Who I Am

Martha has started this little meme and asked us to participate, so here goes:

25 Things About Me (in no particular order!)

1.  I am only 5' tall.

2.  I am 40 years young.

3.  I have been married for 19 years to a great guy.

4.  I have two children, to whom I gave birth naturally.

5.  My nickname when I was very young was Franki (my middle name is Frances).

6.  I have five sisters and one brother.

7.  I am from Kentucky.

8.  I live in Southern Indiana

9.  I have a son in the 11th grade this year, and I am starting to get really freaked out about him being on his own in the next couple of years.  (But don't tell him that!)

10. I have a 10-year-old daughter who is starting to grow up and fill out, and I am starting to get really freaked out about her becoming a teenager in the next few years!

11. I am a Christian, and we are trying to raise our kids with Christian values and principals.

12. I was the editor of my high school's newspaper.

13. I worked for a weekly newspaper for three years before I was married.

14. I am currently a stay-at-home Mom, again, and loving it; but I will probably have to return to work within the next few months.

15. I (the family) have six dogs, two cats and two fish.

16. I received an award from Western Kentucky University for a poem I wrote when I was 18.

17. I am allergic to eggs.

18. I drive a Honda Accord.

19. I love to cook and take pride in it; but I don't like to ever feel that I "have" to cook, and am thankful that my husband loves to cook as much as I do!

20. I spend very little money on myself, but sometimes I spoil my kids!

21. I like things organized and am very good at being organized and helping other people be organized; but, unfortunately, I am not always so good at keeping things organized.

22. When I was a young child I was painfully bashful, and had a very hard time speaking up for myself.

23. I love to sing;  my sisters and I harmonize well with one another.

24.  I can play guitar, mandolin, and dulcimer.

25. My favorite pastime is reading!

Wow!  That was harder than it looked! 

Letters from home....

I got a letter from my sister, Barbara, today.  I still love getting real letters (snail mail), and, thankfully, she still loves writing them.  I keep in touch with some of my sisters by email and phone, but Barbara (the artist among us) prefers writing real letters.

Her letters are always witty and funny and full of family news.  Sometimes she includes clips from the local newspaper; usually hilarious with blaring grammatical or usage errors.

I'd like to share a few sentences of her latest letter:  "...I plan to diet more assiduously starting next month, but I wanted to get back to exercising first.  At least I haven't gained back everything I lost last year.  (I like writing you, occasionally, because it gives me the chance to use words like "assiduously", which I don't often get to use.) . . . . We are all well, so far as I can determine, and no one has fallen or been stung lately.  Do we relax, or do we wait for the third shoe to drop?  There are only supposed to be two shoes, but then again, things come in threes.  I'd better go and see if supper is ready, because it's about that time.  Troll {Troll is Barbara's dog} is rejoicing because it is a bone supper.  Troll believes whole-heartedly in bone suppers.   I believe whole-heartedly in fried pork chop suppers, but we all have our little peccadilloes, don't we? . . . Till later.  Love,  Barbara."

Nice baking smells in my house!

Mmmmm.......  My house smells like fruit, and pumpkin and spices!

I made the cobbler first.  I'm not a pie eater, but I do love to bake, and I had to sample a little when it got done.  I have to say that the crust is excellent!  Thomas should be pleased.  Then I made, not one, but two pumpkin cakes.  I figured I'd better make one for us, too.  Haven't sampled it yet, because I haven't made the sour cream icing yet.  The cakes are still cooling.

I didn't take a nap, after all, but I have a feeling I will this evening.  My throat is really starting to bother me again.  I've been drinking orange juice all day and sucking on cough drops.  I'll probably end up having to go to the doctor -- again!

When I was making the dough for the cobbler I decided that I would make something for dinner that I haven't cooked in a long time -- fried chicken!  We rarely have anything fried anymore, but sometimes you just have to have good old Southern fried chicken, don't you?  I think the Crisco made me think of it.  I always use Crisco shortening for pie crusts, and although I use canola or olive oil for most things, I can't stand frying chicken in anything but Crisco.  You just can't get better brown-and-crispy-on-the-outside-juicy-and-tender-on-the-inside fried chicken than when you use Crisco.  You also must do the frying in a cast iron skillet.  At least, that's my humble opinion, and I do a pretty good fried chicken.  (Nothing humble about that, huh?)  Actually real lard makes great fried chicken, too, but that is a definite no-no, even once in a while!

I am slowly, but surely, making my way to everyone's journal entries.  I'm trying to comment in at least one entry in each journal, so if I haven't commented in yours yet, I'll get there!  I'll probably be back later, so 'til then....

Rainy Monday.........

Good Morning!  I should say Good "Rainy" Morning; at least in Kentuckiana!

Yesterday was very humid; I think the high was 88 degrees, but the heat index was close to 100 degrees.  Then yesterday evening the thunder and lightening rolled in.  It rained off and on for a while; I woke at 2 a.m. to hear the most glorious rolling thunder -- heaven to sleep to!  But then right after I took Eler Beth to school it started pouring down!  I passed a group of four middle-school kids huddled under one big umbrella at a bus stop, and they were still getting soaked.  I was tempted to stop and say, "Jump in, and I'll wait here until your bus comes."  But, you know, you just can't do that anymore, unless you know the kids.  I didn't know them or their parents.  I know that sounds horrible, but you just can't be too careful these days.  So I passed on by, hoping their bus wouldn't be too long getting there.

I think it's going to rain most of the day, so a nice nap just might be in order.  But first I have a little baking to do this morning.  Thomas requested another blackberry cobbler, and I promised a pumpkin cake to a girl I know, so I figured today would be a good day to bake it, since I'd have the oven on anyway.  I'll be back off and on, catching up on some journals and commenting.

Have a nice Monday!

                                                           

Checking in.........

Phew!  Has it been a bad week!

Eler Beth seems to be all better; of course she still has a few days to go on her antibiotic.  I was feeling much better yesterday, just weak; and boy was I in a bad mood!  I'm much better today, though.

I am so behind on reading journals.  I did manage to keep sort of caught up through the week.  I didn't feel like writing in my own, but I managed to leave a few comments here and there.  Perhaps I can get totally caught up now.

Well, remember the goldfish, "John"?  He now has a friend named "Jake".  Eler Beth got the goldfish free, and I really didn't think he'd live very long, but he is thriving in his little bowl.  I had told her if he survived I'd probably let her set the 10 gallon tank back up and get a few more fish.  We were in Meijer Friday, and she found a light green koi ("The only one that color, Mom!"), that she was sure John would welcome.  So this afternoon I am going to be setting up the fish tank again.

Not much else going on.  I may be back later with this and that.

Crawling up out of my hole...

Well, I had planned on getting back here before the end of the day on Monday, to make my Past Year in J-Land entry, but it didn't work out that way.

I have been so sick!  Eler Beth came home from school last Wednesday feeling bad, and by the next day she had a fever, sore throat and headache.  It became an ear infection and caused a trip to the doctor and four missed days of school.  I could have sent her yesterday, but I figured one more day to rest while taking her medicine wouldn't hurt anyone.  She's doing much better. 

I started getting her symptoms over the weekend.  Sunday I logged into the chat, but my head was buzzing so much, I really couldn't do it justice.  I enjoyed the conversations going on, though.  Monday I just really couldn't bear to do much of anything.  My brain wouldn't work well enough to write anything readable.  I had a fever and started sneezing my head off, and my throat was so sore that nothing would help, until Thomas mixed me up some Wild Turkey, honey, lemon and peppermint.  I do not drink, but this tasted so good and felt so good to my throat that I had to be careful not to take too much!

Needless to say I slept very well Monday night, and I slept most of the day yesterday.  I did get to the doctor to get some "real" medicine, and I went right back to bed when I got home and slept through the night.

So although I still feel a little yucky, I'm up early, and I think today I can maybe get something written...in between naps, maybe.

Updated Anniversary Graphic........

     Here (and in my sidebar) is the correct anniversary graphic.  Thanks Donna!  Also visit Donna's journal for her anniversary entry.