Meandering Minds 2

I was going to point something out to you with that last post but since it just went on and on and I've had difficulty posting lately so I had to save it for another day.

Do you know how to remember how to spell principal--the leader of the school?  He's your 'Pal' unlike the word principle which you hope that he has plenty of!  Or she.....I've mostly had male principals in my life Isn't that a handy bit of information?  The spelling part, not the male principal part.

I went out this afternoon and took down the hummingbird feeder to refill.  I had no sooner got back in the house and the poor guy was zooming around the porch wondering where the heck his dinner went.

My stupid ATT/yahoo email is in a password reset loop.  I was in the midst of using it and suddenly a message popped up that said I was signed out and should sign in again.  And then it wouldn't accept my password.  And then I could sign in with my Facebook account so it didn't matter that day.  Then it wouldn't let me use that.  And I've tried to call them but I only get the computer automated thingy.  The web site says they know they have a problem and are working on it....argh.

On my sister's post about making pie on Sunday and the troubles she had, my mom commented that a friend once told her that if you sewed on Sunday, you'd have to rip every stitch out with your nose.  Maybe she meant pick it out with your nose.   Haha!  Get it?  Pick it--Nose?  I'm so mature.  Anyway.

I decided to research that little gem of a quote.  Of course you've figured out for yourself that it came about because of the old belief that you shouldn't lift a finger to do work on the Lord's day.  Some sites added to the saying:  If you sew on Sunday you'll have to rip out the stitches with your nose on Monday.  Or If you sew on Sunday you'll have to rip the stitches out with your nose in heaven.

I'm pretty sure the second version isn't right because it doesn't sound at all pleasant and I believe heaven is supposed to be heavenly.  Not picky or rippy or whatever. Because I've ripped out my share of sewing and it is nothing at all like I hope heaven's going to be.  It's more like the other place....

Our weather radio has gone off to alert us to thunderstorm warnings a few times since since Les purchased it Thursday.  I'm pretty sure if there is a tornado and I'm home alone I'm just going to blow away.  I can't hear the thing unless I'm in the same room with it.  I guess I'll just have to keep my phone close.  At least I can feel the vibration even when I'm terribly death.  Or deaf, actually.  Seriously, can't we get a spellcheck that reads minds?  When I'm death, I won't care about tornadoes or thunderstorms or hail or such.

Oh Gosh!  I almost forgot the reason I started this whole meandering nonsense!

I seldom (almost never) watch TV and today as I was watching makeup ads I got to wondering about something.  All those women in all those ads are dressed provocatively.  And some of them writhe around a bit in them.  One type of mascara is advertised by a lovely model who is shown putting on thigh high stockings and zipping up a dress that I surely would not allow my daughter to wear.

It got me to wondering how the heck we are supposed to know who the 'good' girls and the 'bad' girls are.  It appears that everyone is supposed to be dressing like they are going out to stand on a corner.  No wonder teenagers are so confused about what is right and what is wrong.

Now, perhaps my meandering is over for the time being....if you're lucky!

Meandering Mind

I'm sick.  I hate being sick.  I especially hate being just a little bit sick.  I've had an off and on temperature since yesterday and I'm itchy all over.  But my appetite's good!  In fact, I've eaten enough sugar in the last week to last me for a year. Perhaps I'm allergic to sugar?  NO!  That would be just too dreadful!

We are in the midst of State Mandated Testing.  It's soooo fun.  NOT.  But our principal or counselors or someone commissioned our cafeteria to bake cookies and we get one for every break!  Woo!  And If I've got to sit in on a multitude of tests, surely I should get cookies, right?  Isn't there some eating advice about not using food as a reward?  Oh dear.

My palms itch.  I've read that'a sign that you will be coming into money.  But I'm not superstitious.  And I don't believe in luck.  And I'm thinking I'm allergic to the sulfa drug the doctor gave me this week for an infection.  So.  I guess we probably won't be getting richer this week.  But if we do, you'll be the first to know!

I missed church today and the only thing I could find to watch was HGTV.  I was having difficulty staying awake, so I needed something without a plot.  But man, do those shows have really annoying peppy music and hosts.  When I had the sound turned down to avoid the music, the host's soundless gestures and expressions were downright irritating.

I had tried to watch Looney Tunes on the Cartoon Network--I was so thrilled when I came across those.  The first show was on old one--Yosemite Sam forcing Bugs over and over to climb a ladder and jump into a tiny tank of water below.  And you know that wascally wabbit tricked him every time and it was Sam that landed in the tank instead!  And then another episode of Looney Tunes came on.  And did you know they have been remade?  With terrible drawing and fuzzy animation and poor color choices?  Seriously, why on earth did they think that perfection could be improved upon?  And why was Bugs lavender?

My sister called this afternoon. She was attempting to make a pie crust and had misplaced the stupendously delicious and easy pie crust recipe I had shared with her years ago. She had issues with the Betty Crocker recipe.

So to save you time, I'm going to post this Pie Crust recipe and assure you that even if you don't think you can make pie crust YOU CAN  because this is the best one ever and it makes making crust, well, it is as easy as pie!  I'm too lazy to walk to the kitchen and find the recipe and don't trust my memory so I'm just copying and pasting from this previous post where I made a delicious apple pie with pictures and everything (unlike this one)

Amazing No-Fail Pie Crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups Crisco
3/4 cup ice water

Cut flour, Crisco and salt together till the mixture resembles peas. Add water, stir till blended. let stand for 20 minutes before rolling out on a floured surface. This makes plenty of dough, so don't try to roll it too thin. Makes two crusts. Use the leftover dough to decorate the crust or bake it alone sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar or make a little, rustic pie!

Read This Book! Prize of My Heart

Three years ago, at the height of the War of 1812, and just when he has been granted a Captaincy with his own ship, Captain Brogan Talvis's late wife informed him that she had abandoned their son Ben and refused to tell him where.  Three years ago, Lorena Huntley and her shipbuilder father became the loving adopted caregivers for an orphaned child they knew as Drew.

Now the war is over and Brogan, once a penniless orphan, is a wealthy and powerful man of the sea.  His relentless search for his son each time he is on land is at last successful when Brogan discovers him in the Huntley's care.  He doesn't reveal his identity but instead commissions a ship from the Huntley shipyards and conspires to steal back the son he has longed to find.  But first, he must win the trust of the Huntleys so that he can befriend the son who seems not to remember his father and eventually disappear onto the vast ocean with his precious child.

Brogan did not expect to find that the Huntleys had taken such good care of Drew and doted on him.  He also did not anticipate finding Lorena so beautiful and appealing or her father such a wise and friendly man.  And once he gains the family's trust, he certainly did not plan on giving up his freedom to rescue Lorena who has been kidnapped by a zealous suitor and forced to sail on a ship bound for England.


Brogan Talvis launches his new ship on her maiden voyage with his dream firmly in his grasp.  His son, Ben, is at his side and he is sailing away.  But he knows that he must find Lorena and confess that he is the boy's father.  And he must confess that he has fallen in love with her.

Read Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato for a thrilling tale of pirating, kidnapping, and derring-do on the high seas.

Thanks so much to Bethany House for sending this free review copy of this delightful Christian Historical Romance.

Wild Weather Update

 Last Monday, April 9 was the 65th anniversary of the 1947 tornado that tore through our town and is #6 on the list of deadliest tornadoes.

It was a dark and stormy evening.  Les and I were eating supper when we heard a crash on the roof.  We looked out the kitchen window in time to see a baseball sized hailstone hit the sidewalk and explode.  I learned the next day one of our high school students was going down the storm shelter steps and before her mom could get the door closed, a hail stone hit her on the arm and she received a hairline fracture!


And so, we made the national news with our hail stones.  Here are some we picked up in the yard after the storm was over.  They've melted a bit.

The next day at school during Reading, I had my students do a little research on the 1947 tornado and find out some facts.  They thought it was pretty interesting! Who knew that we'd soon be making history for our own generation.

Prom preparations were underway also and in spite of a rainy week, the school commons was all decked out for a night of traditional prom partying.

Saturday night, April 15, Les and I ordered a pizza. When we left the house to pick it up, the tornado sirens were going off!  But the sun was shining mostly even though the rain was pouring down.  My sister, whose husband is a storm chaser, called us as we drove home through the rain (still listening to the tornado sirens) and told us we needed to get to shelter.  I rolled my eyes and Les said what do you want to do and after I informed him that his mom had spent the day making cinnamon rolls, we reluctantly headed over to shelter from the storm. And eat cinnamon rolls and pizza of course....

The storm moved on and we watched on tv as twister after twister dropped briefly from the clouds as the storm journeyed east.

We watched the weather off and on for the rest of the evening and although there was another squall line approaching our area, the weather forecasters seemed to think that it might be windy and electrifying but probably not tornado-ish.

So we went to bed, to be woken up about midnight with a call from Les' mom that there was a tornado on the ground about 15 miles west of us and didn't we think we'd better come over?

So we pulled on some clothes and I grabbed my contact case and purse and we drove over in the wind and rain.We could faintly hear the tornado sirens but that was all.  The radio stations were off the air and we weren't really awake yet anyway.

Down we went to the basement again.  The electricity went off and we began to get texts and phone calls.  My friend Debbie, whose husband, Marty Logan, is a storm tracker for News9 called to make sure we were safe.  We had no radio and no electricity and were completely unaware of the drama that was unfolding in our town.  Go here to hear his 'play by play' as he narrates the storm he was following.  It's amazing and horrifying and he is a hero! And maybe kind of crazy!

At last we left the basement and tried to get a sense of what, if anything, had happened.  The cell phones were flooded with calls as everyone tried to text or call their loved ones so reception was iffy.  I called my mom because she had been trying to call us and she narrated what she was seeing on television.  The theatre was gone, there were many houses destroyed and they believed there were deaths.  We drove around a bit before we returned home but without street lights it was difficult to tell what had happened.

The next day was beautiful--No wind, sunny and it was Sunday Morning.  Les had been on a conference call with our other pastors early in the morning as they discussed how to deal with what had happened and how we could minister to those in need.  We had a shortened Sunday prayer service and we were given instructions and suggestions of how we could deal with this tragedy.

That afternoon, we headed into one of the worst hit neighborhoods to assist in the beginning of what has been a massive community-driven clean up effort.

The above home is the first sign of damage in this area.  The NBC news van also caught our eye and was our first indication of how the media was going to converge on our town in the coming week.


This is the home of one of our friends who has recently returned home after many years of living in Pennsylvania.  She and her husband rode out the storm in an interior room.  There is no roof.  The car is under the debris on the right side of the photo.  This front wall is the only exterior wall left.  We saw many homes in similar shape where the only rooms standing intact with four walls were the ones where a family had taken shelter.  God was surely holding onto these people who survived in the flimsy shelter of their home.  The tornado sirens didn't go off because of damage by lightning in that evening's storms.  The prom was over and kids were on the street getting ready for the all night prom party.  There was little warning for this catastrophe and it's amazing that no more people were killed.

6 lives were lost.  Others remain hospitalized.  A mother had her baby early when a wall fell on her.  More than 60 homes were destroyed or damaged and at least 13 businesses were damaged.

It's been a tough week.  There have been rumors of protesters and looters. There are amazing stories of generosity and kindness.  Our town has pulled together and supported friends and strangers in this crisis.  Our city worker, firefighters, police force and emergency personnel have been working round the clock to keep neighborhoods safe, care for victims and organize donations.  Churches are filled with donated clothing and household items.  Larry Gatlin wrote a song after he was inspired by what a victim said on a news interview and did a benefit concert here. Oil field workers have set up grills throughout the damaged neighborhoods and fed the hundreds of people who are working to pick up debris and personal belongings.

Through the efforts of community volunteers, many lots are already cleared off and some building will begin Monday.  Damaged businesses reopened in new locations.   There is an air of promise and unity here that was not so evident before the storm.  It's a place I'm definitely proud to call home.

This has taken me a week to write.  It's difficult to take pictures of people's homes without feeling like you are being invasive.  But without the photos, it's impossible to understand the destruction and devastation that has occurred.  It was hard to help pick up personal possessions--again, another invasion of a stranger's privacy.  But the reality is, that is the only way this work will be done--to help strangers and invade their space and try to find the wind tossed pieces of their lives.  Some people were keeping ridiculous things from their homes.  Yet who could be critical when they were just trying to salvage something.  


So many mysteries and ironies--a "Twister" game hung in the rafters of of a destroyed house. Slivers of wood through a fence.  Posters still taped to a wall that was swinging in the breeze because that was all of the house that was left.  An undamaged house standing next to the rubble of a destroyed home.  The near misses of people who were traveling to safety who unknowingly passed directly in front of the storm.

It's just so difficult to know what to say or where to end.....

Things I Learned on the Roof

The nail gun shoots really, really fast.  

You can have 5 nails in one spot in the space of a second!

No one really wants 5 nails in one spot in a shingle.

The nail gun is very scary.

Even if you think all your shingles are lining up straight as can be

 they tend to drift a bit.  But I think it adds interest to what is otherwise a boring straight line.  

To really see what you are doing when lining them up

it is best to be on the down-hill side of the shingle on your knees.

I think that is probably a life lesson:

Things work out best when you are on your knees.

Real roofers can and do wear turquoise nail polish. (the one in the white shirt.  Not the bandit wielding the nail gun)

I don't want to be a roofer.

Even if it is a good workout.

It is most efficient to work in groups--

I really could not have done all that work 

without the help of Jake, Les and Kenny. And Tim and Dakota and Mike.  And Sarah.  

I prefer being the meal preparer.

Meal preparing is not a good workout.

It is detrimental to my physical appearance.

Unless fluffy is more appealing than tough.

ALL Done!! Just a few hours before the Tornado Sirens went off.

(I really did help roof the house!  I was brave.  Even when it was scary to crawl from the ladder onto the roof.  And even though it took me 30 minutes to quit feeling like I was going to trip and fall and slide off the roof and impale myself on the bits of boards and other construction detritus below.  And I was probably a hindrance to the above 3 guys who at least pretended I was a great help.  But I don't think it was all pretense!)

So There Was This Roof

And it didn't have shingles on it. 

And it was the roof of my daughter's house

And I definitely feel she needs a roof over her head.

So I decided to spend my Friday afternoon roofing.

The proof is in the hair.

And the hands.

And the knees of my jeans.

And the knees, shins, thighs, calves, toes, arches,

heels, buttocks, arms, fingers,

neck, back, etc.

Which really don't hurt all that bad unless I move.

It was a total body fitness regime 

in case you are interested in the exercise known as roofing.

If you are rolling out roofing paper,

And as you are scooting along backwards, realize the edge of the roof is possibly really close,

cardio-vascular workout is included.

Horrifying or Hilarious? You Decide!

I visited the thrift store today.  

I did not buy teacups, embroidery or tablecloths.

I bought this little set of salt and pepper shakers.

Truthfully, I barely glanced at it--I should have looked a bit better.

The tray is quite rusty and the caps are beyond cleaning.

But what is that bit of red I spy inside one of the shakers?

Hmmm.  A red plastic bead, a gold bead, a fake diamond,

and,

what is that?

Could it be????

TEETH?

A silver one and some broken chunks--

Ewww.  

Dear friends--if you ever decide to save any lost teeth inside a little jar and mark them with a red bead,

please tell your family about it, so they don't inadvertently deposit your DNA at the thrift store.

It will gross someone out and perhaps cause some scientific inquiry to begin.

Or provide fodder for a foolish blog post.

(No.  I won't be keeping this item......)

I've Got To Stop This!

Tonight I went to Wal-Mart--surprising, I know.  Since there was a thunderstorm brewing and the prospect of hail in the future, it just seemed sensible to drive over and leave my pickup out and risk being trapped in the store with no umbrella.  It just so happens I did remember to put an umbrella in my purse--Ha!

Lately the sun has really been highlighting the wrinkles around my eyes--bleh.  The worst is on the....well, I'm not going to tell you where the worst is because next time you see me I'll be all paranoid that you are comparing the right and left side of my face to see which is the more wrinklier.  Or wrinkliest.  Or less smooth.  Whatever.

So I went to get some beauty product that will make a miracle happen and remove those lines by tomorrow morning.  Because although I have not used moisturizer hardly ever at all, there is surely some miracle product that will work by tomorrow.  Right?

I stood in front of the shelves of Oil of Olay and Regenerist and Neutrogena and various and sundry other miracle touting/producing products and was horrified that they cost quite a bit.  As in 6 dollars an ounce or more.  I had just added to my cart an industrial size bottle of Jergens Aloe lotion for less than six dollars so I thought these face creams were a bit pricey.  The other problem was the vast quantity of items that proclaimed to produce a miracle.  Just one brand had a ton of varieties.  I finally decided on the good old fashioned Oil of Olay Night Creme.  The price was decent and the brand has been around since I was watching As The World Turns and eating Snickers and drinking Coke from the bottle at my Grandma Irene's, so I'm sure I've picked the right one.  I'll let you know tomorrow.  As if.

Next--the paint section for paint chips.  Molly's bathroom is painted lime green--which she loves.  Me--not so much.  In fact--Me, not at all.  I don't like it.  It makes me feel ugly and now that she has moved out, there must be nothing in the house that makes me feel ugly! I've never painted a room any shade of purple so I grabbed a handful from Luscious Lilac to Amethyst Jewel and maybe we'll pick one of those.

I meandered through the fabric, then the housewares, searching for those red tags that said clearance but was unsuccessful.

Then I recalled that there were a few things I needed for the library. The sniffling kids had used up all the tissue and there were a couple of books I needed to buy.

And that's when it happened--right there in the aisle of Wal Mart with the books and magazines and Mother's Day cards and wrapping paper.  I turned into a meddling woman.

A family was there and the boy wanted the book "The Hunger Games."  In my opinion, he looked to young to be reading it and of course he chose the edition with the movie logo on the front.

Mom: What's the difference?
Son:  I like that one better (movie logo edition was 2 dollars higher--did I tell you I'm cheap?)
Me:  "The only difference is the cover.  It's the same book.
Mom:  Oh.  Do you know where the "Chicken Soup" books are?
Me:  (in my head) Do I look like I work here?
Me:  (out loud)  I think they used to be down by the Christian books but I'm not sure--I'm a librarian and my specialty is "The Hunger Games," not "Chicken Soup."  I smile, trying not to look too much like a meddling stranger, even though of course I am.

Daughter:  (younger than son--eight-ish, maybe)  holding up a Twilight Movie Tie In book.    I want this book.
Mom:  Will you read it?
Me:  (mental eye roll)
Daughter:  Yes!  I love this movie
Mom:  (looks at what her daughter is holding)  NO!  That is to old for you--you don't need to be reading that.
Daughter: You let me watch the movie!
Me:  (holding up a copy of "Mr. Poppers Penguins" (cheaper and more age appropriate)) What about this?  It is a great story about a man who receives a real live penguin in the mail and they allow it to live in their refrigerator!
Daughter: (disgusted look)  I want the "Twilight" one.
Me:  (pushes away cart in sadness and despair at the state of children who are allowed to watch such rubbish.  And no.  I haven't watched Twilight, but I'm pretty sure it's not an eight year old movie.)

Oh My Gosh!  I've turned into a meddler.  Me!  The person who could barely talk to a stranger when I got my first job!

Can you imagine what it will be like in a few years--I'm barely able to restrain myself when I see family's with a whole cart full of frozen, processed food for their groceries.  I'll be dragging them over to the produce aisle and telling them to put all that nitrate filled stuff back and fill their cart with something good for a change!  I'll be grabbing little children by the arm and taking them to the service desk to call their parents when I see them running amok in the toy aisle!  The guy in the holey shirt who just put a six pack of beer in his cart will be told of the dangers of alcoholism and instructed on how to wisely spend money!

Wal Mart will probably ban me!

Or hire me as a door greeter....