Yesterday, I was talking to my mother, and I said something about Pompeii being buried in 79 but I couldn't remember if it was BC or AD. Then my 11 year old son chimed in, "It was AD mom." "How do you know?" I asked. He answers me, "Don't you remember that Pliny the Elder died trying to rescue people from the volcano? And his newphew Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to emperor Trajan asking what he should do about the Christians. There wouldn't have been any Christians in 79 BC, and an uncle wouldn't live 158 years before his nephew." Wow. I was thrilled-- my son DOES pay attention! How exciting that my kid can reason! It was one of those moments when you feel reaffirmed in your decision to homeschool.

Then, later that day when looking at a Civil War chess set, he told his younger brother that the Civil War was between the Confederates and the Soviets. OUCH! Oh well, we haven't ever really done US history in depth; we aren't scheduled to tackle US history until next year, so it is an excusable mistake.

Have a blessed day!

Quote of the Day: "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide to have your heart forever go walking around outside your body." - Elizabeth Stone

Well, we've had three (four?) days now of cloud cover, no sun peeking through. Unfortunately, no rain, either. I really hate days like that. It feels to me like you are paying for something you don't get (paying by lack of sunshine for the rain that never comes!) We really need the rain here in parched California, too!

Today I have to go work at our church clothes closet. Normally, I like doing it because I'm with my friends, but today it seems like too much effort. I'd rather stay in my sweatpants and curl up on the couch with a good book.

It seems like I've got "charity burnout." Does this happen to any other ladies out there? I have to get my shoeboxes filled for Samaritan's Purse to send to foreign kids this week. I got my turkeys and gravy in to the church food closet for the Thanksgiving handout, but I didn't give nearly as much as I had wanted to because I couldn't get properly organized, so I feel bad. (Why do they need it so early?) I have to work at the clothes closet today, and tomorrow I have to bake a meal for a disabled family at our church, whom I've baked meals for twice before without complaining but today I am grumpy about it. Usually I love that kind of thing but I think the lack of sunshine outside has sapped the sunshine out of my brain, too, and I'm not being a cheerful giver. Then I think of all the people who have given/done so much more than I have ever thought of and I feel guilty on top of that! Ick!

I am a long way from being Mother Theresa. (I'm a long way from being Martha Stewart either, and that's just as depressing...)

Quote of the Day; "It is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics when women of high thoughs and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts while so occupied." -Nathaniel Hawthorne (Amen to that!)

On a more serious note, my uncle is scheduled to have open heart surgery today. It sounds like a horrible ordeal, and our family's prayers are with him!

Quote of the Day: "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." - 1John 4:12

I got my Square Circle newsletter in my email box this morning, which is always spirit-lifting. Knit A Square is a very new charity, which is trying to get blankets to Republic of South Africa's orphans and poor kids. I found it a little hard to fathom at first, because I always imagined South Africa as a very hot country-- who needs wool clothing in Africa? Well, I guess I was wrong about that... Its a fun charity for anyone interested in craftism (crafting for others) because you get to see photos of the kids receiving your work! (Not necessarily your item, of course, but you get the idea of what some kid who received your project might look like, and where (s)he might live.) You aren't limited to squares, either... they'll take hats, socks, sweaters, etc. In all sizes, from newborn to big enough for the teen boys!  (So far, though, I have only contributed blanket squares.) Only new things made espescially for the kids, though!

Well, based on my husband's facial expression regarding my last post, I have come to the conclusion he finds the technicalities of crochet dull. I realize this is hard to comprehend-- its sort of like looking at the sun and finding it not very bright-- but this seems to be how most men feel.* I have never been able to interest him in needlepoint or quilts either. (He got excited once, when I cross-stitch piece I made won first place at the fair, but being male, I think it was the competition and the winning, not the actual needle work that got his attention.) Therefore, for his sake, I have decided to update my blog with something more interesting from a man's perspective.

The problem, however, is that I have nothing interesting to write! Yesterday I attended Bible study and helped out to get the clothes closet ready to be open today. Then I came home and cleaned house. I also rescued a chicken from the mouth of our bloodhound, who kept running from me when I tried to catch him and I was pretty angry when that was all done. Today, my poor 7 year old son is sick, very feverish. So I expect I will spend a lot of today nursing him. I also plan to clean the bathroom and make a pot of soup, and I'm reading a good book about Henry V of England.

I don't expect any of this to make the national news.

* There are some men, of course, who love to knit and do all the other crafts usually assosciated with women. I know that for a short while in the Rennaisance, the knitters guilds, being a business, were only open to men. Those male knitters are, however, on the whole, an abberation. Fashion and clothing and its subsidiary arts (embroidery, sewing, weaving, beading, crochet, etc.) have, for the most part of human history, been women's domain. And I have to admit, I have that prejudice. It really bothers me when guys knit , and I can't say why for sure. I know that it isn't politically correct. There's a very nice guy who works in a local yarn store and every time I see him sitting there crocheting, I think "Isn't there a football game you can go watch, or an auto parts store you could work in somewhere?" I know, I shouldn't feel that way, but I just can't help it!

Okay... Regarding the title of my blog... as I wrote in my introductory post, I actually crochet with rubber bands, not knit, but "crocheting with rubber bands" didn't sound like a blog title. I was inspired to try it by my then 10-year-old son. I told him the beauty of crochet is you can use almost anything: dental floss, unspooled video tape, rags, plastic grocery bags, bits of old cans, can tabs, bottle caps, discarded CDs, you name it.  He said, "Even rubberbands?" I had never thought of doing so before, but I was sure it would work, so I said yes. (An aside: I love the crocheted can-tab purses which are so popular in Brazil! They have whole books about them, unfortunately not in English. They are gorgeous, though, and cost major bucks to buy. Oprah Winfrey has one. See www.escamastudio.com )

So here is where my experimenting has led me. I have managed to crochet several things with them, but I have yet to find any point in doing so! I mean, what can you make with them? A flat square used for gripping jar lids to open them. A liner for your sink to prevent chipping when you wash your good china. I couldn't think of anything else. There just didn't seem to be any reason.

Also, its very difficult. I used ordinary ones: I bought them in the office supply aisle of Walmart for like $0.59. There are multiple sizes in the package. The length doesn't matter, since you loop them together in a long string, but the thickness makes a difference. The thinner ones work much better. Rubber bands, of course, are "sticky." They don't move smoothly over your hook. The first thing to do is to lightly sprinkle talcum powder over the rubber bands in the package, so they don't cling to each other. Still, they drag and pull across your hook, so I used a plastic 9mm/M one which I lightly coated with olive oil. They moved much better, and the bands didn't end up slimy at all, they sort of absorbed it, and my hands were very moisturized! (Afterward I just tossed the hook in the dishwasher.) I single crocheted them, which is too tight. Use a looser stitch, like treble. Of course, doing so would make the work so open it would rule out some use such as a little coin purse...

I have thrown away the few samples I made. I don't consider it a failure, exactly, just not really worth it. (The blog title still stands...) I HAVE come up with a cool and very workable idea of my own from this, though... From now on I will work rows of rubber bands into the soles of slippers I make, for traction. (Wearing wool yarn soled slippers on tile floors is good practice for ice skating!) Double strand them together with one strand of your pattern yarn, and voila! Your slippers now have grip soles!

Quote of the Day: "We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens." -Johannes Kepler

We have had a pleasant Sunday so far. At church, I worked in the nursery and the kids started their rehearsals for the Christmas musical. The weather is beautiful, with lots of warm autumn sunshine.

Earier this week we had a doozy of a storm with high winds and lots of rain. Apparently it was what was left of a Japanese typhoon. We were forewarned that the storm would be powerful, so we were prepared when it knocked out our power/water for 2 days. We had batteries, firewood, our electronic devices charged up in advance, and I had checked out some books on CD from the library we could listen to. Fortunately it was a very warm storm-- almost steamy-- so heating wasn't a challenge, we were able to keep our fires small to conserve wood. We had water storage containers in the kitchen, and an ice chest for the fridge contents. The kids watched a cartoon at bedtime off of the laptop, and we muddled through. Yesterday afternoon, our power went out again for no apparent reason, this time only for 6 hours. I suppose our electric utility is still working out the kinks...

In more exciting news, our family got a new (to us) truck! My husband really needed a new work vehicle. We are simple people who make do, but his 1977 Chevy was only hanging on by a prayer... It had a long list of parts which were just fixed enough to get into town one more time, things that didn't work (like the suspension and steering) and scars and dings from various incidents over the years (like the one in which my husband hit a tree several Christmases ago.) Now, we have a 1997 GMC with all the features in like-new condition, thanks to the generosity of several people, including my parents, and also the used car dealer who is a business assosciate of my husband's, who gave us the truck at cost-- less than half of what it was advertised for in the paper!

(The bluish green thing on the far side of the truck is part of an old woodchipper.)

My father had been staying with us for a few days, which was nice. Now that he has left us, its back to the diet. (It's too hard to do while you are entertaining company!) Thank you to everyone who has left me notes of encouragment, they do help. I haven't lost any weight recently, but I nor have I gained back any of what I have already lost (25 pounds), inspite of the abundance of Halloween candy everywhere... I did get more leeks, but instead of dieting with them I made us some leek & potato soup, which is fabulous with garlic bread!

Unfortunately, I have to report that my leeks diet was not a success, strictly speaking. The numbers on the scale didn't go down. I got into an ugly scuffle with a box of doughnuts and they suffered several casualties. It was a good learning experience, though, so I wouldn't call it a failure!  The problem was that I didn't have enough leeks, so I was trying to ration them to last the whole 2 days, and got REALLY hungry and cranky in the process. (That is a little odd, because I'm a veteran now of going a long time without eating from my previous diets...) Anyhow, next weekend when I go to the grocery store I'm planning to try again, this time with MORE leeks...

My favorite “kid-isms,” all spoken by my now 7 year old son over the past few years:

“Look mom, our bananas have turned chocolate!”

And upon accidentally letting go of a helium balloon and watching it disappear into the sky: “My balloon is gone now. God caught it.”

And upon being quized about his history lessons:
“A king is like a mayor with better clothes.”

And while riding in the car, after many minutes of silence, just out of nowhere:
“I like new butter. It's all swirly.”
(Referring to the pattern on a newly opened tub of margarine.)

And trying to comfort his 4 year old sister at night:
“The dark isn't anything to be afraid of, it's just God trying to make us go blind.”
(Not very comforting, somehow...)

Yay! I filed our private school affidavit for the 09-10 school year yesterday. I am so thankful, and feel so blessed to live in a country that allows me the freedom to say “no thank you” to the institutional system! I know, those rights are constantly under attack by people who stand to benefit ideologically or financially from removing children from the care of their parents, but there is nothing we can do to stop them from trying. Vigilance, prayer, and if necessary, civil disobedience, are our only recourses. I'll offer a prayer right here: “Thank you, Lord, for providing me the means to allow my children to learn and grow without the heavy-hand of government intrusion!”

Unfortunately our state requires our “private school” to have a name. That doesn't seem like a particularly onerous burden, but I can never think of anything! We have been using Dry Pines School for a couple of years now. It isn't great, but its accurate as far as our surroundings go... So it will do for the time being.

On to diet related matters. There are lots of diets out there; hundreds (if not thousands!) of them. I won't follow any that involve drugs or herbal supplements, buying prepared meals, eating only from a specific list of foods or cutting out whole categories of foods, drinking canned “shakes,” or prepared menu plans. So that rules out nearly everything. The simplest thing to do is just not eat very much! I've found the so-called Subway Sandwich diet-- just eating a small sub-sandwich, whole wheat with lean turkey and lots of veggies, as my only food for the day is very easy and works very well, but I don't use that diet exclusively.

I did not have great success with my last round of dieting, compared to my earlier three. My basic system is this: about two weeks of fairly extreme calorie restriction, then a month to six weeks of regular eating. The last part is necessary to “reset” your metabolism. If you stay on a mindless calorie reduction for too long, you just stop losing the weight!

Instead of losing 10 or more pounds on my two week dieting period as with my previous attempts, this last time I lost 4. Not great, but still, 4 pounds gone is 4 pounds, it all makes a difference!

So starting today, I'm trying something different. In the book French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, there is a recipe for a 2-day long “jump start” type diet. For 2 days, you eat only leeks. That's right, those things that look like oversized green onions, and that's basically what they are. They are, according to the author, very nutritious, and mildly diuretic.

First, you have to prepare the recipe. It is this basic: boil 2 pounds of leeks in water. Reserve the broth to drink, and the leeks are what you'll be eating for the next 2 days. I put the leeks in the crockpot for several hours, and the kitchen smelled wonderful, but the resulting “broth” was so watery and bland that I added some canned organic vegetable broth to the mix. That will add 40 calories to the half galon, but I gained quite a lot of taste, so it was definately worth it. The leeks themselves are mild but pleasant tasting.

I decided to go ahead with this leeks thing partly because it passed the safety/common sense check: eating only root vegetables for 2 days never hurt anyone. I won't be risking my health, and I can put up with anything for 2 days, right? (My daughter is eating a chocolate chip granola bar infront of me right now... wow that looks good...)

Quote of the Day: "That it will never come again, makes life so sweet." - Emily Dickinson

Today my family and I went to South Lake Tahoe for the 20th annual Kokanee Salmon Festival. Lake Tahoe is not very far from where we live. It is just beautiful, but full of posh resorts, condos, golf courses and casinos. All that commercialism can't hide its stunning natural beauty, though! It was first discovered by Europeans in 1844 by Capt. John C. Fremont. It was called da ow by the native Washoe Indians, and anglicized into "Tahoe."

The kokanee are a variety of freshwater salmon, although they aren't native. They were placed in the lake and surrounding streams by biologists in 1944. They turn a beautiful red color when it is time to spawn. We learned a lot about the ecosystem of Taylor Creek at the fetival, the kids got paper salmon hats, we painted dead fish and made prints with them (called "gyotaku"), we hiked the nature trail and went into the subterranean interpretation center, where we got to watch the salmon spown at our eye-level, and we bought a stuffed-toy salmon. Barbequed salmon was also being offered, but we had Coca-Cola and nachos instead.

Here is a photo of my husband and our daughter with Mt. Tallac in the background:

Although the north wind was extremely strong today, the sun was shining brightly, as can be seen by the squint on the face of our 7-year old:

Quote of the Day: "Isn't it awful that cold feet make for a cold imagination and that a pair of woollen socks induce good thoughts!" - Franz Grillparzer

The seasons have changed, and it is finally time to change footwear. My friends and I spend most of our year wearing "Jerusalem Cruisers," the type of Birkenstock-like sandals which are often portrayed in popular art as Jesus' footwear of choice. Our ladies' versions are more delicate and stylish, of course, and we keep our toenails painted. But now we can break out the socks.

Facts about socks for people who find socks interesting (the rest of you skip this part): Probably 99% of the socks in the world are knit, for two reasons: knitting is a technique that is espescially suited to the construction of socks. Nothing can create a stretchy tube like knitting. Before knitting, there wasn't anything but weaving. (Naalbinding is a different story for a different post, so no one remind me of that in regard to socks please.) You can't weave a sock, at least to my knowledge. What people did long ago was wrap their feet in a scrap of cloth or animal fur to keep them warm, Then, along came one of the greatest human inventions, knitting, and voila! socks. The other reason most socks are knit is that knitting is easily done by machines in factories, saving grandmothers the world over a lot of work.

Here are a picture of some socks I made recently:

These socks are made from Heart & Sole yarn, in Razzle Dazzle Spring Stripe. The yarn is a blend of 70% wool, 30%% nylon. These socks are crocheted, a technique which is often considered unsuitable for socks. Crochet produces a thicker, more structred fabric with little to no stretch, so the sock can't just be a tube of approximate size. It has to be fitted to the specific foot. That is evident in this photo. After discovering it is very difficult to take a good picture of your own feet, I grabbed a child from my stash, put the socks on him, and stuck his feet up in the air so the socks could be seen clearly. The socks, however, were specially created for my very long, narrow feet, and have retained that shape inspite of the different shape of the kid's feet.

Wool socks are something few Americans own anymore, although not many generations ago, they were ubiquitous. "Wool" and "socks" went together like "apple" and "pie." Not so any more, which is too bad. Everyone should experience a pair of really good wool socks!

Quote of the Day: "I got an NEA tee-shirt to wear this Halloween, but my husband wouldn't let me wear it, he said the kids would have nightmares."- my friend Catherine, a true story!!

Here's an article which is being discussed on other sites, over on Fox news (so keep your grain of salt handy): http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/27/obama-proposes-longer-school-day-shorter-summer-vacation/ . The article states that the current administration is proposing a longer school day and school year. It wouldn't be the first such suggestion, nor will it be the last, I'm sure. Not long ago Gov. Schwarzenegger (spelling?) here in perpetually cash-strapped California had suggested saving money by cutting the school day down 5 days. Naturally the avaricious teacher's unions shot down such a proposal on the grounds it would scar innocent children for life, or some such nonsense. Let's hope this idea dies a similar death due to budget constraints. That would save us all the misery of me having to go on a rant, and posting it, to the chagrin of the 2.3 people who actually read my blog! (he he he).

Quote of the Day: "By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world." --Blaise Pascal

We had a lovely service this morning. A Mr. DeSantos from Mercy Ships spoke at our church, and we watched a slide show about the work of their hospital ship the Mercy Africa, in Benin. It was very moving, all the kids getting medical care, and their spirit. Note to self: wear waterproof mascara to church, otherwise the high likelyhood of coming to tears will make me sit through the service looking like a racoon in high heels. I told my husband, "Make a donation please!" and he sheepishly told me he couldn't, he'd forgotten his wallet this morning. Otherwise, church was very nice as always, and the ladies were very complimentary about my hair, asking where it all went...

Last night, for some unfathomable reason, I dug one of my half-written novels out of my closet. (Hence, the title of this entry.) I would be willing to bet that quite a large number of us have these stashed around-- a chapter here, a dozen pages there. I have two: one is a Revolutionary War piece, and a second one. I got out the second one, which I envisioned as a Tolkein style fantasy, and reread the first 50 pages, making notes such as "two words missing from 2nd sentence in 3rd paragraph, pg 12" and "page 39 sucks." (Sorry about the language, folks, but that's what my notes actually said.) What is strange, though, is the feeling that you're reading any old novel. I don't even remember writing half of it; a stranger could have done it, for all I recall putting the words on paper. The second realization I had is that although I would certainly not call it great, I've read worse. Much worse. I suppose that is a comforting thought!

According to the weatherman today is our last day of heat! By Tuesday, clouds and a slight (miniscule, really) chance of rain! YAHOO! No more burning your hands on the steering wheel, the seasons are changing!

When I visited Crochetmom's blog, she had this meme written by 2ndCupofCoffee, which I decided to do also.

1. When you go to Wowmart, what one thing do you get every single time, besides a funky-wheeled squeaking cart full of frustration?
-- Ink cartridges for my printer.

2. What is something that people are currently "into" that you just don't get or appreciate?

-- Same thing I have always wondered how anyone could appreciate: violent or vulgar movies! (Am I the only one who turned off Pulp Fiction without finishing it? Even though I was in college at the time and everyone seemed to be talking about it, who could stand it?)

3. What is something that really hoists your sail that other people might feel "ho-hum" about?

-- Homeschooling, I guess. Everything else I like to do seems pretty typical...

4. Favorite song to sing in the shower or car?

-- Usually something from my daughter's cartoons; they really stick in your head whether you want them to or not!

5. A really great salad must have this ingredient:
-- Salads are gross.

6. Advice in a nutshell to new bloggers (one or two sentences):
-- Watch what your write: you might be president someday and you don't want your words coming back to haunt you!

7. What was the alternate name that your parents almost named you? Do you wish they had chosen it instead of the one they gave you?

-- "Stormy."  Heck no.

8. What in your life are you waiting for?

-- Good question. More money?

9. You get a package in the mail. What is it, and who is it from?
-- Amazon. I get the "smiley box" often enough that I've become friends with the mailman.

10. Today--what song represents you?

-- Can't think of one.

11. What is one thing that blogging has taught you about yourself?

-- I'm not very dilligent; but I knew that already.

12. How are you going to (or how did you) choose the clothes you're wearing today? What do they say about you in general or specifically how you're feeling today?
-- Because the blue top & tan skirt look very pulled together, and I went to the doctor's office with my daughter, and I always want to look competent in front of doctors, otherwise they speak to you like you're a 10 year old!

Quote of the Day: "... if you trust in yourself... and believe in your dreams... and follow your star.... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy." This is an excerpt of some dialogue between two characters in a Terry Pratchett novel, and it perfectly sums up my view of all this modern "Believe in Yourself" nonsense!

Well, for me the time had come. I had HAD IT! The long hair thing had become more of a nuissance than an adornment; I was tired of sitting on it, shutting it in the dishwasher door, or someone at the seat next to me finding a hair in their soup at dinner and realizing it was still attatched to my head. It was time for a change. So I made an appointment, drove into town an sat for a nerve-wracking hour in the cosmetologist's chair, hoping the stylist I just met, Hilda, wasn't a butcher with the scissors. It turns out she was an angel, and I soon lost all fear of coming away looking a fright. This was my first haircut in 5 YEARS!

Hair styling is a big deal for me, because my hair grows out very slowly. A bad haircut is a two-month embarassment for most women, for me it becomes a year long ordeal. And to make matters worse, fresh in my mind is the haircut of a friend of mine (no names here) who cut her long hair very short in attempt at being fresh and modern, and now looks like, well... there's no getting around it.... a boy!

So the pony tail is gone, off to the charity Locks of Love to make wigs (now known as "cranial prosthetics") for children who have medical hair loss. You can see what they do at www.locksoflove.org . It is very easy to donate, just mail the hair to the address on the webiste. The minimum donatation is 10", but if your braid or ponytail is pretty close, I'd mail it anyway.

So now I have to show Hilda's work. When one photographs oneself, there isn't anything to do but hold the camera at arms' length and hope for the best. One has a tendency to look like Jay Leno, as the chin becomes very pronounced at that angle, and unfortunately the nose too. That has happened to me in this case, Here's the best I could do:

Its not the most flattering photo ever, but it gives a look at my new shoulder-length locks!

And my poor ponytail, off today for a trip through the US Postal Service:

Quote of the Day: "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -George Bernard Shaw

Weight lost since last post: 3/4 pound. It's been tough going..

The diffuculty with homeschooling is that the buck stops with you. When your child doesn't want to sit down and learn lessons-- and what child does?-- you can't simply say, “You have to go to school. Its the law. Its not up to me.” The homeschooled child knows perfectly well that it is entirely up to you whether or not he must hit the books.

The oldest child I'm homeschooling at the moment is our son who just turned 11. He really enjoys video games, and reading science fiction, and writing stories, but finds most other things pointless.
He has a natural aptitude for math, and yet he hates the subject, no matter how many ways I try to illustrate how fascinating and relevant it can be. (Of course, at this point, most of his math lessons involve pages of tedious calculations, which he hates.)

Last week, we hadn't quite finished our work in time for our playday at the park, so I brought our unfinished schoolwork with us. While his friends and siblings were off running in the park, my son, near tears, sat at a picnic table and yelled, ”I can't believe everyone else is playing and I'm stuck here with these stupid Latin verbs!” I can't help but wonder how many children have uttered those EXACT words in the course of history? Lest anyone think me an ogre or slave driver, I should point out his playing was delayed by only 10 minutes...

 In the past, my favorite reply to his whining about schoolwork has been to point out his SAT scores depend on this kind of thing. At 10, he could care less about the SAT. So my next question was, “Do you want to clean the toilets at Taco Bell for the rest of your life?” The future is such a distant intangible to a 10 year old the thought of cleaning toilets didn't faze him either. My current reply to his refrain “Why do I have to do this?” is this: “Because if you grow up to be an ignoramus you'll be an embarassment to the family.” (This sounds much harsher in print than when spoken teasingly, by the way...)
 
Here, word for word, cut and paste, is what he gave me for his current history assignment. Aside from some minor plagarism from the encyclopedia, which is excusable in people his age, I think he has done fairly well for a kid:

The Huns came into Europe over the Volga River from what is now Kazakhstan in 350 A.D. They were some of the wandering and warlike people that invaded Rome in the A.D. 400's. They nearly destoyed the Eastern and Western Roman empires.

Attila the Hun was a king who united the Huns. Attila became king in 434 A.D. He ruled a vast empire almost as large as that of Rome.

Scholars doubt his real historical importance. He never was never really able to win decisive victories over large and powerful armies. He did attack france in 451 A.D. but was defeated by a combined army of Romans and Barbarians. In 452 he invaded Italy, but he was forced to withdraw because of disease and famine. He died in 453 A.D. His real legacy was that he spread fear in Europe and he weakened the Roman empire.

I felt like posting a picture, but couldn't think of what I wanted to put up, so I just chose a picture of our cat Goldie, asleep on a spot of sun on the breakfast table:

Cute, huh?

Quote of the Day: "I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph, than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail."- Woodrow Wilson

Weight loss since the last week of August: 4.2 lbs

We have been having lovely weather here, although the forecast is for it to heat up again. It is almost time for my favorite season: autumn!

This past weekend my husband took me to do some shopping. He's tired of me complaining about how loose my wardrobe is. I've mentioned before that I dislike shopping for clothes, so instead I bought an MP3 player. It is nice, big screen, lots of features. I can listen to it while I hold up my pants... (see my entry on the side effects of weight loss...)

Tomorrow I'll be taking my laptop in to the repair place... it has difficulty shutting down, among other things. It needs a computer doctor. I assume I'll be without it-- and therefore offline-- for several days...

These are pictures of a pair of "fishing gloves" I crocheted for my husband in August. They are fingerless mitts, basically. I've made pairs of those for everyone in the family. These are 100% wool, no cheap acrylic for my hubby! I used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (how apt!) in maple tweed.

Can't you just picture my husband being annoyed, saying, "What are you doing? I'm trying to fish here."

Quote of the Day: "Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary... that's what gets you." -Jeremy Clarkson

Weight loss: 2 more pounds gone this week!

This has been a very nice week so far. My little girl spent the night in the hospital Monday night for a sleep-apnea test, which was really no big deal. She didn't get a single needle-stick, nothing at all frightening for a 4 year old girl. But she did have electrodes pasted all over-- she looked like a robot-porcupine with all those wires coming out of her head & chest! I didn't think to bring my camera for that, but I wish I had. We spent the night down in the city, then drove home the next morning. Since then we've had a normal week: Bible study for me, karate for the boys. Yesterday we had some friends over to play, which was very nice. Today we're going in to town for some grocery shopping after we finish our school work. Pretty unexciting stuff, but no news is good news, as they say...

I'm going to pick up some oxy-clean today for another one of the quilts in our collection, which could use a gentle washing. This one came from my husband's father's family:

It doesn't come across well in the picture, but the red trim/backing is a deep cherry red, and I think the colors and stitching are just marvelous. I took it with me to the heirloom ladies' dinner at our church this year, when everyone was supposed to bring a family quilt to show off.

This weekend, we don't have any special plans, although I have a LOT of tomatoes to can, even after giving them away to friends!

Today we all tagged along while my husband went fishing. We went to Jenkinson Lake, a lake only a short distance from us ( www.eid.org ). We made ourself comfortable at "chimney camp," the remains of a stone fireplace and pillar which were part of a house that were on the spot when the reservoir was created. The rest of the house has vanished from years underwater, but the masonry remains. Every other time I have seen the chimney, it has been sticking straight up from the water. Today, it was high and dry, and we set up our chairs and coolers there. (It's hard not to think about the fact we would have been sitting in a living room at one time!) I sat and crocheted a pair of socks, while the rest of the family fished. None of them caught anything. The warm water has driven the fish into the deeper parts of the lake; the spot we chose was too shallow. So this is NOT a fish story.

Our little boy is waiting for his father to bait his hook, and to him (Mr. Impatient!) it feels like forever! A bit of the foundation of the vanished house is visible on the ground:

Our ten year old decides he likes fishing:

Here is our little girl, wading in. She has been 4 years old for nearly a week!

Here are the two oldest boys, cooling off in the water:

Quote of the Day: "When choosing a pattern, look for ones that have words such as "simple," "basic" and "easy." If you see the words "intriguing," "challenging," or "intricate," look elsewhere. If you happen across a pattern that says "heirloom," slowly but the pattern down and back away."- Stephanie Pearl-McPhee from her book At Knit's End

Yesterday I cleaned out my closet. I always feel like I don't have any clothes, and yet over the past few weeks I have taken 3 trashbags full of clothes to the church clothes-closet. The problem is they don't fit well anymore, because I've lost weight, or I don't feel like they are "me" anymore (whatever that means). So although they are perfectly fine clothes, I got rid of them. My closet is definately neater and very well organized now, although quite a lot of it is still too big.

That is the problem with weight loss-- your clothes don't fit anymore, and if you're anything like me, you hate clothes shopping. This summer I took my children to a birthday party, and my pants actually fell down! I forgot for a moment that I had to keep holding them up, and down they went. Fortunately, no one was looking my way at that moment, so I was saved major embarassment.

My generous husband thinks I should just go buy some more clothes, but I don't want to. For one thing, I'm still loosing weight, so if I go buy things now, I'll just have to go buy more things later (hopefully), so what's the point?

I have picked up a few things that fit at the clothes closet. The clothes closet is the only ministry of our church which I'm regularly involved in. We had a big back-to-school clothes giveaway event in the parking lot last Saturday. I got there at 6:45 am to help set up. I thought it was pretty well attended, but the lady who runs the clothes closet program had hoped for more. I think part of our problem is we are a little church in the countryside outside of a little town. There just aren't that many people willing to drive this far out into the country, even for free stuff. I think another part of our problem is that people don't think they're "poor enough" to take advantage of the clothes closet, which is a shame, because the clothes are free to anyone who wants them, regardless of income. Then there is the embarassment factor; people don't want to be seen at a "clothes closet," as if that were something a person would find at a homeless shelter. And of course, people mistakenly assume all the clothes will be dowdy and ugly. There are plenty of those, of course, but the selection is pretty darn good, I think! I got a lovely, name brand leather handbag and a silk scarf last time. In the past I've also picked up an unopened package of tube socks for my husband, and a brand new, tags still on and still in the shoebox pair of tennis shoes for my 10 year old.