Mama wasn’t feeling well last Saturday night; her right hand was swollen and numb, and she couldn’t hear well out of her left ear. We are always afraid such things are the symptoms of a stroke. But Mama, of course, doesn’t want to go to the doctor or hospital if she can at all avoid it… Good grief. What does one do???
I, on the other hand, think you should dash off to the emergency room at the very slightest sign of a stroke, particularly when you’ve had several before, because they can sometimes keep one from happening…or keep it from being so bad…or keep a person from having brain damage if he does have a stroke. But I cannot force people to do what I think they should…
Anyway, she is better now, although she is always so frail. But she is bright and cheery, and I certainly hope I will be just the same, if I am ever in her shoes.
Larry’s Uncle Clyde had surgery on his nose last Thursday; he is improving. He didn’t just break his poor nose; he shattered it. And then, when we try to show him some sympathy, he has to go and be funny about it, so we wind up laughing, instead of being compassionate!
He said to Norma (his sister--Larry’s mother), “Anyway, it’s a good thing I have such a big nose; it broke my fall.”
And she, trying to be kindly and concerned, said, “Okay, you have only yourself to blame if I laugh now,” and laugh she did.
My printer went kaput a week and a half ago--after behaving perfectly right up till its last gasp. We took it to Connecting Point, a computer and electronic shop. When I called later to find out if it had been repaired, I was told by a man named Chuck, “In simple terms (did I sound like someone who needed to be told things in simple terms?), its brains are blown up.”
So I said, “Huh?”
According to him, it’s ruined; and to replace its ‘brains’ would cost almost as much as a new printer would cost.
Sooo…Larry and Teddy went off to Wal-Mart and bought me one. (A printer, that is. I am already in possession of a brain. Most of the time.) It’s a LexMark Z32, and it ought to be perfectly mahvelous; but it throws fits and tantrums and must be handled with kid gloves; and if I don’t, it tries to throw me out of my desk chair and hog-tie me.
I fight back, to be sure.
And … so far…I’ve gazumped it. I think.
It does print pictures nicely. As yet, I’ve only printed them at 600 dpi, and used Quick Print; but it can print at 1200 dpi, and that should make a nice picture on photo-quality paper.
It used to be a bit of a joke around here, before Keith was married, that if I sent him off to the store for three things, I could be fairly well assured of getting one of them…most of the time. So…if I wanted three things, I should send him for at least nine, so as to stand a better chance of getting the three I really wanted. Unfortunately, Keith functioned on a formula not at all systematic, and it was very possible I should wind up with the six things I did not want, and nothing more. However, since I had a habit of sending him straight back to the store for whatever it was he forgot, he did improve.
But only slightly.
Hannah was more dependable. If I sent her to the store for twenty things, I could be justified in hoping to end up with nineteen of those same items.
Dorcas is more like Keith, although not quite that bad; and Teddy is more like Hannah, although not quite that good. Joseph is promising to be even better than Hannah, of all things. And he’s almost sixteen! (Yep; this is one mother who looks forward to her children reaching that significant milestone of Driving Age, for that makes one more person I can Send On Errands!) (And the splendid thing is, sixteen-year-olds like to Go On Errands, because it gives them just one more opportunity to Go Driving.)
We will now delve into just exactly from whence this trait was acquired.
Monday evening I asked Larry to get me ten yards of piping when he went to Wal-Mart. I described it thoroughly--“plain small white cord on a big spool that must be measured”--and I told him about Keith invariably getting me tubular elastic, instead of piping, just to encourage him not to do so.
Guess what.
Nope, you’re wrong.
You thought he got tubular elastic, didn’t you?
He first got the right stuff, walked to the desk to have the lady measure and cut it--and then he made the error of saying, “Is this piping?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” said she.
She thoroughly convinced him he had the wrong stuff, and what he needed was the pre-made piping with white cotton fabric already sewed onto it, sold in packages of 2½ yards each.
So he bought me four packages and came home well pleased with himself.
Aarrgghh! I cover my own piping--with the color of material I want!! And besides: it’s lots cheaper, my way.
By then, it was too late to return to Wal-Mart, and I could proceed no farther without the piping, so I simply covered the already-covered piping with the fabric I wanted, and sewed it in. A little too thick…but… oh, well.
We had pizza that night…when what we all really wanted was soup. Dorcas went to the store for us afterward, and bought Nissan soup…so that’s what we had the next day, which was okay, since everyone was still under the weather--and stayed that way all week, literally and figuratively both. Victoria could be heard coughing during her sleep almost every night, and Robitussin didn’t seem to do much good at all.
One evening Kitty was sneaking up on Teddy’s gloves, which were draped atop his lunch box…and all of a sudden, Teddy reached around behind them and wiggled them--and Kitty sprang backwards so far she landed clear around the corner, about four feet away.
In quite a bug-eyed state, she seated herself gingerly and stretched her neck as faaaar as she could, until one eye was peeping around the corner at those gloves… Teddy reached out to wiggle them again, but then he accidentally snickered and spoilt everything.
Kitty sat up straight and looked at him reproachfully. Nothing’s spooky, if people are snickering, you know. She flipped her head to the side, switched her tail, and walked off, tail held high in indignation. haha Cats are funny creatures.
This week I’ve sewn Hester’s Easter dress--all but the zipper--and almost finished Lydia’s suit. Hester’s dress has a light blue plaid skirt with a light blue and pink flowered top and a big ruffled plaid collar. A pleated cummerbund comes to a V at the front, where there is a large ruffled flower. The cummerbund turns into a ruffled peplum at the back, and above that is a wide pink sash. In the center of the sleeves is a pleat with an insert of pink.
Lydia’s suit jacket is of dusty pink with lace and crocheted trim all around its edges, and the ruffled skirt (on a sleeveless top) is flowered light dusty pink, and the top of the dress has an ivory jabot with oodles of wide dusty pink lace at the front, which will show between the front edges of the jacket.
As I was sewing away, Victoria came dashing into my room, chattering as she came.
“What did you say?” I queried.
She turned and looked at me. “I said, ‘Trot-trot Gazallzin!’” she informed me, “That’s what the game is called. I wasn’t talking to you; that’s just what I say because I winned. And I got 56 points!”
She grinned at me and exited the room at her usual fast clip.
Day after day all week, weather.com and accuweather.com both informed me that the day would be cloudy--and perhaps it was, although we couldn’t exactly see the clouds through the falling snow. Anyway, it wasn’t hard to figure out why my weather ball was about to overflow each evening.
Tuesday Teddy bought himself a new trombone, trading in his old one. It’s a beautiful instrument, and has a lovely tone. Uh…it has a lovely tone when Teddy plays it, that is.
Hannah came visiting, and showed me the little dress and romper set she’d gotten to pack in her suitcase. She got the curtains for the baby’s room, too, and only had to iron them and hang them at the windows. Later that week, she and Bobby went to Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha, where they ordered a stroller and a car seat and purchased a dresser. Everything is just about ready!
Dorcas got a letter from a penpal who lives in Trinidad and Tobago; she hadn’t heard from her for over five years. She was quite surprised to hear that her friend Nicola was married and has three children, ages 5, 3, and 1.
Dorcas, Hester, and Lydia went to the library to get a few books and videos, and came home with piles and piles and piles of books. Guess we won’t be seeing much but the tops of their heads and the covers of their books for the next week.
They did find a couple of good videos, so we ordered taco bravos for supper and set to watching scenes from the wild reaches of Alaska.
Wednesday evening, Victoria was still running a fever, and I didn’t feel so great myself, but I thought that if I stayed home from church again, people really would start thinking I was one of the ones who voted “no” to Robert! So Larry stayed home with Victoria, and I went to church. The song service was barely over when I sent Caleb home, because he couldn’t quit coughing. What a siege we’re having!
Robert’s sermon was about Korah, the man who rebelled against Moses, and decided to head back to Egypt. The earth opened up and swallowed him and all those people who were following him--including their entire families. The Bible says they went down alive into the pit. ‘Pit’ here can also be translated ‘Sheol’, another name for hell.
I have written in my Bible something Daddy once said: “You know, there were people who went to Heaven without dying first…I wonder, did these people go to hell without dying?”
Earlier that afternoon, Amy's mother called to tell me that she’d taken Amy to the doctor, and discovered she has mononucleosis. Sooo…I decided I’d better get my children--and myself--to the doctor.
They were all sick, every one of them, although Dorcas was weller (if that’s not a word, it should be) than most. She managed to make it to work every day…and Teddy went to work, too, until the last couple days of the week, when he was finally too sick to go.
Caleb came home early from school because his stomach and ears and throat were hurting. Victoria still had a fever and a cough…Teddy didn’t feel well, had white spots on his throat, and his ears hurt. Joseph had a sore throat, a fever, earaches, and his head and eyes hurt. I called the doctor…but, as usual, the doctor was busy, so I talked to a nurse who thought that we could perhaps make an appointment for October 15th, in the year 2083. I finally persuaded her to give me an appointment the next day at 3:30--but it turned out, it was with a different doctor, rather than our beloved Dr. Luckey. Ah, well…this doctor, I think, is a good doctor (although no one, but no one, can hold a candle to Dr. Luckey); he is patient and thorough and friendly, and seems to know what he is doing.
Thursday was Keith’s 21st birthday. I can hardly imagine he is that old already. We will celebrate it tomorrow, and mark Hannah’s at the same time, although hers isn’t until Wednesday.
Wouldn’t you know, isn’t it always just the way…there was a heavy freezing rain, mixed with sleet and snow, falling all day Friday. But…off to David City we went. And yes, just as Caleb had said, it was slip-slidey. Why, I had to slow clear down to 55 mph!--that is, until I wound up behind some alien hippies in a dilapidated Ford Escort, circa 1936. (Did Ford make the Escort in 1936?) Sooo…we putt-putted along behind them at 35 mph until I had a clear shot, and then we blew their doors off, flying around them.
Well... we have now determined that we really, truly are sick; we are not faking it; we sho' 'nuff are sick!! Yep, we all have (or have had) strep throat. Hester and Lydia recovered before going to the doctor (they had been sick, earlier in the week)…or perhaps they just hadn’t gotten the full-fledged version of it, yet.
So, after paying a queen's ransom at the doctor's office (they hold your children hostage until you pay), we stopped by Walgreens on the way home and dropped off six pages of prescriptions. I had to pay a king's ransom to get those. Caleb has to have an expensive decongestant ($68 for 8 oz.), something that will not irritate his asthma. And now I must go back again today and pick up the prescriptions the doctor just called in for Hester and Lydia, because guess what’s wrong with them? Yep, they now have strep throat, too. And Lydia, like Caleb, is allergic to Amoxicillin.
Aarrgghhh.... I'd rather go to bed, like Jack (of the "Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill" renown), and put brown paper and vinegar on my head, than actually go anywhere.
Ah, well... it is almost suppertime, and there are folks around this house who are not sick enough to want to forego supper.
Sooo... what shall I fix them, hmmm? Green eggs and ham?
We got another National Geographic video in the mail. The last one wasn’t too bad--except I don’t think I will show it to the littles, because all the animals (they were from Africa, for the most part) were having dinner, it seemed--and African animals don’t eat Twinkies for dinner. The new video is about Egypt…all those ancient the wonders of the world…and mummies and pharaohs… and… UGH! It gives me the creeps; I don’t like it at all. Bleah! I would not wish to tour Egypt if it were the last place on earth. I’d much much rather go to Antarctica. That video shall be returned.
Please be advised, that's an opinion. Understand? An opinion. I will allow others to hold opposing opinions without throwing spitwads and paper airplanes at their pitiful pate.
Saturday was Victoria’s 4th birthday! And she was still sick. But she was nevertheless her happy, lively self, and enjoyed her birthday immensely.
We gave her a soft brown stuffed bunny, and a collectible Bugs Bunny. Its ears were sticking out of the top of the bag.
“Oh! It’s a bunny!” she exclaimed, and then she pulled it out and said, “Oh, no it’s not. It’s a rabbit.”
We also gave her a white fluffy bunny that sings Easter Parade while its nose and ears wiggle and waggle, respectively; a very soft white teddy bear with bright plaid pads on his paws; and a bubble set with non-spill cups--the most wonderful environmentally-affable invention since the catalytic converter. (No, I’m not an environmentalist.) (I just don’t like bubbles spilt all over the floor that I shall soon be traipsing upon--barefoot.) And of course, there was also the dress I made her, which she hasn’t been able to wear to church yet. We’ll give her another gift tomorrow, when Keith and Esther, and Bobby and Hannah, and perhaps Lawrence and Norma, are here.
Our friend Helen brought Victoria a present: a Barbie doll with table and chairs, tiny saucers, cups, silverware, tray, teapot, sugar, and creamer…and a teeny bunny and an even smaller teddy bear. She also gave her some paper Barbie saucers and cups, and a Barbie sipper cup with a doll and small puppy on top. Victoria is delighted.
From Keith and Esther she received purple play shoes, and she’s been clomp-clomping around in them ever since.
She told me, “Every now and then I fall out of them; but I just climb right back in!”
They also gave her a “tot spot”--a small ‘director’s’ sort of chair. If she isn’t sitting in it herself, one of her new stuffed animals is perched in it.
Dorcas made Victoria a foam purse, the front of which is a bunny face. Inside, she put a little doll dressed in a teddy bear sleeper, and a teddy bear for which she had crocheted a ruffly pink dress. It’s so cute. Hester gave her a bottle of rose-scented lotion from Avon (the only kind of perfumed rose anything that smells halfway good, if you ask me) (only God knew how a rose should really smell--and managed to make it smell just that way), and a little stuffed bunny. She’s got herself a real bunny collection now, I’d say! From Lydia she received a heart-shaped whistle, a couple of hippopotamus stencils, and some tiny soft pink socks with little ribbon ruffles and a white eyelet ruffly bonnet for her doll.
Saturday night my weather ball really did overflow--for the first time. Just one little drip; but still!--it overflowed!
And yes, there was a storm. It was snowing, and the wind was blowing up a gale, whistling down the chimney and rattling the front door. It diminished by morning, and we didn’t get the 4-6 inches of snow that was predicted.
I heard many church closings announced on the radio, even though all the weather forecasters were saying the weather would be nice Sunday. I suppose a good many of the parishioners are glad for any excuse to stay home?
Did you know when you store chocolate candy bars in drawers near computer monitors, they get softer … and softer … and softer? (The candy bars; not the monitors.) I have just discovered this to be true, via reliable scientific research and trusty data and statistics. That is to say, I put a candy bar into a drawer near the computer monitor, and when I got it out some number of hours later, it was soft, nigh unto done melted, poor thing. Further, when I was done eating it, I looked quite a bit like a melted candy bar myself.
Dorcas does some babysitting for people whose children attend the daycare where Dorcas works. Saturday morning she cared for the children for a few hours while the mother, Debbie, was cleaning out her cupboards. (It occurred to me that no one had ever watched my children for me whilst I cleaned out cupboards.) A couple of months ago, the family moved to David City; two weeks ago, they moved back to Columbus. They are staying in an apartment while they get their house ready, and the less they have to move, the better. She gave Dorcas a pile of clothes and a couple boxes of cake mix.
So, after Victoria went to bed, Dorcas made marbled cake, and while it was in the oven, she went to the store for frosting. I found the cake later--baked in a jelly roll pan, 18”x12”. Dorcas had thought it was a 13”x9” cake pan. Ooopsie.
We decided to cut it down the middle and stack it. Together, we got the first layer onto a cookie sheet all right (I was using two spatulas)…but then Norma called, and Dorcas tried to do her side of the cake while she was on the phone--and she can’t tuck the phone under her ear without dropping it…so she was only using one hand, one spatula…and really, when we were done, that poor top layer looked quite a bit like an elephant had walked through it. And we had no more icing with which to cover the mess.
We stood and looked at it in consternation, and I tried to think of something to do to the wretched thing to improve its appearance.
I could think of nothing. It would just have to stay in that shape, hoofprints and all.
Lydia found four dilapidated candles in the measuring-cup drawer, so I stuck them into the cake. When Victoria woke up, I lit the candles.
“Victoria!” I called, “Come in here and see something!”
Her face lit up as much as the candles, I think, when she saw that cake. She blew them out…and then we discovered one old ramshackle candle was a relighting candle. But!--it was older than the hills, so it took a coon’s age to relight…but the wick was hot, so the wax melted…and melted…and melted…
And finally it relit.
Victoria giggled.
Then she took an enormous breath, and blew hard enough to plaster the cake on the opposite wall. And that candle did not relight that time, let me tell you.
Norma has not been feeling well; she has a cold, and it often progresses into sinus infection. So Lawrence brought Victoria the cute red dress Norma had sewn for her. It has little white hearts printed on it, and white piping and lace. There is a heart-shaped cloisonné pendant hanging around the collar.
“It’s a lady’s necklace,” exclaimed Victoria in delight.
Did you know that it is necessary to fire enamel at 1832°F, in order to fuse the enamel of cloisonné with the surface?
First, small partitions are built up on the metal surface of the trinket. Then thin metal strips following the outline of the pattern are affixed to the surface by solder or by the heated enamel itself. The intervening compartments are filled with pulverized enamel, and then it is fired. The hard-finished enamel is subsequently filed down until the glossy surface and the metal edges can be polished all at the same time.
There. You have now had a lesson in creating French costume jewelry. Just in case your current career goes defunct.
Once again Sunday, I stayed home with Hester and Victoria. Rats! I really wanted to go to church…but did you ever notice, if you get sick enough, you don’t care quite as much?
Larry made waffles and eggs after church…Mmmmmm. Yummy!
P.S.: What??! You don’t know what ‘gazump’ means??!! Tut, tut. To ‘gazump’ somebody means you one-up them…or you grab their spot. You snatch the trump card, and you beat them at their own game!--which is precisely what I did to that obstinate printer. GaZUMP!!!
P.S.S.: Oh, now you want to know about 'Trot-trot Gazallzin'? Wellllll. . . you'll learn.
Later.
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