Just Wondering

Is a hamstring injury related in any way to pulled pork?

You've Gotta Get Up

it's Christmas morning....

A Holly Jolly Good Time

Christmas dinner at our house. Gotta love that gorillapod.

Figgy Pudding-No Figs

Today we go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. We are wearing our festive clothes, packing the Suzuki with presents, and snow clothes, and food and drink. Alex made plum pudding. Also known as figgy pudding. Since it has neither plums nor figs, either name seems equally acceptable. (I just finished the sauce and think a more appropriate name might be heart attack pudding.) I plan to dip my finger in the sauce and give Claire a taste. Can't wait to see her. Oh, and everyone else.

The Year in Song

(To the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel)
True confessions, Resignation, Lots of prayer and restoration
Bathroom renovations, Camping on the beach

Accountability, Gratitude and humility
Family reunions, Gobs-no gluten, Lots of tea with peach

Chicken dance, Songs to sing, Manifests and tracking
Resumes, Interviews, Business meetings in canoes

Tie your shoes, Comb your hair; Do you have the dog in there?
Getting Alex out the door, I can’t take it any more…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Blogspot, iPod, Control freak, Trusting God,
5K, Rainy day, Run around the block.

Movies at the Guthrie, Dinosaurs at Carnegie,
Full-time, Over-time, Work around the clock.

Mother of the Bride dress, Could I have any more stress?
Wedding days, Pirate games, Jose, Jose, Jose.

Labor and delivery, Grandma Brenda, GB.
Whimsical Tuesdays, What else do I have to say?

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Slovakia, Airports, Wedding plans, New York
Wedding jars, I do, Mrs. Micah Henry

Malibu honeymoon, Grove City - two rooms
Drive across the country, Quarter of a century

Student teaching, College grad, Move back in with Mom and Dad
Big Apple, All of us on a New York City Bus

Grandma’s pearls, La Maze class, Phipps bride, Chihuly Glass
Claire Marie the Fabulous, Now Jimmy’s one of us.

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Greg Holland, boyfriend, Yes they’re dating once again
PennDOT, Internship, Construction worker tan.

Car wreck, Bridesmaid twice, Canada was pretty nice
Junior year, Fancy House, Geneva Marching Band.

Twenty years looks like fourteen; he said so in Counseling
Drove the roller, and the paver, Her first College B.

Sister-of-the-Year award, Roadwork makes her really bored
First-time aunt, wait I can’t, make this rhyme with anything…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

PanoryFest, Big success, Harry Potter, DS
Swimming lessons, Tennis camp, Down the water slides

Uncle Alex, Frog rock, Shower days, Alarm clock
Camp Invention, No detention, Brother of the brides

Black Belt, Tae Kwon Do, keeping Mom on the go
Mahaffey Camp, Wildwood, Principal’s Office

Sixth Grade, Journaling, Suicide, Counseling
Paper route, We’ll find out, if ’08 can top this…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
But when we are gone
God will still go on and on and on and on…

i robot

At work we have a new robot. At first I didn't like the thought of him, but this week I met him, and had some training and now I kinda like him. His job is to receive, and sort and centrifuge, and uncap and deliver and store tubes of blood for our chemistry analyzers. He is really a series of robotic arms. The first one is called io robot--as in input/output robot. He is encased in a plexiglass case so that he doesn't harm anyone with his gripper claw. I feel sorry for him-shut up like that. If he were my robot I would let him out more.
This is the first instrumentation that we have that is actually called a robot. I might like more robots in my life. The cleaning robot. The laundry robot. The food prep robot. The shopping robot. I have a husband to do these things, but he is not programmable.

My Dentist--My Hero

Today I got my teeth cleaned and my eyes examined. I like my hygienist, however it is difficult to have a conversation with someone who has her fingers in your mouth. Today I was fortunate that the dentist just looked. I told him I wanted him to look and tell me that I did not need to have the final two gum grafts that I have been putting off for almost a year. So he looked and told me he didn't think I needed them and he would not advise me to have them, and the gums at his eye teeth may have more recession than mine and he certainly wasn't going to have them grafted. So a great big YEAH!! to that. Also, I had no cavities. My dentist says people do not often call him their hero.
I like my eye doctor okay, but if there is a hero in my afternoon, it is the optical associate who helps me pick my frames. To no one's surprise I am a little more nearsighted than I was 2 years ago. The only joy in that is that I get to pick new frames. The sadness is that as an extremely nearsighted person (as in blind) I can't tell what I look like in the frames unless I press my nose against the mirror. Subsequently, (my best adverb usage today), I look cross-eyed in everything I try on. So I place myself at the mercy of the optical associate. She walks around the room with me, keeps me from bumping into things, hands me frames and says, "try this." I put them on, she judges. Mostly she makes a declaration and puts them back. Too heavy. Not a good color on you. Too wide. Not good. Boring. Too much bling. And the scariest of all: those make you look droopy. (AAAAAHHHHH!! Neither one of us wants to touch that pair again.) Then we narrow the hundreds of possibilites to about 4 and we try them on again. And then she tells me her favorite. They have little rhinestones(!?!) and they make me "look younger". Hah! Whatever they pay this woman is too little. She asks the other associate across the room what she thinks and she concurs. Of course, I can not see their facial features to see if they are winking at each other. I pay for my progressive lenses (a euphanism they use for whatever completes this series: bifocals, trifocals,...), order my new frames and I leave there feeling like I just got a facelift. My glasses will be in next week.

Lightly Tossed

Tonight while I was preparing dinner,(pause for effect--yes I was cooking) I tossed the potaoes in a bowl with a little oil. Then I tossed the lightly oiled potatoes all over the kitchen floor. That part wasn't in the recipe. So I was fighting off the dog, trying to scoop the potatoes back into the bowl. Then I washed them off and started with the oil again. Fortunately, those remaining in my family are not squeamish about eating dog germs, and they were so amazed that I had actually cooked supper, that they thought they were delicious. I like hanging out with people who are easily impressed.