and the Popcorn is strung...

Just spent all my spare time in the last two days stringing popcorn. The tree looks interesting. I can't say that I'll do this again, but I'm glad that I did it at least once. I'm also glad that I do not have to rely on popcorn as my sole decoration. What a pain it was to get it on the string. Can't count how many times I stuck that big needle in my fingers. And the mess I made. Popcorn all over the floor.

Now the tree is ready for the rest of our decorations. I guess when I take the tree down, I will probably give the popcorn to my chickens. I don't think it will hurt them. I wonder if that's what people did with it years ago when it played a more prominent role in decorating the Christmas tree. I know I've heard talk of putting it outside for the birds to eat. Same principle.

Got our first Christmas card in the mail yesterday. I hadn't even given any thought to Christmas cards until that one came in the mail. I guess now is the time to get them out and start addressing them. I'll probably address a few a night until I have them all done. I think last year I sent out about 35 cards, and I expect to send out about the same amount this year.

Our football team played in the semi-final playoffs tonight. I was unable to go, since the game was so far away and the band had to leave the school so early. The kids were thrilled by the trip, because they got to ride a charter bus rather than a school bus. They are not expected to get back to the school until quite late. Jacqueline called me when the game was over. Our team lost. I know everyone is disappointed by the loss, however, this is the farthest the team has gone in a very long time. Who knows, next year they may go even further.

In praise of Gorilla Glue

Hallelujah! The Gorilla Glue worked! The bottom ring that holds the branches is now firmly glued into place, doing it's job as in years past. We checked it last night and placed the branches in their slots, leaving them in overnight with nothing else on the tree. Since the ring stayed in place with the weight of the branches in it I went ahead and put the lights on the tree today. Of course before I could put up lights, I had to go and buy some. I discovered that I only had 2 strands of lights and one of those didn't work at all, no matter what I did to it. I vaguely remember throwing out lights last year and if I remember correctly, these were lights that were on the tree and had died after the tree was completely decorated. Since removing those lights would have required a removal of all of the other decorations, we just left them on and threw them out when we took the tree down.

Our tree now has 4 strands of lights on it. There are two multi-colored strands and two strands of clear lights. These are in alternating order. So far the only decoration on the tree other than the lights is strands of red wooden beads. These look very much like strands of cranberries. We have decided that this year we will string popcorn to add to the tree. I don't really care for "garland" and prefer decorations that look like they could have come from 100 years ago. Not that I have any that are that old, but I do have a collection of Santa decorations that look hand carved. I also have a thing for bells, and have a variety of bell ornaments, many of which I made myself. I think the white popcorn will really compliment the red beads.

Up until recently I would not have used strands of popcorn as a decoration. However, about a year ago I was given a hot air popper. I love air popped popcorn, it's so much healthier than microwave popcorn. Since I use real butter on popcorn that I'm going to eat, there is none of that fake fat that is in microwave popcorn. I know there are people that speak of the evils of real butter, but I'll take the real thing all the time. I can taste the difference between butter and margarine and margarine is a pale imitation as far as I'm concerned. Also I have a real problem with lots of "man made" foods, because I don't think the body knows on a molecular level what to do with fake foods. I was not surprised to hear news reports discussing "Popcorn Lung", which is a condition found in workers at factories that manufacture microwave popcorn. It seems the airborne mist resulting from the "butter flavoring" causes the small airways in the lung to become scarred, so the victim struggles to breath. It's irreversible and often fatal. They say when you open a bag of microwave popcorn you release these airborne particles. Doesn't sound like a good situation to me. Okay, soapbox time is over, let's just say I'll take my popcorn air popped, thank you very much.

After we pop, string and hang the strands of popcorn then we'll proceed with the rest of the decorating. Of course I don't know how long this process is going to take, since we may have to pop quite a bit of popcorn to do the job. I'm sure once the house is filled with the smell of popcorn there are going to be family members who will need a bowl, complete with salt and butter. I also don't know how long it's going to take to string the popcorn. I've never done it before, but hopefully I will get some help with stringing it! We don't rush getting the decorations on. We take our time and make it an enjoyable process. We do the same thing in reverse when the time comes to take the decorations down and put the tree away for another year.

Last year I purchased several storage containers for our Christmas decorations. It's nice to finally have a container to hold the tree that was actually intended for that purpose. Same thing goes for our ornaments and my door wreath. The door wreath is a new addition and I bought it at the same time that I bought something to store it in. My only complaint about my wreath is that there isn't quite enough space between our two front doors. As a result of this, you actually have to make sure that the storm door is closed completely. I didn't do that one morning last Christmas season as I left for work. We came home to find the storm door completely open and the hydraulic door closer broken beyond redemption. It seems the wind caught the door and whipped it open, breaking the closer and damaging the top of the storm door in the process. Since that time we have had to make a conscious effort to close the storm door. There are some family members who don't seem to have the "conscious" part down yet, even after a year. Maybe they are just in too big of a hurry coming and going, I don't know.

As I sit here typing this, our Sheltie, Delta is going crazy in the yard. She doesn't want to be inside right now. The woods are full of deer and she is very territorial, barking and barking to warn all of those deer to stay off of her turf. We have brought her in several times since it got dark, but she's not in the house 2 minutes before she's whining and begging to go back outside. This is the worst I've seen her. She is usually pretty vocal after dark, barking at the woods, but it's bad tonight. It's possible that the deer are closer than usual tonight. Right around dusk we heard a gunshot, quite close. Just one shot, so I figure it was a lone hunter and he got his quarry. It is possible however that the incident scattered the deer in the woods and has caused them to venture closer to us than is usual. They are always pretty close by anyway, I know this because I've seen them in my garden and at the edge of the yard many times.

Uh oh Christmas Tree

We finally managed to find the time to get out the Christmas Tree last night. We had to move one of our DVD racks into another room in order to set up the tree. Everything went well.........until we came to the bottom row of branches. We started placing that row of branches only to discover a problem. The plastic ring that holds that row of branches has a crack in it, so it will not stay in place once branches are loaded into it. We have attempted to glue it with Gorilla Glue, but if that doesn't hold it, I guess we'll just set the tree up without those bottom branches. It will probably look a little odd, but if it's not too odd looking then we will be okay with it. I personally am not overly fond of perfectly shaped Christmas trees, because you sure don't find "perfect" ones in nature.

I've been trying to remember exactly how old this tree is. I believe this would be it's 15th year of service. Not only has it done it's job during those years, but it has also been thru 3 moves. In that time it has not always been treated gently I'm sure. I know there are many who are resistant to artificial Christmas trees, but to me the pros outweigh the cons. I like the cost effective aspect, and the convenience. Probably the two biggest pros to me would be that an artificial tree doesn't need watering nor does it drop needles like crazy. I always hated the dropped needles. I swear I would still be finding and vacuuming up needles in July. Then there is the disposal of the tree after Christmas. When I was a kid we would buy a bagged tree rather than a cut one. This would allow us to plant the tree in our yard after we were done with it. I remember my dad digging the hole for the tree in the fall before the ground froze.

The only real con I can see regarding an artificial tree would be the lack of a smell. I love the way the house is filled with that "pine" smell during the Christmas season. So to give my house that smell, I buy pine scented candles to burn. I also buy air freshener that smells like pine or other similar products that impart the pine scent. I have a bottle of a product called "Just Cut" that I believe I picked up in the Christmas aisle. It seems I'm not the only one who's fond of this smell.

We will begin decorating our tree sometime this evening, if all goes to plan. That is assuming that our lights all light up. Lights held us up last year. We got the tree all set up and starting decorating only to discover that about half of our light didn't work. This was not a case of a burned out bulb here and there. I believe we use 6 strands of lights on the tree. Since half of them wouldn't work I had to purchase new strands before we could decorate. Of course once I accomplished that we were able to go ahead with our decorating.

Last day of vacation

Today was the last day of my vacation and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh well, all good things must end. All in all it was a good vacation. I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked to, so I'll just have to work at the rest a little at a time.

We watched our latest Netflix movie tonight. It was called Apocalypto. It got some mixed reviews when it was in theaters and was condemned for it's graphic violence. However, I have studied Indian culture and didn't find what was depicted in the movie to be unduly graphic. This movie is set at a time when life and death were much different than they are now. I do not like horror movies because often times there is blood and gore just for the sake of the shock value and corresponding ticket sales, this was not in the same category. Although this movie did contain some graphic scenes, I felt that it tried very hard to depict historical events as they actually occurred, without the sugar coating that many try to apply.

We love our subscription to Netflix. My sisters and brother-in-law gave us the subscription. I've got several things on my list that I want the kids to be able to see. I've added some tv shows that I enjoyed when growing up, some of them just to show the kids what I'm talking about. An example of that is Wonder Woman. Randy and I were trying to explain how the comic book character could have been drawn about Linda Carter instead of vice versa. Another tv show that I want them to see for reference is the original Charlie's Angels. The kids have seen both of the movies (starring Drew Barrymore, Luci Lu and Cameron Diaz), but Randy and I have both tried to make them understand how over the top the movies are compared to the tv show. I thought one episode of both of these shows would be enough to get my point across. Then we can move on to something different. So far we've had good luck picking movies. There has only been 1 or maybe 2 that we didn't thoroughly enjoy.

We've had more rain today. It is raining right now and is expected to rain during most of the night. There is a chance of some severe weather. I hope that doesn't develop. One good thing about this system moving thru is that my headache finally disappeared sometime early this evening. What a relief, after having a headache for 3 days. I don't know how much rain this system will give us, but I hope that we will at least get a couple of inches out of it. We need the rain very bad. If only we could get rain on a regular basis we might be able to recover from the deficit that we have right now.

Of course the weather has prevented any work on the CRX. There is a chance of rain tomorrow, so the earliest that Randy could start back to work on the car will probably be Tuesday. I hope he is able to get it fixed soon. It makes things harder on all of us for Jeremy to be without a vehicle. It also makes it harder for Jeremy to hunt for a job. Thus far he hasn't had luck in his search. He's put in applications at several places, but so far nothing. Maybe he'll get a call soon.

Frozen toes and football

Boy was it cold last night. Even though we all had cold weather gear, such as coats, hats, mittens and even blankets it was still very cold at the football game. The complaint voiced by most was that their feet were freezing or that they couldn't feel their toes. The low was reported at 28. I don't care who you are, that's cold. Especially if you are sitting on aluminum bleachers. Of course it helps if your team wins, like ours did last night. The final score was 52-22 so we will be going to the next round of playoffs. If we should win this next playoff game, then we will play for the state title. It's a very exciting time for our students. I just wish it wasn't quite so cold for these games.

I thought I'd never thaw out last night. The heat on the bus didn't seem to include the floor area, so after suffering with cold feet at the game, there was little relief on the bus ride home. Of course once I got into the car I cranked the heat up, but that only went a little way toward thawing me out. Once I got home I crawled into bed with my two pair of socks still on. I even turned the heated mattress pad on for a couple of hours. Some time around 2:30 I think I finally got warm enough. Jacqueline stated that she intended to turn on her electric blanket when she went to bed. The only one of us that didn't complain too much of being cold was Jeremy. He tends to be warm when the rest of us aren't.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us it's time to put up our Christmas Tree. I have to re-arrange the living room a little in order for our tree to fit and the kids and I worked on that some today. We will probably finish the re-arranging and put the tree up tomorrow. We will then take our time decorating it, probably over the course of a week. There are already many houses in our area that have their Christmas decorations up. We don't do anything in the yard, as I do not care for most yard decorations. I would love to have some lights on the outside of the house, but that will have to wait for another year, since the lights I had purchased for that purpose were stolen from our storage.

It's raining here now, and has been sprinkling on and off most of the day. I'll be glad when this front moves out of here, because I've had a headache for two days now. Some people have old bone injuries that will ache when rain is coming, but I will often get a sinus headache when a low pressure system is approaching. Not as accurate as today's modern weatherman, because I don't get a headache each and every time it's going to rain, just most of the time. Unfortunately, when I have a headache that is related to the barometric pressure medicine only takes the edge off of the headache, it doesn't offer real relief. Relief won't come completely until the front passes and the barometric pressure rises again.

I got up early for this?

Despite not getting very much sleep last night, the kids and I got up at 4:30am this morning and took ourselves off to the local Wal-mart for some good deals. Last year was the first year that I had participated in any of the "After Thanksgiving Sales". It was a nice calm and orderly experience, so unlike what I've seen on tv. That is probably because the local Wal-mart was not a Super Center and therefore did not draw a huge crowd. This year things were slightly different. The Wal-mart became a Super Center in October and the parking lot was packed by the time we arrived at 5:15. The store aisle were clogged with eager shoppers, many of whom were looking for the exact item that had interested me. A 2 gig flash drive for $12.88. Since flash drives of this size memory usually sell for about $34, this was a substantial savings. Everyone else thought so too, because they were all asking the associates the whereabouts of the flash drives. It seems that this particular Wal-Mart didn't have any flash drives, they only had the other item for $12.88, which was a memory card for a camera. We did get some good deals, just not everything that we went for. I expect that this will be the last time that I participate in one of these types of sales. I do not enjoy shopping enough to battle those types of crowds.

We are not looking forward to being out in the elements tonight. Our forecast high today is only about 56, but it would surprise me if it makes it there. It is quite windy, so even if the temperature reaches 56, it probably will not feel like it. The low tonight is supposed to be below freezing, somewhere around 29. If this wind keeps up it will feel so much colder. At least we can come home to a warm house. Randy will not be attending the game, so he will keep a fire going throughout the day, and if he goes to bed before we arrive home he can turn on the heater. I just feel so sorry for the kids tonight, the football players and the kids in the band. I guess I should just be thankful that we don't live in Illinois or some other place where football is popular and temperatures are considerably lower.

Mashed Potatoes and Yeast Rolls

What a meal we had today. While most of our vegetables were in fact green, the meal did include some foods that Jacqueline and I have been avoiding. In addition to our turkey I a made a large pan of dressing. We only had a small pan of potatoes, since us girls were not supposed to eat them. I had a very small helping, while Jacqueline passed them up completely since she didn't feel she would be able to eat "just a bite". Our menu also included asparagus, green beans, very small English peas, turnips and turnip greens. Everything was wonderful. None of us ate until we were uncomfortable. I have been trying to set a good example for the kids when it comes to holiday meals such as this one. I never eat until I am uncomfortable, as many people do. We ate our meal around 2:00pm and then instead of having supper tonight we just had dessert. I made homemade whipped cream to go on top of our pie or cheesecake.

We had quite a cool day today, which is unusual in this part of the country. Usually at Thanksgiving we have doors and or windows open. Not today. We had a fire going all day. It was cool and breezy. I got a phone call from a very good friend who lives in the Northeast and their temperature was warmer than ours. We watched the Macy's parade on tv and it was stated several times that the temperature was unusually mild in New York for Thanksgiving Day.

Tomorrow morning we plan to get up at 4:30 to go shopping. We did this last year and got some good deals. Of course after we came home last year the kids went back to bed and I had to go on to work. I don't have work tomorrow, but will have to be up at the high school for 1:30 so that we can load our buses and travel to our football game. I will probably shop for a couple of hours and then come home and take a nap. Otherwise it will be a very long day.

I can't believe my vacation is almost over. It has been a great week. I've been so relaxed. In addition to the baking that I managed to complete in a stress free fashion, I've also been able to make a dent in some other tasks that I had set for myself. Now if I can just get others similarly motivated then perhaps progress can be made in other areas. It's hard when no one else in the house is a self-starter. Perhaps the correct motivation just hasn't been discovered.

A full day

Well, it's kind of been a full day around my house. We got up fairly early this morning to go and visit one of my Dad's first cousins. She lives about 20 minutes away and we don't get a chance to see her very often. I had visited with her about a month ago and she wanted me to bring the kids with me then next time I came. It had been over a year since she had seen them. With both of us in the midst of preparations for Thanksgiving we could only stay about an hour. She is expecting about 25 people in for the holiday meal, so she had a lot of cooking to do. I wanted to get home so I could cook my pumpkin roll. It was a nice visit and before leaving she gave me some photos that she had made copies of. The pictures were from my Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary party. There are several good shots of my Grandparents as well as of my parents. I will see about having a couple of them enlarged for framing.

Before coming home we ran to the grocery store so I could pick up more cream cheese. I had decided the previous night that I would make a double batch when making the pumpkin roll. We all love it so much and a can of pumpkin will make several batches. It was raining and since it was the day before Thanksgiving the parking lot was pretty full. As a result I had to park in East Oshkosh. Since I didn't have an umbrella with me, I got soaking wet. I had on my crocs with a pair of socks and although these are probably the most comfortable shoes I own, they are not at all water tight. By the time we arrived home I was freezing. I couldn't get warm and stayed cold for several hours. It wasn't until I had the oven going and was working on the batter for my pumpkin roll that I finally got warm again.

Jacqueline and I ran into her ex-boyfriend Tuesday night. I invited him over for dinner, if he feels up to it. He said he would try to come by, but that he was expected at his Dad's house at 5:00pm to eat. He then has to work that evening. He's a good kid who's had a rough time the last 6-8 months. I sure hope things are looking up for him. He had a real struggle trying to keep up with rent and utilities when he couldn't find full time work. There were many weeks where he didn't have $20 for groceries.

We really needed the rain we got today. It wasn't much, but every little bit helps. The only complaint that I have about the rain is that when it moves out early tomorrow, we will see a decrease in temperatures. Today's high was 68 and I think our low Tuesday night was in the low 50's. Tomorrow's high is only supposed to be in the low 50's and Friday is forecast to be about the same. The overnight lows are also going to be much cooler. Friday night it's supposed to be right around freezing. Oh joy! Sitting through another football game in freezing temps. Why can't we have the temperatures in the 50's on football nights?

Sticky shelves and science projects

It all started as I was trying to re-arrange the shelves in my refrigerator to make room for the thawing turkey and to assure that I would also have room for the desserts that I will be baking this week. I began to move things around and open up containers to see what was inside. My first clue that there was a problem came when I had a hard time actually moving items on a shelf. When I finally did manage to pull the item from the shelf it brought a string of goo with it. Someone had spilled something sticky in the fridge and hadn't cleaned it up. Definitely time to clean out the fridge. I removed items shelf by shelf and opened containers. I love my Tupperware containers, they are great for storing leftovers. However, when these same containers are forgotten or shoved to the back of the shelf, they make great vessels for holding science experiments. You know, the kind where you see how much mold you can grow, or the experiment in fermentation where the gases from the fermenting material causes the container to swell and expand, sometimes causing the lid to come completely off. I located several experiments of the mold growing variety, unintentionally created I can assure you.

By the time I had finished cleaning and re-arranging my refrigerator I had located several "missing" Tupperware containers and the science experiments that they held. I also managed to free up quite a bit of space so that I was able to place my turkey on a shelf to thaw. I washed every shelf, even removing the two crisping pans and wiping down the bottom of the fridge. I can't remember the last time I did this, so it has been a while. I now have room for my desserts as well. I will bake my pumpkin cheesecake today and tomorrow's baking project will be pumpkin roll. I try to time my baking so that I will have the room available in the fridge, but it doesn't help matters that I also have to thaw the turkey in the fridge at the same time.

Jacqueline had a function that she had to attend last night. She is in the chorus at school and they had to sing at a "community" Thanksgiving celebration last night. It was held in the cafeteria at the school. Since we were unsure how long it would take, I stayed, rather than dropping her off and having to go back to get her. I did not go into the cafeteria, but rather stayed in the band room. I had taken my cross stitch with me to pass the time. I am almost done with it. I am doing the outlining and I am so pleased with it's appearance. One of the girls, Consuela, came over to look at my cross stitch and to ask questions. She commented that I was so talented. She is also aware that I made and donated scarves for the band to raffle off as a fundraiser. It's a sad state of things when today's kids are so easily amazed by such simple skills.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by Consuela's amazement. After all, some of the younger people that I work with were amazed to find out that I make pickles and sauerkraut. So many skills are being lost because this younger generation has been taught to just get it from the store. There are certainly times when getting it from the store is easier, but there is a lot to be said for the feeling associated with using something that you have created yourself. Speaking of creating........I have to go make cheesecake.

Time to relax....?

Today is the start of my vacation. I get two weeks a year and I've already had one week, back in September. Many people take a vacation and travel, but I will be staying close to home and will in fact spend much of my "vacation" time working around the house. I will do the usual daily household chores plus the extra baking for our Thanksgiving dinner. I like having the extra time to bake without feeling pressured to finish by a certain time. The timing of baking after I get in from work can be a challenge, so I prefer to bake on Wednesday or Sunday during the week. Since I have several items that I need to bake in preparation for Thursday, it will make things less stressful if I can spread it out over a couple of days.

I will also use this time to get caught up on things that I never seem to finish during the course of a regular week. There is clean laundry to fold and more to wash. Laundry and dishes are two tasks that never seem to end. I'm not complaining, that's just the way it feels. At least I don't have to iron a mound of clothes each time I wash. I remember my Dad's mother talking about when she was a girl and how they had to iron just about everything. Even sheets and pillowcases.

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a nice relaxing day. We didn't do anything special. The kids and I went to church. Randy stayed home as he didn't feel well. After church we finished watching "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". We had started to watch the dvd on Thursday night but didn't finish it. Yesterday was the first opportunity we'd had to finish it. The kids had never seen it and to my surprise both enjoyed it. They thought it was "cute". I didn't even really cook yesterday, since I had put our supper in the crockpot to cook earlier in the day. I love my crockpots. Yes, plural, I have 2 of them, different sizes. I use one or the other at least once a week.

And on to round three

Well our football team is still on a roll. Not only did we make it to round two of the play-offs, but we won! I know the kids are all excited by our teams continued success. The seniors must be especially happy. It has to be a great feeling when your football team (or soccer, basketball, baseball etc. team) is doing so well. Also, nothing brings the fans out of the woodwork like a winning team. The final score last night was 33 to 25. We scored first and never lost the lead. Even as exciting as a win for our team was, I can't help but feel bad for the losing team and their fans. They traveled several hours to get here, and in fact arrived in charter buses. Prior to last night's match-up we both had the same record of 9 wins and 1 loss. Now we will advance to round three of the playoffs. Our next game will be the day after Thanksgiving and will be several hours away for us. I am on vacation all next week, so having to attend the playoffs won't affect my work schedule. For that I'm relieved.

It was pretty cold here last night for the game. The temperature was down in the 30's with a slight breeze. I wore my big winter coat and two pairs of socks, so I stayed pretty warm, especially compared to some. I could not believe the attire of some of the fans in attendance last night. Most of them were female and warmth was not a consideration when they dressed for the evening. It is possible that there was a time in my life that being "fashionable" was more important to me than being warm/comfortable, but if there is I can't remember it. I even saw one young lady with a pair of open-toed heels on. I realize that adding a coat can make one's silhouette appear boxy or chunky so if they'd rather appear slim and svelte than be warm, then I guess it's their problem, not mine. I hope the temperature for next weeks game is milder, but since we are approaching December I don't figure it's going to be much warmer.

I am on vacation next week and plan to do much of my baking for Thanksgiving early in the week. I still have to sit down and make up a menu and grocery list for Thursday. I already have a turkey in the freezer and some of my other menu items have been purchased as well. One thing I will have to pick up is potatoes. The guys say it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes, so I guess I'll make some for them. I don't plan on eating any potatoes but will have some dressing. I will also splurge and eat a yeast roll or two with my meal. I have a feeling that even if I am cautious Thursday will not be a low-carb day. I will have to be diligent or Friday and Saturday will follow the same pattern.

I won't be spending all of my vacation baking, because we have planned a couple of outings during the week. The college is shut down for their "Fall Break" and so Jeremy will be home, and Jacqueline only has to go to school Monday and Tuesday at which time they will dismiss for their Thanksgiving Holiday. We will probably go to Tuscaloosa Tuesday evening and on Wednesday I have promised to take them to see one of my father's first cousins. This particular cousin is in her 70's and hasn't seen the kids in over a year. On Friday, depending on what kind of sales the stores are having, we may be getting up early to go Christmas shopping. If we go shopping at least I won't have to go on to work like I did last year. Then of course Friday night will be the game.

Cooler weather

Today was my day off. I got a lot done around the house, which always gives me a good feeling. We had a beautiful day, with warm temperatures and a little breeze. As it got later in the afternoon it began to cloud up. It really got cloudy around 2:30pm and when I went to get Jeremy it rained on me in several different places on the trip. It continued to rain on and off for a couple of hours and now that the rain has moved out the temperature is dropping. Our high today was 77 degrees and the low for tonight is forecast to be about 46 degrees. I saw a weather forecast on tv at supper time and they predicted about 1/2" of rain would fall. We'll take all that we can get right now.

Since the grocery flyers came out today, I spent time looking over the ads to try to see what is on sale that I will need for our Thanksgiving meal next week. Randy expressed interest in pumpkin pie and I will probably purchase one this year instead of making one. I am thinking of making pumpkin roll again this year. It was a big hit last year. We had it for breakfast. (yikes! kids will need to take extra insulin). I am also considering making a pumpkin cheesecake. I've made this several times before for Thanksgiving and it is well received. I'm not really fond of pumpkin, and hardly ever eat pumpkin pie, but I love the pumpkin roll and pumpkin cheesecake. Especially when I top it with real, homemade whipped cream.

The house smells so good right now. I've got spaghetti sauce started in the crockpot. Right now it's just the meat, onions and spices cooking, but it sure fills the house with a great aroma. Before I leave for work tomorrow I will re-start the crockpot and add my sauce, then leave it on the really low setting all day. I haven't had spaghetti in quite a while and am really in the mood for it. I have really cut back on my pasta consumption, since I am trying to eat a very low carb diet.

I've been trying to re-stock my pantry with staples. We went grocery shopping late last night and I managed to get a bunch of things that I was very low on or completely out of. Since it is so inconvenient for me to run to the store once I am already home, I try to have lots of options to choose from because plans can change rapidly depending on circumstances. There have been days that I had a particular meal planned and all set to make when I arrived home from work, only to arrive home very very late or so exhausted that I wasn't up to cooking. On days like that it's good to know that my pantry, fridge and freezer are stocked with items that I can pull together quickly for a meal. Grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade vegetable soup (which I can in 1/2 gallon jars) has come to the rescue on several occasions.

Randy had a better day today than he did yesterday. He didn't feel well at all yesterday and spent the majority of the day in bed. Some days he just has no energy. Of course those are usually days that follow a day that he has missed his medicine. He has a hard time remembering to take the evening dose. He has so far resisted my suggestions as to a system, or routine which would help him to remember. Sometimes it takes him a long time to see that doing things my way can be a lot easier than doing them his way. Not all of the time of course, but many times.

The leaves are really starting to fall here. We've had some very pretty colors lately, with the trees slowly dropping their leaves. However, we've had rain and some wind the last two days and that really speeds up the shedding process. We don't usually have too many leaves in the yard, but I think I might have the kids rake the ones we do have this year and put them in my garden. I am trying something a little different this year and am working dialy to improve my garden spot so that maybe I can get a decent crop out of my garden. It was very hard for me to not have a garden this year. I so much miss being able to fry up some fresh squash or to pick ripe tomatoes out of my own garden and to have fresh beans and other fresh produce. It's just not the same to buy it at the store. Even buying it from the produce stand isn't the same. It just doesn't taste as good. Maybe I'll be able to get things all set and be able to produce a bumper crop next year. That would be wonderful.

Low Carb and Ladybugs

Jacqueline and I have been trying to follow a low carbohydrate eating plan. We had originally started with the South Beach Diet in April. We tried to follow this diet, but I soon found that there were only certain recipes that I could make, due to the overall cost of seafood and fish, both of which are used quite frequently. The overall concept of the diet however has stuck with us. We basically try to stay away from anything with white flour in it. This is an easy one, since I have been eating whole wheat bread since I was a child. As a result I have never purchased white loaf bread, only whole wheat. She and I have also given up eating potatoes, which has been more of a challenge. I was raised eating lots of potatoes, especially since this was one of the staple crops we grew to feed our family of 7 when I was growing up. Giving up white rice was another simple step, since I have been buying brown rice instead of white rice for years now. Sugar is another ingredient to be avoided. This is a little more of a challenge than you might think. Many foods contain hidden sugars, which increase the carbohydrate value of a food.

It hasn't been possible for us to make any drastic changes in our diet and eating habits. We haven't allowed ourselves to be hyper-focused on carb content, and as a result we have made slow, steady changes which we hope will allow us to continue to improve our health and lose weight at a steady pace. The weight loss may not be sudden, but if it steadily declines then we will have accomplished our goals. Jacqueline has seen improvements in her blood sugar levels from eating this way. She still experiences swings in her blood sugars that are most likely attributed to hormonal changes of a 16 year old girl, but eating fewer carbohydrates helps to keep those swings to a minimum. She weighed herself yesterday morning, and she has lost 4 pounds. May not seem like a lot to some, but for anyone who has dieted before, any loss is something to celebrate. I haven't gotten on the scale in a while, so I don't know about my own weight, but I have seen some difference in my clothes, which is more important to me.

I was very impressed with a book by Gary Taubes called "Good Calories, Bad Calories". In his book Mr. Taubes explores various studies of diet, obesity and cholesterol. I found the work to be very eye opening and have concluded for myself that much of the commonly believed "truths" about food, diet and obesity are based on what I can only call bad science. I was shocked to learn about the difference in treating diabetes today and before the development of injectable insulin. Before the development of injectable insulin, diabetics were put on a very, very low carbohydrate diet. They remained on this diet until their urine was free of sugar, which meant that their blood sugars were stable. They were to add carbohydrates back into their diets in very small quantities, until sugar was once again present in their urine. Once sugar began to show up in their urine, they had to decrease their carbohydrate consumption to the level it was at before the reappearance of the sugar in the urine. I was never told this information upon Jeremy's diagnosis. The standard diet for diabetics (from the American Diabetes Association) includes high amounts of carbohydrates (53%!). In fact in their Exchange List for Meal Planning, one of their "principles for good nutrition" states "Eat more carbohydrates (starches and breads) especially those high in fiber." The paragraph goes on to extol the virtues of eating more carbohydrates and fiber. Actually, I don't know why this discovery came as a surprise to me. I have long believed that modern medical practices are not all they are cracked up to be. Anyone who knows me well knows I do not have a whole lot of faith in doctors, and none in pharmaceutical companies and their supposed research.

So given the information that I have uncovered, plus being able to see for myself the benefits of eating a low carbohydrate diet, I am attempting to encourage the rest of our family into eating this way. I don't believe Randy will ever be able to truly eat low carb, because he is too addicted to sugar. He will have a really hard time later in life should he develop type II diabetes. Jeremy is also not as cooperative as I would like. He loves bread too much and he is also very fond of sweet things. Since he is not over his ideal weight he seems to have less incentive than Jacqueline to be strict with what he eats. The fact that his eating of certain foods is counter productive doesn't seem to phase him. He is like his father in that respect. I don't know if it's a gender specific trait or if it's age related, but neither one of them can look ahead at the repercussions that will occur tomorrow from their actions today.

Of course they are not alone in being short-sighted. Someone in this area, years ago, thought it would be a good idea to introduce lady bugs in great quantities to aid farmers. Now, several times a year we have lady bug hatches. We are in the midst of one right now. Our house is a pale yellow. Because of the light colored paint, we can see the lady bugs very well. They are all over the outside of the house. But that's not the only place that they are. They find their way into the house through the smallest of openings. They tend to congregate by windows, I suppose in an attempt to get back outside. However they are quite obnoxious. I have several fly strips hanging up through-out the house. I didn't take them down as cool weather approached, since we do still have some very mild days and consequently, some flies. The strips are now covered in lady bugs. I know that lady bugs are supposed to be a gardeners friend, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Being warm, football playoffs

Oh the joys of being warm! It is so nice to be able to have a warm house again. We finally managed to get the wall heater installed on Wednesday. It's so nice to wake up in the morning to a warm house, no need to fear that the fire has gone out in the night. This is something that everyone takes for granted these days. After all, there are very few people in this country who do not have some type of heating system installed in their homes. The concept of heating with wood is so foreign to many that they cannot even conceive it. Don't get me wrong, I love the smell of a wood fire and I think that a fire speaks to something primal in all of us, however, heating with wood also has many downsides. First and foremost is the work involved with heating with wood, especially if you cut your own firewood. If you don't cut your own wood and have to purchase it, the cost associated with buying firewood is quite high. Then there is the splitting, the stacking and the handling of the wood. Of course let's not forget the mess associated with burning wood. You have extra dust, ashes to dispose of, ever present wood chips, splinters, bark and other wood debris. On top of that, when you heat with wood, it doesn't matter how lousy you feel, you still have to maintain the fire and your supply of wood to feed the fire. Otherwise you will be cold. No going to bed for hours to sleep off whatever ails you, because if you did that you'd wake up to a very cold house. Especially if you were the only one home to tend the fire. We will probably still use our wood burning stove to supplement the gas heater, since we have several cords of wood that we had purchased in the spring. However, gas will now be our primary heat source. Hallelujah!

Our football team played their first playoff game last night. We won 36-6. Since we won the first round we will now go to the second round. Next week's game will be at home also, but I understand if we win that one the third round game will be away. Far away. About 4 hours I think they said. Oh, joy (heavy sarcasm here). I'm thrilled for our boys, and especially for all of our seniors, but I am not thrilled at the prospect of having to travel so far for a football game. It will mean that we will have to leave very early and so I will probably only be able to work a half day that day. That makes things hard for us financially. Since my income is the only one right now, we need every penny that I can bring home and losing 4 hours will hurt. Of course if we have to travel that far there is no telling what time we will get back home. That means that I will probably not get much sleep. Since Saturday is just another day at work for me that means I will be a zombie that day. I am also just ready for the football season to be over with. Even Jacqueline said something to that effect. She is eager for concert season to begin.

Since Jeremy doesn't have class on Fridays he rode with me to work yesterday so he could fill out applications. We are hopeful that he will be able to get a job soon, so that he can pay his own expenses. Putting gas in two vehicles and paying for his food is really hard right now. If he is able to find a job it will help. He also needs some tools for the course he is taking and that is another expense we can't afford right now.

The best laid plans

This weekend we had planned to add on to our existing gas line so that we could install a wall mounted gas heater in our living room. As the adage goes about the best laid plans of mice and men..... so it was with us. Nothing worked out the way we had planned for it to. We had to finish installing sheet rock on the wall that we wanted the heater to go. That of course took time. Since Randy got a late start on this project while I was at work yesterday, it still wasn't completed by the time I arrived home. It got dark before we even completed the sheet rock installation, so we were unable to put the pipe together or go any further on the project. We resumed working on the installation today after lunch. We discovered that we needed some additional pipe. Randy was able to find what we needed locally. He went and picked up the piece we needed and only after he got home did he discover that there is an additional connector that he is in need of. So, we will have to wait for my day off to hopefully complete this installation. The overnight low is predicted to be around 39, but it often gets several degrees cooler here than what is predicted. I figure we can expect lows closer to 34 or 35. We have a fire going, but I want to get this heater installed as soon as possible. The fire went out sometime last night and when Randy awoke around 5 am to use the bathroom he had to re-start it. He said it was pretty cool in the house at that time. It is unusual that someone didn't get up during the night, but some nights no one does. That's one reason that I will be so happy to have a more reliable source of heat. That and the fact that we spent over $600 for wood last year and don't have the resources to do that this year. It shouldn't cost us anywhere near that much to heat with gas this winter.

November begins

This has been an event filled week, not all of them good. Tuesday I realized my drivers license had expired two days before, so Wednesday I had to go and renew it. From there Randy and I dropped Jeremy off at school and the two of us went to Tupelo so I could pick up some of the crafting supplies that I was in need of. The two of us had a good day and got back in time to run by the college and pick up Jeremy.

Thursday night our football team had it's last regular season game. We won 42-28. Next Friday night we will play our first play-off game. We don't think we will be advancing any further in the play-offs, even though our record is 9 & 1. Our only loss was to Winfield, and they are a 3A team, where we are a 1A team. I have no idea why we play them, it makes no sense to me. I enjoy the football season, but will be glad to see it end. I don't enjoy sitting out in the cool weather, nor do I enjoy having to go to work the next day, since unlike many other parents, Saturday is just another work day for me.

This morning on my way to work I had a flat tire. Thank goodness it happened where and when it did. It could have been a real problem if it had gone flat on Wednesday as I was traveling down the highway at 65 miles per hour. I was unable to change the tire because the ground was too soft and the jack kept sinking in without raising the car very much. Thankfully, the boss was able to send someone to come pick me up. I called Randy and he and Jeremy brought a board to set the jack on and took off the flat and put the donut on. They then brought the car up to me at work. I had to get 2 new front tires put on after work. Cost me $137, which I could ill afford. The other tire was actually ok, and I had it rotated to the back. The car needs a front end alignment, or the problem will continue to occur. I'll have to see if I can find a way to budget for that, because these tires only had 20,000 mile on them. The one that went flat was fine to look at, but when we removed it, you could see the steel where the tire was worn on the side closest to the engine. I certainly can't afford to replace tires every 20,000, if I can help it.

As if there weren't enough drains on our limited resources, Jeremy got a ticket a couple of weeks ago, because the insurance had lapsed on the CRX and we weren't been able to renew it immediately. They considered it as driving un-insured and the ticket is going to cost $108.

Meanwhile, Randy is trying to repair the CRX so that Jeremy can have a way back and forth to school. Right now he rides with me on Monday morning and Randy takes him on Tuesday and Thursday. He rides home with me, since he gets out at 3:00 and I work until 4:00. He just walks from the college to my work. Takes him about 10 minutes. Wednesdays are going to be a real inconvenience, because he has class but I don't have to work, so I have to make 2 special trips to Hamilton. With gas being almost $3.00/gallon this is not my idea of a good way to save gas and money.

Jeremy has applied to the Wal-mart supercenter in Hamilton, maybe they'll call him soon. He doesn't have school on Friday, so he could work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I don't expect him to work full time, but it would be great if he could help out with gas and his lunch expenses.