hiatus

The days have been FULL, O my four readers. When time permits, I must describe Lora and Dave's wedding reception at Pioneer Park Pavilion, the saga of the textured ceilings, the agonizing over wall color choices, the nacho cheese wall incident, and our trip to Chewelah.

Oh wait, I can mention that last one now! Kids and I are leaving for Chewelah (in Eastern WA) tomorrow at 8 am with Audra to visit our friend Jennifer and her family. We'll be back Sunday night.

So I'll have a different reason not to post: I won't even be here!

Then again, I haven't really been "all there" for a long time anyway.

warning: danger of suffocation

I had three panic attacks today.


I'm usually a pretty calm person, but not today. You see, Thursday we re-hung all the plastic sheeting from ceiling to floor. Then Thursday night, Audra's hubby Matt the Contractor ("can we fix it? YES WE CAN!") (sorry, flashback)...where was I? Oh yes. Matt came over and sprayed ceiling texture (NOT POPCORN) back on the ceilings.

It dried overnight. We left the plastic up. I stayed in my bedroom that night, trying not to think about all the plastic, trapping me like a turkey roasting bag on Thanksgiving.

Friday morning I was up and out the door to a Randall Faber piano teachers' workshop in Olympia. Fabulous pedagogue. Reinforced much of what I'm learning from Mimi, as well as giving me new and creative ways to reach and teach younger kids proper technique while keeping it fun. (Not to mention that these workshops are really promos for FJH's new piano materials, didja bring yer wallet? But I didn't mind.)

But alas, I had to come home to the plastic tomb again, armed with three gallons of Parker Paint's "linen white." (Hey, I have to use a white on the ceilings. I haven't wimped out on the use of color, honest!) So Friday afternoon, A. and I (mostly A) painted. And painted. And the texture would sometimes pull away from the ceiling, leaving little, pencil-eraser-sized bare spots behind, almost like a bald spot on a mangy bear. (I'm trying to be descriptive here, and it's just sounding reeeediculous. Bear with me. Ha.)

Got the first coat up, but had to let it dry/set overnight. One more night in the shopping bag nightmare.

I woke up, sweating bullets, around 3 am. There was no air in the house! or so it seemed. Heart pounding out of my chest, panting, and panicking. No fun.

I did some deep breathing exercises and was able to calm my heart rate down.

This morning, going out to the kitchen (taped completely off by plastic), I had another panic attack by the coffeemaker, and again a few minutes later in my bedroom.


I just can't handle plastic, I guess! I've spent the day either in the living room, which is the most spacious of the rooms, or here at the computer, distracting myself by learning more about CSS so I can revamp two different web sites that I maintain.

I'm trying not to think about the chaos, or I'm trying to reason myself back to reality, that this is only temporary.

But I tell you, in about one hour I'm going to rip down all that plastic before I go postal!

w00t! A surprise in my comments section...

Anonymous said...
Ok - This is the first time I've been here, and the first time I've heard of 'blogger'. So you'll just have to excuse my naivity(?) and probably spelling.

SNIP

DianaBarry, you found me!

...and I'm using your AOL screenname just because I don't know what level of privacy you like to maintain whilst on the Net. :)

How to explain Blogger and its myriad of clones? There's a bzillion bloggers (meaning, people who blog) out there. I have links only to a few of them, and mainly it's because I already know them in real life! The exception is Mrs. Blythe. (And just guess where she got HER name? lol)

There are informative, encouraging, challenging, witty, entertaining, and mentally-stimulating blogs out there in the "blogosphere."


And then there's this one. Run by jus' me. I started it a long time ago, but kept up with it only sporadically until I was challenged by my friend Amy when she started her own blog on the event of her husband being shipped out to Iraq. (Interestingly enough, she doesn't blog now. Too busy writing her next book, I assume.) Anyway, that was the kick in the pants to get me writing on a more consistent basis.

So here it is. Take a look around. And give me some ideas on what to paint my living room, dining room, and hallways while you're at it. I'm hopeless at home decorating.

Sneaky Apple Pie

Now is the time of year that you do not want to leave your car windows open. Do not leave your front porch unattended. Put up construction barriers to keep visitors off your front porch. And, if you see your neighbor coming across the street holding a large grocery sack, do NOT open the door to her. Do not make a sound, just pretend you are not home.

Why all the paranoia? Because it's....

ZUCCHINI SEASON!

In the event that all your precautions fail, however, I do have a Plan B for you. This is a recipe I got from Jennifer last September, and it's so good that your family/guests will never know it's zucchini.

Unless, of course, you tell them! Then you can sit back and enjoy the "oohs" and "aaahs" of amazement. It's that good.

So here it is - a recipe originally given the blasé title of "Zucchini Dessert Bars," but which I forthwith renamed

SNEAKY APPLE PIE
Crust:

• 4 c flour
• 2 c sugar
• 1 ½ c cold butter
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt

Mix together and cut in butter. Reserve 3 cups and pat remaining in 9x13 pan. Bake @ 375 for 10-12 minutes

Filling:

• 8-10 c. zucchini (peeled, seeded, and cubed)
• 2/3 c. lemon juice
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg

Boil zucchini and lemon juice 6-8 minutes. Add sugar & spices. Simmer 5 min. Pour over crust and sprinkle remaining crust mixture on top. Bake 40-45 min @ 375.


I plan to make this very soon. I had enough zucchini last week, but unfortunately I let the zucchini/lemon juice boil too long, and I scorched it. And in removing it from the stove and setting it in the sink, I scorched myself!

So I'm waiting until after Lora's reception is over with. I know I'll be inundated with zucchini by then! So you'd better keep your car windows rolled up when I'm around...

"...and lots of popcorn"

One thing that was very apparent to us when we moved into our home 11 years ago was that Carol Brady must have been the interior designer.

Pumpkin orange kitchen countertops. Avocado-colored dishwasher (the kind you hook up to the kitchen sink). Yellow drapes in the living room affixed to these huge cornices that stood a foot out from the window, to give the illusion of depth. Carpet: brown and avocado. Back porch: teal green. Overall house color: barn brown with white accents.

The first thing we axed was the kitchen. I, having an appreciation of color, but deathly afraid to USE something so permanent in decorating - went with a whitish grey formica countertop, a white linoleum floor with flecks of blue and grey, got a black dishwasher.

Over time, we lost the teal porch and brown house (now it's Cape Cod grey, thank you. More neutral colors...) - the yellow drapes were replaced with a soft green tab curtains with one of those beige sheers you toss over the curtain rail (I am SO not a decorator, so forgive my imprecision!)

Each bedroom has been recarpeted and repainted. (Except D's, but his turn is coming soon once I have an extra $700 for carpet.) The master bath has been renovated - fixing the tub enclosure where the idiots who built the house used regular DRYWALL instead of greenboard, thereby creating a serious water problem... the subfloor had to be replaced, because I didn't want a crop of mushrooms in the bathroom anymore...

And we replaced the western fence back in June/July.

So we are chipping away at fixing "what was wrong" with the house.

But a major aspect of the 60's and 70's houses was what went on their ceilings: "popcorn" texture. GADS, if ever there were a dust collector, that is it. There is simply no way to clean it. And if you bump the ceiling, little kernels of the stuff drop all over you. And it might have asbestos in it. Joy.

Plain and simple, it had to go. We had already removed it from each of the bedrooms by using a squirt bottle, a large putty knife, and a handy dustpan.......but now, how to do the vast areas remaining: living room, dining room, and hallways?

Clearly, this was not the time to be timid. Bold steps were taken. Abandoning the wimpy squirt bottle, we grabbed the GARDEN HOSE! (insert "Tim-the-Toolman Taylor" auh auh auh sounds here). I taped plastic over my piano, the hutch, the filing cabinets, and the bookcases; A. spread out a big painter's dropcloth over the floor, and, with the nozzle setting on "mist" - he went to town, hosing down the ceilings. Then, once the popcorn was soft, he scraped it off. And scraped, and scraped. He was on a roll, but even so, it took from Monday - Wednesday to get it all done.

There are 5 or 6 garbage bags full of scraped-off popcorn sitting outside next to the trash now! It looks so much better now that it's gone.

However. Now we have to retexture said ceilings! The GOAL was to do that on Friday and Saturday. However, A. being a pastor and all, he's got to get ready for Sunday. And on Monday and Tuesday, I'm getting ready for Lora's wedding reception, baking cakes to feed 200.

Originally I had left the plastic up, thinking I'd just have to leave it up for texturing anyway, but last night I kept waking up, heart pounding, thinking about that stupid popcorn. I vacuumed and vacuumed in my dream, but popcorn still kept dropping on that BROWN carpet (another thing that will be replaced as soon as we are able!) Most of our furniture has been moved; the house is in a general state of destruction/construction - no wonder I was having nightmares!

So, first thing this morning, I went around the house and took down all the plastic. I couldn't face leaving it up until next Wednesday. I felt trapped in my own house with all that stuff up. Stress level down now!

So now, to make white chocolate seashells and coral for Lora's wedding cake! Reception Tuesday night; texture ceilings Wednesday... then PAINTING Thursday-Saturday!! w00t.


And this time I resolve to be BOLD in my use of color!! No more off-whites, beiges, or pale eggshells for me. I WILL USE COLOR!!

...but will someone please help me!

Boy, am I ever slow!

Gee, just on a whim I clicked on the Technorati link on Carla Rolfe's blog and decided I'd do a look-see to see if anybody I didn't know linked to me here.

And now that it's literally ONE MONTH LATER, I would officially like to thank those of you who nominated me for Sallie's Blogs of Beauty award in 2006 for Best Recipes and Best Humor. w00t!

I had no clue.

So, thanks, to whichever one of my four readers who nominated me! Does this mean I can use this picture in my sidebar now? especially now that it's all over??


Roffle my waffles!! I should have paid closer attention!

4 things about me

I'm turning an email meme from my best friend Diane's mom into a BLOG meme, because.....well, just because! Probably because my best friend doesn't even know I have a blog, and this is an indirect way of telling her (hiding).


(Just wait until my MOM finds out I have a blog.)

(running and hiding)

Things you may not have known about me . . .


A) Four jobs/employers I have had in my life:

"Volunteen" at Marian Medical Center, Santa Maria, CA (read: Candy Striper)

Pioneer Chicken restaurant. Ugh. Hated it.

Office chick/Receptionist/Cashier/Girl Friday at Toyota of Santa Maria. Best. Job. Evah.

Middle School English and Science teacher at Tacoma Baptist Schools. Best. Job. Evah. (didn't I just say that, though?)

B) Four movies you could watch over and over:

Pride and Prejudice (BBC 1995)

Sabrina (the one with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond

The entire Lord of the Rings series

The Philadelphia Story (Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart)

Napoleon Dynamite, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Princess Bride, erhmmm...oh, my limit's up!

C) Four places you have lived:
Sorry, only three.

Santa Maria, CA

Greenville, SC

Puyallup, WA

D) Four TV shows you love to watch:
u know I don't watch TV much!! Only DVD's/videotapes, really. HOWEVER>....

Monk! I own 4 seasons of it on DVD. "It's a jungle out there..."

Nero Wolfe. Yeah, I know, A&E cancelled it ages ago.

Reruns of M*A*S*H

The A-Team. just kidding. Though I still laugh about the show.

E) Four places you have been on vacation:

Orlando, FL. Best. Vacation. Evah. lol

Israel and Greece

Yellowstone National Park, WY

Reno, NV/Lake Tahoe, CA

Visits to MI and NY are sort-of vacations too, where we artfully weave in familial visits with sightseeing.

F) Websites you visit daily ( ok so maybe not every day! )

Drudge

See that sidebar over there <----- ?? All those.

k12

neopets (not so much lately)

G) Four of my favorite foods:

Mexican cuisine

Italian cuisine

Katsudon, thanks to Kathy~! (up here in Seattle I've only found it as tonkatsu.

Popcorn, of course~

H) Four places I would rather be right now:

In the bathtub with a book

At the beach with a book

Disneyworld

Mountain cabin by a stream. Again, with a book.

I) Four friends I think will respond:
I have no clue, but please let me know if you do by posting a link in the comments below so I can go see it! :)

Update on Prayer Request

I got another email from Amy this morning with news of her brother, her grandfather, and this dear lady Angie - God is good all the time.

Erin,

Well things are going pretty good. Lord willing James will be coming home with my parents on Sat. It's going to be a hard trip for him physically and mentally. Aaron and baby gracie's funeral is on Sat. so he will not be able to attend. James is doing pretty well. He got up yesterday and was able to see my grandpa but was just exhausted after a few mintues. Last night was a rough night for him too. He was throwing up most of the night.
My Dad and Aunt went to see Angie yesterday. They said she is doing really well. They couldn't believe how well she was handling everything. She did break her back and is in a back brace. She also broke her thumb and it might require surgery. So just keep praying for everyone, I know you will. It's going to be a long road but God is in control and will supply all our needs!! Thank you for all your prayers.

love,
Amy

Prayer Needed

I never know how many people actually read this blog, but I know some of you are fellow believers in Christ, and can pray for this situation.

We received an email this morning from Amy, a former church member who moved last summer with her family to Idaho. Her grandfather (an unbeliever) had a massive heart attack. So Jim and Debbie (Amy's parents) flew back to Michigan to be with grandpa. James, Amy's brother, also flew out to see grandpa. From here on out I'll let Amy tell in in her own words (from her email):

On last Friday my grandpa Bliss had a massive heart attack and they transported him to the hospital and he had another one. They weren't sure he was going to make it so my parents got on a plane to Michigan. My Brother James also wanted to go so he flew out Sat. Well for right now my grandpa is stable but still not out of the woods. So please pray for his recovery!

Now for the second part. James arrived on Sat. afternoon and his best friend Aaron picked him up from the airport. They went to Aarons house and picked up his wife, and 3 kids. They were on their way to the hospital to see my grandpa and a drunk driver in a pick up truck hit them head on. Aaron's 3 month old baby was thrown from the minivan and killed instantly. James was pinned in the car but was able to tear out the dash and bust open his door. Angie, the mom, was histerical and James went looking for the baby. He found her across the street and handed her to a Nurse that was on her way to work. He went back and helped Angie get the other 2 kids out. Then he went back to comfort Aaron who was knocked unconcious and stuck in the car. Then James collapsed because he had injuries himself. They used the jaws of life to get Aaron out. They had to do surgery on Aaron, but his injuries were too severe and he also died. James has a broken knee, broken collar bone, fractured his neck, and has possibly broken his elbow. He might have to have surgery, before he can come back to boise, on his neck. He is in a neck brace and will have to remain in one for 16 weeks, and will have to wear the knee immobilizer for 16-18 weeks. We just PRAISE GOD HE IS ALIVE!! They said that nobody in the minivan should have live. Aaron and Angie's 2 other kids are fine, and angie has a broken neck also, a lacerated liver, and did have internal bleeding. So please pray for all of them. Angie has lost her husband and 3 month old baby girl. She really needs our prayers!! Please be praying for James and Tawnya [James' wife] too. Tawnya is still here and waiting to see what they are going to do. She will be flying out if they are going to do surgery. We are all devestated about this and Aaron was a very close family friend. If anyone would like to contact James he is at McClearn hospital in Flint Michigan. He is in Room 825. Angie is at Hurley hospital but I don't know what room or anything. If anyone would like her address to send cards let me know. Thank you for all your prayers.

Love to you all,
Amy

My heart is full for these people. If you feel so led, please pray for them. The "connectedness" of the WWW makes it possible for literally thousands of believers to pray for other believers, so pass the word. I know if I were in Angie's place, I would need all the prayer support I could get.

God bless.

Newberys

A few weeks back I set myself a goal of reading all the Newbery award winning books that I hadn't yet read--and getting it done by December 31 of this year.

Yesterday I realized that I haven't done very much toward accomplishing said goal! So I went to the library to pick up a few books.

I'm posting this list here for my own personal benefit; I'll put a link to it on the sidebar over there <--------- so you can see how I'm doing at polishing off the list. The ground rule is: if I can't remember the basic plot of the book, I have to read it again. There's a few books on the list that I KNOW I've read, but I can't summarize them. Therefore, back on the list they go. Here, in reverse year order, is what I've got to read within the next 4 1/2 months. Remember I read reallyfast, so this, in theory, SHOULD BE doable. That's the point of setting goals, right? Pushing yourself a bit?
John Newbery Award Books, 1922- Present
2007 The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2006 Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005 Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2004 The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
2003 Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
2002 A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2001 A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

2000 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

1999 Holes by Louis Sachar

1998 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

1997 The View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

1996 The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

1995 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

1994 The Giver by Lois Lowry

1993 Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

1992 Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

1991 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

1990 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

1989 Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

1988 Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

1987 The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

1986 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan

1985 The Hero and the Crown by Robin Mckinley

1984 Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

1983 Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt

1982 A Visit To William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard

1981 Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

1980 A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos

1979 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

1978 Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

1977 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

1976 The Grey King by Susan Cooper

1975 M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton

1974 The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

1973 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

1972 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (aladdin) by Robert C. O'brien

1971 The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Cromer Byars

1970 Sounder by William H. Armstrong

1969 The High King by Lloyd Alexander

1968 From the Mixed-up File of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

1967 Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt

1966 I, Juan De Pareja by Elizabeth Borton De Trevino

1965 Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska

1964 It's Like This, Cat by Emily Cheney Neville

1963 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle

1962 The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

1961 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'dell

1960 Onion John by Joseph Krumgold

1959 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

1958 Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith

1957 Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Eggertsen Sorensen

1956 Carry on Mr Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

1955 The Wheel on the School by Meindert De Jong

1954 And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold

1953 Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark

1952 Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

1951 Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

1950 The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli

1949 King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

1948 The Twenty-one Balloons by William Paene Du Bois

1947 Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

1946 Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski

1945 Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

1944 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

1943 Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

1942 The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds

1941 Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

1940 Daniel Boone by James Daugherty

1939 Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright

1938 The White Stag by Kate Seredy

1937 Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer

1936 Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

1935 Dobry by Monica Shannon

1934 Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs

1933 Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

1932 Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer

1931 The Cat Who Went To Heaven by Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth

1930 Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

1929 The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly

1928 Gay Neck by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

1927 Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James

1926 Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

1925 Tales From the Silver Lands by Charles Finger

1924 The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes

1923 The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

1922 The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Public Service Announcement

Ain't it great being in your 30's?

Golly Moses, when did I get so old?

ANYway, hope it's happy. No more toilet brush incidents!! :)

Odds and Ends

Haven't posted in a bit because my parents are visiting. Been challenging to get to the computer, though I have done some reading/posting on other blog buddies.


Not much to report, honestly! The parents took the Amtrak (train) up from California. Being a government-run entity, the train was 5 1/2 hours late, arriving around 3 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time in Tacoma. yick.

Since then, been running here and there, hither and yon. Grandma has bought both kids new sheets/comforters for their beds.
Their old sheets were very worn out, and their comforter blankets didn't fit their new beds. Still, we were making do. Bedding is pricey, so we are thankful to Grandma. D. was all for going to Goodwill or Value Village to get some "old sheets" (he also wanted old shoes and an old school backpack, rather than buying new--we've trained him well! LOL) - and it really took some convincing that Grandma was willing and able to buy him NEW ones, a real treat! So he was delighted to get Spiderman sheets/comforter.








S. was a little more difficult. She wanted baseball sheets at first (a new interest for her), but the sheets we found didn't look like they'd suit her room (which is purplish). And I am NOT going to have that Bratz trash in my daughter's room! (excuse me.) She's outgrown Dora; Disney Princesses are just OK (plus I hate buying into the Disney empire; they own too much of childhood as it is); Spongebob is too .... yellow....what to do? We finally settled on a butterfly theme that's pale green and white with pink/blue butterflies.
Looks perfect with that girly room.







The other thing that S. got that she's been begging for is HIGH TOP CONVERSE ALL-STAR SHOES. 2 tone, coral and pink. We happened to find shoes on clearance at Fred Meyer with 40% off the lowest marked price, so, what were originally $40 shoes (too much for a 7 year old who grows fast!) - were now $17. Much better, still too much for this cheap mommy, but Grandma was doing the buying.


I'll post pictures later. We had our annual church barbecue today and I am exhausted.


edited Monday, August 7 at 5:35 p.m.: added photos

Overheard at home

D. was in the middle of his afternoon potty break. This is usually a 20-30 minute affair, where he sits...and sits... and sits.... I don't know how much "business" is going on in there (9 year olds like their privacy), but I'm sure there's a fair bit of daydreaming that occurs while he's sitting.

I liken it to Grandpa and his Hut in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Anyway, my daughter, becoming annoyed with D's long delay, stomped into the living room and announced:

"This is a good example of why you should chew your food."

Guest Blogger: Overdue Thank-You Note

dear kevin, ilove the airplane. thank you. guss what, two snakes are what we got in the garden. david.

The Watch Maker

Kids 4 Truth put this "dynamation" out. I think it's really good! My church is going to start a Weds night children's program using Kids 4 Truth beginning in September! :)


Yep, I get to lead it. The joys of a small church! :)

Embracing my inner Velma

You scored as Velma. Your Inner Scooby-Doo character is Velma! You are very smart, courageous, and are always there for your friends!=) Fred 60% Velma 60% Scooby-Doo 55% Daphne 45% Shaggy 35% Scrappy 20% What Scooby Doo Character is inside you??(Pics) created with QuizFarm.com