A little clip of Lora's voice recital.

Tomorrow I leave for my week-long stress-relief vacation with Sue (coolmom56) at her cabin in northern Wisconsin.  While there we plan to scrapbook, shop, walk, eat and just visit.  We're also going to meet with fellow xangan mimiwi!  Won't that be fun!

I think I'll be eating a lot of salads.  I'm actually thinking this diet will be a very good thing.  I have always had a huge sweet-tooth and that has gotten out-of-hand.  I'd rather eat something with sugar than anything else.  So maybe this low-fructose diet will wean me from those cravings.

I'm also bringing the reception favors with me - Sue volunteered to help me put those together.  I did the computer work for them yesterday. 

 

This was my big project yesterday - I scrubbed out my fridge.  I should have taken a "before" picture but I would have been too embarrassed.  I waited too long to clean it, thinking it would be a project that my dd would want to do to earn keep.  But no.  So I did it and a great job of it too!

 

I tried to arrange things by shelf, putting jams all on one shelf, etc.  We'll see how long that lasts.

 

Even the grungy mess at the very bottom got cleaned out!

Thursday night we had a major thunderstorm come through with lots of rain - we lost power for well over two hours.  It went out just as we sat down to dinner.  Good thing Michelle had finished cooking the vegies in the microwave!

The rain cooled things off nicely, which was a good thing since we didn't have air!  After about two hours without power Peter came home with 3 of his friends in tow, planning to make pancakes for dinner!  This was said with great enthusiasm and happiness.  I had to put the kibosh on the plan, since it would involve opening up the fridge and running water (which, since we have a well, isn't a good idea when you don't have power.  For those of you who don't know, when you have a well, the electricity is what brings it into the house.  Without it, you don't have running water.  You have a reservoir in the basement that only holds so much.  This also means that toliets don't get flushed and showers don't get taken.  So you hope for a short power outage, not a long one!)

The power came back on around 9 and they made their pancakes then.   I told Dave I thought Peter ought to be a youth pastor, since, in my experience, youth pastors have the least regard for details but are greatly into great ideas and fun!

I won't be anywhere near a computer for the next week, so I'll be checking on all of you when I get back next weekend.  Behave until then!

Guess what fun thing I did today?  You'll all be so jealous.  Don't you just hate it when people use these blogs to brag on their exciting lives?

Do you think I

A) shopped at the outlet mall and got me a great new outfit from Liz Claiborne

B) drove by the local Toyota dealer and traded in the '00 van for a new model with totally fold-down seats?

C) hired a landscape architect to totally redo my yard before the wedding, installing a pond, and gazebo and a rose arbor?

D) drove up to the winery north of Niles and feasted on their fabulous pecan/crusted raspberry chicken

E) went to high tea with three of my bestest friends and wore my favorite tea hat

F) had a colonoscopy

G)  took Kaden to the zoo for the first time to enjoy his reaction to the animals

H) went on a picnic with the fan club next door

I) took the train into Chicago to see the new Tut exhibit

H) drove up to South Haven with the kids to watch Kaden enjoy the beach

 

If you guessed F you win the prize. 

Last night was even more fun than today.  I threw up most of the luscious gallon of fluid that's a required part of the festivities.  But, even so, got enough down that the doctor was able to successfully look into my colon.  He didn't find any polyps or cancer, praise the Lord!  But, since the other reason that I had the procedure done, other than it's a typical part of the age-50 rite of passage, is that I've been having diarrhea daily for the past few weeks.  I know.  TMI.  So he did do a biopsy and then, and here's the stinker (no pun intended) I have to go on a Low Fructose Diet for the next two weeks.  And right before I go away on my week-long girly trip with Sue. 

These are the things I can't eat: 

fruit

fruit juice

sweet potatoes

winter squash (what a hardship )

Beans (except green)  (I'm glad I can still eat green beans - geesh!)

Honey

Maple syrup (no pancakes or waffles on the trip)

jam/jellies

nut preserves

soda pop (diet or regular)

processed meats with sugar (i.e. ham, bacon, lunch meats, hot dogs)

any DESSERTS (waaaaaaa ) containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup

no dairy products (except plain lowfat yogurt - which only tastes palatable if you can add jam to it, which I won't be able to do)

any sugar substitutes

 

If I don't come back from this trip thinner I'll have to kill someone.  Maybe the doctor?  Now I have to get online and see what that leaves! 

I can't leave you on that negative note, so here are some adorable pictures of my favorite grandson.

 

Michelle's in one of her Amish dresses (Kaden is wearing Amish too) while they are in amishland at grandma Katie's house.

 

All clean and wrapped up to go.

 

Who is that cute baby on the other side of the mirror?

 

Yup, that one!

This book is laugh-out-loud funny, poignant and true!

 

Just had to add one more of the family room.  I KNEW I'd seen a way to rotate a photo - it's with the new beta version of xanga uploader.  Cool, huh?

Great new pictures today!  Kaden will be 10 weeks old tomorrow.  Can you believe that?

 

 

Isn't this a cute picture?

 

Grass between his toes!

The exhaustion side effect seems to have disappeared.  God is good.  I really didn't need that much sleep!

I finally got my family room back!  Dave began the flooring project at least a month before Kaden arrived and today we put the furniture back.  It looks great!  We put an area rug over the laminate floor so now we have a definite division between the computer area and the sitting room area.

 

Peter is modeling.  Isn't the new rug purty?  Sam is standing where the computer is now.  We had it directly behind the railing, in the eating room area.  Now we have the big breakfast room back!

 

He's almost ready to turn himself over.  Just move that butt a little bit more!

 

 

Thought I'd post before I crash again from the side-effects of the CEFTIN, taking for the sinus infection.  I googled it and found that sleepiness is a "rare" side-effect.  Darn.  Guess that's better than some of the more common sides, like diarrhea!!  LOL.  But honestly, about an hour after a dose I feel like I've been deprived of sleep for days and HAVE TO TAKE A NAP!  I took one for over two hours this morning.  Will this last all ten days of my dosage?

 

Michelle and Sam just made an appearance about an hour ago with three little Amish cousins in tow.  Seems they forgot all the Amish invites that they were intending to hand deliver last night.  The little girls were very cute.  I sent them off with a can of pop each and a slice of Papa Murphey's pizza.  Yummy.

It's really a perfect weather day.  After my nap I got some weeding in - perfect weather for that!

 

Vegie beds.

 

Hostas and painter's palate.

 

Raspberries - yum!

 

I'm still working on filling this bed out.  I'm hoping the Japanese maple in the corner takes off.

I'm reading an excellent biography - I'm really excited about this book - very fascinating.  It's about the most traveled man of the 19th century, who was also totally blind.  His story was lost for many years, until Jason Roberts found mention of him briefly and investigated.  What an incredible story.  Much better than the fluff I've been filling my mind with.

 

Gotta pick up some sinus meds after I post this.  The x-ray confirmed what I suspected - I have clogged sinuses.  Drat.  I was hoping I'd never have to worry about that after the surgery 5 years ago.  I just don't want to have to go through that again!

 

Kaden always seems to have most of his hand in his mouth.

 

They really love each other.

 

Guess Grandma isn't as much fun as daddy.  That's as it should be.

 

As much as I love blue hydrangeas, I think this pink is stunning.

 

I'm happy with the way the front of the house looks.

 

Astilbe and a Sum and Substance hosta in the back.

Mixed bag of pictures today - some of Kaden and some of my midsummer garden.

I ordered over 100 photos from yahoo today - have to pick them up at Target tomorrow.  I'm trying to get ready for my annual cropping vacation with Sue up in Northern Wisconsin.  Cropping, shopping and eating.  Walks in the woods, and along Lake Michigan.  I really need this!  I'll head up there next Sunday and return the following Saturday.  Friday night I'll spend in Illinois - one of my friend's daughters is having a vocal recital - she'll be starting up at Wheaton Conservatory in late August and I've never heard her sing.  I can't wait!  It'll be a great way to end my selfish week away!!!!!

It's cooled off some here.  Still summer, but we turned the air off.  Michelle thinks it ought to go back on, but I say, if I can stand it, keep it off.  I'd rather have the fresh air with windows open.

No plans for tomorrow.  A quiet Saturday at home for a change!  Yippee!

 

 

One month ago.

I took a new picture of our boy with the creature.

 

 

We'll compare him at 2 months with it to the one we took at one month.  He is such a good baby.  Smiling and cooing like a baby should.

I've been hard at work planning and ordering for the wedding reception at the end of August.  The invitations are mostly in the mail - at least the ones I'm sending to family and friends.  Michelle and Sam have their own pile to do.  At least my friends will come!

I've made arrangements for hotel accommodations for overnight guests - that was a mess - the Holiday Inn spelled our name wrong so when someone called for a reservation, it wasn't in their system.  Then they didn't send me the contract like they said they would.  They claim they had the wrong zip code.  That's just stupid since there is only one zip code for our town and most people know what it is!  Geesh.

Today Michelle and I went to the rental place to order the linen tableclothes and extra tables and chairs to complete what the church is letting us use.  For free.  So Michelle picked out the burgundy color for the linen and found out that one of the color choices for the cheapest chairs was also burgundy, so we ordered those.  But when she found out that the church chairs would be a different color she had a fit.  Said that would look stupid to have two colors of chairs.  I told her most of the people wouldn't notice since they won't have to be mixed at tables and if it really bothered her she could come up with the over $80 it would cost to rent the 80 chairs we're getting free from the church.  Geesh.

I also ordered bulk flower seed online for the favors.  Since it's a garden reception, that seems like the reasonable favor!  I got the packing stuff at Hobby Lobby and we'll see how they look once I can start filling with seeds.

One of my book club friends here offered me the use of her silver punch bowl.  I thought that was very nice.  I probably will take her up on that.  She also offered to supply the punch, but I already started getting the supplies in for that.

I'm trying to find someone to hire who will oversee everything the day of the party and then also hire some of the youth from church to do the running.  I asked the church secretary but she couldn't think of anybody who might be able to use the extra money.  I can't believe that.  Now I have Peter thinking of some of his friends who might want to do it.

Perhaps this is what is keeping me up at night - thinking of all the details that I have to remember to do?

Or perhaps it is all the tests that I have to have done as a result of my physical last week?  The blood work is done as is the mammogram and the xrays of my sinuses.  I've had a headache for over the past six weeks.  I surely hope I don't have to have my sinuses roto-rutted again.  I had that done five years ago.  Try eating when your nose is packed full of the stuff they pack it with after surgery.  Yuck!  Procedures yet to come:  a baseline bone density scan, an ultrasound of my thyroid and a colonoscopy.  These half-century tune-ups are expensive!  Good thing we have good insurance!

I really should try to get some sleep.  I just let Barney in - it's 1:00 a.m. for crying out loud!  What is he doing out so late?

Last night we lost power here for 6 hours in the middle of the night.  I guess the sky was electric with lighting - very pretty but scary too.  Barney came in earlier last night - he wouldn't have liked that.  At least we got some much needed rain.  Lots and lots of rain. 

Good night.  See you in the morning!

I'm back.

We went up to Muskegon again - this time for a fun reason - they gave Michelle a bridal shower!

I promised my mom pictures.

 

We think he may be teething.  He is drooling like crazy, and pulling his ear and gnawing on his hand.  He's also a little congested.  Those all seem like teething signs.

 

Michelle was going to try a teether on him but she flew off to Napanee with Sam and Kaden after they were only home an hour.  Sigh.  So I'll be responsible and find one of his teethers and fridge it for when they get back.

 

 

Kaden slept through much of his mommies shower.

 

 

And then he got a few fun toys - he was getting hungry in this picture and was being ignored!

I'm holding him while Dave's sister Linda is scribing for Michelle and cuzzin Sandy is in the background.  Sandy and Linda hosted the shower for Michelle.  They are terrific!

Now I'll go visiting!

Just for laughs today.

>
>   Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit
>their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school
>essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers
>across the country. Here are last year's winners.....
>
>1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides
>gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
>
>2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like
>underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
>
>3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy
>who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those
>boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high
>schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of
>those boxes with a pinhole in it.
>
>4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was
>room-temperature Canadian beef.
>
>5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog
>makes just before it throws up.
>
>6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
>
>7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
>
>8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated
>because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a>surcharge at
>a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
>
>9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a
>bowling ball wouldn't.
>
>10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag
>filled with vegetable soup.
>
>11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,
>surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy
>comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
>
>12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
>
>13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry
>them in hot grease.
>
>14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced
>across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one
>having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from
>Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
>
>15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that
>resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
>
>16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had
>also never met.
>
>17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the
>East River.
>
>18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap,
>only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
>
>19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
>
>20. T he plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike
>Phil, this plan just might work.
>
>21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating
>for a while.
>
>22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a
>real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or
>something.
>
>23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg
>behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
>
>24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around
>with power tools.
>
>25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if
>she were a garbage truck backing up.