Day Trippin' Part 2

I trekked off north yesterday and spent the day with my favorite grandson!  He is such a cutey.

He had this new bouncing seat that had all these motor-skill-building attachments.  It has lights that flash and buttons to push for music and beads that twirl on a wire.

He would look at us in amazement with a big grin on his face.  It was as if he couldn't believe all the bells and whistles and all the bright colors on this contraption.

I took all these shots with my phone.  So, they are a bit grainy but not so much that you cannot see all the adorable expressions he had at learning about this new bouncing seat.

We are thinking that he might be leaning toward a left-handed tendency.  He seems to use the right paw to balance with and grasps and manipulates more with his left.  For part of the day he sat in my lap and was curiously amazed by a locket that I was wearing.  For another part of the day he sat in my lap and we talked and played with toys.  He has a favorite that he will grasp and pull into his mouth and chew and chew on it.  Mostly, I just sat and held him and talked to him and watched his cute little expressions in amazement.  Is there anything better than a sweet little innocent baby?

Wednesday's Day Trip was a great one full of fun, too!

Day Tripping

Spring Break!  It is a time to relax and step into spring.  It is a time to do something fun and enjoy the sun.  What if spring break seems more like lingering winter cold and the skies are grey?

Well, fake it till you make it, is what we have decided and yesterday we went on a day trip to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.

It was a first time experience for Lydia, Lillie, Corey, and me.  Bridgette was a veteran who had visited with groups of school children but the trip with family was a new experience for her, too.  The foggy, misty morning held a zip and the wind had a bit of a bite.  The forecast was for the sun to come out and warm up the day.  (Weather forecasters - they have been known to miss it, though, and yesterday was a miss!)

The zoo features a most natural essence with lots of wooden bridges across streams, ponds, knotted rope, and bamboo for hand rails.  Live bamboo grows all throughout the zoo and is used to preserve it as a habitat and to feed the animals as well.  For a place that holds wild animals in captivity, it is a very natural looking and feeling preserve where the animals are well-kept and cared for and all of them look sleek and healthy.

We saw amphibians, birds, cranes, elephants, fish, flamingos, frogs, geese, gibbons, goats, kangaroos, lemurs, lizards, meerkats, mountain lions, zebras, and more.  I think my favorites were the zebras.  I don't know if Lillie would say her favorites were the zebras or the horses that were over in the historic farm area.  I am not sure which Lydia would say were her favorites but I know which she would say were not...

From the time we got into the car (and probably even before) Lydia was talking about how she wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit.  She explained to me that the dinosaurs were just robots to help me not be afraid.  However, immediately after we paid the extra four dollars and entered the exhibit, she became uber quiet and wanted to hold onto somebody's hand.  She would have no part of picture posing with them like Lillie did, either.

We were wishing we had our camera into video mode as Lillie made the climb to the top of this beast.  Her long lanky legs and big bright sneakers did not make for easy climbing up onto this guy's hard plastic, slippery body.  

Both girls were quite the troopers as we walked from place to place.  I dare say our trek was a few miles through the park.  It was nice that we could pause and park on a bench and watch at times.  Nobody complained throughout the trip and that made it even nicer.

Lillie was testing out her reading skills and read most of the signs to tell us all about each animal.  She was thoroughly interested and had a big time exploring it all.  Lydia seemed to notice the snack stops.  First, popcorn seemed like a good idea but her mother reminded her that we had just had a delicious meal and she could wait.  Next, funnel cakes seemed to be calling our name but we were headed inside to the aviary and tropical house, so, we couldn't take food into there.  Then, we passed a cotton candy stand on our way up to see the zebras and we were told to wait till we looped back around and we could snack then.

At one point, we were walking along and had almost looped back around to the cafe when Lydia's whole body just seemed to slump and she could barely plod one foot in front of the other.  She informed us that she just about couldn't walk any more because she needed some "cah-un candy!"  Bridgette and I laughed so hard we could hardly walk any more either.  So, of course, the next stop was to get a snack.

Sticky, pink, sweetness wearing a smile!

Lillie wasn't into the cotton candy so much and opted for some "plain yellow potato chips" and a bottle of water.

A little salty to offset the sweet always makes the day fine!

Corey chose to try out the funnel cakes.  As it turned out, Lydia was really wise in her choice.  When she saw her daddy coming toward the bench to sit down with his snack, she quickly stuffed the sticky pinkness of her cotton candy back into the bag and cozied up to him and shared his powder-sugar-coated funnel cake.  Ah...the best of both worlds for a little sweet tooth!

We really enjoyed all aspects of the zoo.  The walk was nice and leisurely, the weather was cool, the animals and habitats were interesting.  We also browsed the historic farm area and learned about how the animal preserve came to be.  If you are interested in learning more or visiting the park, you might want to check out Grassmere Historic Home and Farm.  There are also links to videos which provide more information about the exotic animals as well as the sheep, goats, Belted Galloway and Devon cattle, black Clydesdale, miniature pony, and Spotted Gypsy Vanner horse and the historic farm area.

We paused for a photo op in front of the flamingos.  Bridgette claimed that they were her favorites and they did help to make the day seem a bit warmer.  Lillie pointed out that they didn't really need a washcloth to bathe themselves and giggled profusely as we watched them dipping their heads into the water and splashing around.

The family is in the foreground and the spindly-legged ones in the background 

are the flamingos - just in case you couldn't tell.  

It was a fun day and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with some of the granddaughters.  It was a great day for taking in local cultural attractions and spending time learning about the world around me as shown to me by a child.  Thanks for letting me tag along, folks!

girls and grins

Not Really Irish

I know that on March 17, Saint Patrick's Day, almost everybody claims to be Irish.

I know that not everybody really is Irish.

I've embraced that and didn't succumb to the urge to have a Rueben sandwich for lunch...

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because I don't like kraut.  It just happens to be one of those Things We Do for Love.

I also didn't buy corned beef at the grocery when I went yesterday.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because we already have a freezer full of beef.

I didn't even wear green.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because the only green item I own is a silk scarf and this is spring break and I'm not dressing up this week if i can help it.

I did cave when it came to preparing a meal for my hubby, though.  The menu included pork chops, hash brown casserole, and cabbage.

We wound up having Parmesan-crusted pork chops that I cooked using Paul and Brenda Smith pork chops and adapted THIS recipe.

Well, maybe that was also done because I was too cold to go out and grill on a grey day that had started out with an icy deck.

The hubs loved the hash brown casserole so much that he almost ate half of it!  Half!  I used a new recipe that I found HERE.  It was just the right combination of crunchy-on-top and cheesey-gooey-in-the-middle.

Well, maybe I used that recipe because I couldn't find my old stand-by because I was cleaning out a couple of cabinets and reorganizing things to put Mike's sausage making mechanisms away.  (More on that in another post for another day.)

Mike also loved the cabbage.  I simply cut it into quarters.  Then, I put two of the quarters into my Dutch oven and added about an inch of water.  I covered it and set it to boiling.  When the cabbage quarters were beginning to look a wee bit limp and there was only enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, I dolloped a tablespoon of butter over the top, slathering it across the top of the peak of the quarter.  I sprinkled with some salt and pepper and returned the lid to the pot to finish melting the butter and allow the water to absorb into the cabbage.  (It was yummy if I must say so myself!)

Well, maybe I felt more of an urge to cook the cabbage because it had been in the fridge for a week than the fact that it was St. Patty's Day.

So, we were a little bit Irish even though we are not really Irish.  Isn't being ethnic yummy?

Tag Team Project/Vocabulary Lesson

Mike got a Purple Martin house for Christmas.

Let me correct this by saying that he got a box with the components of a Purple Martin house inside it.

I moved the box three or four times because it was setting out and started getting on my nerves.  I can only take clutter for so long and then I have to take action - and who wants to clean, for goodness sake?!

The box turned out to be less of a problem than the contents.

A week or so ago, Mike decided to begin putting it together.  Let me say right now that he is one of these folks who likes to putter.

I am not.

He put all the 'room walls' of one level together and then called it a day.  So, for several days the pinwheel of side walls is all that was put together.  The other umpteen jillion parts and bolts and nuts were left sitting on the table.

So, yesterday, I decided that I would work on getting it done while he cooked up a big southern breakfast.

I soon learned why he had given up so easily and set it aside to do something else.  There was a combination of reasons.  The material that the house is made of is a thin metal - tin or aluminum.  Yes, there are sharp edges.  Yes, the metal does a good job of nicking and cutting all parts of one's hands when assembling.  And, yes, there are lots and lots of little parts and tiny nuts and bolts.

notice the blue arrows

Each of those pieces with a blue arrow pointing toward it is a different metal piece which has to be joined to the center spoke and to one another.

the tiny nuts and bolts

There are four tiny bolts which attach each of those three pieces to one another and to the spoke in the center.  The nuts and bolts are about 1/8 of an inch in size.

People who are in their mid-fifties seem to struggle to grip such tiny bolts and nuts.

Mike is in his mid-fifties.

I am in my mid-fifties.

Curse words seem to flutter out.  Trying to catch the little nuts and bolts generally leads to gathering more of the already plentiful little cuts and nicks from the sharp metal pieces.  Curse words seem to flutter out.

After the white walls are all connected to one another to form a hexagon, the green floor pieces are snapped in place.  There are lots of sharp metal edges to the floor pieces which tend to cause more cuts and nicks to the fingers and hands.  Curse words seem to flutter out.

hexagon house and floors

There are little plastic rails which snap into the holes of the floor to form a porch rail or a perch for the birds.  Somehow, these don't seem to snap into the holes quite as simply as one might expect causing a few cuts and nicks to the fingers.  Curse words flutter out.

one of six porch rail/perches

Once the walls, floors, and porch rails are assembled, the roof can be attached.  The roof comes in six pieces.  The pieces are attached to one another using two of those 1/8 inch nuts and bolts.  The edges of the roof are especially sharp and pointy.  The more pieces of the roof which are attached to one another, the more difficult it is to continue to feed the tiny little nuts through the respective holes and attach a nut for holding them causing a few cuts and nicks and curse words to flutter out.

The center piece of the roof is sort of like a cupola which is assembled using screen, a round piece of metal, a pointy plastic ridge pole, and a folded metal piece which anchors it in the top in a spring-like fashion.  There is a good bit of finagling required to get this all together and stuffed into the top of the roof.  There is also a bit of a finagle to connect each roof piece to a wall piece of the house.  Some cuts and nicks to the hands, arms, fingers ensued and some curse words seemed to flutter out.  Finally, the top floor was assembled.

top floor

So, I took a bit of a break and loaded the dirty breakfast dishes into the dishwasher before I began working on the next floor.  I got as far as putting five rooms together and only had one left to connect before I got really outdone with all the cuts and nicks and bleeding areas on my hands and the dropping and corralling of nuts and bolts.  I stopped and told Mike that if he wanted the purple martin house to go somewhere else besides the trash barrel, he would have to complete the assembly.

I might have even referenced it in terms something different than a purple martin house.

Well, I definitely called it something other than that.

So, Mike got the last walls attached and wrestled with the floors to get them snapped in properly.  Then, he began attaching the porch rail/perches to the bottom floor.  I think he got three or four of them snapped into place before one went sailing across the room and curse words began to flutter out...with a vengeance!

two story bird condos

So, I poked the last two or three porch rail/perches into their respective little holes and stacked the two floors of the purple martin house atop one another.  The entire thing is now assembled and ready to be attached to a pole.  If you look closely, you probably can see several of the tiny little screws.

If you look really closely, you may even see smears of blood from all the nicks and cuts on our hands.  If there had been a sound recorder, you probably would have learned some new vocabulary words.

Assembled!

We noticed that Stephen and Bonnie were closing the store early yesterday due to the inclement weather.  So, I sent him a message suggesting that he spend that newly-freed-up time putting our newly assembled purple martin house up on a pole.

He responded with only one word.  It included a reference to a bull.  Again, a new vocabulary word might be added if I shared that response with you here.

I sure hope the birds enjoy this monstrosity if it ever moves beyond covering half the kitchen table!  I also hope we have fewer mosquitoes when we are outside on the deck this summer.

Blast of Winter

Just when I had decided winter is done and I didn't really get any snow days...Mother Nature had other ideas.

Started as rain

The current blast started off as a thunderstorm.  Yes, I did say thunderstorm.  We got rain, rain, rain on Sunday after having a warm sunny Saturday.  There were even flood warnings locally for little Mill Creek.

Then, the ice pellets started falling.  At first there was just a little dusting of sleet.  Then, we noticed the trees started getting a coating of ice.

All the branches got a glassy-looking coating.

It was really pretty but I have seen this before and it wasn't such a good feeling.  I remember having lost electrical power and trees splitting and falling and such awfulness as that.

So, when I looked out and saw the fence wires getting icy, I didn't think this was such a good idea.  I dared not think about getting a snow day to stay home from school because the last time we had a prediction of a big dumping of winter weather, we got a big pffft.

bad cell phone picture that still shows iciness

Yet, sometime after dinner, we got the call that there would be no school on Monday.  I cheered!  I made a cup of hot chocolate.  I curled up in front of the fire with my fuzzy coverlet with the TV blasting.  Before I slipped into the bed, though, I made sure everything was plugged in to be fully charged.  I wanted to be sure I could connect to the outside world in case of a power failure.

that wire is not so bulky when there isn't a coat of ice on it

The next morning...long before the sun came up...I was peering out the windows to see what traffic was like out in front of our house - after all, it is a state highway.  Even though we live on a straight-away, there was a car wreck near the end of the driveway.  The cars which were out there - only a couple or three when usually there is a steady stream of one-after-the-other each morning - were creeping along.  Two or three other vehicles were pulled off on the side of the road - or had slid off over there.  Not a pretty sight.

After a bit of discussion, Mike realized he should keep himself in for the morning, too.  I think the argument discussion conversation might have raised a few eyebrows but the mention of having to spend money to repair a damaged truck when we had just had transmission work might have done the most persuasion.

even a blurry cell shot shows the thickness of ice

So, we spent the day inside in the warm watching TV and marveling at the silliness of folks posting on FaceBook queries about the curvy, hilly roads around here.  It was so bad that my favorite sister-in-law's business finally told folks not to risk coming in at about mid-morning.  Mike learned that one of the cardboard manufacturing businesses that his warehouse provides storage for closed down shortly after lunch.  He got calls from truck-drivers who made a brief start but wound up turning round and giving up.  My brother-in-law reported sliding right out on the straight-away in front of our house and turning round himself.  So, even if the SIL hadn't had the call from work, she would have missed the day since he was her transportation.

icy back deck

Our back deck was icy like this even up till lunchtime today - Tuesday.  So, the sunny south didn't turn out to be so warm after all on this early March week.  The furthest distance from the threshold of the door was my quick toe balance to take the photo above.

coated

Even today the furniture has had ice clinging to it until well after noon.  The ice has been pretty all glittering and sparkly.  Since we maintained electrical power, I can admire the beauty to its fullest.

sparkles of ice

Even now, after the dripping has begun and the grass of the yard is showing its face, there is still lots of ice on those tree branches.

snow over ice

Toby wouldn't go out in the rain on Sunday but as you can see, he has ventured out into the snow a couple or three times.  Once, he came back in covered in white fluffy snow and was not too happy about it.  A quick rub-down with a towel and he was back to normal but still wanted to curl up away from the window.  It did seem to amaze him when the biggest flakes were falling, he just sat and peered out through the window as if he was amazed by it.

wintry view

I think I am over it.  I am ready for the green-ness of spring and Easter bunnies and the like.  It has been a wonderful couple of days since I could just sit inside and look out the window at the sparkling beauty of it.  But I am ready for even this to move on and welcome in spring.

the remains

The above picture shows what remains as of one o'clock this afternoon.  Where Toby's and Mike's footprints trekked across the deck there is a bit of the wood peeking through at this point as well.  Maybe it will continue to melt through the afternoon and we will be back in full swing tomorrow eagerly awaiting the green grass and warm sunshine of spring!

Inspiration

Where does inspiration come from for you?

I thought I hadn't posted here for a while because I was waiting for inspiration.  However, this morning, I realized that is not the case.  I read another blogger's post which made me realize that sometimes we fall into a funk and don't feel inspired to post.

The funk just seems to take over.  It consumes our home.  It consumes our work.  It consumes everything around us.  It consumes.

So, what was so inspirational to me about reading another person's post about being in a funk?

I realized that she had so eloquently worded exactly what I am feeling.  Caroline Teselle said:

You see, there’s a situation going on in my life right now that I cannot write about here because it’s not my story to tell but it affects me deeply.  To the core.

What do you do when it’s not your story to tell?  You keep your mouth shut & pray.

Just because I’m keeping my mouth shut doesn’t mean my mind shuts off, it’s basically following me around like a Pig Pen cloud of dust, you know, like Charlie Brown’s friend that’s constantly surrounded by a cloud of dust.  That’s how I feel.  My internal processor has exploded in a cloud of dust.

It isn't that I don't want to do something about the situation.  It isn't that I cannot do something about the situation.  The real fact of the matter is that the consequences of the options I see do not seem to be ones I want to tackle right now.  So, I have decided to keep my mouth shut even more.  I am lifting the situation up in prayer and anticipating what He will do and what He will guide me to do.

In the meantime, what am I doing about lifting myself up out of a funk?  Well, like Caroline, I am trying several things:

1. Read

• I have been a reader from a very young age.  I was reading before I went to school at age five.  I have been reading professional literature - I call it how-to-be-a-better-teacher books, journal articles, blog posts, e-books.  I have been reading home improvement/decorating blog posts.  I have been reading biographies and memoirs.  I have been reading estate-planning and will-making publications (because it is past time to update mine).  I have been reading appliance ratings and reviews (because our dryer is on its last leg).  I have been reading edgy novels which provoke thinking and mystery novels and purely fluff novels about human relationships.  And, of course, I have been reading my Bible.
• I find that reading is something that takes me away from whatever is interfering with my inner peace.  So, I am falling into books where other worlds are opened to me.
• I love having a small local branch of the library nearby and I am a consistent patron.  The selections are limitless and the variety is abundant.  If our little branch doesn't house a particular title, simply request it and in a couple of days the item is there waiting for you to pick up at the desk.  The best part is - there is no cost.  FREE!

2. Work

• I have been spending long hours trying to get caught up, trying to get more done, trying to learn more, trying to share more with the teachers I support.  I have been searching for new ideas and planning new professional development sessions.  I have added new aspects to my already full 'dance card' by consciously posting more on social media relating to education and have even begun a professional blog (more on that another day).  
• I love my job and feel such a purpose at the end of most days.  I feel like what I do matters to somebody else and that, to me, is the reason we are put here on earth - to do something that matters to somebody else.

3. Bake

• I have been putting my new mixer and cookbooks to work.  I have delved into old recipes and found a wonderful one for yeast rolls.  I baked cinnamon rolls.  I baked a new kind of brownies.  I baked a corn casserole.  I baked a loaf of beer bread.  It has been a month of baking!
• I find that baking and cooking is one of those make-something-from-scratch sort of crafts which helps me feel like I am creative.  The added benefit of baking and cooking is that somebody else enjoys the outcome.  (Of course, there is also the drawback that it generally leads to added pounds but I'm not facing that one, yet.)

4. Clean

• Clothes hardly loose the shape of our bodies these days before I am stuffing them into the washer.  We wear more clothes in winter than we do in summer - for obvious reasons - layering.  So, it seems there is more to wash.  My mother instilled in me to get the highest quality clothes you can afford and have fewer garments over all.  Water and soap are inexpensive, she said.  We are not minimalists but we do seem to get by with less than some folks have in their wardrobe.
• The dishes seem to be yelling at me to get them washed up and stored away in a cabinet.  Nothing can be left on the counter or in the sink - not even a lowly glass for the drink of water before bed.  The beds must be made and pillows fluffed and positioned just so.  The bathrooms are fully stocked with soap, shampoo, fresh towels, and TP.
• Obviously I am cleaning and controlling what I can because there are things that I cannot.

5. Shop

• I am not the woman who loves to wander the mall or stop off a couple of afternoons at discount stores and outlets to see what the newest trends and offerings are on the sale rack.  I don't like dealing with the traffic.  I don't like dealing with the crowds of people who are competing for the newest, trendiest, cutest.  I am the woman who sometimes browses Goodwill or consignment shops or antique malls.  I don't even frequent those places but there are times when I just need to get out and see new scenery and find it interesting to see what is available in that kind of market.
• I am more of a window shopper...actually a virtual window shopper.  I love browsing Pinterest, gathering ideas from creative bloggers, wandering through online catalogues, and sometimes perusing hard copy magazines and catalogues.  Again, I rarely ever buy but I do lots of dreaming and idea collecting.

6. Laugh

• I have been doing lots of laughing and making merry when I am in the office with my co-workers.  We giggle at silly things and send one another goofy messages which pop up on our computer screens while we work diligently.  
• Mike and I have been watching comedy episodes on television.  We laugh at the silliness portrayed and, sadly, we relate to the silliness with our own and our family experiences.  When we really stop and look at the world, we are all quite a bit alike and do some of the goofiest things.

7. Sleep

• I cannot seem to get enough!  I come inside in the afternoons and could just curl up and snore till morning, I think.  I force myself to prepare a meal, straighten the house, clean out my email inbox and just do a bit of stirring.  It seems that when I sit down, I doze off.  I cannot tell how many evenings I've awakened on the couch and climbed into bed.  Then, on the weekend, I NEED to sleep late - really late.

8. Cry

• I have been pretty drippy.  I cry over a poignant commercial.  Enough said.

9. Write

• Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been writing...and writing...and writing.  After all, I am not certain of what I think until I put it into words.

10. Question

• I find that the more questions I ask, the more I learn about others, and the more I focus on others.  I have been questioning students, teachers, peers, and strangers.  Can you explain what you are doing?  Why are you doing that?  Do you think there is another way to...?  What do you believe to be true about...?  What do you anticipate...?  What do you think will happen in the future?  How will _____ impact our lives?

11. Absorb quietness

• I don't get a lot of that these days.  When I do, I try my darnedest to just be and not think or do.  Sometimes the quiet will bring me peace and, in turn, I can bring peace to somebody else.
• I've turned off the television.  I've left the radio off.  I've even hung clothes to dry so I don't have to listen to the dryer squeek.

12. Pray

• This, of course, is the most productive of all the things I could do.  Pray.  I pray for myself.  I pray for others.  I just lift up prayers - "Dear God, you know what I should be praying about more than I do.  Please let my silence be a time when these prayers are lifted up even though I am not aware of what they are."  Sometimes, my conversation with God needs to be a time when I am listening and absorbing.

What else do I NEED to be doing to lift myself out of this funk?

1.  Exercising 

2.  Planning a vegetable garden

3.  Cleaning out closets

4.  Decluttering

5.  Crafting

6.  Spending time with children

What inspires you to pull yourself up out of a funk?  Is there somebody like Caroline Teselle who nudges you?

Excitement

We have achieved a new level of excitement here in our household.  We await another grand baby.  

Stephen and Bonnie came by the other day and gave us an early Valentine.  

Then, today, they dropped by to let us know how the doctor visit went yesterday.

I have never seen such grins on faces.  

We are over the moon with excitement!