Ok, the first bit about Thanksgiving. But in reality it was three days ago, and Christmas already seems upon us as the decorations have come up from the basement (not all up yet) and today is the first Sunday in Advent. I did NOT succumb to the Black Friday temptations.
But before we leave Thanksgiving behind, I thought I'd like to try to gather my thankful thoughts. Perhaps if I had wi-fi at home, this would have been blogged that day. Or maybe not. We'll never know.
(in no order of importance, just as they came up in my head)
-- family. A no brainer there. My DH (Steve) that he is a faithful provider to us all even when things get stressful for him. Scott that is is safely back in Germany and is doing so well in the Air Force. Eric that he has a personal relationship with the Lord and that he is settling into what he wants to do in life.
-- My personal relationship with the Lord.
-- a house to live in and food to eat.
-- a car that still runs - gets me where I need to be
-- a job that I enjoy, and children there that love me unconditionally
--a basement big enough to hold my stuff, though I know I need to pare my stuff down some...
--our needs are provided for, and even some of our wants
--my mom, not just for her love and support but also for the supreme gift of travel that she has given me and my sisters. Some of my lifelong dreams came true this year and I have her to thank for that.
--free wifi at places like the library and Burger King so I can use my netbook to access the internet.
--freedom
--good friends made through my hobbies of Scouting and geocaching.
--reasonably good health
--God's creation - the outdoors
I know there will be things I think of as soon as I'm done posting. But I need to get on home pretty soon so will end for now. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sleeping is optional...
I have to take back the part in my last blog about my DH being too cheap to replace the dishwasher. We bought a new one last Saturday morning. I'll get to that.
Friday afternoon, after finishing up most of the house cleaning (company came yesterday) I sat down with the paper. I don't usually look at the Sears ad, but right on the front were the doorbuster specials. 7-11 a.m. Saturday only. One was a nice dishwasher for almost half price. Checked it out online and it was a good one. So left the ad on Steve's chair for him to see. Didn't hold out much hope, but you never know...
When Steve came home, he looked at the ad, we talked, and bottom line, we decided to get up early the next morning and go buy the dishwasher! We're also going to get a water softener so that the hard water doesn't wreck this one like it did the one we have now.
Ok, fast forward to bedtime. Now not only did I have the exciting prospect of a dishwasher to think about, but also my plans for the next day. I was planning to go caching for most of the day since I had to be in Muskegon for our Wood Badge dinner that night. So...three exciting things to think about. Went to bed about 11:30, Steve had gone to bed about an hour before.
Laid in bed, but just could not shut off my mind. Kept thinking about my caching plans, then the dinner, then that we were actually going to get the dishwasher (and that I had to get up at 6 a.m. to get ready to go...) I'm sure most of you have had this happen to yourself at least a time or two.
About 1 a.m. or so (I think) I got out of bed, brought my blanket and pillow to the living room, and stretched out on the couch. Brought a book and figured reading would get my mind stopped and get me to sleep. Note to self: don't choose an interesting book, choose a boring one. Mind just switched from caching-dinner-dishwasher to what's gonna happen next. After a while decided this just wasn't working.
I went out into the living room and went on the internet for a bit. Cleared out my mind from the book and I was feeling sleepy. So went back to bed to try again. After about another half hour, knew I was still awake. So went out to the kitchen. Try a warm cup of drinking chocolate, girl. I have some of my Cadbury drinking chocolate left from London - has to be stirred into warm milk. Tasted good but didn't relax me.
So next - went back to the internet to google can't sleep and you'd be surprised at what came up! Some of the suggestions I'd already tried, like counting backwards, reading, warm milk, etc. About the only one I hadn't tried was playing soothing music. I've done this before but not for a while. Where's my mp3 player? Oh yeah, out in the car. So out to the car (thankfully it was IN the garage) and got the player. Went for my warm lamb (it heats up in the microwave) to give me an extra bit of soothing and set the mp3 player to my musical massage album. I know it was about 4 a.m. at this point because I heard the chimes on the clock. I don't remember much between then and 5 a.m. when I heard the chimes again so it's possible I did snooze for a while. At that point, though, I was awake again so decided that sleep was optional and picked up my book. Finished it about 6 a.m. so went back to the bedroom and we got ready to go to Sears.
We went into town, thought I might doze in the car but no. Ordered the dishwasher (none there ready to take home even though we were there at 7:10 a.m.) Steve will pick it up on Wednesday night. Went back home and I tried to take a nap. No. So decided I was just going to have to get through the day and did just that. Diet Cherry Coke was my friend. Left about 11 a.m, did get some caching in and went to a great Wood Badge dinner. The drive home was not fun but the fog kept me awake and alert since I had to concentrate more on my driving than usual. Good thing under the circumstances. Had no trouble falling asleep Saturday night!
Friday afternoon, after finishing up most of the house cleaning (company came yesterday) I sat down with the paper. I don't usually look at the Sears ad, but right on the front were the doorbuster specials. 7-11 a.m. Saturday only. One was a nice dishwasher for almost half price. Checked it out online and it was a good one. So left the ad on Steve's chair for him to see. Didn't hold out much hope, but you never know...
When Steve came home, he looked at the ad, we talked, and bottom line, we decided to get up early the next morning and go buy the dishwasher! We're also going to get a water softener so that the hard water doesn't wreck this one like it did the one we have now.
Ok, fast forward to bedtime. Now not only did I have the exciting prospect of a dishwasher to think about, but also my plans for the next day. I was planning to go caching for most of the day since I had to be in Muskegon for our Wood Badge dinner that night. So...three exciting things to think about. Went to bed about 11:30, Steve had gone to bed about an hour before.
Laid in bed, but just could not shut off my mind. Kept thinking about my caching plans, then the dinner, then that we were actually going to get the dishwasher (and that I had to get up at 6 a.m. to get ready to go...) I'm sure most of you have had this happen to yourself at least a time or two.
About 1 a.m. or so (I think) I got out of bed, brought my blanket and pillow to the living room, and stretched out on the couch. Brought a book and figured reading would get my mind stopped and get me to sleep. Note to self: don't choose an interesting book, choose a boring one. Mind just switched from caching-dinner-dishwasher to what's gonna happen next. After a while decided this just wasn't working.
I went out into the living room and went on the internet for a bit. Cleared out my mind from the book and I was feeling sleepy. So went back to bed to try again. After about another half hour, knew I was still awake. So went out to the kitchen. Try a warm cup of drinking chocolate, girl. I have some of my Cadbury drinking chocolate left from London - has to be stirred into warm milk. Tasted good but didn't relax me.
So next - went back to the internet to google can't sleep and you'd be surprised at what came up! Some of the suggestions I'd already tried, like counting backwards, reading, warm milk, etc. About the only one I hadn't tried was playing soothing music. I've done this before but not for a while. Where's my mp3 player? Oh yeah, out in the car. So out to the car (thankfully it was IN the garage) and got the player. Went for my warm lamb (it heats up in the microwave) to give me an extra bit of soothing and set the mp3 player to my musical massage album. I know it was about 4 a.m. at this point because I heard the chimes on the clock. I don't remember much between then and 5 a.m. when I heard the chimes again so it's possible I did snooze for a while. At that point, though, I was awake again so decided that sleep was optional and picked up my book. Finished it about 6 a.m. so went back to the bedroom and we got ready to go to Sears.
We went into town, thought I might doze in the car but no. Ordered the dishwasher (none there ready to take home even though we were there at 7:10 a.m.) Steve will pick it up on Wednesday night. Went back home and I tried to take a nap. No. So decided I was just going to have to get through the day and did just that. Diet Cherry Coke was my friend. Left about 11 a.m, did get some caching in and went to a great Wood Badge dinner. The drive home was not fun but the fog kept me awake and alert since I had to concentrate more on my driving than usual. Good thing under the circumstances. Had no trouble falling asleep Saturday night!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
How about an "I've been married a long time" shower?
Our church has a nice tradition of honoring brides by giving them a bridal shower. This is even if the bride doesn't belong to our church but is marrying someone who does belong to our church. I don't often go to the showers since many of them fall on nights that I have meetings, etc., but there was one today that was noon on a Saturday, and I didn't have anything else going on so I could go.
The groom is in the Navy, and will be returning home in December just long enough for the wedding (private small ceremony) and then the couple will return to his base in Virginia. There will be a small reception that night but this was probably the bigger celebration.
Wow. So many nice gifts, they will start out housekeeping very well. Dishes, appliances, gadgets, linens...the list goes on.
Some of us at our table were talking...when do we get to register again for new stuff? What many of us have is still from our own weddings and is frankly getting worn out. We realize it isn't gonna probably happen but wouldn't it be nice?
We'll just have to take things into our own hands, I guess. I received a gift card for Christmas last year from my mom and used it to buy new kitchen gadgets such as a whisk, a ladle, and other stuff to replace what had frankly been pretty worn out.
About the only thing I really need to replace now is my dishwasher...think they make a gift card or registry for that? Oh yeah, if I do get a new dishwasher (not likely, my DH is too cheap...) I'll need some new glasses and a few other things to replace the things that the hard water has pretty much trashed. We're talking more than water spots here.
The groom is in the Navy, and will be returning home in December just long enough for the wedding (private small ceremony) and then the couple will return to his base in Virginia. There will be a small reception that night but this was probably the bigger celebration.
Wow. So many nice gifts, they will start out housekeeping very well. Dishes, appliances, gadgets, linens...the list goes on.
Some of us at our table were talking...when do we get to register again for new stuff? What many of us have is still from our own weddings and is frankly getting worn out. We realize it isn't gonna probably happen but wouldn't it be nice?
We'll just have to take things into our own hands, I guess. I received a gift card for Christmas last year from my mom and used it to buy new kitchen gadgets such as a whisk, a ladle, and other stuff to replace what had frankly been pretty worn out.
About the only thing I really need to replace now is my dishwasher...think they make a gift card or registry for that? Oh yeah, if I do get a new dishwasher (not likely, my DH is too cheap...) I'll need some new glasses and a few other things to replace the things that the hard water has pretty much trashed. We're talking more than water spots here.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Indian Summer at last?
These past two days have been as close to Indian Summer as I think we'll get here in Michigan this year. So how did I choose to spend (at least part of) them? Geocaching of course.
Friday morning was chilly. Downright cold at first. So I decided to go out but dressed in layers. Long sleeve shirt, AF Mom sweatshirt over that, and my fleece jacket over that. Worked well. Went up to the Cannon Township Trail and found five caches along the trail. My only problem there was needing a bathroom. Enough that I actually considered going "outdoors." But...the trail had houses near enough that I didn't think THAT would be a good idea. So waited until I got back to the cachemobile and went down the street to the nearest gas station. After that I went to one cache in another park, then on to Pickerel Lake to try some caches there.
I was a bit wary of the caches there as the cacher who placed them is known for difficult hides. And, sure enough, I didn't find the first one I looked for. Given the time of day, the fact that daylight savings time ended last week so daylight would be gone earlier, and the perceived difficulty of the other caches, I decided to come back another day. So back to another park.
The cache at this park was placed in May and has had very few finds. A three stage multi, and the final had been reported as wrecked months ago. The few finds since then have confirmed that. Unfortunately, none of those finders had brought materials to fix the final. I did.
The first stage was not too far from the parking lot. Took me about a half hour of searching, and reading the recent logs (I love having those on my nuvi now!) and finally I figured out where the first stage was. Micros in the woods, grrr.... So went on to stage 2. Lost the trail so bushwhacked most of the way. Only clue for the stage was "shake." Ended up in an area of woody vines so did a lot of shaking. Nothing. I was there for close to an hour and no luck. Even phoned my geo-friend Golfdiva, who logged the last find. She wasn't answering her cell.
And I ask you, why can I get a cell phone signal in the middle of the woods but not at home? Life is just not fair sometimes.
So back to the cachemobile I went, and headed on home. Logged my caches and spent the evening working on my VHS to DVD project. All I have left now are a few travel tapes and the class reunions. Getting there, Mom!
I wouldn't normally go out caching on Saturday with Steve home, but Steve had to work. So since I had an errand to run in Lowell, went on to do some caching. Started with one of Golfdiva's caches that I'd been putting off as the parking was a little dicey. Did ok with that since the leaves are now gone. Anyway, it was a .15 hike (supposedly) and you were to follow the trail, marked in blue. I lost that trail pretty early on and ended up bushwhacking over one hill and up the next. And these were big hills. Finally found the cache, then saw a blue trail marker. Went to it and immediately lost the trail again. Never did see another marker until I was close to the car again. Good thing I'd marked that location!
Then on to Saranac and five caches there. The last one was in the owners side yard, and one of the kids came out to watch me look. Thankfully it was an easy find. Then I went north of Saranac and picked up a few out in the country. The last one was a tree alongside the road, for whatever reason there were several dozen pairs of shoes tied to the branches. The cache was in the toe of one of the shoes. That was an interesting find! (Will post a pix once I get them uploaded.) Ended the day with a find in Fallasburg Park, close to Lowell. Then on to home where I did the wash and worked on the DVDs again until Steve came home about 6:45.
We went to Steak and Shake where we were waited on by Natalie, our old favorite waitress from when we went there quite a bit with the boys and Steve's dad. She remembered not only us, but what we usually ordered! Now that's good service. She asked about the boys and Steve's dad. We used to tease Eric that the waitress had a crush on him, I think that's one reason why Eric didn't like going there so much. Just for the record, she was just very nice. Probably not interested in Eric other than as a customer.
These have been two nice Indian summer in Michigan days. Today is just as nice but where am I? In Burger King using the internet. And it's 70 degrees outside. Time to go, I think. Enjoy it while I still can. Steve is out on a motorcycle ride but they left before church would have been out so I didn't go.
Friday morning was chilly. Downright cold at first. So I decided to go out but dressed in layers. Long sleeve shirt, AF Mom sweatshirt over that, and my fleece jacket over that. Worked well. Went up to the Cannon Township Trail and found five caches along the trail. My only problem there was needing a bathroom. Enough that I actually considered going "outdoors." But...the trail had houses near enough that I didn't think THAT would be a good idea. So waited until I got back to the cachemobile and went down the street to the nearest gas station. After that I went to one cache in another park, then on to Pickerel Lake to try some caches there.
I was a bit wary of the caches there as the cacher who placed them is known for difficult hides. And, sure enough, I didn't find the first one I looked for. Given the time of day, the fact that daylight savings time ended last week so daylight would be gone earlier, and the perceived difficulty of the other caches, I decided to come back another day. So back to another park.
The cache at this park was placed in May and has had very few finds. A three stage multi, and the final had been reported as wrecked months ago. The few finds since then have confirmed that. Unfortunately, none of those finders had brought materials to fix the final. I did.
The first stage was not too far from the parking lot. Took me about a half hour of searching, and reading the recent logs (I love having those on my nuvi now!) and finally I figured out where the first stage was. Micros in the woods, grrr.... So went on to stage 2. Lost the trail so bushwhacked most of the way. Only clue for the stage was "shake." Ended up in an area of woody vines so did a lot of shaking. Nothing. I was there for close to an hour and no luck. Even phoned my geo-friend Golfdiva, who logged the last find. She wasn't answering her cell.
And I ask you, why can I get a cell phone signal in the middle of the woods but not at home? Life is just not fair sometimes.
So back to the cachemobile I went, and headed on home. Logged my caches and spent the evening working on my VHS to DVD project. All I have left now are a few travel tapes and the class reunions. Getting there, Mom!
I wouldn't normally go out caching on Saturday with Steve home, but Steve had to work. So since I had an errand to run in Lowell, went on to do some caching. Started with one of Golfdiva's caches that I'd been putting off as the parking was a little dicey. Did ok with that since the leaves are now gone. Anyway, it was a .15 hike (supposedly) and you were to follow the trail, marked in blue. I lost that trail pretty early on and ended up bushwhacking over one hill and up the next. And these were big hills. Finally found the cache, then saw a blue trail marker. Went to it and immediately lost the trail again. Never did see another marker until I was close to the car again. Good thing I'd marked that location!
Then on to Saranac and five caches there. The last one was in the owners side yard, and one of the kids came out to watch me look. Thankfully it was an easy find. Then I went north of Saranac and picked up a few out in the country. The last one was a tree alongside the road, for whatever reason there were several dozen pairs of shoes tied to the branches. The cache was in the toe of one of the shoes. That was an interesting find! (Will post a pix once I get them uploaded.) Ended the day with a find in Fallasburg Park, close to Lowell. Then on to home where I did the wash and worked on the DVDs again until Steve came home about 6:45.
We went to Steak and Shake where we were waited on by Natalie, our old favorite waitress from when we went there quite a bit with the boys and Steve's dad. She remembered not only us, but what we usually ordered! Now that's good service. She asked about the boys and Steve's dad. We used to tease Eric that the waitress had a crush on him, I think that's one reason why Eric didn't like going there so much. Just for the record, she was just very nice. Probably not interested in Eric other than as a customer.
These have been two nice Indian summer in Michigan days. Today is just as nice but where am I? In Burger King using the internet. And it's 70 degrees outside. Time to go, I think. Enjoy it while I still can. Steve is out on a motorcycle ride but they left before church would have been out so I didn't go.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
VHS to DVD: Memory Lane
My latest project has been a Christmas-related one. I had recently transferred our old videos of the kids and others, from VHS or 8mm to DVD. Talking about this with my mom, she mentioned how many old tapes she had. I offered to transfer them for her if she'd send them to me. Let's call it your Christmas present, I said, since they are VERY hard to buy for.
That was a great idea to her so a few weeks ago a package arrived with lots of tapes. Since then, I've taken some evenings and a few days off to start the process. It's been interesting! The first tape that I transferred ended up being from my baby shower, almost 25 years ago. I had a copy of that on Beta (that's an older format than VHS for anyone who might not know) so couldn't transfer it. Got to see myself VERY pregnant, that sure brought back memories!
Some of the other tapes haven't really involved me so it's easier to get it going and start doing other things. Some have been interesting to watch, though, as they were of my own kids as small fry, or my sister's kids, or other people I knew. I found, though, that a 2 hour video tape isn't necessarily 2 hours. If the entire tape was used, it ends up being more like 2 hrs, 15 minutes or even more. I don't think they were precise in measuring the amount of tape they put on a cassette! Or sometimes, you would think the entire tape was used and all of a sudden it was done. Or throw in 6 hours on one tape (extended format taping) and 3 DVDs are needed. (Each DVD does hold exactly 2 hours of tape.)
I still have about half of the tapes to finish, then will send them back to my mom. Much of what is left is from my stepfather's family and from their class reunions so it won't be as fun to watch.
Glad to give my mom & stepfather something useful for Christmas!
That was a great idea to her so a few weeks ago a package arrived with lots of tapes. Since then, I've taken some evenings and a few days off to start the process. It's been interesting! The first tape that I transferred ended up being from my baby shower, almost 25 years ago. I had a copy of that on Beta (that's an older format than VHS for anyone who might not know) so couldn't transfer it. Got to see myself VERY pregnant, that sure brought back memories!
Some of the other tapes haven't really involved me so it's easier to get it going and start doing other things. Some have been interesting to watch, though, as they were of my own kids as small fry, or my sister's kids, or other people I knew. I found, though, that a 2 hour video tape isn't necessarily 2 hours. If the entire tape was used, it ends up being more like 2 hrs, 15 minutes or even more. I don't think they were precise in measuring the amount of tape they put on a cassette! Or sometimes, you would think the entire tape was used and all of a sudden it was done. Or throw in 6 hours on one tape (extended format taping) and 3 DVDs are needed. (Each DVD does hold exactly 2 hours of tape.)
I still have about half of the tapes to finish, then will send them back to my mom. Much of what is left is from my stepfather's family and from their class reunions so it won't be as fun to watch.
Glad to give my mom & stepfather something useful for Christmas!
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