Face it Friday

Check out Jennee's and Karen's Face it Friday posts.


I have been a bit of a slacker on working on my goals. However, and surprisingly, I'm getting a little closer in the book reading department. One of my goals was to read...ummmm....(searching, searching, now where did I put that dad-gone goal list???) I thought for sure that I put it where I wouldn't lose it or forget where it was. OH, here it is! I might have a heart attack from the shock of actually finding it!! I need a moment to catch my breath.


So, here is the list of goals I made back in January.


Goal #1: Read 10 books, at least 1 classic. 


And, here is the list of books I have read so far this year:
1. Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This is a bit of a disturbing book, and can really mess up your brain until you get it figured out. Screwtape is one of Satan's "Top Guys". Screwtape is writing letters to his nephew, giving him pointers on how to bring his "project" over to the right side, which is really the wrong side. "Our Father" is Satan, not God; and the Enemy is God and not Satan. So, you see, how it can get uncomfortable. It's written from Satan's perspective, how he and his demons work to turn their projects (us) away from God.
I'm counting this as my classic, unless I  get around to reading another classic.

2.  The Mysterious Life of Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds by Laura Leedy Gansler - Sarah enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and served 18 months (I think) as Private Frank Thompson. A very good book!

3.  Butterfly effect - Your life, my life, may affect others in ways that we may never know.

4.  Miracle at Philadelphia - The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May to September 1787 by Catherine Drinker Bowen - This was a very interesting, and challenging read. She brought the Founding Fathers to life by quoting their words. Our Constitution really is a miracle. I could barely go a page without finding a word that I had to look up. (Yes, I actually look words up, in the dictionary, and write the definition down in the book. I have my nerdy moments.)  It took me awhile to get through the book, but I liked it, and plan on reading it again. After all, the definitions will already be in the book!

5. Garnet by Carolyn Brown - a historical romance,  a relaxing, fun read


6. Where the Spirit of the Lord is... by Jim McGuiggan - I haven't finished this one, yet, but I'm working on it.

Goal #2: Get my passport - Have not done this one, (yet)
Goal # 3: Mail birthday cards to friends - I'm workin' on it.
Goal #4: Host family get-together for July 4th - We took a vacation over the 4th, so, no party this year.
Goal #5: Lose 10 pounds--I don't wanna talk about it!
Goal #6: Read the Bible everyday--wellllll, haven't quite made it every day.
Goal #7: Travel somewhere new Wow, FINALLY, I get to cross one off! Hubby and I went out West this summer (over the 4th) We went through Missouri, Kansas, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana and Minnesota.
Goal #8: Edit Jennee's book from last year's NanoWrimo. I've editted it not only once, but twice.
Goal #9: Do yoga It has taken me almost the entire year, but I have started yoga again. And, I have to say, that after only the third workout, the pain in my joints has almost disappeared. Why did it take me so long to get back to yoga? I don't know. (Yes, I do. I'm lazy.)
Goal #10: Learn the (Latin) words to TeDeum by Haydn - this was my first completed goal, but only because I had a deadline for a concert!


Well, that's how my list of goals has been shaping up. Nothing to brag about, but, considering tht I'm not a goal maker (or a keeper), it's a start.


Next year will be better.


How are you doing with your goals?

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I know I'm not alone!

No, this post has nothing to do with the ghostly visits I've experienced. Shiver!


I know I'm not alone in my love of Fall. This Fall seems to be exceptionally colorful. The sky has stayed blue and we have had an abundance of sunshine, which is a rarity in Northeastern Ohio, at this time of year. As I look out the window, I see more trees with leaves than without--also a rarity for this time of year. Usually, by now, a cold, windy, rainy day has defrocked the trees of their beautiful colors. But, November is here, or as we like to call it, "Monsoon Season", and that means cold, rain, wind, and s- - -. 


While I love, love the colors of the leaves, and cooler (note: I did not say freezing, sub-zero) temperatures, and brisk air, what I really love are the sunsets that come with Fall. They are breath-takingly beautiful and colorful.


I get to see a masterpiece of color painted by God, every night from my kitchen window. The sky turns pink, purple, yellow, orange, red.


It's difficult to get a good picture of the beauty, which is probably a good thing, or I'd have about 1000 pictures by now. 


But, last night I did try to get a picture or two to share. Here's a tiny taste of what I get to see every evening. (OK, I have to apologize for the poor quality of my pictures. I 've been waiting for tonight's sunset to retake some pictures, and, naturally, it's not very impressive. So, you'll just have to look beyond the blurriness. Sorry! But, you can see that it was, indeed, colorful!)

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What Happened Next Was...

Well, since you asked, here's what happened next!
But, first, a sidenote: Many years ago, I saw a  TV movie with Lindsay Wagner, "The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan". She found an old dress in the attic of the Victorian house she and her husband had just bought. Whenever she put it on, she found herself in a different era, but in the same house. When the glass on the hutch was broken in the older era, and she came back to her era, the glass was broken on her hutch for no apparent reason. I was intriqued at the feasiblity of  multiple dimensions existing at the same time, and traveling back and forth from one to the other. (How cool would THAT be?)

Anyway, that brings me to my experiences. After the initial freaky experience, I can tell you that I never left my bed to sleep on the floor again. EV-ER! But, then I started having weird experiences in bed. No, not THAT kind of weird!

Hubby had to get up at 3:00 in the morning for work. (No one should ever have to get up at that ungodly hour!)  After he had left--this never happened whild he was at home--I would sense that there was someone standing by my bed. I can't say for sure if I was awake, asleep, dreaming, awake dreaming, or what, but I saw a transparent form of a man standing right beside me. Sometimes there would be a little boy standing with him.  Sometimes they would have a cat. Weird, I know. I decided that they were living in a parallel dimension, and they couldn't figure out who was sleeping in their bed.

Of course, the thing that made it even more freaky was that it seemed so real. I felt like I was awake, even though I kept my eyes closed, because I didn't want to see "them" standing there if my eyes were open.  One time, the cat jumped up in my face, and I jerked my head back to avoid it. Another time, I actually felt the bed give way. I was half asleep, and I thought one of the kiddos had come down and gotten in bed with me. I threw back the covers, felt whoever it was get in bed, then threw the covers back over them. In the morning, I woke up. No. One. Was. In. Bed. With. Me.  CRRREEEEEEPPPYYYYYY! This stuff happened on a regular basis for several years. The getting in bed thing happened "only" a few times. Usually, I just saw "them" standing around me.

But, then we started our own business, and Hubby was home everynight until morning. And, then we started a major remodeling over-haul of our house, which was a cute "cape-cod", not a Victorian haunting-type house at all.  Then, the "visits" stopped.

I don't believe in ghosts, but I can't explain the hows or whys of my night visitor. I don't know why they started, but I'm glad they ended. Maybe I was asleep and dreamt the whole thing up. It seemed real--and I hope it never, EV-ER, happens again.

And, now you know the rest of the story!

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Today I'm guest posting for Awesome Daughter over at Cheap Therapy. So, head on over and say "HI".

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Do You Believe in Ghosts?

I am not a huge fan of Halloween, especially since I'm too old to go begging for candy! I don't have much use for the night. Gory, scarry movies? Gory, scarry costumes? Haunted houses? No, thank you, don't need 'em.


However, I do have a good Halloween story! I'll say right up front, that I don't believe in ghosts, however, that doesn't mean that I have not had a weird experience, or two.


My son, JT, won't let me discuss anything that even remotely hints of g-h-o-s-t-s. He's had his own freaky experiences. And, Awesome Daughter has had some weirdo things happen to her. As far as I know, son, BD, has not had any experiences.


So, here's what happened...We had not been in our house very long, probably less than a year. Now, as far as houses go, this one was not that old.  It was built the year I was born, BUT, BUT, 20 years ago, it was a fairly young house. On this particular night, (actually, early in the morning) I was having a terrible time sleeping. I could not get comfortable for anything. Finally, I decided tht the only thing that sounded appealing was laying down on the floor. (For someone who likes a nice, soft, comfy bed, this was highly unusual!) There was not much floor space in our bedroom, so I grabbed my pillow, and extra blanket, and went out to lay down on the living room floor. I laid on my stomach, covered up, snuggled into my pillow, and instantly felt comfortable. I no sooner got situated and ready to doze off, when it happened. 


One of the kiddos was up. Are you kidding me? It was waaaay to early. I could hear whoever it was coming down the stairs, one stair at a time. No, no, no! Go back to sleep! I am not getting up. So, I decided that I would fake that I was alseep, and ignore them. Maybe then, they would go back to bed. 


One by one, I heard the footsteps come down the stairs. I heard, and felt them walking around me as I laid on the floor. I kept faking my sleep, and it worked. They must have got up on the couch and went to sleep. Good. 


When I woke up, I was surprised to see that I was alone in the living room. Whoever it was, must have gone back to bed. Good, hopefully, they will all sleep in on this Saturday morning.


Later, as each one came downstairs, I questioned them. "Did you wake up early and come downstairs?"  JT said, "No." BD said, "No." That left Jennee. Her answer was "no" as well.  "Well, one of you must have because I heard you come down."  They all looked at me like I was cuckoo (again!) 


Although, it was a little freaky, I probably would have forgotten about the incident, except for what happened next . . . . . 

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Try it, You'll like it! Tuesday - Homemade Laundry Detergent

Yeah, you're not going to want to eat this! However, you may save yourself some money if you make your own laundry detergent. It's simple, makes a good bit, and does a decent job of getting your clothes clean. You should be able to find everything you need at the grocery store. My initial costs were something like, $2.50 for the Fels Naptha, $7 for washing soda, $9 for borax, and $5 for the giant-sized bag of baking soda. I got my giant sized bag of baking soda at Costco.You will be able to get quite a few batches of detergent out of this. I re-used my empty laundry detergent container. If you are interested in a recipe for dry detergent, check out here.


You will need:
1 bar Fels Naptha soap, shaved
4 cups hot water to melt the soap
3 gallons hot water
1 cup borax
2 cups washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 large container about 4-5 gallon size

 Grate the soap into a saucepan. You can use a box grater or food processor.

Add 4 cups hot water to the pan. Simmer on low until the soap melts completely into the water.

Add borax, washing soda and baking soda to the hot water. Simmer on low until it dissolves with the soap. If the mixture is not melting, add a little more water.

Keep an eye on it so it doesn't get all bubbly and almost  overflow onto the stove! Yikes! Almost had a disaster!




 Add 3 gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon container

 Add the mixture to the hot water.

 Mix with a large spoon until it completely dissolves.

 Let it cool overnight. It will turn into a thick, goopy gel. I gave it another good stirring after it was cool to break down some of the globs. I have a front loading machine, and I use about 1/2 cup per load

Have a happy laundry day!

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Almost Wordless Wednesday

We left Colorado Springs, Pike's Peak, and Garden of the Gods. Our next stop was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  But first, here are a few "drive by" pictures.

We look kind of silly, but, check out the view!

It's a long way down!

I love the  blue sky!

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