Month: November 2006

  • Part the Third

    We have come to the conclusion of the holiday adventure, the trip to David’s football game.

    Truly, though, the travels began Friday afternoon as we left for Bethlehem, PA.  I really like Bethlehem. It’s not a bit what I thought it would be, a worn-out, ex-steel town.  Instead, it’s a quaint city filled with history. Plus, it’s fairly easy to navigate.

    We arrived at avaricewrex’s house by 4:00, greeted the family, and then left to eat supper.  The Denny’s where we ate should win an award for quick and friendly service. “Sure thing! I’ll get that for you right away!”  It was a delight.

    After dinner, the Hunter and I jumped in a car with avaricewrex and Ruth (his mom) while she shuttled the boys to a Starfield concert at a church in Allentown.  The Hunter was much looking forward to this concert, as Starfield is his favorite band.  Ruth and I enjoyed the drive and visiting and exchanging birthday gifts.

    The next morning, we once again loaded in the van, this time to head to Staten Island, NY, where David was to play his final football game. The winner of this game was to head to Florida for the national championships. James1_12 and Jimmyz_lil_sis and parents met us there for a fun reunion.  Although David’s team played well, they lost. Or should I say, they LOST.  But, the weather was more than gorgeous–60 degrees and sunny on November 25th? Many prayers were answered.

    After a fantastic dinner at a Bennigan’s in New Jersey (my wonderful restaurant experience weekend!), we listened to Eragon for the five or six hours driving home.  

    Now, football is over. Cheerleading is over.  Amen!  As I said to my mom, “I’m so excited!  Other than Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we get to stay home every night!”  Ah, life is wonderful, and I’m looking forward to December:  an almost-empty calendar, a fun time of homeschooling, and lots of lights and pretties all around the house.

    Next entry, I plan to write all about our P&P read-a-thon.  Have you watched a movie version yet? I haven’t!  But, I’m off to watch a movie with the olders and TGD.  Ta-ta!

  • Part the Second

    I have so much I’d like to say about my birthday that I fear I’ll become tedious and dull. Bear with me if I do and just skim.

    As I mentioned earlier, my birthday started late, as we all slept in.  TGD (who is my husband, for those who might not know) and the children had a table full of presents for me.  First, TGD pampered me with travel books on England, symphony tickets (Broadway and Shakespearian Tribute), and a wonderful, wonderful map of England. When he gave it to me, I just sat on the floor for a long while and looked at all the towns and where they were.  Here I am with my map.

      

    From
    the kids, I got a box of Dots (mmmm!), a vanilla candle, some leftover
    Halloween candy, and a bookmark that Libby cross-stitched for me.  Here
    it is, designed by her.

    After the Thanksgiving festivities,  we went to my mom’s where I opened
    my birthday gifts from her. It was a bonanza year, as she won a
    quilt-lover’s gift basket and gave me all the goodies: a zippered
    quilting bag, a mug, a box of recipes and quilt square patterns, a double
    wedding ring template set, and a rotary cutter.  She also gave me a
    nice blazer and slacks that I had eyeballed and a funny hanging
    ornament-like thing which reads, “She has become too fond of books and
    has addled her brain  ~Louisa May Alcott.”  But, the thing she got me
    which will make you turn pea-green with jealousy and will cause you to
    break one of the commandments in envy and coveting is this:  


    A Jane Austen Action figure!

     



    Yes, indeed, I am now the proud owner of Action Jane, complete with
    writing desk, copy of Pride and Prejudice, and a
    supposed-to-be-removable-but-must-not-be-since-I-broke-it quill pen.  

    The birthday fun still was not over as more presents awaited me on
    Friday when we traveled to the Green’s.  Ruth’s birthday is 11/22 so we
    exchanged presents. Or, perhaps I should more correctly say that we
    exchanged identical Warm Vanilla Sugar bubble baths!  Great minds think
    alike, and we both like to soak in the tub and read.  

    David’s game and our weekend of travel still remain to be reported, and I haven’t forgotten the Great Pride and Prejudice Read-a-Thon. I’ll have details on that soon, Lord willing!



  • Part the First

    Welcome back to the land of the ordinary! I hope your Thanksgiving and weekend were wonderful times. There is so much to report that I think I’ll split my update into three parts:

    I. Thanksgiving
    II. My Birthday
    III. The Weekend of Football

    Lest you think you are in for a miserably long entry, you need not fear. Fatigue has me in its talons, and I will only write the first part tonight. Perhaps tomorrow, if all the massed heaps of laundry, travel things, holiday frou-frous, and whatnot are sorted and cleaned and organized, I’ll have a chance to write about all my nifty-neato birthday presents.

    Thanksgiving dawned, and we slept.  About 9:15, we rolled our lazy bodies out of bed and got ready for the trip to my brother and PaBassWidow‘s new house. After breakfast and birthday presents, we piled into the van. Eragon by Christopher Paolini on CD made the journey pass quickly (16 hours of CD entertainment!), and the two hour trip was soon over.

    They have a 140-ish year old house, a lovely red brick that even withstood a dynamite attack by an angry prohibitionist during the 1920s.  I like PBW’s decorating style, and the house felt homey, cheerful, open, and comfortable.  She is also a good cook, and we had a fine feast.  My parents and grandma and great-aunt also came along (in addition to PBW’s parents).  I had a great time playing  Catch Phrase with my 83 year old Aunt Kay Kay and my mom. Later, my brother taught my grandma (age 86), Aunt Kay Kay, and I to play Cinch, a card game. Despite the fact that she didn’t really know what she was doing with bidding, my grandma and I managed to win the game.  She’s a real card shark–pinochle and Skip Bo and a few other games are her poison.  The kids amused themselves with their cousins.  Video games were played, but I’m not sure what the girls did. 

    After our visit, we headed to Curwensville to spend the night at my mom’s where I opened more birthday presents.  And, what were these presents, you may be wondering?  I shall write later. Now it is time for my NyQuil.

  • Happy Thanksgiving!

    May your day be filled with joy!

  • Mathematician’s Wife

    Being the wife of TGD makes one approach numbers differently.  For example, the other night I was lying in bed, trying vainly to fall asleep, when I began to consider interesting facts about my birthday (11/23/1969) and the age I will be (37).  11, 23, and 37 are prime.  If you divide 69 by 3, you get 23.  If you divide 1969 by 11, you get 179. Now, I had some thought as to the significance of 179. 17 is my second-favorite number, so I though that counted enough. But, 179 is also prime, so it fits with 11, 23, and 37.  If you add all the digits in 11/23/1969 together, you get 32, which is 23 backwards.  Can you think of any more little number tidbits?

    I think we will start the great Pride and Prejudice read-a-thon in December.  Try to watch one of the movies over the next two weeks to get you all excited about the book again.  After Thanksgiving, I’ll post a suggested schedule, how we’ll do things, and suggestions to make this group reading fun.  Be sure to invite friends, because the more brains we have thinking, the more interesting questions we can raise and comments we can make. 

    Have a blessed Thanksgiving! 

  • Give Me a T!

    Yes, the T stands for tired, which I am, and for third place, which Libby’s squad received. They just didn’t have the tumbling skills (another T) to compete with squads doing repeated back handsprings and more. Still, it was great fun to see the various squads and the amazing gymnastic talent so many of the girls had.  And, since the squads were all attached to football teams (not All-Stars), we had little-to-no wantonness!

    I’m excited that a number of you are interested in a P&P reading.  Would you like to begin the reading in December when the schedule is mixed up anyhow and you have some breaks here and there or to begin in January when all those resolutions kick in?  I’m more inclined to start after Thanksgiving (i.e. December), just because I’m eager.  But, like Memof6, I’ll start reading too early and finish too soon anyhow!  Cast your vote. State your preference. Invite your friends. Let’s have some fun!  Woo-whee!

  • Greatest Show on Earth

    Look at the amazing talents in my family!  In the right-hand ring, we have The Hunter and his ferocious feline, Max.  (Unfortunately, non-blurry photography isn’t a skill rampant in the household.)

    In the outdoor arena, see the Synchronized Flip Sisters!  Watch them cartwheel, watch them cavort! Watch them perform all the time, even when they have math to do.





    In the center ring,
    however, we have the Amazing Taxi Mother! Tonight, watch her as she scurries about, delivering people to various places. Watch her purchase Domino’s pizza on the run and serve it at the church
    (for lack of a better place to crash and eat and since she is weary of eating in the
    car (eh, GhostFroggy?)) Watch her head to youth group and pretend to be a
    responsible adult and chaperone and encourage.  But wait! The act isn’t over! There’s more running about to deliver
    and pick up people, hopefully arriving home at around 11:00. See her get four point five hours of sleep and wake herself and her daughter to get ready for a cheer competition. “Everybody be at the Olive
    Garden parking lot at 5:30 a.m. so we can make it to Harrisburg by
    7:30!”  

    I’ve never really liked the circus.

    Is anybody interested in a Pride and Prejudice group reading?  Er,
    maybe I mean a book discussion which goes on for a few weeks (month?)
    about P&P.  

  • Flirting with Pride and Prejudice

    The Specter of Sickness

    The gray phantasm has struck as reality.  Poor David has been laid low with the flu.  He woke tired, but as the day went on, he grew more and more exhausted, even though he spent the day on the couch or napping. Now, he’s got a stomach ache to go along with his fatigue and general miserableness. Poor duckie!  I prayed, “Lord, please don’t let anyone else get it, especially Libby. Or, at least don’t let Libby get sick until Sunday.”  She has her big, final cheerleading competition on Saturday, and if even one girl of the 21 can’t be there, they can’t perform.  (They have a lot of stunting, so each person is vital.)

    And now, a book review! 

    When my friend saw the title of my latest read, she said, “How can you possibly read another book about Pride and Prejudice?”  Ah, but I can!  My latest find is Flirting with Pride and Prejudice edited by Jennifer Cruise. This collection of twenty or so essays is just the thing for a P&P junkie.  Want to talk about why Mary has such a limited role?  Why does Colin Firth makes such an amazing Darcy? Why doesn’t Austen ever mention Napoleon or the war?  What if cell phones were around when P&P happened?  Which movie is the best and why? All of these topics and many more are covered in the book.  Some of the essays are delightful; some are so-so.  There are fiction stories, more scholarly pieces, a quiz, movie reviews, and “fan raving.”  There was some mild language, and the topic of sexuality in the novels (or the lack of it) is discussed, so I wouldn’t recommend the book for younger P&P lovers.  But, I enjoyed it quite a bit, even if I did say, “Was that really necessary?” a few times.

  • Home, Home on the Page

    I’ve been wondering what everyone has as his/her home page. I’ve got my Xanga set as home.  EDIT–A home page is the page your computer goes to when you start up your internet. Usually when you sign on to IE or Netscape, it takes you to the IE/Netscape home.  You can change this page to any page you want. 

    And, since this entry seems so brief (probably because it is), I’ll leave you with a joke.

    A farmer and a scientist were the only two
    passengers left in a train car as it traveled between towns. Neither one
    of them had a book or anything to help pass the time.

    The scientist asked the farmer if he’d like to play a word game.
    “Sure, why not?” replied the farmer.

    “Let’s make it interesting. For every
    question that I ask you, if you miss it, you give me a dollar. For every
    question you ask me that I miss, I’ll give you $10.” This sounded okay
    to the farmer, and he asked the first question.


    “What has three legs, takes ten hours to climb a tree, but only ten
    seconds to climb down?”

    The scientist began to think… and think… and think. He continued to
    try to come up with the answer for a good 45 minutes until the train was
    ready to pull into their stop at the next station.

    “I give up,”said the stumped scientist. He pulled ten dollars
    from his wallet and handed it over. “I can’t come up with the answer. What is it that has three legs and takes ten hours to climb a tree but
    only ten seconds to climb down?”

    The farmer reached into his pocket, handed the scientist a one dollar bill,
    and replied, “Darned if I know.”

  • Home Sick

    I am home from church tonight while everyone else in the family went to the missions conference carry-in dinner.  I’m not dreadfully ill, just weak and achy and sleepy, even though I had a nap today.  I did rouse myself enough to make the food for the family to take to the dinner, leaving myself one piece of gingerbread cake. It will taste awfully good with tea when I’m done writing, snuggled into my bed, eyes drooping.

    For those of you who have been waiting eagerly to hear (and for those of you who really didn’t care one way or the other), the competitions and games are over! Libby’s cheerleading squad took first place with another stellar performance of their routine. I very much enjoyed watching the varsity squads in competition and the other squads at Libby’s level. However, I actually had to leave the gym when the All-Star squads were competing.  In addition to the fact that many of these young girls were dressed like streetwalkers (costumes and makeup), the new “thing” is to have them pout and posture and make facial expressions which make them look even more like strumpets.  I was relieved that it was just Libby and I and that none of the boys were there. 


    Just for ew who asks for pictures: a shot of one of the many stunts in Libby’s routine.
     (Libby’s a back for this stunt, so hence, she is in the back and not very visible.)

    After the
    competition, TGD picked us us up and we headed to Lehman, PA. If you’ve
    ever wanted to see miles and miles of back-road PA, just make the
    interminable drive from Lewistown to Lehman.

     

    The Brooklyn Chiefs had a
    flat tire on their bus and arrived at 8:00 p.m., a half-hour after the
    game was to start.  But, since it was amazing weather, we didn’t mind
    so much. I never expected that I’d be able to sit at a night football
    game in November in just a sweater and shirt! The rain held off until
    right at the end of the game, giving us a miserable three-hour drive
    home, but rather that than a miserable two hours watching us lose a
    game.



    Even though the team their
    first defeat of the season, David personally had a good game. Many
    people from the other team came up to him and complimented him. I think
    he played well and showed good sportsmanship.  Go, David!