Different Day

Today I didn't bake cookies. Wow! On Tuesday Mornings I join 4 other women for a Prayer Cell and then I teach them Sign Language. They are good sports and I am really beginning to feel a part of them, even though it has only been about a month or so.

The lady I have know the longest is a recent widow. She is really getting into the Sign Language. I believe this Ministry has happened at an opportune time in her life. She took care of her husband for a long time, and now she is experimenting with her own life. She says it doesn't sound right, but life is so lite hearted now. It makes sense to me - he was very sick for a very long time.

So.... what am I doing teaching Sign Language at a Catholic Church?

I went to Catholic School from the 7th grad to high school graduation. We, the whole family, became Catholic when I was in the 8th grade. When I go out of school, after some time off, I resumed the religion of my childhood and went back to the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I was never very active, until I moved back to Zanesville. That is where I make cookies and quilt, used to do bells and choir.

Back to the story. I still know many Catholics, like, my mom. And have gone to Mass regularly often, with my family etc. Do I see a problem here? No, but you have to know me a little to understand that. I also have and do go to: Hare Krishna, Buddhist, Methodist, Morman, Baptist, Apostolic - etc - But one thing I have always said is that I love Mary.

I got a call from a long time family friend that they had at one of the local catholic churches a severly handicapped child, that was also deaf. They wanted her to be able to go to Sunday School without her mom, like the other kids and to be ready for 1st Communion.

I did not think this would be hard. The Catholic Church used to have lots of opportunities for the deaf. Well, I'm about it. I am not the best person for the job - but I am the one who volunteered. We have a group on Thurs nites now (was Wednes), and a group on Tues morn. We started out learning the alphabet, numbers and the basic prayers. Then I found the Tuesday morning lady, who said she was always interested in sign. I answered - do i have a mission for you!

Eventually I hope to have a Deaf Ministry here. My volunteers are great, just got to work on the priests and congregation. We will do that. These signers are amazing to come forward and give their times and talents for this child, her family and eventually other deaf. I am honored to be a part of them!

Early Monday

I was up at 5:30 this morning doing early house blessing and making sure all furry children were fed before I started my day at the church. At 6:30 I woke DH and we had coffee together and I had some very early breakfast then off I went. I still wasn't the first one there, EV always manages to make it there before the rest of us.

Last Friday there were 8 of us and it was wonderful! We had 2 to mix and 6 to roll. Today was 4 most of the time and finally went up to 6, but still only 2 rollers. It was exhausting. I am a mixer. I love the job and can manage usually 2 mixers and I believe 3 if I had to. So far we haven't had to find out- hehe! This time I was there early enough to help with the sifting of flour and the adding of baking soda and salt. We did 75 dozen Tues, 116 Friday and 50 when I left today.

I left early, with a little guilt. My legs hurt. I am sure that those ladies' legs hurt also. But I couldn't see not being able to move for 2 days, staying 2 more hours. Especially since all the mixing was done for the day. Sometimes I have to think.

I came home and shined both my sinks with Flylady glee and decided on the supper suggested to me by the cooking drew today - baked potatoes and salad. This was especially fun, because I used potatoes from my garden. I'm a dirt farmer who's good at root crops. I had a red one for me and a gold for DH. I used the Butter lettuce with a coriander and orange juice dressing.

I am still listening to the Iliad - what whiners! But it is interesting and I will continue it. I usually follow it up with my Music Theory DVD and that is fascinating! What I want to get to is my holiday sewing! I have much to do and I so enjoy that kind of work.

Another thing I failed to mention is that I really got to treat myself at the grocery this week. I have been watching anxiously for them to have the sacks of mixed nuts. You know, the kind that you put pretty in your bowl at the holidays, still in the shell, and everyone is afraid to eat them? Well, I got me a sack for $4. And what I am going to do is.............

Plant them! yes! you heard me right. Plant them. My thought is 2 of each kind. I will end up eventually with Bonsai Nut Trees for the garden, producing protein for this vegetarian and family. I also got apple seeds and plum seeds from the kitchen at the Oktoberfest I helped cook at. They were locally grown, so the plants should do well. Since we have a room now where furries are not allowed (the library/office/sewing/painting room)I am planning on putting plants and plant starts in there.

We stayed home to write tonite, so I got to blog again and now hopefully I can work on my stories. Nite nite!

Sunday

We started out the day going out to breakfast, which we don't do real often and when we do it is at a small local diner across town. DH found a sign for a Sunday Brunch close by, he loves to eat out and try new places, so we thot we would give it a try. It started out with biscuits that were made from scratch and really good. Then the yogurt parfait with fruit gook and grape nuts. I thot it was a little too sweet, but i don't do sweet in the morning.

Then you got to pick your main entree and we both went for southwest egg quesidia thingy. Oh, man, such a bad choice. As my husband told the waitress - it was "aggressively bland", but still did not sit well with us for most of the day. We'll be back in the little diner next time we decide to do breakfast!

So after lying around for several hours we went to a concert in a town about 35 miles away. Here was the Osmond Brothers, but we had no interest. This guy was a pianist that took the great composers, explained about the music and showed the carry overs into modern music. Live music does something for me. We have been cranky the weekend, but not really at each other - more frustration with things. We are both in a better mood and I feel really revivied. We got a CD and we are listening to it now.

I instructed music and art for about 16 years. Piano was my main instrument. I absolutely love piano music. He also played Rhapsody in Blue, which is one of my all-time favorite pieces. I played it so often, that my family can barely stand it to this day. But I never played it like this man - it was amazing.

When we came home we did what Flylady would call a Home Blessing. The kitchen had been neglected while we felt bad today. So when we came home DH took out the trash and ran the sweeper, I did the kitchen, got the morning coffee ready, have a load of laundry in and we started the pup food to cook all night. Under control.

Tomorrow morning we got in opposite directions. DH goes to the VA and I go make more Springerles. This is day 3 of 4 and I hope we have 6 - 8 people again. We had 4 batches done before noon Friday.

Last night we watched George C Scott in Hospital from a Netflix DVD. It was really good and helped relieve a little pressure. We haven't watched a movie in well over 7 -10 days. October is always a big month for me at the church with the bazaar coming up the 1st Thursday of November. Cooking in the kitchen and quilting are my church services. So I gures I'll be doing church a few times this week.

Another Sweet Fall Day!

This was a sweet day. The pups got up about 5:30 and after EVERYONE pottied I told them we were all going to “sweep” for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Not expecting them to listen, of course, I was happily surprised when they did wake us and it was 7:30.

We took a beautiful drive about 30 miles out of town on DH's business and the folage was gorgeous! We went one way and came back another. On the way back we stopped at an historical village and got coffee and quiche at a darling coffee and wine shop.

Back in our hometown we went to Sam's club, for food for pups and us and then to Lowe's for 2 lights for the electrician to put in. Back home to feed te dogs and get some sustenance ourselves. Back out again to see our friend at the bike shop and get a movie at the library. To 2 drugstores for incidentals and some Christmas Gifts I saw and back home we are for a relaxing night with the furry children.

I had a couple mishaps in there. One was that I fell in the kitchen while we were home for lunch and the other was getting in the car I grabbed the window just at the same time DH decided to put it up. OW! Oh, well, it looks like I'll survive.

This morning was also the first for trying to start a new routine. I am trying to get my readings all done in the morning now. This would consist of the 12 step fellowship reading, a hymn and 3 Bible readings: Catholic Daily Mass, One Year Bible Online and the Lutheran Lectionary. Then there are the literature readings from dailylit.com- as I stated before, Silas Marner, Vanity Fair, and Arabian Nights. Then there are the political blogs: Tbogg, Hullabaloo, Glen Greenwald. And the last for the serious, or at least relief blogs, the science blosgs – Phayngula and Greg Laden. There are also some “girly” blogs I go to. Segullah/blog is a type of mommy blog of opionated, educated, well read women that I really enjoy. Pink Houses, Beehives and Birds nest are 2 others. They are sisters and the Internet Giveaway I won (homemade soap) came from one of them, Pink Houses. I like the needlecraft blogs. I get Knitting Daily and a crochet and a tatting newsletter via my email. Then I also embibe in Clyde the Mad Tatter, Bengelblog and Tatting Goddess. We have both been pretty addicted to FB lately, so I am trying to limit to only looking at it in the morning.

I am making these changes because I am trying to prepare myself for the challenge of NANO. Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month. But of course I always have to change things: I am going to try and put a chap book together. I hope that I can accomplish this, not just for the Christmas present advantage, but it would be nice to work to put my work down and out there.

A Not So Good Day

Yesterday I had commented on FB that ARTHURitis was visiting me. Although I woke up exhausted and not feeling good at all, I seemed to get an awful lot done.

I have been at the church helping to cook Springerles. This is a grand affair. To give you an idea – we did 275 dozen last year. We, for the first time, have figured out how many dozen we get out of one batch of dough – 7dozen+3. So we have 3 dozen bottles of anise and we are cooking for 4 days. The 4th day we will cook lemon springerles, with only making 42 dozen. Can you believe we actually use the word “only” after all these figures.

I told you all of that to explain my day. I usually go and quilt on Thursday at the same church. But since I was already spending 2 days this week there, and did not feel good, I decided to forego the trip on Thursday. Instead I would stay home and get things done that had been left by the wayside, and work a little ahead for Friday.

I cooked 2 suppers yesterday. What a freedom to know I could spend time at home with my husband and our furry children and not have to rush around. DH offered to take me out to eat or p/u – but that was just looking like more trouble than it was worth. After being gone so long I want to be in my own house and backyard.

My Husband has suggested we start listening to the classics. So far we have both listened to Gilgamesh. He has listened to the Iliad and the Odessey, I am starting the Iliad. He is presently on Beowulf and tonite we started to find where we could get Aenid.

I have been bemoaning to myself about not being in any learning situation lately and decided to take that into hand myself. I got on dailylit.com and signed up for Vanity Fair, Silas Marner and Arabian Nights. I also revived listening to my Teaching Company class of Musical Theory.

After getting 4 loads of clothes done, the pup food, the yogurt and the 2 dinners while I was listening to the above, I decided it was time to tackle the garden. There were many surprises out there. Like, the smallest ears of corn I have ever seen. DH was teasing it was those little oriental ears you find in some Chinese food. Bumper crops of potatoes (red and gold) and onions. Some radishes were left, but no beets seemed to grow at all. I also could not find any of the garlic that I planted. But, today at Springerles, I learned that you plant garlic in the fall, pick it in the spring, just like spring flower bulbs.

My best crop tho seemed to be the Sunflowers this year. And how I do love them. (For those of you that don't know, my wedding bouquet was sunflowers and daisies wrapped in a brown paper bad with a string bow. )It would not be easy for us to see the birds eating from the flower heads, so I carefully removed them from the stems and saved them to put up by the window, where we can closely see the birds devour them.

With the absence of hay this ear I decided to just lay all the corn and sunflower stalks down on the garden. This was sad to do at first, but it looks like it might do the job.

I wonder what I'll do on a day I feet good?!

My Up and Coming New Life

I am in the midst of making a lot of changes in my life. And it seems to be for the better. Yet many days, change is change - even if - change is good.

I made the commitment to be out of any officerships by the end of the year and I seem to be managing that part well. The Y City Writer's had it's 2nd Writer's Conference October 10th and it went well. At the end I officially resigned from heading up the group that I had started approx 7 years ago. I have 3 women that will be heading it up that I believe will do a bang up job at it.

After the meeting on the 1st Thursday of December of Ladies Aid I will no longer be the Treasurer. This is a relief. Perhaps now I can attend in enjoyment and get back to a regular schedule of quilting with the ladies.

I am moving my evening Sign Language Class at the Catholic Church to the same nite my DH volunteers at the hospital. All of this is to ensure that when he comes home, - we can do as we please without commitments.

I also have a Tuesday morning Sign Language, that is moving along nicely and will be continuing for a least a year.

We have taken a turn in the Assist Dog Training. We have added the help of a local girl who is starting a business and would like the experience. Loki and I will be meeting with her 3 -4 days a week and practicing walking in public. Today was our first day, and if it goes this well, we will show notable success soon. To leave the house with him by my side is going to be more than a dream!

Today I went to the church and helped make Springerlese (German Anise Cookies). We make 63 dozen today, with 2 - 3 more days to go in the next 2 weeks. Our mentor is not feeling well and we had to call for emergency cookie makers - but we made it. October to the 1st 2 weeks of November is always busy with Springerlese making and the annual Pork and Saurkraut Dinner/Bazaar. Quilting and Cooking are my 2 favorite activities to do at the church.

I am crocheting my last of 3 baby blankets for babies coming before the holidays. Tomorrow I hope to start making receiving blankets - new project. I am nervous about cutting out the material - cutting is the hardest part. Then off to making holiday vests, including a Haloween one for me.

I am deciding what I want to study next. I have bemoaning the fact that i miss going to school online and am trying to decide on what to learn on my own. I believe that thru November I shall limit it to music, art and writing, since I hope to complete NANO this year and with some of the results do a chapbook. But I find I need to be actively learning something too. Presently 500 words a day, 5 drawings or a painting, and 20 minutes of playing music, study times negotiable.

I am also working on my cooking. Since my DH is on a cholesterol diet and we both want to loose weight, I need to get creative. Also I was painfully aware last week that I need to have Amish Bread and/or cookies in the freezer for funerals, baby showers etc that come up unexpectantly.

As you can see I have lots to work on - check back to see how I am keeeping up!