I’ve heard nothing from that little magazine to which I wrote; I tell you, if anybody ever does decide to publish anything I write, and pay me for it, too, I will doubtless fall right over dead from shock, so often have I tried to no avail.
Monday, Labor Day, we were invited to my brother and sister-in-law Loren and Janice’s house. I took a box of apple streusel muffins, and an egg with which to make them...and used ¾ cup of Janice’s cooking oil after we got there.
Forty-five minutes later, we were eating muffins, and Janice gave us ice cream to go with them.
We went outside and were looking at Janice’s flowers, some of which are already going to seed. She gave the little girls seeds from her ‘spider flower’, and some from her garlic plants. Victoria is all excited about planting garlic now...I wonder what she will think when she tastes it?!
Caleb went with Teddy, Amy, and Kyle (Amy’s little brother who is a couple months younger than Caleb) to Grand Island to Stuhr Museum, which includes a working pioneer village.
After supper that evening, the littles played with their cousins on the toys at the new playground. I don’t imagine the novelty of that will fade anytime soon; even Dorcas likes to go play with them sometimes. Meanwhile, Larry and I went for a bike ride--and I actually got chilly, pedaling along in the evening breeze. That’s the first time that’s happened for quite a few months.
Teddy and Caleb finally wandered in at a quarter till ten. Caleb had a narrow, spiral-twisted piece of metal, about 5” long, with a tiny hole in the top for use as a Christmas tree ornament; he’d made it himself in Stuhr Village. He also had a piece of wood shaped something like a number 7, and he called it a sky hook. The man helping the children make them told a story about it as Caleb pumped the foot pedals which made the scroll saw work. The little wooden piece balances on Caleb’s finger neatly--so long as something fairly heavy is hanging from its hook.
We think all those things at Stuhr Museum are so antique. A good many of the things there--in fact, I think it would be safe to say most of the things there--were made or invented in the late 1800s. But listen to this: In 1875, the director of the U.S. Patent Office resigned, recommending that the office be closed, as there was nothing new to invent.
He would have been surprised, had he seen Stuhr Museum, with all of its ‘modern’ inventions. But!!--think if he could see what the world has become since!
We are gradually making our way through the stories about David in our devotions; recently we’ve been reading about the great friendship between King Saul’s son Jonathan and David. It was a remarkable friendship, for Jonathan understood that David, and not himself, would be the king after his father, a highly unlikely thing to happen, as kingship generally passes from father to son. But instead of being jealous of David, as his wicked father was, Jonathan was willing--indeed, he was glad--for David to be Israel’s next king. He showed this by giving David his robe, a symbol of kingship; along with his sword, his bow, and other items that typified badges of power and badges of honor. No small wonder, then, that David, in his eulogy, said that Jonathan was ‘lovely and pleasant’.
Victoria has been praying with us now when devotions are through; we always end our devotions with prayer. She, being the youngest, is the last one to pray (other than Larry, who ends it), as we start with the oldest, possibly out of habit, and possibly to give the younger ones a few minutes to figure out what to pray about. She is rather timid about it, and sometimes comes to a complete stop while she wonders what to say next; then she suddenly says, “Amen,” without any warning whatsoever. I quietly tell her to say, “In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen,” and she repeats it--very quietly.
Larry and I used to laugh (quietly, and in private) over some of our older children’s prayers when they were very young; they parroted each other so, I think they had their prayers nearly identical sometimes. They did the 'Bewiths': “Be with Grandpa and Grandma Swiney, and be with Grandpa and Grandma Jackson, and be with Uncle John and Aunt Lura Kay, and be with...” and on and on until I gently admonished them that the Bible says we shouldn’t just repeat the same prayers over and over again, for that is like the heathen. Or the Pharisees. We should speak to the Lord just as if He was our very best Friend--for, after all, He is.
So they all changed their prayers, and after that they did the “Helps”: “Help Grandpa and Grandma Swiney, and help Grandpa and Grandma Jackson, and help Uncle John and Aunt Lura Kay, and help...” haha
Ah, well; the little dears were sincere, and “the Lord looketh on the heart”.
Victoria was counting down the days till she would go to kindergarten: only two more. I asked her if she knew that she is supposed to raise her hand to talk, and not say anything until the teacher calls her name. She looked surprised.
“No, I didn’t know that!” she answered.
Hester giggled. “She thought kindergarten was just a place where you went to talk to your friends!”
“What did you think,” I queried, “that you could just trot over there and blab your head off all day long?!”
Victoria snickered. “Well, no, not really...”
Tuesday was the first day of school for Lydia and Caleb; they went until noon. They were so excited... When school let out, they came rushing home and kept up a steady nattering about all the things they were doing, had done, and were going to do, on and on. Our organist, Sandy, is their teacher this year. You’ll recall, Helen, my brother-in-law’s sister, was the teacher for those grades up until last year, when her daughter-in-law Malinda died. Since then, Helen has cared for her eight grandchildren.
Anyway, there is little doubt that Sandy will be an excellent teacher; she’s an organized, get-it-done-and-do-it-up-right sort of a person. Her youngest daughter, Deborah, is in Caleb’s class.
That evening, I went to Wal-Mart to get thread for Victoria’s dress...I had a dozen shades of blue thread, but not a one of them were a match. There we saw Suzanne, Amy’s older sister who graduated with Dorcas. Suzanne works for Tim, helping Helen care for the children. One of the girls was with her, and they were getting some appliques. Suzanne has been helping the girls with their sewing and crocheting. She’d gotten some baby medicine drops for Daniel, who had a fever. Melody, who is in Victoria’s kindergarten class, was sick, too.
I had learned from Teddy that Martha, Amy and Suzanne’s mother, had purchased the material for the bridesmaids and candlelighters last week. I’d offered to help sew, but, according to Teddy, Martha wanted to do it. I asked Suzanne about the dresses, and learned that Martha wouldn’t be able to even start on them until the 17th; and, in addition, she not only needed to redo Amy’s bridal gown, but she also needed to make the cakes and do various other necessary things for the reception, which would use up most of the last week before the wedding.
That gave her 2 ½ weeks, tops, to sew five dresses, each of them with triple tiers in the back; help Amy with the flowergirl’s dress, and redo Amy’s gown.
I stared at Suzanne, feeling somewhat aghast. “Does she really want to do it all herself?!!”
Suzanne smiled. “Well, she said she was afraid you had too much to do.”
“I had too much to do!” I yelped. “You tell your mother I said she was nuts!!”
Suzanne laughed.
Upon arriving home, I decided to tell Martha myself. Telling people they are nuts is something that should be done personally, not relayed through a messenger. I called her...and managed to convince her that I should do Hester and Lydia’s dresses. A little later, Victoria and I went to get the material and the pattern. The fabric is a heavy navy moiré taffeta, the same kind of material Esther had for her bridesmaids’ dresses. It’s very nice fabric, easy to sew on.
Wednesday was Victoria’s first day of school. She got up an hour and a half earlier than usual, and put on a dress she’s been impatiently saving for school--a long-sleeved yellow dress printed with teddy bears and sporting a black velour collar. But it’s still too big; its hangs almost to her ankles. Further, the day threatened to be extremely hot. I ironed her Fourth-of-July dress, and she wore that, instead, giggling over its warmness as I slid it over her head.
As soon as she ate breakfast, we went to Dollar General for the notebook she needed--one of those that has wide lines with a dotted line in the middle, especially for beginning writers. Wal-Mart had been out of the notebooks, and Victoria had been stewing and fretting about it ever since. We found one with a rainbow printed on the front, which pleased her no end. I had never been to Dollar General before. I wrote a check out for $1.07 because I didn’t have any cash--and the clerk made me extract my driver’s license for ID examination! Not the run-of-the-mill thing, in our town.
Home again, there were several Intense Moments of Near Red-Nose Syndrome again, when Victoria couldn’t find the rest of her school supplies. Not any of them. They finally turned up--on her bed, under a blanket. She’d taken them to bed with her, so as not to lose them, so as not to part with them, so as to see them last thing before she went to sleep, so as to see them first thing upon awaking. But the 12” ruler with her name on it was missing. I gave her a wide one of mine. She also couldn’t find her scissors, so I gave her some small snips of mine, but the points are extraordinarily pointy, which may not be in the best interest of a five-year-old’s general health and well-being.
Victoria returned home telling me all sorts of Novel New Knowledge (I got that phrase from a man who ‘preached’ at our church once upon a time), such as the fact that when a person in a classroom of twelve needs something, he (or she) must raise his (or her) hand rather than just blurting out their wants and whims, for if all twelve were to give voice to their requests all at once, pandemonium would set in and the teacher wouldn’t be able to hear a single one of them.
“It would be a complete muddled jumble!” declared Victoria, nodding for emphasis.
Thursday, I finished Victoria’s dress and cut out Hester and Lydia’s candlelighter dresses. I called Martha to try to convince her it would make much more sense for me to cut out and sew Dorcas’, too (she will sit at the guest book), since it wouldn’t take long to cut it out, and with her right across the street, it would be easy for me to try it on her as I sew, making sure everything fit just right.
Martha wouldn’t hear of it, and I gave up.
Dorcas got a new digital Baldwin piano at Columbus Music Store. Teddy went with her to bring it home in his pickup box, and then Larry helped carry it into Mama’s house. They brought the digital Roland over here; Dorcas says its her early Christmas present to us, especially to the little girls. And it’s been playing ever since. I like to play it, too, although I do notice its shortened keyboard, sometimes running ker-BLAMM into the wooden ends. I like piano best, of course.
Friday morning I started sewing Lydia’s dress. When the back section with its three tiers were done, I realized it was too long...it was even way too long for Hester. It was supposed to be tea length, but it reaches their ankles. Sooo...how shall I alter it? Shall I take each ruffle off, shorten them, and then sew them back on? Shall I make tucks in the underskirt and just hem up the bottom ruffle? Shall I cut it shorter at the waist? The ruffles must all be in proportion, with the upper ruffle the shortest, and the bottom ruffle the longest. AAuugghhh!
Hannah came Friday afternoon to make fruit rolls. She mixed and kneaded the dough on our kitchen table while Aaron toddled back and forth between me at my sewing desk and Hannah at the kitchen table. I gave him a little travel alarm to play with and thoroughly convinced him I was a grand grandma, so delighted was he with that alarm.
What I did not know was that he managed to wind it and set the alarm, and then he tucked it under Larry’s pillow.
Later that evening, I was in my room talking on the phone when the alarm blared. I rushed over to Larry’s alarm and switched it off.
It kept blaring.
I pushed this button and that button, I switched this switch and that switch, all to no avail, and I couldn’t hear myself think, let alone talk on the phone.
It suddenly occurred to me that the noise was not coming from the alarm in my hand; rather, it was coming from the vicinity of Larry’s pillow. I pulled the pillow out from under the quilt and the ringing grew louder. I lifted the quilt--and there was the travel alarm, vibrating away.
Teddy and Amy went to Omaha that evening to get their recliner. Nebraska Furniture Mart will deliver all the rest of their furniture October 11th free of charge, but they would have had to pay $40.00 to have the recliner delivered, as it was on clearance in another warehouse. They added a bookcase to their original purchases and bought the neatest little camcorder I ever did see.
Saturday we spent the whole day moving Joseph’s things upstairs and taking Victoria’s things downstairs, exchanging bedrooms. Er, that is, we exchanged the things in the bedrooms; we didn’t exchange the actual rooms. Caleb’s things will have to stay in the room downstairs until Teddy moves out, as there is no room for them in Teddy’s room, which will be Caleb’s room.
Anyway, Joseph now has a better mattress; his other one was altogether too thin for him. His bed was a captain’s bed, which will be fine for Victoria; she proclaimed it to be entirely comfortable.
I told Teddy we needed to kick him out early...and then abruptly changed it to, “No, that’s not it at all; we are already thinking how much we’ll miss you, and the little girls have said that it’s going to be really, really quiet with you gone. What we need to do is toss out all your things.”
But he isn’t going to move his stuff to the duplex they will rent until next month, because otherwise he will have to pay a month’s rent.
Larry made his famous waffles today, and he cooked eggs, sunny side up, to go with them. Mmmmmmmm.... I actually had one square waffle and one triangular waffle (those are smaller, but puffier, made in our new Belgian waffle iron) with an egg and syrup on each one. I hardly ever have two pieces! The kids, on the other hand, eat piles of them.
A few minutes ago, I picked up a notepad on my desk to write a grocery list on it. The top page was already written on, and here is what it said, in Lydia’s handwriting:
Vacation Plans
pack clothes
pack supplies
pack people
pack into car
pack car into Colorado
pack into campground
pack back home
We have a friend who has been known to say that he isn’t worried about going on a boat, although he can’t swim; for if he should fall out, he will simply hold his nose and walk across the bottom till he gets to the shore. Well, I just learned that he isn’t so goofy after all: armadillos do it all the time.
By the way, here’s something you should know, just to avoid possible litigation: it is illegal in North Carolina to plow a field with an elephant.
Now don’t ever say you weren’t warned.
P.S.: The sparkly personalized ruler was found under Victoria’s bed; the round-tip scissors were discovered in the back yard in the big red wagon, along with a skein of bright yellow yarn. Good thing it doesn’t ever rain around these parts!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.