Ok, I Give...

More continued excitement... almost more than I can handle.

On a good note, Mom is home from the hospital. She finally got to come home late Tuesday night. She is still on oxygen, but at least she is in the comfort of home. That makes a huge difference.

While Mom was in the hospital, Dad arrived home one evening (Sunday, I think), to find that a large tree next to their garage had been struck by lightning. The lightning had also come into the house and had at least one of their outlets in the garage smoking. When everything settled, they had to have a few circuits replaced... and a component on their stove replaced. At least Dad wasn't home and standing in his normal "storm watching" position... at the garage door... right by that very tree.

I finally gave in and went to the doctor yesterday for my poison ivy. The first few spots were starting to dry up, but new spots were still appearing... and driving me nuts. I got a nice steroid shot in the bum. Amanda wouldn't watch, but James did. After he saw that I got a Shrek donkey band-aid, he said, "Bubby, too!" Needless to say, he didn't take a needle for his desire to have a cool band-aid.

While we were at the doctor, Mallory escaped again. She somehow popped half of the bottom of the screen in the laundry room out. Amanda was devastated when we discovered it. The kids and I walked around the neighborhood, alerting everyone that we could find. For those that we couldn't find, we stuffed "lost" flyers in their mailboxes. Then, we drove around and stuffed some more in mailboxes on the other side of the woods behind our house. While we were out driving around, the neighbor boy spotted her at the edge of the woods behind his house. We all walked around back there calling for her and clanking the cereal bowl (since she likes to have milk out of cereal bowls...). Well, we didn't spot her again. We kept calling for her throughout the day and evening. We kept praying that she would appear again (shortly!) like she did the last time she got out. We did another search right before bedtime... to no avail. I woke up about 2:00 a.m. and thought that I should open the door and give a call for her. I did... and, heard that lovely jingle of her tags!! She ran up to the door and was safely in our home. Whew! I guess that she won't have "window privileges" again... Darn cat.

On a cool note, I discovered some oak tree saplings while finally finishing up the front yard last night. Doug and James transplanted one of them into a blank area in our front yard. It will certainly be fun to watch it grow up to be big and strong (I hope!) as James grows up to be big and strong. I can just imagine looking back and saying, "Oh, I remember when you and your daddy planted that tree... It was just before you turned 3 years old. It seems like only yesterday."

Mimi, Dean and Anzie are due into town today! Yeah!! They have had a couple of showings on their house already, and it sounds like one couple is wanting to make an offer. Awesome!

Have a great day and weekend... Here is Friday's Feast!

Appetizer:
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose? I think that I would have to select Australia. I've never been there, but I have heard that it is just absolutely beautiful. I know that they have some great beaches and surfing... so, how could you go wrong?

Soup:
Which browser do you use to surf the Internet? I use Firefox. My husband has set up our family computer to run in Linux... and selected Firefox to be our browser. I have no problems with it... seems to work great for me.

Salad:
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country? Wow... there always seems to be one question each week that stumps me. This is the one for this week's feast. Honestly, I really didn't enjoy history when I was a younger student. I think that I've learned more in the last few years though from visiting museums and reading with the kiddos. I guess that I'd have to say 6... Surely this number will improve as the kiddos get older and we continue our learning experience together.

Main Course:
Finish this sentence: Love is… This question makes me think of Snoopy back in the 70's. Wasn't there a time when he was used on t-shirts and the like with that phrase? Need to go look that up...


Well, to get on with the question, I guess that I would have to say:
      Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4

Dessert:
Have you ever been in or near a tornado? No, but it is one of my greatest fears. When I was young and impressionable, my mom was usually home with us in the evenings along, as my dad worked the late shift. One summer I think that we had Tornado Warnings at least once a week. I'm not sure how many times we had to hide in the closets. That whole experience really formed my fear of tornados. The last few years, Doug has worked to bring me back the other way. I'm not as scared as I was, but still get uneasy when severe weather is in the area...