Take me out to the ballgame...




We went to a Brewers game in Milwaukee yesterday. The most exciting part was running from the car to Miller Park in the pouring rain!!! We were drenched when we got into the Park.
The Brewers played the Padres...I thought they were playing the Braves (snicker, snicker...This tells you how close we were to the field :o)

We were bleacher bums :o) Not quite the same thing as at Wrigley...there is a roof and everybody kept their shirt on.




Happy 22nd Birthday Patrick!

Here is a bloggy wish for you, dear son.

You're gettin' old.
We miss you!
We love you!
Be always coming home.

Love Mom and Dad

Happy Memorial Day to all others

God Bless America
My home sweet home.

Donna

Check out the National World War II Slideshow at Yahoo.



There are some really great images of President Bush and his father and Bill Clinton.
Nice to see everybody supporting the veterans.
The middle child in me just wants to see everybody getting along :o)

______________________


We went to a movie last night! Woohoo!
Raising Helen.



Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's about a young woman and a bunch of kids....but I like the romance best!
The kids were not obnoxious.
John Corbet and Kate Hudson were very, very cute!
Helen's neighbor nearly steals the show.
I cried....
Oh, another cute part was when Helen tries to get her 'kids' accepted into the Lutheran School.

It's a nice movie...

But let me tell you about sticker shock. I could have bought a whole twelve pack of Code Red for the cost of my SMALL drink! Unbelieveable!
Ah well...it was a treat to go out, alone with my hubby.

God Bless America, please....
Donna

Rain, rain, go away!




You mean to tell me these are Joke Rules!!!

1. If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2. If you drink a diet soda with candy, they cancel each other out.

3. When eating with someone else, calories don't count if you both eat the same amount.

4. Foods used for medicinal purposes have no calories. This includes any chocolate used for energy, Sara Lee cheesecake (eaten whole), and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

5. Movie-related foods are much lower in calories simply because they are a part of the entertainment experience and not part of one's personal fuel. This includes (but is not limited to) Milk Duds, popcorn with butter, Junior Mints, Snickers, and Gummi Bears.

6. Cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breakage causes calorie leakage.

7. If you eat the food off someone else's plate, it doesn't count.

8. If you eat standing up the calories all go to your feet and get walked off.

9. Food eaten at Christmas parties has 0 calories, courtesy of Santa.

10. STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backward.

Can you tell I just got home from Weight Watchers? I have stayed the same for about three weeks...I deserved it...
Time to get going again :o)

Encourage one another!
Donna

Do this!


Go and read Wendy'sMemorial Day story. It's at the bottom of today's entry. It made me quite teary.

Not that you really wanted to know, but....WendyKnits is my first stop every weekday morning, then I'm off to Buried Treasure and points beyond :o) Those two blogs are very regular as early morning and late evening posters. I know I will see a new post when I go to visit them.

***************




Let me encourage you to go and experience the Blue Angels.

Our father took us to see the Blue Angels out in DuPage County in the 70's. It was the most exciting thing!!! I have since introduced my husband, children and friends to this amazing experience.

It is always super loud and very crowded...but I promise, it is worth it.

We used to swim the maneuvers in our swimming pool as children. We would swim toward one another and do a quarter turn just as we passed one another. (We had F-16's on the brain :o)

My favorite trick they perform is when you are watching a few of the jets in front of you...and from behind, silently at first, a jet screams 100 yds over your totally unsuspecting head. WOW!!!

Here is the Angel's schedule.
Check out the Thunderbirds too.

Air Show Tips-

Bring ear plugs for the little ones.
Pack Well.
The shows in the cities do fewer maneuvers.

I hope I've put a bug in your ear and some of you will venture out for this one of a kind experience. You will never forget the thrill of it all.

The rest of the year will be lead very quietly, I promise.

Encourage one another,
Donna

Coming soon to a theater near you...




All politics aside...look at the cast of Meet the Parents 2.

Could it possibly be as good as it looks? I can't imagine...

It is nice to see all the 'old time' actors...acting...and not at political rallies where I lose all respect for them. Just stay on the screen where you belong; where someone else writes the words you speak.

Well that sounded a bit mean. Sorry.

Favorite movies by these folks;

Robert D-just about anything
Babs-Prince of Tides, A Star is Born, The Way We Were, FUNNY GIRL
Dustin-too many to mention
Blythe-Meet the Parents and The Great Santini
The two youngin's- whatever...

By the way, if you have not seen The Great Santini. It is a great film.

We all loved Meet the Parents and look forward to round two :o)

Encourage one another,
Donna

Rabbit Trail

"There are a few people out there with whom you fit just so, and, amazingly, you keep fitting just so even after you have growth spurts or lose weight or stop wearing high heels. You keep fitting after you have children or change religions or stop dyeing your hair or quit your job...
Somehow, God is gracious enough to give a few of those people, people you can stretch into, people who don't go away, and whom you wouldn't want to go away, even if they offered to."

-From Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner

I have been blessed with many such friends and I think, doubly blessed that my sisters are my best friends.

With sisters we have our shared lives, our histories. Common interests come in second. In our family there is a genuine love and care for one another.
I remember our mother saying, "If you can't play nicely with your sisters then you can't play with anyone else."



Our mother was very wise.

Then we lost our parents and our oldest sister stepped in to take care of us.
She was only 20 and felt so strongly that this was the right thing to do; to take care of her sisters. She obviously was raised with a deep sense of duty; and we wanted her.

This experience drew us very close to one another, in a very protective way. But I know deep down that it was our parent's leading that shaped our family and shaped our love for one another.

Our parents loved us and it showed. They were friends to their siblings. They had fun and fabulous friends. ( The parties, the dancing, the drinking, the laughing...they had a ball) They taught us to be friends.

I remember going to the Jewel with our mother. We needed two carts. She spoke with the check out woman in a friendly and familiar way. I remember thinking, 'she knows these people, these strangers.'

Now my children marvel that I cruise the grocery store happily greeting the stocking boys and check out girls and the packers.

We learn in very subtle ways don't we?

Our friendly, cheerful mother and funny, dutiful father continue to effect their family 30 years later.

Love can sure go a long way.

*************

Well, I meant to write about friends and ended up writing about family. I guess that is what happens when you go with your train of thought...and not with an outline. But in our family , friendship and family are one and the same. And for that I am truly thankful!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Notes from the Sunday Bulletin


We sang a song from Micah 6:8

He has told you O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Then a missionary from the Amazon said something that was thought provoking.

"They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."


And from those wacky Bulletins all over the country;

The 'Over 60s Choir' will be disbanded for the summer with the thanks of the entire church.

Missionary from Africa speaking at Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Name Bertha Belch. Announcement: "Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa."

Tonight's sermon-"What is hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.

This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.

The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at the side entrance.





Click here for more information on this old church. It has some of its original windows and stones from Roman times.

Walk humbly with your God,
Donna

Look what Jessica made for me!
You can visit her blog, Captured Thoughts!
She is one talented and sweet blog-sistah!
Thanks Jess!

Things that don't happen to you anymore....
now that you're older than four.

1.You don't get your dress stuck on your head when you're taking it off.

2.You don't feel it is a great accomplishment to eat a whole hot dog...

3.or that your letter E is pointing the right way.

4.When you put on your dress you don't spin to see it fly about.

5.You don't knock on the neighbors door to ask them to come out and play.

6.You don't fall down, everyday.

7.And you don't hit your legs on the table when you somersault in a small space.

8.You don't go to bed at 7:00pm and wake up at 7:00am.

9.You call Oreos, Oreos and not Messy Cookies.

10.You don't wear a bib anymore....although you could still use one!

and

11. You don't get hugs and kisses from your Mommy and Daddy, all day long.

A time to plant




I purchased this pretty wash tub from eBay and planted it yesterday...between the rain storms. I love the way it looks.

Note to Husband: Please move the hose. It is not pretty.


For All Good Gifts

We plow the fields, and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand.

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord.
For all His love.

-Matthias Claudius

Encourage one another,
Donna

Dress Up





Lovely Emma




Katie wanted, so much, to be a part of the excitement!

Homeschool friends hosted a Homeschool Formal last night.
Most of the kids went solo...not a whole lot of dating going on in their group.
The girls had such fun with their hair and make-up and pretty dresses.
Last weekend two of the fathers gave dance lessons to a big group of the kids.
The guys and girls all went to learn the Cha-Cha, Swing, Fox Trot, Waltz and Bunny Hop.

There was a tent set up in a field and it rained and stormed the whole night! From what I hear...this did not dampen any spirits:o)

This wonderful group of teens is an answer to prayer.
They sing together in the homeschool choir, play soccer together, and have a fancy dress up Prom together.

One girl made a 'Jane Austen' dress...it was lovely and unique.
Perhaps I can convince Emma to do that next year :o)

Here is a site that sells patterns

Dance with one another,
Donna

Blabber Mouth

This will not come as a surprise to my family...or some of my friends...but I can really be a blabber mouth.

This morning I have blabber's remorse!

Why doesn't it hit me until the next day that I should have just stopped talking?

__________

Wisconsin is having their homeschool convention this weekend. Ch-ch-ch-CHEA...

Last night I went along with some dear friends to Oconomowoc for for the curriculum sale.
(Yes this is where I did most of my blabbing...in the car...on the way home)

Anyway...I had an excellent time shopping!

I bought for Emma; Math U See Geometry and Traditional Logic by Martin Cothran.

For Katie; Rod and Staff Pre-School workbooks, a Writing Without Tears chalkboard, workbook and paper, and the M&M Counting book.

For Me; Two books. A Mom Just Like Me and Teddy Roosevelt's Letters to his Sons.

My friend Jeaneen picked out a new course for her little ones. It is called Heart of Dakota. I mention this because I sat and looked long and hard at this course too. Jeaneen and I weren't together at this time so it was funny when we got together and we discovered that we both found their materials so nice.

________

Must conclude now...I have spent an hour looking for a picture of an embarrassed woman who talks too much. To no avail.

Encourage one another,
Donna

www.art.com




-Art by Gio Mondelli

AMERICA
Henry van Dyke

I love thine inland seas,
Thy groves of giant trees,
Thy rolling plains;
Thy rivers' mighty sweep,
Thy mystic canyons deep,
Thy mountains wild and steep,
All thy domains;

Thy silver Eastern strands,
Thy Golden Gate that stands
Wide to the West;
Thy flowery Southland fair,
Thy sweet and crystal air,
O land beyond compare,
Thee I love best!



I just love searching around art.com
The wide open vista are my absolute favorites. Never mind the mountains and trees...I love the clouds. I don't mind a drive through Illinois or Nebraska...not boring for me.

Content to gaze skyward am I.

Encourage one another,
Donna

How come?

Have you ever thought of why we use the phrase How Come? for the word
Why?

_______

Faith comments in the comments,

"I think it would be interesting to have readers list what books are on their nightstands."

Here is what is on my nightstand this week.

Understood Betsy (read and loved)
The Letters of John and Abigal Adams
The Dutch Twins (two chapters read)
Fortune's Daughter
A Lantern in Her Hand (reading now)
The Schwarzbein Principle
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (almost too thick to start)

I would love to read every one of these books...but I am a pretty slow reader and usually have to return many of them to the library before I read them all.



I am reminded of a standard that I have strayed away from a bit. Last month I was reading a book that was highly recommended by a few friends. The book slipped into intimate situations that made me feel very uncomfortable to be reading. Instead of reading on...I decided to return it to the library.

"Finally, brethern, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."
Philippians 4:8


I fall short of this standard in many ways...every day. Of course it applies to television and radio and conversation...

It is a good verse to know by heart. In more ways than one.

Encourage one another,
Donna

So far so good

We are watching Colonial House on PBS. It just started last night.
Oh....am I soft!
To be honest...the hardest parts for me would be the bathroom stuff and listening to the 'preacher' the show picked to preach. I would not want to sit thru his liberal mumbo jumbo for hours on end on Sunday afternoon....snore...

Check it out!

_______________

Cool Refrigerator!



You can still buy a Northstar

___________

Now that I think of it...I would like to be in PBS 1950's House :o)
No, they are not doing it...but that would be a perfect fit for me...minus the racism of course!


How to be June Clever by Debbie Jenkins

Here's How:

1. Put on your prettiest dress every morning.

2. Wear your most expensive pearls.

3. Make sure the coffee is ready and hot for your husband.

4. Prepare an elaborate breakfast and call the family down to eat.

5. After breakfast, make sure the kitchen is spotless and glimmering.

6. Vacuum while the family is gone so the house is in ship shape when they get home.

7. Be at the door to greet the kids when they arrive home from school.

8. Make sure the kids get their milk, cold milk, and fresh cookies.

9. After everyone is in bed and while no one is looking, slip into more comfortable clothes.

10. Take the pearls off. You can be yourself again.

Tips:
If your dress isn't starched, it won't look as pretty.
Use real butter in the cookies. If you don't they won't taste as good.
Make sure the kids don't drink the milk straight out of the milk bottle!

Just kidding :o)

Encourage one another,
Donna

College Board Recommended Top 101 Books for the College Bound


Folks are passing this list around the blogsphere and highlighting the books they have read from the College Board list. Many of the books were read in high school and college but oddly enough my favorite five were read in my most active reading days...after college. My favorite books from this list are Beloved, The Color Purple, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre.

Beowulf ( a children’s retelling)
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in
the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice(half-way)
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It
on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul -
The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte - Jane
Eyre (half-way)
Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The
Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer,
Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales (parts)
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry
Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of
Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane,
Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes,
Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe (Calvert’s version :o)
Dickens, Charles - A
Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and
Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The
Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph -
Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William -
As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry
- Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave
- Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann
Wolfgang von – Faust (in English)
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas -
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet
Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to
Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching
God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's
House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of
the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka,
Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman
Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair -
Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic
Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of
Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman -
Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni -
Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene -
Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal
Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell
Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way

Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet
on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry -
Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare,
William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A
Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw,
George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie
Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus
Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert
Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's
Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William -
Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and
Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn (Aw common, I read Tom Sawyer out loud to the kids!)
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. -
Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The
House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves
of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams,
Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

I would like to read, from this list,
The House of Mirth
Vanity Fair
Doctor Zhivago
Crime and Punishment

What book should I read next? What would you read?

Encourage One Another.
Donna

Show Us Your Fridge!





Do you remember the Saturday Night Live Skit, Show Us Your Guns? They would drive down quiet suburban streets and people who cheerfully come out of their houses waving their guns. It was oddly funny.

Well I want to see your fridge :o)


So if you have a blog or website or just want to send a photo...I'd love to see your fridge :o)

Join in the fun...

Show Us Your Fridge,
Donna

Quizilla Quiz




Forrest Gump!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

"Forrest Gump: The best thing about visiting the President is the food! Now, since it was all free, and I wasn't hungry but thirsty, I must've drank me fifteen Dr. Peppers."

We are soul mates :o)

Tell me what movie you are! I loved the play lists from yesterday.
Donna

On the Road Again

I'm off to Omaha to pick up Matthew. He had too much stuff to take the bus!
If you don't mind, please toss up a little prayer for traveling mercies.

Play list:

Susan Wise Bauer Homeschooling tapes
Susan Shaffer Macaulley Homeschooling tapes (please excuse the spelling...no time)
Elisabeth Elliot tapes
Barry White
Michael McDonald
Greg Brown
Mary Chapin Carpenter
American Boy Choir Hymns
Shania Twain
and
Al Green

What would be in your tape deck?

Encourage one another,
Donna

Funny Names





For four years we have been tickled by this sign. We think it is the strangest name for a town. What Cheer. It sounds like broken English.

We are usually whizzing past this sign at about 75 mph (75 when dh is driving and 72 when I am driving)
and we have never ventured off the highway and deeper into southern Iowa to see What Cheer in person.

We did go to Winterset Iowa. Home of John Wayne, the Bridges of Madison County and Liz Porter and Marianne Fons quilt shop...

That was my big chance to leave the highway and explore...

But I think I would rather wander around the Southern corner of Iowa where Evelyn Birkby is from. Her town is gone...her beautiful white tall steepled church is gone, but her stories of life and radio and cooking make me want to go there. I have read two of her cookbooks, which are very biographical. She was a wife and mother who did a radio show out of her kitchen. You may listen to at her website.

Her books are called Up a Country Lane Cookbook and Neighboring on the Air:Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers.

I recommend them! In fact, I need to have these books in my personal collection...

Encourage one another,
Donna

Pretty as a Picture

Every night before I go to bed I check Yahoo News Photos to see the interesting/pretty pictures that have been posted for the day. I guess I am a very visual person. (Well, I do check the drudgereport too so I'm not a complete bimbo)
Here is Venus. It has been colored for dramatic effect.
Did you know it will cross between the Sun and the Earth on June 8th?

Isn't She Lovely?




_____________

Sunday morning I saw a story on CBS Sunday Morning about a photographer and a small town Cuba, Kansas. Jim Richardson has been taking photographs of this town of 300 for thirty years! He has taken around 100,000 pictures. It was a charming.

Richardson has the cover story in the National Geographic this month.
You may go and view a great preview of it at National Geographic's website.

.....'the sound of the wind and the windmills'....


Encourage one another,
Donna

Latin with Andy and Barney

Do you remember the Andy Griffith Show episode where Barney insists he can recite the Preamble? Andy prompts Barney along and through it all Barney really doesn't remember a single word of the Preamble. But when he is finished 'reciting' the Preamble he thinks he has done a fine job! It is a funny scene.

Patrick Jr. says he feels like this when he quizzes the little children at Awana...

I feel like this when Emma and I study Latin. Funny thing is...Emma is Andy and I am Barney!

Yesterday;

Me: Emma how about if I just check the answers and you do all the questions?

Emma: You want to learn it don't you?

Me: Well...it would go so much faster if you did it alone, it takes me so long to...

Emma: Come on.

Me: Ok, here you do the first one.

Emma: Sunt viae in Gallia.

Me: Oh that was an easy one! O.k. my turn. Aw this one is hard!

Emma: (laughing)

Me: Propter...what's the word for courage?...virtus...(searching notes, looking at the book, searching notes again for proper ending...)

Emma: (pointing at the proper declension list)

Me: Oh it's that one...I wasn't here that day...virtutem...what's the word for soldier?...Is it ablative or accusative?...Is that the third one down?

Emma: (pointing at declension list again) It's the same one we did a minute ago.

Me: Do you think I can remember that? Short term memory loss here!

Emma: Say the whole thing.

Me: Propter virtutem militum pax est in provincia.

Emma: The est is at the end.

Me: Ugh! Here your turn...ha ha it's a long one!

You see we use Latin to teach patience and understanding around here :o)

Be patient with one another,
Donna

"Be always coming home"


Parenting is all about verbs; Loving and giving and helping and cheering and kissing and laughing and teaching; Praying and hoping and dreaming and driving and watching and crying and missing.

I read a lovely passage that sums up my deepest feelings just last night.
It is from the book Girl meets God by Lauren Winner. She quotes a poem by Ursela K. LeGuin from her novel Always Coming Home.

Winner writes;

"The poem instructed me to be both careful and fearless, to eat new foods and swim in new rivers. "Return with us, return to us,/be always coming home."

Our boy is on his way...he is well prepared; spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically...he is blessed and he is on his way.



Let's get this show on the road!



Ninety-Eight Degrees



Proud Parents and the Graduate

"Be Always Coming Home"

Encourage one another,
Donna

Open for Comments Tonight

Emma and I will be watching the finale of Friends.
So...if you would like to express your opinions....feel free to share them with me :o)
Cause, heaven knows, I will have opinions to share with anyone who will listen!!!

My prediction is that Ross and Rachel will get together...and I hate to say it but, YUCK!
While I think David Schwimmer is a excellent actor. I just can't stand Ross. Sorry, he is just a dork!

My dream for Rachel is that she will meet up with that Brad Pitt Character on the plane to Paris. Wouldn't that be cute?

I don't imagine there will be any surprises...

We shall see!

Donna-I like to watch-Booshay

Sunrise, Sunset

Our oldest child will graduate from college this Saturday!
As with most things, he has accomplished this without much stress and strain...
He is a blessing...always has been.

He is however...NOT coming home!

He will live in Omaha...with a bunch of guys and work, work, work...

I understand his need for independence and the reasons why he is settling so 'far from the home I love'

But to all you mom's out there...

Don't let you babies grow up...and go away to college!

Here are a few quotes for our Graduate;

Just do the right thing; don't worry about the future.
-Chinese Proverb

A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.
Honor De Balzac (1799-1850),

Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.
-Navin Johnson

Patrick's Favorite

"You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."
Homer Simpson

"And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?"
Homer Simpson

"The code of the schoolyard, Marge! The rules that teach a boy to be a man. Let's see. Don't tattle. Always make fun of those different from you. Never say anything, unless you're sure everyone feels exactly the same way you do."
Homer Simpson

In all seriousness and love to our boy...

The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.

-Numbers 6:24

Encourage one another,
Donna

The Sour Cream Coffee Cake is in the Oven...
And all is right in the world...

Well at least the Coffee Cake is in the oven :o)

In the quiet of my kitchen with just the hum of the refrigerator for company I mixed and measured and created one of my favorite things this morning. Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake. I, the mom who hates to rise before SEVEN....was a mixin and a bakin at 6:30.
You see the butter was out and was waiting to be used. "Do it now...the blog can wait...and you can share the recipe", said the butter.

I felt like Ma Ingals this morning as I baked before the children rose.

(There is no rising before my ex-baker husband....He is still on bakery time)
He is not an ex-husband...just an ex-baker...:o)

Here is the best recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake I have ever tried.
My fondest memory from Stephens College was the Sour Cream Coffee Cake....well and the Iris' in the spring...but this is the best since then...

Barefoot Contessa's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

12 T. Butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 C. Sugar
3 XL Eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/4 C. sour cream
2 1/2 C. Cake Flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
-----------
Streusel

3/4 C. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. kosher salt
3 T. butter
3/4 C. walnuts (I do not use these)
----------

Preheat 350*.
Use a 10 inch tube pan.

Cream butter and sugar 4-5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time...add vanilla and sour cream.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Mix together with wet ingredients.
_______
Make Streusel
_________

Spoon 1/2 into the pan...Sprinkle 3/4 c. streusel on to that...
Spoon on the rest of the batter...scatter the remaining streusel on top.
Bake 350* for 50-60 min.

Yum!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Sharing some emails and forwards

SUCCESS:

At age 4 success is ... . not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . having friends.
At age 16 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 20 success is.......going all the way.
At age 35 success is . . ..having money.
At age 50 success is . . . having money.
At age 60 success is . . . going all the way.
At age 70 success is . . ..having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . . . having friends.
At age 80 success is . ... not peeing in your pants.

Two Great Truths that Children have learned...
1) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
2) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.

Why English teachers die young: Actual Analogies and Metaphors Found in High School Essays.

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.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a
bowling
ball wouldn't.

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.


Important Health Information

Is It a Stroke?

This was published in a monthly newsletter where a friend of mine lives and he sent it on. I had never heard this advice before and hadn't a clue. Perhaps you hadn't either and would like to file it away in the back of your head.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke asking three simple questions:

* ask the individual to smile.
* ask him or her to raise both arms.
* ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. After discovering that a group of nonmedical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage."

Janice expressed an interest in a poncho...

Go see Wendy's poncho over at Wendy Knits! The colors are Absolutely Fabulous!!!

Makes you want to knit one just like it, doesn't it?

Encourage one another,
Donna

Miss Independent

Emma has been on tour since Friday morning. Her homeschool Choir is touring northern Wisconsin. It is a service trip of sorts. I'm really starting to miss her. I know she is having a blast. I also know she is not missing us. Which is a good thing....our kids are SO independent. It's just that secret mom pride deep inside that wishes....

And then there is Katie Gracie....who insists that she get a haircut too. So we can be twins :o)

__________

Ebay and Me

I have slowly gotten involved with buying and selling on Ebay. I have had two disasters...and one 'Road Show' experience.

My first two purchases were lovely vintage Pyrex mixing bowls. Both sets came shattered! I was not reimbursed, the mailman basically laughed, and I did not give the sellers poor feedback. I have not bought anything breakable since then. *Glass is risky.

I bought Kromex salt and pepper shakers....very hard to find at garage sales, but abundant on Ebay.
When they arrived I opened the box...and they were huge! They did not look at all like my mother's salt and pepper shakers. They looked like Paul Bunyan salt and pepper shakers. *Check size details.



Look at the Seller's Feedback rating. I prefer to buy from folks with a rating above 99%. *Check Feedback.

For the first two years I only used money orders to pay. They cost a little more and are inconvenient but I wanted to give the seller a payment they could cash immediately and not wait around for a check to 'clear'.

When I have sold items I accept money orders only. No one has complained and they are a very safe method. *Money orders are good enough.

I have sold only books. Now that I have a digital camera I will try to sell other things this summer. I think it is important to have a picture of your item. ( I could always find a photo on the web somewhere of the books I was selling so that was easy to do.) *A picture is a good thing.

Research a bit on Ebay to see if there is an interest in the book you want to sell. See if any others are listed and check Completed Auctions.
Last summer I read East of Eden. I bought the book for $16.00. I read it in a week and sold it on Ebay for $12.00. They paid the shipping. *Check out marketability.

It is very easy to set up an account with Ebay. The fees are very small. Dimes and nickels really.

My big success story...

In 1997 we bought a Tibetan Terrier. It is a rare breed. Not being able to find a book about Tibetans I sent away for a book which was self-published by a well know Tibetan Terrier Judge and breed lover.
In 2003 we no longer have a Tibetan...and I thought the book might be of value. It was a soft-cover book. There was a similar one that sold for $42.00. I thought I'd give it a shot. (I had spent $35.00)
We had many bids and excitement the week the book was up for auction.

It sold for $85.00!

I have only 30 transactions...all good feedback :o)

No one has cheated me. It has been fun and slightly profitable for us *wink*

Feel free to ask more questions...I will answer what I can.

Encourage one another,
Donna

My favorite Ebay Sites

Shopping on Sunday may not be Kosher...in the South at least...but Ebay has made shopping all day, everyday a way of life.

I have slowly tried Ebay out. I have purchased a few things and last summer I sold books with great success!

There are two sites that I just love and visit every week. One sells the most wonderful quilts and the other sells antiques from England and France.

Wait til you see the wonderul quilts :o) I have not bought one, but I feel like I get to go to a quilt show every week :o)

Happy Lord's Day! Encourage one another :o)
Donna

Tra-la, It's May!



I will be checking for more Friday Five answers...
hint...hint...

Have a lovely Saturday!

Encourage one another,
Donna