are not mommies. I really will finish the story - all the pictures are scanned and most of the text is written - I just need to find a slot to put it all together. Just in case you're wondering where the next installment is.

New Furniture!

This week was VBS at church so there wasn't a dull moment. And there were lots of other exciting things that happened also.

For some time we've been looking for a couch, love seat, and recliner for our living room. All of our furniture was donated and though we are so thankful for it, it was time to purchase something that meets our needs a little better. I sold all of it at our yard sale this past spring and we've been looking for new ever since. Furniture nowdays is just plain UGLY in my opinion - absolutely no character! We found this right off but upon praying about it got a definite "no". I was hoping for something that I liked the color and the style and finally decided that was expecting too much! Philip is the one who found this at a small store in Newport. The couch has a recliner on each end and so we decided to go with two couches (the cost of the love seat was not much less so we opted to get the second couch) and skip the recliner. I like the color and fabric even if not really the style I had hoped for.

The ugly pillow will soon disappear!

Then we've also been watching for a good sale on oak bookcases - they are NOT cheap. I also started watching Craigslist and hit upon an entertainment center that someone was trying to sell with two bookcases and they were willing to break up the set. So we picked them up last evening for a very good price! Love Craigslist!

We spent the morning taking a hike around Winton Woods lake and had an enjoyable time. Daniel took his Razor, Allan walked, and Stephen lagged so far behind he finally was able to hitch a ride.

We got to see lots of wildflowers and butterflies. I'm so thankful for the quiet joys of summertime!

Another First for Allan

Allan holds the distinguished title in our family for First To Get Stitches and now... First To Break a Bone! Two weeks ago he was jumping over the staircase and fell on his twisted arm. When he kept complaining about  it we decided to take him in for x-rays and sure enough, his complaints were for a reason. The good news is that since he's already two weeks into the healing process he should only have to have the cast on for two weeks. That made him very happy!

Some other doings this week

I forgot about something else we did this week! On Friday Yagoot (a frozen yogurt shop not far from us) was having their coconut yogurt free with one topping. That was a special treat for the boys! I got mine with pecans, Allan got his with raspberries,

Daniel loves his sprinkles (ughhhhhh!!!!)

And Stephen loves the chocolate chips. I was interested how different the yogurt tasted depending on the topping you choose.

They boys didn't appreciate the music so we went outside.

They've played outside in their little pool a lot this week, worked on lego projects and also played with their Ideal Blox (which are the neatest things I've seen in a long time!)

Now I think that pretty much sums up our week...at least what's documented with pictures!

This week's collage

Last Sunday Stephen and I stayed home since he was running a fever and most of the day was spent like this (for him at least):

Monday was Memorial Day and Philip installed the flag that I got him for Christmas. I got to visit a friend in the hospital who had given birth to a baby girl the day before (sorry - no picture!)and then we went to my in-laws to grill and have homemade ice cream - I'll try to post the recipe later.

Because the weather was so nice, I worked outside a lot finishing flower planting, mulching and doing other odd jobs around the house. The mint that was given to me from Saudi Arabia two years ago was finally given a home.

The lily of the valley and bleeding hearts are blooming.

The rest of the shade garden is looking so nice! The hydrangea is getting ready to take off with nice pink blooms this year.

The cherry tree that I planted earlier this spring died and so it had to be replaced but the new one is looking good thus far.

Liberty apple didn't bloom this year but it's looking good.

The pixie crunch apple also had to be replanted this spring since it didn't recover from the damage done by the children last fall. This time I got smart and staked all of the trees so they shouldn't be so easily messed with....I hope. It had twelve blossoms on it this year but they had to all be removed to allow the tree to establish itself before fruiting. Perhaps next year we can get a few.

The strawberries are doing so well and we've even eaten a few - Daniel look surprised after he picked one off... "It tastes just like a real strawberry!" he said. Again we won't have lots this year but I think they've done quite well.
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The garden looks like it survived all the rain! The tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers still look a bit yellow but they seem as though they will snap out of it. The green beans, lima beans, onions and carrots will be fine. This week we need to get the rest out if possible. I was going to wait to trellis my grape vine next year but if they get any bigger I'll have to do it this year!

Perhaps the most exciting project I've worked on this spring it my blackberry and red raspberry bushes. This area behind our house used to be overgrown with weeds and to me was wasted growing space! Last year we planted four bushes but then with everything else that went on not much else happened. When I planted, I made a mistake and put down landscaping fiber (since the weeds were so AWFUL in that area) forgetting that the bushes would be sending up new shoots and that landscaping fiber wasn't going to allow them to grow. This year I removed the landscaping fiber and mulched heavily (sidenote: answer to prayer - I love my place to look nice but can't really justify spending a fortune on mulch. I did spend some but then got four bucket loads for free - I was SO THANKFUL!) allowing them to put up new bushes (and they are!). Then in front of them I placed landscaping fiber held down by bricks that are from the wall that's collapsing behind our house. They boys got the job of using a screwdriver and hammers to knock the mortar off of all the bricks. They think because they got to use tools and whack on stuff that it was fun...they didn't realize it was work :o) Then I filled the area in with pebbles to make a walkway. I ran out of pebbles and landscaping fiber but that should be done by the end of this week. This area is also a great hiding place for snakes and we did kill our 12th one last week - hopefully they've all moved on now....I really don't like snakes...at all!

My flowers are looking nice in the planters but the hanging baskets need to be trimmed back to bloom out again.

Oh, and our van turned over 100,000 miles today!

That about sums up our week. It's busy now that the cafeteria is closed and I have to cook :o) It's amazing how slow I get when I'm not cooking on a daily basis. God has blessed us with some good times together as a family and I'm so thankful for these summer days!

Mom: sorry I forgot to get any pictures of my hanging baskets - I had taken them all down last night when we got a storm and I've not gotten them back up.

May

Note: Insomnia has driven me out of bed to do my "sleep Hygiene" and what I've been working on is putting labels on all of my posts.....in doing this I discovered that I never posted this....post. So ...here's the post...from May!


This is the time of year at GBSC that days become a blur! With finals, programs, awards, meetings, camp, graduation, assessment, last days of school, people and students moving....whew....by mid June the whirling comes to a stop and there's a little chance to recover before the new school year begins! Here's just a synopsis of this month thus far -

Tornado - actually not here but in Alabama where Philip's brother lives, so we had family here for a few days while things were being cleaned up in their area and power was being restored. No pictures :o(

Braces - Sorry no pictures here either - someone paid for me to get them so I started that process and because they're Invisalign, there's nothing to see (only feel!) and actually they were very easy to adjust to. Every two weeks I switch aligners and that's a little uncomfortable for about 24 hours but no big deal and in 10-15 months I should have straight teeth :o) ...

Yard Sale - after 10 years of marriage we'd accumulated enough for a decent yard sale. I've learned two things - they're a lot of work and my street is not a good one to have a yard sale on. The GBS people were a great support but only four non-school people showed up and three of them were men. Even my whoopie pies didn't sell (though my boys were happy about that). So we'll try again in about two weeks in a different neighborhood in KY and see how well it goes.

Mother's Day - deserves a whole post of it's own.

This past week - with the great help of my neighbor, Rhoda Valentine and her son Nathaniel, I was able to get all of my garden planted this week. The only thing not in the ground is the okra and it has to wait until the first of June. I'm so excited about doing garden again this year! It was really wet so some of the soil didn't work up well at all but I needed to get it out so that I can rotate for fall crops. I also washed all the second floor windows and got the screens in since we had temps in the high 80's. That necessitated getting all the boys winter clothes put away and breaking out the summer items. Had some company for supper, went to the flea market to look for flowers, campmeeting was the latter part of the week, and all the other odds and ends that are necessary for running a household.

That's why, without further ado - I'm going to take my Sabbath rest and thoroughly enjoy it! Blogging about Mother's Day will be later!

Flowers!

Something I can't remember the name of.

This post is for my mom :o) I've been trying to find a greenhouse in Cincinnati that's comparable to what I was used to in Pennsylvania. Nobody does greenhouses better than the Mennonites in Martinsburg! But alas, I'm not willing to pay what the greenhouses around here are asking for pitiful, slim pickings. After putting out a request on Facebook I got some ideas and followed up on some of them. Some were successful and others weren't. I was very pleased to find Baeten's Nursery in Union, KY which is the closest thing I've found that I'm used to. Large selection of colors, large variety of plants, healthy, and reasonably priced (not cheap but reasonable). They have about 11 greenhouses that are full of all sorts of beautiful flowers. The only drawback was their system of display - aisles were very narrow and all the plants were on the floor except the hanging baskets - most of the hanging baskets were so low you had to duck to get around them. I'm used to plants being up (where children can't trip and go sprawling all over them....yes that did happen :o) and all the same types of plants being together. But in some cases there were the same types of plants (just perhaps different colors) in all 11 greenhouses. You had to remember which plant in what color was in which greenhouse...little unhandy but I'm comparing them to the best! Anyhow......for my mom's benefit -

Americana Light Pink Splash Geranium

A shot of all the different plants. I got several spike plants that I didn't take individual pictures of.

A dark pink Solenia Begonia planter I got for $16.99.

Bandana Lemon Zest Lantana

Pink Ruffle Double Impatiens

Purple Wave Petunias

Hmmmmm ..... I already uploaded this one :o(

Summer wave large Violet

Purple Stripe Double Impatiens

 Superbena Large Lilac Blue

 Sweet potato vine

Solenia Begonia Dusty Rose

Now I'm just waiting for some sun and warmer weather (hopefully towards the end of the week) so that I can put them together in baskets and plantings. So excited!