In Memoriam

It is with a sad heart that I sit down to write this blog. Our beloved guinea pig, Ziggy, died this afternoon. He occupied a corner of our living room and our hearts for two and a half years. Despite the expense and work involved in caring for him, we all loved him, yet somehow, I seem to shed the most tears.

Troy was his favorite person. Ziggy always waited for him to come home from work. He would start getting jumpy around 4:30 because he knew his evening salad would be coming soon. Troy would make him give him a “kiss” before he put the salad in the bowl. Twice he got impatient and made a leap toward the salad bag but ended up tumbling to the floor. Thankfully, he never got injured during those stunts. Many an evening Troy would sit with piggy on his chest as he watched TV.

Ziggy is now buried in the garden with a stepping-stone to mark his location. We will miss him.

Have You Had Your U.S.R.D.A....

I am always being asked, “Mom, how many of these can we have?” I answer with another question, “What is the serving size on the side of the box?” After they check, they usually want to know, “Is that the adult serving size or the kid serving size?” Then I make the judgment. Sometimes it requires a bit more information like the amount of sugar or fat in the serving size. Suffice to say; the kids around here know how to read the nutritional information on packaged foods. Eventually, I hope this helps them to make good decisions for themselves

They especially love to read the nutritional information on cereal boxes as they eat their breakfast. They like to compare the facts with each other. One will call out, “Calories from Fat, zero grams, zero percent.” Another one calls out, “Point five grams, two percent.” Then the third gives his/her cereal’s amounts and they begin with the next item on the list. They need to know who is eating the most nutritious breakfast.

It is interesting to me that they can pronounce some of those harder words like, “magnesium,” “carbohydrate” and “polyunsaturated.” Recently, as I listened to one of these exchanges, Heather called out a most interesting ingredient: “Robinflavor, twenty-five percent.” I guess I need to check the labels better before I buy things!

A Light Bulb Situation

“We have a light bulb situation!” Trent announced in his best “play-by-play” voice. He always feels the need to bring excitement to every event, even the most mundane problem of a burnt out bulb.

A few weeks ago, we did experience a true “light bulb situation.” I laid two energy efficient, compact fluorescent bulbs on the kitchen counter while we installed a new fixture in the other room. Along came a child, who shall remain nameless, who knocked one of the bulbs to the kitchen floor where it shattered into innumerable pieces.

Our local news had just run a segment on what to do if a fluorescent bulb broke but I couldn’t remember the exact instructions. I quickly ran to the computer to look up this information. I read that we needed to: 1.Clear the area by opening windows to ventilate, 2.Turn off central air conditioning, 3.Get all people and pets out of the area for 15 minutes. So, okay, we did that. Guinea pig made a trip outside with us while we waited for the chemicals to dissipate.

According to the news and web site, fluorescent bulbs have mercury in them, which should not be disposed of in the regular garbage. The box instructs consumers to recycle the bulbs, not throw them in the trash. After it was “safe” to return inside, I had the joy of cleaning up the mess. The web site (Did I mention that it was a government web site?) said: 1.Use gloves to handle the glass shards, 2.All textiles which had come in contact with the substance should never to be used again, 3.Place all pieces of the bulb into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid or double bag in zippered plastic bags, along with anything else that the mercury powder may have touched, 4.Use disposable wipes or shaving cream and an old paintbrush to clean up all of the miniscule particles of glass and powder. 5. Never vacuum the debris.

Great! So, I had to get rid of my pretty little rug that I had in front of the sink and it took forever to ensure that there was no glass particulate in the grooves between the floor tiles. The shaving cream idea was a good one. I can be thankful that it was only the kitchen floor as opposed to one with carpeting, and that no one was in the way of the crashing bulb.

Anyway, after all the mess was safely sealed in protective plastic bags, I called my local recycling place to ask if they take broken fluorescent bulbs. The answer, “No. The law states that fluorescent bulbs used in residential homes may be disposed of with the regular refuse. No big deal.” What? That’s right, ordinary people are permitted to put mercury into their garbage and subsequently into the local landfill. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, if these bulbs are going to become the only ones available in a few years, it should not be a “situation” to handle their breakage. On the other hand, when a mercury thermometer breaks in a junior high school they send the kids home and the “hazmat team” in. Is it worth it? Troy says there probably isn’t enough mercury in the bulbs to really impact anything, but if everyone has to use them, there is bound to be a greater concentration of that poison.

Apparently it wasn’t that big a deal. Now the situation is this: as we try to market our house, we have a lovely announcement on the driveway that commemorates the event. During those 15 minutes of quarantine from the house, Trevor took a “writing berry” from the tree out front and wrote, “Mercury Spill, 06/07/08,” on the concrete. The rain is slowly washing the message away. Hopefully it will be unreadable by the next open house.

Blog Fodder

I have a special file on my computer I labelled "Blog Fodder" where I can jot down ideas of things that might be worthy of inclusion in a blog when I get around to it.



This is a picture I ran across recently that I thought was interesting. I am not sure where I found it so I can't give credit where it is due, suffice to say that it is not my own.

This is another note I had written to myself, obviously while school was still in session:

One thing leads to another. Home schooling provides many opportunities to tie in things we study to other more personal areas of the childrens' interests. Trevor loves all things Star Wars. He knows many obscure facts about each of the six movies and likes to regale others with said information. One day as we worked on his science definitions, we read that blood flowing through the veins and air circulating through the lungs are forces, so I told him that maybe, “May the force be with you,” was the same as saying, “May blood keep flowing through your veins,” or “May your nostrils continue to take in fresh air to circulate through your respiratory system.” How about those as parting blessings to your houseguests?

What are the best/worse/most creative greetings and benedictions you have heard?

Thirteen Years

Two weeks ago, Troy and I celebrated thirteen years of wedded bliss! Mom came over to watch the children so we could go to Casa Fiesta, a newer Mexican restaurant in Fremont. The food was delicious and the service was quick...maybe because it was a Tuesday at five-thirty. When we got done eating, we debated what to do. There is no place to see a movie in Fremont so we chose to do a little shopping. We didn't see anything worth buying, so we headed home. The kids were surprised to see us by eight o'clock. Not a very eventful evening, but it was nice to go to a restaurant without children.

This year's anniversary was better than the last few years. Since Troy has been at BGSU, our anniversary has fallen during Buckeye Boys' State convention every year. This means that he is overloaded with work to make sure all of the paperwork is printed, collated, stapled, folded, delivered, etc. on time. Problem is, he never gets the materials from them by the promised time and ends up working into the wee hours of the morning to finish before the closing ceremonies on Saturday. Last year on our anniversary, he arrived home at 1 am, only to have to turn around and go back because one of the important machines broke down just after he left and he is the only one who knows how to fix it. He finally came home again at 4 am for a couple hours of sleep, then it was back to the office to deliver all the paperwork on Saturday. Apparently, once every 7 years or so, we should be able to celebrate together as long as he works there.

Lately, I have had the opportunity to meet up with friends from the past...high school and college acquaintances. I am often fascinated by how different my life is from theirs. Though I've been married for the "long time" of thirteen years, one of my high school friends just got married. Another high school friend is retired from 20 years of service in the Marines. Then another friend just introduced me to her grandchild, who wasn't much younger than my own child. I'm definitely not ready for that. When my Mom was the age I am now, she had been married for twenty-three years and I was graduated from college. I just can't imagine. This all brings me to the point that I am glad to be where I am right now! I'm thankful for my husband and children and wouldn't have it anyother way.

In the Last Two Months...

So much time has passed since the last blog!
So many things have happened since the last blog!
I check everyone else's blogs almost daily, but haven't put much thought into writing one myself. It seems many are in the same boat. So here goes with the update for the last two months.

School ended and we had an Open House at church for all the children in our home school group. It was interesting to see how every family (read "Mom") organizes and teaches different subjects. Trent played his harmonica and Heather played her lap harp for the music portion of our program. What talented children we have!

We planted seeds for flowers and herbs in the garden rather than vegetables in case we should sell the house before harvest time. Ha! Ha! I planted some things in clay pots so they could be moved with us. Then I came up with an ingenious (see title of blog) method of planting flower seeds in perfectly straight rows. I used a roll of toilet paper to make nice long rows, evenly spaced in planned areas. The kids came along behind me with water bottles to spritz the paper to keep it from blowing away. We counted the squares of the paper to measure the distance between seed placement. The system was: "squirt paper, place seeds, squirt seeds, cover with dirt and resquirt." It would have been great but somewhere between the last squirt and the sprouting of the plants, the seeds mysteriously migrated and plants appeared in other locations. This made weeding a much more challenging task. I don't know if it was birds, moles or hard rain, but God wants us to have a more random look to our garden.

High school friend Joni commissioned some custom artwork on the freshly painted walls. I painted the name of her salon/art gallery and a quote by Leonardo da Vinci, "It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." We have more quotes planned for other walls. One is by St. Augustine, "Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked." Katy suggested a postscript, "We serve all kinds." Apparently, many of Joni's customers have expressed an interest in hiring me to do custom work in their own homes and businesses. Could become a nice side income.

Our family took a day trip to Sauder Village in Archbold, OH. We wanted to spend more time so we bought a family membership. It cost less for the one year membership than for the family to visit twice, plus we got 5 guest passes. If the name Sauder rings a bell, it should. You may have some of their furniture in your home or office. FYI, there is a Sauder outlet store next door to the original family home. While we were there, a reporter from the Toledo Blade newspaper took a picture of the kids petting the horse that was about to take us on a carriage ride. The picture was published in the Memorial Day issue.

We took another day trip to Seneca Caverns in Flat Rock, Ohio. We "Braved the Caviest Cave in America," and hope to return later in the summer when the water level falls so we can spelunk on the lower levels which happened to be covered by the underground river when we were there.

Niece Hannah graduated from high school at the top of her class a year early! She has grown to be a beautiful, talented, Christian young lady who excels in everything. As the oldest cousin on both sides of her family, she has certainly set the bar high for the rest of her cousins. Congrats, Hannah!

I attended my 20th college reunion and was delighted to reconnect with many acquaintances. My roommate and great friend, Beth, came up from West LaFayette, IN, with her husband. We had a marvelous time catching up and spent the evening playing "Apples to Apples" and "Wise and Otherwise" with our family.

Three weeks ago, Heather learned to ride her bike without training wheels with the help of her big brothers. She did end up with many bumps, cuts and bruises as a new rider, but was sufficiently healed of the ones in visible areas to participate as flower girl in my friend Eli's wedding on Saturday. This was the biggest event planned for her summer. She talked about it for months. She did a lovely job!







After much frustration with house selling, we dispensed with the services of our realtor. During six months she scheduled only four open houses (one of which was cancelled the day of due to inclement weather.) The house was advertised only six times in local papers and all the ads had intentional errors, primarily in the address. How was anyone going to find us? The realtor expected people to call her for info as she never forgot to include her picture nor her phone number in the ads. We meet with another realtor Monday with whom we have dealt before. We shall pray for better results.

I think that does it. There are many more things on the schedule for the rest of the summer so don't get your hopes up about more regular posting...

Old But Still Funny

It's been a long time since my last blog. It's been a long time since a lot of things actually. Earlier this week I had reason to go through some files of papers I have saved from college days. I could not remember why I might have saved some of them, but for others it was evident right away. I came across several funny things from my English classes which made me laugh out loud all over again, so I decided to share the fun.

This was the little gem I needed to find to share with Trevor. He had a creative writing assignment to write imaginary instructions for how to make elephant stew. I promised that once he finished, he could read the recipe as given to me by by an old family friend many years ago. It is reprinted here for your gastronomic pleasure.


Elephant Stew

Ingredients:
1 medium elephant
brown gravy
2 rabbits (optional)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.Cut the elephant into bite-sized pieces.
2.Add enough brown gravy to cover and cook over a kerosene fire for about four weeks at 456.
3.Salt and pepper to taste.
4.Serves 3,800 people. If more are expected, the two rabbits may be added; but do this only in an emergency, as most people don’t like hare in their stew.

After we all chuckled about the stew, we perused the other papers and came across one labeled "Crazy Misprints." We turned this into a grammar lesson as Trevor figured out what each quote should have said.

"He got up, dressed, and took a shower."

"Police have found a car containing a case of whiskey. They have found no trace of the owner. Captain Moore is working on the case." (This could be in our town.)

"Buildings that were condemned along with their owners are listed below."

"Must move. Baby and household furniture for sale."

"This new formula will kill flies, aunts and other pests." (Sorry Aunties, it's time to go.)

"Around her neck was an antique gold chair."

"The police would like to know who the owners of the dogs are. They should be either killed or kept from doing further damage."

"Researchers said a new kind of hearing aid can be built that will work for all dead or hard-of-hearing persons." (The faith hearing aid?)

"IRS officials said they will give help to confuse taxpayers struggling with their income tax forms." (I'm not so sure this was actually a misprint.)

"What is needed more than anything is a warm, dry rain."

"The shooting match will last as long as there's anyone left around to shoot."

"He has two half-brothers, aged 59 and 57, and several cousins, all odder than he is." (I think I know this guy.)

"This would give mine inspectors the right to shout down mines if they found them unsafe."

"Mrs. Taylor was attacked by a muskrat on Main Street. His leg was bitten." (This might have happened in our town, too.)

"The flames spread so fast that the firemen were driven back and leaped across the street to set fire to other buildings."