Friday, June 17

Today is Hubbie's birthday. Happy Birthday, Hubbie!

We were up around 6:30 this morning, so we could finish getting ready for company. No matter how much we prepare ahead, we can count on three more hours of preparations on the day of an event.

I skipped my exercises, of course, so I could start the day by making lemon pudding for Hubbie's favorite cake. While the pudding cooled, we had breakfast. While I was getting ready for the day, Mother came over, and she and Hubbie did some last minute swiping of counters, cleaning the downstairs bathroom, etc.

When I came downstairs, I sliced tomatoes, while Mother made coleslaw. Then I made a meringue icing for the lemon cake, which I had topped with the cooled lemon pudding. After we set the table, made tea, etc., we were ready to relax.

Just before lunch, Hubbie's oldest daughter arrived, followed by his son and grandson. Soon his two sisters arrived. And finally his other daughter, who came the greatest distance (a four and a half hour drive) arrived.

We had put the baked beans and barbecue into the oven around noon, so we were ready to sit down to eat by around 1 p.m. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and lemon cake dessert.

Hubbie received several cards to one of his favorite home improvement stores. Mother (at my suggestion) gave him a mop for the camper, because several days ago, after we'd bought a new mop for our home kitchen, he said he'd relegate the old mop to the camper. Yuk. I was having none of that. If the old mop was too scuzzy for the kitchen, then it was too scuzzy for the camper.

Anyway, I bought a mop, and Mother and I decided to make it more interesting by decorating it with flowers, adding ribbons to mop string braids, and putting a pair of kids' cheap sunglasses on it. We also added a sign to the mop that says "Take Me to Your Camper." The family got a good laugh out of it.

After a tour of the yard and gardens, folks decided to head home. It was around 3 p.m. by then. Everyone seemed under pressure to get home and complete tasks for upcoming events...the daughters needed to shop and decorate the church fellowship hall for a baby shower at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon for the wife of a grandson.

One of the sisters is getting ready for a trip to Illinois to visit her daughter, so she needed to get back home to pick up an order of something she's to take on the trip.

Hubbie isn't up for traveling the hour and a half east of us to attend the baby shower, so we sent a card and cash.

After the family left, Hubbie, Mother, and I went to the local farmers market, where I bought three cartons of sweet banana peppers for the freezer. I'll go back next week and buy more, since it seems we won't be getting any from our garden (only hot peppers growing there).

Back home, Mother went to her house, Hubbie went out to work in the yard, and I created a web cam message for a home improvement store video gift card. The card is a novelty that I'm obviously more interested in than Hubbie. But he'll be interested in spending the gift, I'm sure. I was at a loss for an idea of something to give him this year, so the novelty gift card, and a bunch of scratch-off lottery tickets, are what I came up with. As usual, the lottery tickets yielded less than half of what I paid for them. But they were worth it for the amusement they provided Hubbie.

Funny: at the grocery store where I bought the scratch-offs, there is now an automatic digital ticket dispenser. I didn't know how to use the machine, but upon reading the directions, I saw that no one under age 18 can buy the tickets, and to verify the buyer's age, he or she must scan a driver's license. This information is on a window with what appears to be a camera eye.

So I swiped my license across the window. Nothing. The machine wouldn't accept my money. Maybe I needed to turn the license around. No, nothing. Maybe I needed to hold it vertical instead of horizontal. Nope.

A young woman walked up, but said she had never used the machine, so she didn't know how, either. I said I was probably wasting my money on it, anyway, to which she responded that her brother won $75 on a ticket recently.

She walked away, and a man approached. "Let me try it," he said, whereupon he basically went through the same routine I had, with no better success.

I finally called a store clerk over to help me. Turns out there is a small awning-like thing low down on the machine. When a license is passed under it, a scanner activates. Then the machine will accept money, and allow the buyer to push the buttons for a choice of cards. The clerk assured me I wasn't the first to be confused by the machine. Obviously not, since two other folks were mystified by it as well.

Later, Hubbie and I watched the Lifetime Movie Network feature, "Patricia Cornwell's The Front," starring Andie McDowell. In this sequel movie, a woman attempts to breathe new life into her flagging political career by ordering the re-opening of a decades-old murder case of a supposed blind woman.

After that, we watched the 1966 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, "Torn Curtain," starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. An American scientist (Newman) publicly defects and goes to East Germany in hopes of stealing a formula and then sneaking back to the U.S. Andrews'character is in love with the scientist, and when he tells her he is leaving and won't be back, she follows him to Germany, where the two get into cloak and daggar situations that threaten their lives. Eventually, they are aided by sympathizers who help them escape the country.

Note: another accident near our house tonight: about 9:30, a neighbor was riding his motorcycle and hit a deer on the highway at the west corner of our yard and the neighbor's yard across the street. We are personally acquainted with the injured neighbor, who has a broken ankle, a cut on his head, and road rash on an arm from the accident. Police cars, a rescue/fire truck, and an ambulance visited the scene, where traffic was held up for quite a while. This accident reinforces my hatred of motorcycles.

The wife of the man who had the accident is our former insurance agent (she is now retired), and the injured man was in cardiac exercise classes with me a couple of years ago.

Thursday, June 16

Up about 7:30, but skipped my exercises, so I could bake a lemon cake and do household tasks to get ready for company tomorrow. I needed to get as much done as possible before lunch, because Mother and I were scheduled to go to a scrapbook club meeting at 1 p.m.

One of the members called this morning and asked to ride with us to the meeting, which was fine. She has an open invitation to do that each month.

She arrived around 12:45, and by the time we got to the Extension Services office, the other member was already there. We started the meaning by taking up annual dues to be submitted to the County Extension Homemakers Council. It's really expensive to be a member of the council...a whopping $4 a year.

At the meeting, too, the member who rode with us prevailed upon me to take over the treasury, in case she has health problems (she's been experiencing dizzy spells lately). So now, I'm both president and treasurer of our four-person club. Lucky me.

We also discussed the meetings for the next couple of months, and decided to go on a field trip in July to a nearby town, where there is a big discount business that offers scrapbooking supplies. We plan to have lunch at a blue plate restaurant, where only one menu item is offered each day.

In August, the member who rode with us will bring her Cricut machine to the meeting for us to play with. I'll also bring the newest rubber stamps and punches I bought on behalf of the club.

Back home, Hubbie completed a couple of tasks...bathing Shih Tzu, and removing the old feather mattress from our bed, and putting on the new one (that arrived by UPS this morning). He didn't make the bed, since he wasn't sure if I wanted to use the old mattress cover or buy a new one. Of course, I wanted to buy a new one. So off I went to the store that has a sale every weekend, where I found one at 50% off.

Once again, a young sales clerk launched into a lengthy discussion about the marriages of her various family members. At one point, the other, middle-aged, clerk, distracted as she rang up my purchase, lost the thread of the conversation and said, "you didn't know your brother was married?"

The young clerk assured her that of course she knew her brother was married...she was talking about the brother of his wife's cousin, or something (I couldn't sort out what she was talking about, either).

"Sounds like an episode of "Wisteria Lane," I said. "Or Peyton Place," the other clerk laughed.

As I was leaving, the first clerk launched back into her recitation, as the other clerk smiled blandly and nodded.

Spent the rest of the afternoon continuing to spruce the house, including using lint rollers on the couches to remove cat hair.

For supper, we had the remainder of the sauteed squash and steamed potatoes, to which we added helpings of baked beans, and sliced tomatoes.

We debated whether or not to attend a community theater play tonight, but we are pooped, so we decided to go to the final performance on Saturday night. That might be a better night, anyway, since Daughter will be here, and I'm sure she'd like to go.

So Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I watched the 2003 Lifetime Movie Network feature, "Wicked Minds." A young man returns home from college, and meets his abusive father's stunning, flirtatious wife. He falls for the wife, the father turns up dead, and there's a long list of suspects. Surprise ending.

The second feature we watched was another Lifetime Movie Network offering..."Alone With a Stranger." A man adopted a very young child is raised in a well-to-do home, but as an adult is surprised when a twin he doesn't remember shows up. The brother lived with an neglectful alcoholic. He is enraged about his brother's fortune and his own misfortune. He plans to see that his brother is killed, so he can take over his comfy life.

Wednesday, June 15

Up at 7:00, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. While I was getting ready for the day, county workers were busy in our yard trimming branches from trees that hung over power lines on the pole in our yard. They took the time to trim other dead limbs from the trees, too.

Mother came over early and cut up veggies and boiled eggs and potatoes for potato salad. Hubbie had peeled the potatoes earlier. While the potatoes cooled, I put together a baked bean recipe for the oven. I made two large dishes of them...probably too many for Hubbie's birthday party Friday, but we won't mind having some left to put in the freezer to take with us on a July camping trip.

After lunch, I ran errands while Hubbie worked in the yard. I went to a couple of places to pick up gifts for Hubbie, and then went to the WDCS for groceries for the party.

At one of the stores, I stood in line for quite a while behind an ancient gentleman and his wife, who obviously had been farming folks. He was regaling the young woman with information about how to cure poison ivy...make a paste from coffee and baking soda and rub it on, or rub the affected areas with fresh lettuce leaves. On and on he droned, until the young woman finally asked if she could help me, and the man moved on.

"I love that old couple," the young woman said, "but he sure likes to talk."

Then she asked if what I was buying was a Father's Day gift. "No," I said, "it's for my husband's birthday." Whereupon she launched into an explanation of how her grandmother makes her favorite dessert, including a list of ingredients and how to bake it.

Back home, I put together two potato salads...one without pickles and salt for me, and one regular batch for everyone else. In the meantime, Mother chopped more veggies for coleslaw.

Then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. At 5 p.m., I went to an art gallery meeting, where we spent the hour filling out bid sheets for silent auction items that will be offered at the Summer Celebration event next Monday night.

Back home, about 6:15, we had a supper of leftovers from last night...mac and cheese, sauteed squashes, and steamed potatoes.

Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched (or should say tried to watch) another ridiculous Syfy Channel, 2006 movie called, "Silent Hill." Based on a video game, a woman is traveling with her young daughter on a foggy day, when she has a car accident. She is knocked unconscious, and when she wakes up, her daughter is missing. The daughter sleep walks, and after once rescuing her from the edge of cliff near a thundering waterfall, the woman is terrified of what might have happened to her. She runs to the nearest town, where she meets up with ghouls.

After a while, we tired of that movie and moved to another Syfy feature...the 2011 movie, "Ice Road Terror." Two truckers, and an environmentalist female scientist traveling with them to deliver explosives to a mine site in Alaska, are threatened by a dormant prehistoric creature awakened by the mining operation. The creature isn't satisfied with eating the miners, it wants the truckers, the scientist, and any other hapless people it runs across.

Tuesday, June 14

Today is Flag Day, so the first thing Hubbie did this morning was put the flag out on the well house.

I was up around 7:30, and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I called the scrapbook club members to remind them of our Thursday meeting. One of the ladies loves to talk, so she chatted for well over thirty minutes. I thought my ear would fall off. This lady has been having problems dizzy spells, so she doesn't know if she'll attend the meeting or not. I left a message with the other one, and she called back later to say she plans to be there.

After that, I typed some journaling information to add to scrapbook pages I'm working on. I think I have enough materials to complete two or three pages. Mother will work on pages she started last month.

Then I spent the rest of the morning putting things back in order in the living room and dining room. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the bank, to a gas station, to a grocery store, and to the WDCS.

Funny: As I was waiting, along with several other women, to be served at the deli meat counter, an ample young woman with three small children arrived. At one point, she bent over to talk to one of her children...treating us to a view of a portion of her tattooed backside, where her pants and her shirt failed to meet. In unison,the rest of us instinctively tugged at the backs our shirts.

Mother spent the morning at her house cleaning and chopping green onions from the garden, and bagging them for the freezer. She came over after we got back home, and helped prepare veggies for supper...we had steamed new potatoes, a combination of sauteed zucchini and yellow squash, and macaroni and cheese. I did a poor job of planning this high-carb meal, but it tasted really good, anyway.

Mother went home right after supper, Hubbie went to work in the yard again, and I went to a community theater board meeting at 7 p.m. Tonight the meeting was held at the organization's workshop and costume storage building, which was oppressively hot, because apparently the air conditioner is on the blink. We usually meet at a member's home, but she is on vacation this month.

The meeting ended around 8:30, and when I got back home, Hubbie and I watched another ridiculous Syfy Channel movie...the 2009 "Ice Twisters," starring no one we know. A scientist turned science fiction author writes about a disaster that comes to pass, because weather experiments by a federal science agency go wrong. Of course, the scientist/writer is the only one who can save the day.

Monday, June 13

Up at 7:30, but skipped my exercises, because we expected the carpet cleaner to come around noon, and I wanted to be ready for the day early, in case he came early. And he did, around 11 a.m.

I'd gathered my tutoring materials and was at Mother's preparing today's lesson when he arrived. I'd also taken lunch and supper foods over there, because the carpet guy said we needed to allow about four hours for the carpet to dry.

While he was doing the job, the cats stayed in the sunroom, and Hubbie took Shih Tzu to the camper. When the carpet guy was done, Hubbie set up fans in the den and kithen/dining room, which hurried the drying process.

Around 2:15, I went to the college library down the road to meet with my student. She was there waiting for me. We spent the next two hours working. Today, she learned the beginning sounds of "w" and "wh," using words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings: we, whee; wear, where; wit, whit; we'll, wheel; wine, whine; weather, whether, etc.

She also learned the differences in the ideas of "in" a space and "on" a space, like, "the books are in the library," and "the book is on the table." We touched on opposites, too, like pretty/ugly; tall/short; young/old.

We focused on structure: "there is" and "there are": "There is a picture on the table." "There are ten students in class." We also dealt with present and past tense: "I am cold today." "I was cold yesterday."

She had a bit of a problem understanding the concept of "were," and "weren't." And she wanted to pronounce "dishes" as "ditches," and "bank" as bunk." Otherwise, she did really well today.

Shortly after I got back home, we had a supper of leftover pork roast and veggies. I came home right after eating, because Hubbie was anxious to put the house back in order.

I was planning to work on hanging the curtains tomorrow, but we did it tonight instead. First came the frustrating process of adjusting the hardware for the old curtain rods, and then putting up hardware for the new rods. Took a while, but the terrible task was finally completed.

While Hubbie worked on the rods, I washed the sheers, and we hung them wet as soon as the rods were ready. Then I put the sage window scarves in the dryer to eliminate the wrinkles, and I struggled to get those up on the new rods. The effect is certainly different from the previous window treatments, but it'll do. At least everything's clean and fresh now.

At last, we sat down to a movie...the 2008 Lifetime Movie Network feature, "Secrets of Summer House." There's a curse on the family summer house and island that causes the males to be affected by strange symptoms. A male heir inherits the place, and is immediately in a near-fatal accident. His wife wants to turn the property into an artist's retreat, but she soon finds that her husband and unborn son are in danger. She has to break the curse, but how?

Sunday, June 12

Up around 7:30, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Mother came over as I was getting ready for the day and put a pork roast and veggies in the slow cooker.

I spent the rest of the morning doing the usual Sunday things...laundry, reading the newspaper, etc. Hubbie spent his time in the yard.

After lunch, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I went to the museum for a program on our local marble quarries. Because there is no longer a market for it, the quarries aren't mined for marble anymore.

But during its heyday, the quarry that the speaker talked about, owned by his family, was one of three that were in operation. From that quarry came different colored blocks that were shipped by train to finishers, who cut it into desired slabs and polished it to a high gloss to be used inside buildings as walls and floors. Some truly huge blocks were even tooled into columns.

The marble from this quarry can be seen in many buildings not only in our state, but in over half the states of the country, including Hawaii. A five foot tall, eight foot wide stone of beautiful red marble marks the grave in the tomb of Abraham Lincoln, in Springfield, Illinois. A photo of the marble stone can be seen at www.illinoishistory.gov. This same red marble, highly polished, also graces some of the floors in the White House.

Locally, many homes in the historic district feature unpolished marble on exteriors, while business feature it in polished form on interiors.

Back home, Hubbie went back out to work in the yard, and I grabbed my camera to snap images of the veggie garden and lovely lilies in the flower gardens, which I uploaded to my social network page.

Later, Hubbie discovered that the black male cat was missing again. Hubbie searched the sunroom, including under the hot tub, where he'd last been seen. It finally became apparent that the rascal had scooted out of the house at some point when the door was open.

Hubbie searched the yard to no avail. Just before dark, Mother buzzed me on the intercom to say there was a black cat on the roof of our house. Sure enough, it was him. He was frightened and trying to claw his way back in through the upstairs bathroom window. Hubbie got the ladder and climbed up to rescue him. Cats never learn, so we can expect him to sneak out again at the first opportunity.

Once the cat was found, we settled in for a couple of Lifetime Movie Network features. The first was the 2005, "A Killer Upstairs," starring Bruce Boxleitner, and Tracy Nelson. A woman is murdered, and a teen boy who had an affair with her is suspected. His mother (Nelson) has to prove his innocence.

The second feature was the 2009 "Dead Lines." A fashion designer, who champions the environment and women around the world, opens a store. But then an employee is murdered, and other frightening things happen that threaten not only her career, but the life of her daughter.

Aggravation: Friday night, while at the Small Works on Paper reception at the art gallery, I picked up a free issue of a slick advertising magazine that features local businesses and organizations in photojournalism format. A two-page spread this month is devoted to the Australian program held recently at a local school, and sponsored by the arts council.

The spread features several of the photos I shot of the artists who conducted the program, and the children who participated in it...for which I was given no credit. I'll be picking this bone with the arts council director at our meeting next Tuesday night. Shooting an event like that is work for which, as a volunteer, I am not paid, so I don't think it's asking too much to get photo credit.

Aggravation 2: Recently, Hubbie bought six pepper plants at the local farm store that were identified as sweet banana peppers. Well, today, he found that a pepper was big enough to pick, but when he brought it in and tasted it, he found that it is actually a hot pepper.

We absolutely do not want hot peppers. We want sweet banana peppers. So Hubbie will be complaining to the store and "suggesting" he get a refund. Those dadburn plants were over $3 apiece!

Aggravation 3: For some reason, Javascript is not working on my laptop, so the "publish post" function of my blog is out of commission. The past couple of days, I've been writing my blogs on my laptop, and posting them from my office computer. If I don't soon find the problem, I guess I'll be calling my favorite tech again.