That was what I was repeating over and over all last week and up till about 4:00 pm on Saturday. The reason for that particular mantra was for the fact that back in August Matt and I decided to host a grilling/outdoor BBQ/gathering party at our house. We invited just about everyone that Matt knows at GE and had about 35 people respond that they were attending.
So here I am on Monday before the party starting to watch the weather reports. Each day the news goes from 50% chance of rain...to...60% chance of rain...till... on Friday it was...100% chance of rain! What am I going to do with up to 35 people in my house? I was planning on having the backyard open for soccer, Frisbee, etc. Our house is a nice size, but it is not huge. I was starting to get worried.
In the invitation we told people that they can come anytime after 4:00 pm to hang out and play, we would eat at 6:00 and the party would last as long as they stayed. As it turned out only four families came. Three of the families came right at 4:00, each had three children. We had nine children ranging from the ages of 7 months to 13 years in our house. So we pulled out the dolls, the Legos, the Nintendo, the Jonny Jump Up, and anything else that we could think of to keep the kids playing nicely together. We had playdoh, puzzles, and beanbag games being played. The kids were on the porch, in the garage, in the living room, in the dining room, and almost anywhere else you could imagine. However, they were amazingly well behaved, had great manners, and played really well together.
The kids played so well that the adults actually go some time to sit and talk and laugh together. I finally go to meet three of the individuals that Matt has been working very closely with for the past few months.
The food was amazing! We provided hamburgers and hotdogs, everyone else brought sides and a drink. There was so much to choose from and so many leftovers. Great food, great converstaions, and a wonderful time watching the kids play (and playing with them at times). It was a wonderful party...even if it did rain.
I am now looking forward to Halloween. I understand we are having a party then too!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
We have been adopted...
at least that is the best way that I can describe what has happened with one of our neighbor's cats.
Isn't he just too cute? Well, here is the story. Matt and I moved in about a year and a half ago. Soon after we met one of our neighbors that have two cats. They would go on trips and we would be more than willing to go over and feed and play with the cats (they were both indoor cats).
A few trips later, where we fed the cats, Scooter (pictured above) became an outdoor cat (due to multiple reasons).
As you can see, Matt really enjoys Scooter. However, I do not think that Matt enjoys cleaning up the present that Scooter left us one day. We woke up to find that Scooter had brought us a bird (after spending a lot of time with it...from the looks of the "bird") and put it in the middle of our front yard. Thanks for the gift, Scooter!
Well, after Scooter became an outdoor cat and we would see him every once in awhile...but not often. However, in the past few months we have walked out of our door and either heard a "meow" as Scooter is crossing the road to come and say Hi to us, or we find him lounging in our bushes in our front yard waiting to get some love and affection from us.
One day Matt and I were sitting in our living room with the windows open, and we suddenly heard a light thump and a loud meow. We looked over to the window to find Scooter had placed his paws on our window sill on the outside and was trying to see and talk to us through the screen. I am so glad that he is declawed on his front paws or else we would probably have some holes in the screen.
I think that this is the best of both worlds for all considered. Matt and I can play with a cat without having to care for it, feed it, or do all that goes along with owning a pet. Scooter can get loving from his owners family, get loving from Matt and I, and get wonderful care from his owners.
What a cutie! I am so glad that we finally got adopted :)
Just makes me wonder why Scooter has decided to adopt us or become our "protector"?
Isn't he just too cute? Well, here is the story. Matt and I moved in about a year and a half ago. Soon after we met one of our neighbors that have two cats. They would go on trips and we would be more than willing to go over and feed and play with the cats (they were both indoor cats).A few trips later, where we fed the cats, Scooter (pictured above) became an outdoor cat (due to multiple reasons).
As you can see, Matt really enjoys Scooter. However, I do not think that Matt enjoys cleaning up the present that Scooter left us one day. We woke up to find that Scooter had brought us a bird (after spending a lot of time with it...from the looks of the "bird") and put it in the middle of our front yard. Thanks for the gift, Scooter!
Well, after Scooter became an outdoor cat and we would see him every once in awhile...but not often. However, in the past few months we have walked out of our door and either heard a "meow" as Scooter is crossing the road to come and say Hi to us, or we find him lounging in our bushes in our front yard waiting to get some love and affection from us.One day Matt and I were sitting in our living room with the windows open, and we suddenly heard a light thump and a loud meow. We looked over to the window to find Scooter had placed his paws on our window sill on the outside and was trying to see and talk to us through the screen. I am so glad that he is declawed on his front paws or else we would probably have some holes in the screen.
I think that this is the best of both worlds for all considered. Matt and I can play with a cat without having to care for it, feed it, or do all that goes along with owning a pet. Scooter can get loving from his owners family, get loving from Matt and I, and get wonderful care from his owners.
What a cutie! I am so glad that we finally got adopted :)Just makes me wonder why Scooter has decided to adopt us or become our "protector"?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Small Construction Project
Hi All,
I have once again taken over my wife's blog to bring you an announcement. Well, that sounds drastic, let me re-phrase that. I did something cool, and wanted to tell people. I built a bench!
Well, now that it is put that way, it doesn't sound so exciting. Well, I think it is, so Nah!
It was a lazy saturday afternoon. It was a good day to tear into a new project. Lana and I were putting around the house and doing this and that. We had a tasty lunch, and I was looking for something new to do.
Several weeks ago (Was it that long ago?) we had a family field trip to the Frontier Culture Museum. We had a blast there looking at how things were done, how things were used, how things were done - by hand. It was fun and amazing. Well, one of the things that I noticed while I was there were the way some of the benches were built. Now, mind you - I don't have an Adz, or a proper hatchet (for the time), so I couldn't build any of the benches we saw in the German house, nor did I have any good-sized trees that I could cut down and build like the ones in the English house.
The ones in the gift shop - now those I could build! They were made almost like my workbench - with lots of boards laid sideways and fixed together. I had a few loose boards of treated lumber at the house, so I decided that I would try to build a few.
When I got home, I looked over my meager pile of wood and decided I couldn't build it exactly like the ones we sat on. But I could get it close enough to learn some of the design, and maybe build a prototype.
I don't know if any of Lana's reader's know this or not, but we are planning to build a pergola in our back yard - at some point in the near future. Well, my plan is to have some benches and tables made for us to use in the shade of that pergola. If you don't know what a pergola is, google has lots of pictures of them. But basically, it is a back deck with some very simple shade built over it.
Well, yesterday, I was feeling my oats and decided to see how big a bench I could build using the "Frontier Culture Gift-Shop Bench" method. I dug through the wood pile, and gathered a bunch of 1"x6" boards, and started laying out my design.
The pile of wood wasn't as big as I thought it was, and I depleted it rather quickly. So I had to build a much smaller bench than I hoped. I trimmed my dreams back a bit, and finally settled on a small bench. I trimmed off the ragged edges of some boards, and shortened others until I had eight boards of roughly the same length - that weren't falling apart. I picked out eight shorter ones - Exactly one foot four and a half inches long - to be the legs.
By five o'clock, Lana was telling me to stop sweating, stop playing, and get ready to go over to see our church-friend's new baby. A tall order for me - I sweat like crazy. I hung out under the living room ceiling fan to cool off. After visiting with them, playing and holding the baby, and giving them a wonderful feast for their dinner, we came back home. I'm sure Lana will tell more of that story later. But in short, we had a blast!
After getting home, we were hungry. It was getting dark, and my hopes for finishing the bench in one day were dwindling. I went back outside, and surveyed the wood-pile I had made. Everything was cut to length, and the plan to assemble it all was already done. I figured I could still finish it - if I hurried. So, I turned on the driveway lights, and grabbed my hammer.
I am quite sure that I woke up the neighbors at least once - I wasn't very easy on the nails I was using. I wanted them IN THE WOOD. Two nails per side, for every two layers, and the thing was done.
I wasn't very happy with the end result - I didn't have much of a straight-edge for making sure the boards were lined up - although it probably doesn't really matter. The boards themselves were old and warped.
I picked up the result of my hours of work, and set it up-right on the driveway. And it rocked back and forth. You can imagine how inventive the cursing was at that point. Of course, Lana decided to come out and check on me at this point. I showed her the bench, and she was very pleased at how it looked. She rocked back and forth on it a little, to see how steady it was. Of course, it rocked a little, but otherwise it was exceedingly sturdy.
While she was sitting on it, I poked around the (bench) legs, and found the culprit. One of the legs had slid down while I was hammering away at it. so it stuck out about a quarter-inch. Not too much, but enough to make the whole thing rock. I fetched my fine saw, and turned the bench up on it's end - after helping Lana up off of it. Five minutes of frantic sawing later had the bench much more stable than before, although, it rocked a little. I wasn't very happy with it, but it was my prototype.
I moved the bench to the front porch, and set it under the window - on the other side from the swing. And much to my surprise, when it was sitting on the flat concrete of the porch - it was incredibly stable. No rocking at all. Apparently, the driveway where I was doing the construction had a large curve to it to help drain the water off quickly. This was making the bench rock - not the construction.
I called Lana out to see the "finished" work. She was happy with it, and we spent at least ten minutes sitting on it together, watching the neighborhood go by - or at least, the night-owls go by.
Later,
-M
I have once again taken over my wife's blog to bring you an announcement. Well, that sounds drastic, let me re-phrase that. I did something cool, and wanted to tell people. I built a bench!
Well, now that it is put that way, it doesn't sound so exciting. Well, I think it is, so Nah!
It was a lazy saturday afternoon. It was a good day to tear into a new project. Lana and I were putting around the house and doing this and that. We had a tasty lunch, and I was looking for something new to do.
Several weeks ago (Was it that long ago?) we had a family field trip to the Frontier Culture Museum. We had a blast there looking at how things were done, how things were used, how things were done - by hand. It was fun and amazing. Well, one of the things that I noticed while I was there were the way some of the benches were built. Now, mind you - I don't have an Adz, or a proper hatchet (for the time), so I couldn't build any of the benches we saw in the German house, nor did I have any good-sized trees that I could cut down and build like the ones in the English house.
The ones in the gift shop - now those I could build! They were made almost like my workbench - with lots of boards laid sideways and fixed together. I had a few loose boards of treated lumber at the house, so I decided that I would try to build a few.
When I got home, I looked over my meager pile of wood and decided I couldn't build it exactly like the ones we sat on. But I could get it close enough to learn some of the design, and maybe build a prototype.
I don't know if any of Lana's reader's know this or not, but we are planning to build a pergola in our back yard - at some point in the near future. Well, my plan is to have some benches and tables made for us to use in the shade of that pergola. If you don't know what a pergola is, google has lots of pictures of them. But basically, it is a back deck with some very simple shade built over it.
Well, yesterday, I was feeling my oats and decided to see how big a bench I could build using the "Frontier Culture Gift-Shop Bench" method. I dug through the wood pile, and gathered a bunch of 1"x6" boards, and started laying out my design.
The pile of wood wasn't as big as I thought it was, and I depleted it rather quickly. So I had to build a much smaller bench than I hoped. I trimmed my dreams back a bit, and finally settled on a small bench. I trimmed off the ragged edges of some boards, and shortened others until I had eight boards of roughly the same length - that weren't falling apart. I picked out eight shorter ones - Exactly one foot four and a half inches long - to be the legs.
By five o'clock, Lana was telling me to stop sweating, stop playing, and get ready to go over to see our church-friend's new baby. A tall order for me - I sweat like crazy. I hung out under the living room ceiling fan to cool off. After visiting with them, playing and holding the baby, and giving them a wonderful feast for their dinner, we came back home. I'm sure Lana will tell more of that story later. But in short, we had a blast!
After getting home, we were hungry. It was getting dark, and my hopes for finishing the bench in one day were dwindling. I went back outside, and surveyed the wood-pile I had made. Everything was cut to length, and the plan to assemble it all was already done. I figured I could still finish it - if I hurried. So, I turned on the driveway lights, and grabbed my hammer.
I am quite sure that I woke up the neighbors at least once - I wasn't very easy on the nails I was using. I wanted them IN THE WOOD. Two nails per side, for every two layers, and the thing was done.
I wasn't very happy with the end result - I didn't have much of a straight-edge for making sure the boards were lined up - although it probably doesn't really matter. The boards themselves were old and warped.
I picked up the result of my hours of work, and set it up-right on the driveway. And it rocked back and forth. You can imagine how inventive the cursing was at that point. Of course, Lana decided to come out and check on me at this point. I showed her the bench, and she was very pleased at how it looked. She rocked back and forth on it a little, to see how steady it was. Of course, it rocked a little, but otherwise it was exceedingly sturdy.
While she was sitting on it, I poked around the (bench) legs, and found the culprit. One of the legs had slid down while I was hammering away at it. so it stuck out about a quarter-inch. Not too much, but enough to make the whole thing rock. I fetched my fine saw, and turned the bench up on it's end - after helping Lana up off of it. Five minutes of frantic sawing later had the bench much more stable than before, although, it rocked a little. I wasn't very happy with it, but it was my prototype.
I moved the bench to the front porch, and set it under the window - on the other side from the swing. And much to my surprise, when it was sitting on the flat concrete of the porch - it was incredibly stable. No rocking at all. Apparently, the driveway where I was doing the construction had a large curve to it to help drain the water off quickly. This was making the bench rock - not the construction.
I called Lana out to see the "finished" work. She was happy with it, and we spent at least ten minutes sitting on it together, watching the neighborhood go by - or at least, the night-owls go by.
Later,
-M
Friday, September 18, 2009
Childbirth class
Last night we had the first of seven child birth classes that we are taking through the hospital that we will be delivering at in December.
The class was good, we are one of about 10 couples that are attending. Everyone else is farther along than we are, but I am glad that we are taking this class at this time so that we can get the information...have time to absorb it...have time to practice some of the techniques...and hopefully remember some of this information when the time comes.
We got mainly the basic information last night, and we also practiced two breathing techniques. I am looking forward to see what else we will learn in these many classes to come.
One of my favorite parts of the class was that the teacher ended the class with some quotes about childbirth and parenting, this one was my favorite and I wanted to share it with you:
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." By Elizabeth Stone
The class was good, we are one of about 10 couples that are attending. Everyone else is farther along than we are, but I am glad that we are taking this class at this time so that we can get the information...have time to absorb it...have time to practice some of the techniques...and hopefully remember some of this information when the time comes.
We got mainly the basic information last night, and we also practiced two breathing techniques. I am looking forward to see what else we will learn in these many classes to come.
One of my favorite parts of the class was that the teacher ended the class with some quotes about childbirth and parenting, this one was my favorite and I wanted to share it with you:
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." By Elizabeth Stone
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Special Visitor
Steve, your visit certainly does require a blog post...I just had not gotten around to it. Thank you for giving me a little push :)
On September 1 I happened to receive a phone call and an e-mail that I did not know that I had gotten till late in the day (this was because I was subbing that day). When I finally got the information I found out that my father-in-law was trying to reach both me and eventually Matt to gain permission to sleep on our sofa as he travels to northern VA for an interview. Of course we said NO! "You may not sleep on our sofa, but you may sleep on our guest bed and use our guest bathroom. We will also feed you well and enjoy your company, but NO you may not sleep on our sofa!"
So Monday, Labor Day, we had a guest for dinner. Steve had a nice but long trip (he had to fight all of the Labor Day traffic) and made it to our place around 6:00 pm. Great dinner, lots of stories, tons of laughter, then we pulled out the baby photos from Matt's childhood....
That led to lots more laughter and stories and a fairly late night, but one that was a great experience.
The next morning I had to leave the house at 7:00 am to teach a classroom of 4th graders. So I said my goodbyes, only to come home to a surprise. Steve did all of the dishes that I had left the previous night so that I could visit. Those Daniels men! They are so wonderful with doing dishes :)
Wednesday night we had our wonderful guest back. This time he was driving from Northern VA back home. The visit was much shorter (about 9 hours) and mainly for sleeping, but it was great to see Steve again.
We missed you greatly Sue! It was not quite the same to have one half of the in-law pair and not the other, but I understand that you had a very important appointment at home.
On September 1 I happened to receive a phone call and an e-mail that I did not know that I had gotten till late in the day (this was because I was subbing that day). When I finally got the information I found out that my father-in-law was trying to reach both me and eventually Matt to gain permission to sleep on our sofa as he travels to northern VA for an interview. Of course we said NO! "You may not sleep on our sofa, but you may sleep on our guest bed and use our guest bathroom. We will also feed you well and enjoy your company, but NO you may not sleep on our sofa!"
So Monday, Labor Day, we had a guest for dinner. Steve had a nice but long trip (he had to fight all of the Labor Day traffic) and made it to our place around 6:00 pm. Great dinner, lots of stories, tons of laughter, then we pulled out the baby photos from Matt's childhood....
That led to lots more laughter and stories and a fairly late night, but one that was a great experience.
The next morning I had to leave the house at 7:00 am to teach a classroom of 4th graders. So I said my goodbyes, only to come home to a surprise. Steve did all of the dishes that I had left the previous night so that I could visit. Those Daniels men! They are so wonderful with doing dishes :)
Wednesday night we had our wonderful guest back. This time he was driving from Northern VA back home. The visit was much shorter (about 9 hours) and mainly for sleeping, but it was great to see Steve again.
We missed you greatly Sue! It was not quite the same to have one half of the in-law pair and not the other, but I understand that you had a very important appointment at home.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Time Away
I have had a longer time away than I had ever expected, especially since I do not have a full time job. However there have been some reasons for that:
1. I have gotten back to subbing for the local school systems! I have been called about twice a week for the past two weeks. This is shocking to me since most of the teachers usually do not want to take off this early in the school year.
2. I have had some very eventful days which led to some very uneventful days full of sleeping to recover from all of the action. One of the eventful days was this past Saturday, we helped with the Belmont Yard Sale. I woke at 3:30 am and went strong until about 10:30 pm. Let's just say Sunday and Monday were full of naps to recover. But Matt and I made $53 and got a lot of stuff out of our house :)
3. I have been working on a lot of projects for the nursery. More posting on that later.
4. My camera has dead batteries. So much of what I want to post I need pictures for....so I need to actually take time to recharge batteries (I know, bad reason for not posting, but still...)
5. You get the idea. Good excuse peppered with bad excuses...equals no posts for a long time.
I hope to be better about it from now on.
1. I have gotten back to subbing for the local school systems! I have been called about twice a week for the past two weeks. This is shocking to me since most of the teachers usually do not want to take off this early in the school year.
2. I have had some very eventful days which led to some very uneventful days full of sleeping to recover from all of the action. One of the eventful days was this past Saturday, we helped with the Belmont Yard Sale. I woke at 3:30 am and went strong until about 10:30 pm. Let's just say Sunday and Monday were full of naps to recover. But Matt and I made $53 and got a lot of stuff out of our house :)
3. I have been working on a lot of projects for the nursery. More posting on that later.
4. My camera has dead batteries. So much of what I want to post I need pictures for....so I need to actually take time to recharge batteries (I know, bad reason for not posting, but still...)
5. You get the idea. Good excuse peppered with bad excuses...equals no posts for a long time.
I hope to be better about it from now on.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Appointment #5
Yesterday I had appointment #5.
All is well. I had another sonogram because last appointment our baby did not cooperate with getting into the right positions for all of the pictures that the nurse and the doctor wanted. So I got to see our little girl again and most importantly hear her heart beat.
Galloping along at 153 bpm.
Nothing much to report. It was just such a blessing to first hear her heart beat, but then to see her on the screen moving around and twisting was so wonderful. It was a bit strange to see her kick or punch, and feel it at the same time.
I can not believe that this is already appointment #5, it is going so fast. Soon I will be able to see our little girl, and not just on a black and white, grainy tv screen.
All is well. I had another sonogram because last appointment our baby did not cooperate with getting into the right positions for all of the pictures that the nurse and the doctor wanted. So I got to see our little girl again and most importantly hear her heart beat.
Galloping along at 153 bpm.
Nothing much to report. It was just such a blessing to first hear her heart beat, but then to see her on the screen moving around and twisting was so wonderful. It was a bit strange to see her kick or punch, and feel it at the same time.
I can not believe that this is already appointment #5, it is going so fast. Soon I will be able to see our little girl, and not just on a black and white, grainy tv screen.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
:)
Quick post...
Two nights ago something very special happened.
Matt felt the baby kick for the very first time!
It was a very surprising and joyful time for both of us.
Two nights ago something very special happened.
Matt felt the baby kick for the very first time!
It was a very surprising and joyful time for both of us.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Greetings All!
I have once again taken over my wife's blog to tell another story.
Back in the middle of August, Lana posted a blog telling about the harvesting of the pumpkin. Well, a few nights ago, we "canned" it. Now, usually, when we want to make pumpkin bread, or pumpkin this, or pumpkin that - we go buy a can of pumpkin. Boring, easy, and good enough.
Well, now that we had this awesome pumpkin, we decided to try to can it ourselves. In short, it worked beautifully! But the story is in the details - why else would you be reading this?
The first chore was simply cutting the thing in half. We didn't have any knives big enough. So, we did our best with the heavy kitchen knife we have here. Now, the Kiser women have this tendency to injure themselves when cutting stuff - so I handled the knife. No injury - except now the pumpkin was cut in half.
We placed the two halves - face-down - on one of Lana's industrial sized aluminum cookie sheets. Covered it with foil, and baked it for a good long while. It filled the kitchen with this wonderful smelling pumpkin-ness! Soon enough, the insides were mostly cooked, soft, gooey, and ready for canning.
Lana did most of the scraping to get the meat out of the pumpkin. She did an excellent job - when she was done, there was only a thin shell of pumpkin skin left - the rest went into the blender for a ride.
We split the pumpkin goo into bags, labeled them, and froze them flat. In one of Lana's earlier posts, she mentioned that I labeled something 2007. Oops - my fault. It was easy enough to change that 7 into a 9. These "canned" pumpkins are now waiting for a cold day and some fresh potato soup to make pumpkin bread. That will be one tasty dinner!
Until next time,
-M
I have once again taken over my wife's blog to tell another story.
Back in the middle of August, Lana posted a blog telling about the harvesting of the pumpkin. Well, a few nights ago, we "canned" it. Now, usually, when we want to make pumpkin bread, or pumpkin this, or pumpkin that - we go buy a can of pumpkin. Boring, easy, and good enough.
Well, now that we had this awesome pumpkin, we decided to try to can it ourselves. In short, it worked beautifully! But the story is in the details - why else would you be reading this?
The first chore was simply cutting the thing in half. We didn't have any knives big enough. So, we did our best with the heavy kitchen knife we have here. Now, the Kiser women have this tendency to injure themselves when cutting stuff - so I handled the knife. No injury - except now the pumpkin was cut in half.
We placed the two halves - face-down - on one of Lana's industrial sized aluminum cookie sheets. Covered it with foil, and baked it for a good long while. It filled the kitchen with this wonderful smelling pumpkin-ness! Soon enough, the insides were mostly cooked, soft, gooey, and ready for canning.
Lana did most of the scraping to get the meat out of the pumpkin. She did an excellent job - when she was done, there was only a thin shell of pumpkin skin left - the rest went into the blender for a ride.
We split the pumpkin goo into bags, labeled them, and froze them flat. In one of Lana's earlier posts, she mentioned that I labeled something 2007. Oops - my fault. It was easy enough to change that 7 into a 9. These "canned" pumpkins are now waiting for a cold day and some fresh potato soup to make pumpkin bread. That will be one tasty dinner!
Until next time,
-M
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