The Road Goes Ever On

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

So we went to Kansas City for the weekend. It was a blessing.

We left Friday after work so it was after 11 when we got to Brett and Laura's. I drove some on the way there... Bob just got a power converter and he was busy 'modding' on my lappy... but then I got tired and made him drive the rest of the way. I love the open road, it makes me happy. And there is only about nine miles of two lane left on 36! Happy, happy day! We haven't been to KC in over a year so that was a very pleasant surprise.

Saturday morning we slept in. It was so nice and quiet and cool.... so great. Laura, Carol, Dianne, and Joni went shopping instead of being lazy like me... grin. We ate brunch and then went to a park with Brett and Bryce and threw frisbees and swung on the swings. Bryce wanted "underdoggies"... yeah, I'm always afraid the kid's going to kick me in the head or something so my attempts were a little half-hearted. And then we all went back to B and L's house and played a game until it was time for church.

They had jackstack for supper and it was amazing as always. The ordination service for Randy was good- the second one I've been to this year, which is kind of weird. It was good to see Karen and Randy and the boys. And all their kids. Laura told us a hilarious story later that night about Kami's underwear falling in the toilet somehow... o my... it seems there will be a whole new generation of funny k-berger stories!

It's so nice that church starts later out there... grin. Church was really full Sunday. Afterwards, we stopped at Karen's to change and then left for home. It took us just over 6 hours (woot woot!). I was freaking out for a little bit because my car was acting really funny and I was pretty sure we were going to end up stranded in Missouri (since there were only four other IL cars going back too...) but it was fine after we stopped for gas and let it sit for a minute. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Anyway, so it was 10ish when we got back and our house was hot. *sigh* And I had to make lunches and unpack. Ugh. It was late before it was cool enough to sleep, and I didn't sleep super soundly. I did not want to get up this morning, but I've survived so far today!

Blessings.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let other follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Late summer randomness

These are the two cool hanging planters I got at Ikea. I had some herbs in them, but they promptly died. I don't think they got quite enough light... so now I have some lower light tolerant houseplants in them. Please ignore the mess on the porch...



I have a few peppers! Yay!

Pretty much all that's left in my garden: tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs.

My lantanas are doing great! They're supposed to be pretty drought tolerant, and they seem to handle the part shade well.

The horrid rabbits ate all of my pansies. All of them. So they aren't in this picture, but I did have lots of snapdragons and zinnias and a few day lilies. I think the tree grew because it's definitely more shady back there than last year!

I canned pears Monday. Woot woot. Only about 10 pints, but it took forever. I am not a fast pear peeler. I love summer. And freshly canned produce. Although, it makes for really long days when I don't start until after work and after supper....

Blessings.

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

So. Another busy weekend. And I was afraid I was coming down with something all week so we did nothing on Friday night. And I went to bed early. Which is a good thing, because the rest of the weekend was crazy busy and emotional and I don't know if I could have made it.

Saturday morning I got up and went to get my next quilt block and bought some paint for the front door. Then I went home and went back to bed and didn't get up again until... well, until I felt rested... it wasn't technically morning anymore. :) So fabulous. We maybe had breakfast burritos with fresh salsa for lunch... yum. And then I painted the front door because it needed it and it was bugging me. It was covered in scratches and chips; it looks like at one point the door was painted a robins egg blue. Hopefully the siding was a different color with a blue door... right now it's yellow with grey trim... Anyway. It looks much better, so I can rest easy now.

We had supper at the condos that night with everybody before Jakey's testimony. I've seen my cousins a lot lately- it's great! Then we went over to church... I was a little nervous... I always am. You would think that by now Shelly and I would know better than to sit by each other- us plus nervousness plus emotional-ness plus our tendency to find slightly funny things absolutely hilarious is not a good combination. So there we were up front with Mom and Grandma... Dad's cousin-in-law Rod was here from Lester... asked Jake something about if something died would he dig up the remains (trying to get at not digging up his old buried self)... to which Jakey replied- 'certainly.' Um. Yeah, he used to have an entire collection of dead things in various states of decay, so when he said that we lost it. Mom, Shelly and I were cracking up. In the front row. The bench was definitely shaking. Wow. Thankfully we all got it together before we made too big of a scene.

Afterwards a bunch of people went out to the farm to sing... and eat... so we went too. Good times, but we stayed too late. When we got home, Bob had a little bit of trouble getting the door open. I guess the paint wasn't totally dry around the edges... oops. :) And I discovered that I forget to turn the dryer on so our sheets and towels were all still wet. *sigh*

Sunday was the baptism and then we went home and were pretty much bums for the rest of the evening. And I didn't want to get up this morning, but that's nothing new...

Blessings.

And the livin' is easy...

Tuesday night I got to hang out with some of my old w-ton friends for the first time in ages. It was a lot of fun to see them all again. We ate supper at Avanti's... and talked.... and talked... and talked. And then we went to Culver's for dessert and talked some more. I miss those girls! We have a lot of sweet (and funny!) memories... maybe I should dig up some old pictures and tell some stories...


Nights like that get me through the weeks when I accidentally let a batch of glue burn over in the hood.... oops. Ugh... nothing like cleaning burnt stickiness off a hotplate. Unless it's scrubbing out a lab sink. Woot woot. 409 is my new best friend. :)

Yesterday evening I made salsa. I cheated a little bit and used a Mrs. Wages mix... but I mixed some corn and black beans into a few jars so I'm not hopelessly un-domestic. *grin* Hopefully it tastes good. I did get a short Pinky's break with Dale, Meg, Maria, Bob, and Dang for ice cream. So good.

I actually had to get out of bed when my alarm went off this morning... mur... because the life insurance nurse was coming. She stuck me. They didn't tell me she was going to stick me. I.HATE.NEEDLES. And I'll probably get stuck again in a few weeks for our Medical Surveillance program at work... the joys of working with all sorts of dangerous and potentially harmful substances... Anyway.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend.

Blessings.

Let your heart be

moved. blessed. full. encouraged. happy.

We had such a good weekend. We left Friday after work and headed to Leo to visit my cousins. On the way we stopped at Mike's new apartment and got a tour... and dropped off a strawberry pie. For a housewarming present. Because I don't owe him a pie, no matter what he says. :)

It was about midnight when we got to Loren and Rita's... hooray for losing an hour... Matt and Shelly were already there and Scott and Ned got there not long after us. So we were up until 2ish just chilling.

Saturday morning Bob and I made a quick trip to Ohio to see Will and Joanna (and Trenton and Tyson and Max and Beth!). I had printed off directions, but didn't print off the map.... soooo.... we missed one turn and it took a little bit longer to get back to where we wanted to be... and got to see a little more of the Ohio countryside than we were expecting to. It was so good to be with them! Brought back a lot of fun memories of U of I days. And Jo's house is so cute... I liked it a lot. Will made us a decent map so it didn't take us quite as long to get back to Rita's... and we got to go right through Amish country. We saw lots of buggies and horses- and solar panels on barns and a brand new recliner going home in the back of a buggy. The funniest/ most incongruous sight was the little girl driving a little electric barbie car around in her driveway right next to her parents' horse and buggy.

We spent a few hours boating on the mighty St. Joe River Saturday afternoon. Bob went skiing and tried wake boarding. He came so close to getting up! I was very proud. :) And then we had to come in and get cleaned up to go to the benefit concert.

Matt, Shelly, Scott, and Ned were all singing in the choir so Abby and Lys and Bob and I went to listen to them. It was fabulous. You can read all about it, and probably eventually get the recordings here. Then we all went back to Rita and Loren's and hung out till late again. Bob fixed their computer and wireless network... I was tired, so I went to bed.

Sunday morning we were almost on time for church. Ha! :) I can't remember the last time I was actually on time to Leo... o well. Bob had never been there before at all, I'm expanding his horizons greatly. *grin* After church we took the jet skis out on the river for a while, and then cooled off in the pool until we left.

We gained an hour on the way home so we got back fairly early... I'm still exhausted today. O well, it was worth it!

Sometimes I get bored

The other weekend I was bored and decided to make matching dresses for our two little nieces... I used a super simple pattern I found online. I think they turned out really cute! And they look adorable on Grace and Eden.

Sharon took this picture right before church... all together now- awwwwww.

I was maybe hoping they'd have a girl for this very reason.... *grin*

Pie and Peaches

I feel like we had a busy weekend.... even though there wasn't much on the calendar. Saturday I spent the afternoon making pies for rotating potluck, so I didn't get to enjoy the sun or the heat much. Potluck was good, as always. :) And we had a lot of leftover pie. Which is amazing.

Sunday afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Koch's for awhile with some of the pie, then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Beutel's with more of the pie, and then we went back to G and G Koch's for supper.

Yesterday I picked up peaches at the farm to can... and realized I ran out of sugar when I made pies... so I got to stop at the new IGA in Mackinaw on my way home. I liked it. A lot. Too bad it's totally not on my way anywhere or I would shop there all the time. For the record, Bob is amazing- not only did he eat frozen pizza last night while I was cutting up peaches, he also helped me fold all the laundry. It took awhile, it was around 10:30 when I got done. But, now I have 6 quart and 10 pint jars of canned peaches. And no place to store them. O well, that's a minor detail.

It's so much work, but it's worth it.... and it was pretty exciting to use my new canner for the first time. Well, new to me, it was the Happy Man's. He was retired and had all sorts of hobbies, including canning. His wife was not nearly as enthused. *grin* Which is why a lot of his stuff made its way to the farm and then to me...

Blessings.

Knives

It's been pretty quiet around here this week. Well besides church, grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, an insurance meeting, and a visit from a knife salesman...

Yeah, so a few weeks ago I got a phone call from a Cutco rep wanting to know if he could come demonstrate his product, he goes to RBHS and he's earning money for college. I should add that he never actually specified he was selling Cutco; I found that out from Heidi... who gave him my name... who also said he cut himself really bad while he was demonstrating for her... I was slightly intrigued.

So he came over Wednesday night to show off his knives. It was pretty hilarious. I was trying not to laugh the whole time. He wasn't necessarily funny, it's just that the 17-year old in a tie acting enthused about expensive kitchen knives and gadgets cracks me up. Yes, I know I have a weird sense of humor. He was holding the binder full of glossy pictures up with one hand and holding his "script" right behind it- and he dropped it on the floor once. I heard a lot of "this is my mom's favorite, she uses it all the time," and "I don't cook much... yet... but my mom has this and we use it every day." He knew his stuff about all of the knives, though it is hard to picture him using "the mini carver, now this is the knife to use on a roast."

And so it went. I didn't buy anything although he did pull out paper and pen to show me how low three easy payments would be. *grin* I have brand new knives, the same brand that my Mom has used and abused for 27 years. Plus I've cut myself on my not Cutco sharp knives and I really don't think I need anything sharper in the house. So he packed up (with the help of his handy-dandy diagram) all of his stuff and left... on the way out he mentioned how he hadn't driven himself over because his license was suspended for too many speeding tickets.... O my. Yeah, I laughed.

Blessings.