Monday, August 26, 2019

Fairs, Funerals, and Life In-between

    It would have been a challenge to pack anything more into this past week.
    The long awaited, and much anticipated fair week rolled around. We had plans to go on Monday evening as soon as LV came home from work, but half way through the day he called, telling us to go ahead without him, that he has to go to an emergency thing in Pittsburgh.
     We were all disappointed, but went ahead determined we'd have a great time.
     Steven grew a lot since last year, which meant a whole new assortment of rides were available to him.  I wandered the midway with him, standing in line, then watching him ride, before hurrying off to the next ride to repeat the process.
     While waiting next to the little roller coaster I felt my purse shiver oddly. I opened it to see my phone vibrating away. The caller ID showed it was one of my brothers, so I answered. "Uncle Eli passed away," he informed me, and he'd call back later once he knew what the arrangements were.
     That put a damper on my standing and watching Steven ride, but we stayed until LV called to say what time he'd be home.
~~~~~
     We got a whole mess of sweetcorn from the nearby Hutterite colony. It was quite the chore getting it all ready for the freezer, but what a good feeling once it was done, to know I have food put up for winter.
~~~~~
     On Friday afternoon the funeral for Uncle Eli was held. I was thinking family would probably stop in to see us in the morning, so we whipped up some fun treats, and did a quick visitor ready sweep of the house, but it was all in vain. No one ventured by.
     I didn't attend the funeral. I could have, but another emergency popped up when an accident occurred that kept LV on the scene for eight hours. We have an agreement that I won't have to venture to Amish things alone. (Somehow they are much less harsh when he is by my side.) And so I stayed at home.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Life with Steven

    I share little happenings on my Facebook, and decided I'd share a few of the most recent ones here as well.
~~~~~
We hardly ever have juice on hand unless we need it for a recipe. Yesterday a bottle of unsweetened cranberry juice appeared on the refrigerator shelf after a grocery run.
Steven eyed its sparkling beauty in eager anticipation of being allowed to drink the leftover once we used what we needed.
Steven: Can I have a little if I save enough for your recipe?
Me: I don't think you'll like it.
Steven doubtfully: Really? Short pause and then asks hopefully. Can I have a tiny taste?
I agreed and poured a small amount for him to try.
He slurped it down happily and then his eyes got big, he shuddered, and said solemnly: My tastebuds just had a horrible adventure!
~~~~~
Steven looks up from his schoolwork and says: Mom, you know how I make that writing in cursive is fun?
Me: How?
Steven: I pretend the letters are a roller coaster.
Me thinking: Oh! That explains all the squeals that were accompanying his writing this morning.
~~~~~
It started raining on the way home and I didn't turn on my windshield wipers immediately.
From the back seat comes Steven's voice: Um, Mom ... shouldn't you turn on your swishy whooshies?
I have a feeling the Kinsinger family has just found a new name for windshield wipers.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Currently ...

Reading ... I started on the book of Luke in the Bible this morning.

In fiction I'm reading my way through the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time this year, and somewhere over the 20th time since the first time I read them. It's still my all time favorite series, and it's feeling lovely spending time with Anne again.

In nonfiction I have several books going at the moment. The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker is somewhat of a heavy read, but the information it provides is valuable, and so I'm slowly making my way through it. Me, Myself, and Pie by Sherry Gore is a delightful cookbook about pie. Not only do I want to bake almost all of them, I have also been enjoying the little stories she has scattered throughout the book.

On Steven's and my pile of bedtime books we are gradually transitioning from the fun picture books to chapter books. Nathan T. Riggins has been a hit so far, and we have also been enjoying the Life with Lily series. I've been surprised how much I've been enjoying reading something I wrote, to him. It helps that he loves the books.

Listening ... to Rabbi Schneider on Youtube. His messages are a short 20 minutes, and I've been really encouraged by listening to them. I haven't listened to nearly all of them yet, but so far everything I have listened to I have come away inspired, encouraged, and ready to tackle life.

Cooking ... I have chicken in the slow cooker that I have plans to use to make a Mexican themed supper.

Cleaning ... windows. I don't know what it is about our old farmhouse, but during the summer months spiders absolutely love building their webs at the windows. They get swept away daily, but they get rebuilt fast ... and what ever they do they manage to get "dirt" on the windows which means that they have to be washed at least once a week, sometimes more if I can't stand seeing the dirt any longer before Saturday rolls around.

And speaking of cleaning windows I have discovered, thanks to a Facebook friend, the best window cleaner. I'll plop down a link to it here if you want to check it out. Which reminds me, I have to place an order for some later this week.

Later today ... we'll be doing a variety of things. Including but not limited to working on the chairs we're refinishing, baking some kind of dessert ... I'm thinking pie, doing our school work, tending the flowerbed, taking care of the daily dozen, and going on a short walk.

Yesterday ... we attended church where a young man delivered a good message. It made me feel old seeing him in front of the church calmly and confidently delivering a well spoken message. He was only a little boy the first time I met him!

After church LV and Steven went to the lake for a few hours to fish. They didn't catch anything other than the happy memories they made.


Wearing ... my favorite purple dress and a fluffy robe. It's a bit on the chilly side this morning so it was robe to the rescue until it warms up a bit.

Disliking ... our rose garden. I don't dislike roses, in fact I'm really quite fond of seeing them in full bloom. Right now though seeing our rose garden makes me feel sad. On Thursday the crew who is roaming the area and cutting trees close to power lines drove in here. First they trimmed our giant maple tree in front of the house. They actually did a good job of it, so I won't complain too much about that, but what they did next ... they drove their behemoth machine across the yard, smack dab in the middle of our rose garden smashing the bushes to where I can't see them ever recovering. They proceeded to cut down trees and then left, never mentioning the destruction they had caused to our roses.

Playing ... we've been having a daily game time. I won't go into detail today how it came about that we were blessed to acquire a LOT of board games, but we've really been enjoying playing them.