I drew another house plan. I turned on the dryer as we were leaving the other day and thought, "what if the house burned down?" and this plan came to me.

 

That's a 36" pro stove, and double full size built-in fridges, plus a freezer. Yeah, I'm dreaming. Each small bedroom has a walk-in closet plus a small closet; there is a porch across the length of the front of the house, with an entry door into kitchen or main entry way. There is an arched doorway between the entry and the living room. I also thought of making the kitchen cabinets with roll-top covers so we can eat without seeing the dirty dishes. :)

something old

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/okay?s=t

You know on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood they have a saying: "You learn something old every day."

So who here knows where "Okay" came from?

I, in my vast experience and knowledge, always just assumed "okay" was the word, and lazy people wrote ok for short. hahaha. I read about it in my local newspaper, and finally looked it up to verify, at the link above.

O.K. is shorthand for "oll korrect" - a sort of joke amongst the newspaper people. "Okay" is simply the wordifying of those initials (I made that word up just now!) - it's called initialism.

I can't believe I was wrong about that, too.

(Yes, there's more.)

I have "always" written "til" in my recipes as a short for "until" - just leaving off the ' at the beginning. Spell check would tell me to write "till," but I happily ignored it, because I knew what it didn't - that I wasn't talking about tilling the earth. But then one day I looked it up. Till is its own word, with its own history, that means the same thing as "until." There is no reason to say 'til; just say till.

At least I'm learning, right?

Saturday?

Bob woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday and we would be in a dead run all day.  Once we convinced him it was Friday things calmed down. :)

I wish I could find time to write during the day. I do get computer time when Daniel's nursing, but it's hard to type a long entry with one hand. And when he goes to sleep at night I'm pretty worn out and can't think well (like now).

I want to do a proper review of the new dishwasher, among other things. For now I will say that we like some things better than the old one, and some things less. The main thing we like is that so far it still runs.

Bob's computer fritzed again, so he took it to Fayetteville again today. They did give a 30 day warranty, so should be no charge.

I've planted some flowers...

We organized all our movies and CDs. THe last time we did a thorough CD organize was when were in Iceland. Um, that's 13 years ago. (Still have a lot of the same albums.) We've since acquired a whole new genre - Gospel/bluegrass. Bought 2 new CD album/organizer/cases and got rid of 4 paper grocery sacks full of media we didn't want and plastic cases we don't need. Took a shelf out of the living room.  Will rearrange everything else before too long, I'm sure.

Bob actually got an 'A' on his photo history class. I didn't think we'd pull it off because of the research and writing required; it was a full-time job, but we made it and I'm glad. It wasn't anything that will help Bob with his pictures, but I learned some interesting things. One photographer we studied was Lewis Carroll, and it made me want to read some of his stuff (Don't know if I've read Alice or not, but there's other things I know I've not read).

Trying to find flowers on Mother's Day made me miss England, with their flower stands everywhere. I'm trying to figure WHY they buy and sell more flowers than we do, but that aside, it's a lovely custom. There, every gas station has a rack of bouquets; every grocery store; every highway! Here, I've seen the following sold from a van on the side of the road, but never flowers: produce, tacos, shoes, blankets, flags, rocks, puppies, honey and jam, furniture, tools...

NWA isn't too far off (from England) on the scenery, especially this year with all the steady rain, and lots of wildflowers and green everywhere, but there are other things like chiggers and stickers and Tesco home delivery... sigh...

convenience

So I was wondering, Mom, if it would be too hard for you if I turned on the secret word thingy for the comments. Wil has a login, and no one else comments anyway, so it's really up to you. I get at least a spam a day, and sometimes the filter catches it and sometimes I have to go delete it. It's not a big deal, only takes a few seconds, so just let me know if you need me to keep it like it is.
Thanks.

Last week

I thought last week was kinda interesting, so wanted to blog about it.

Monday we went into town. We dropped the tile saw at MIL's for their project, then took a load to Goodwill. Next we went to Metro Appliance to look at dishwashers. In my research I'd heard good things about Maytag and Whirlpool (and Bosch, but their tines are so close together that I don't think my dishes would fit), so we focused on them. Our examinations led us to see that Maytag and Whirlpool are made by the same company (this was confirmed). We picked out a Maytag that would suit us, but as they didn't have it in stock we went on to Sears to compare. On the way there one of the children asked why we were going there and I said "Maybe they will have the perfect dishwasher with extra features that is on clearance for 1/2 price." So they had the same Maytag as Metro, but at a higher price, and a Whirlpool slightly less that looked good enough, so we were about to buy it even though the top rack wasn't adjustable. Then I turned around and saw a Kenmore on clearance for 1/2 the original price. Turns out it is manufactured by Maytag as well (has the same wheel assembly and top sprayer), though it had a Kenmore-exclusive bottom sprayer. It lacked one wash cycle of the Maytag, but did have an adjustable top rack, and was cheaper, and we could take it home today. So we did. :)
While we were at Sears, we looked at shoes (since all the children need new ones again). After much looking and trying on, Riah, Ced, Ella, and William each had a pair picked out. Ced liked Riah's shoe, too, but really liked the style he picked out. It was marked $5 more than Riah's, but he insisted he liked it more than he would like the others plus $5. Then when we checked out, it rang up at just over 1/3 the marked price, so it was actually cheaper than the other we'd tried to talk him into. (They should really work on their signage! Last time we bought something at Sears, it was a jacket for Naysha that rang up much cheaper than it was marked. If people knew things were that cheap, they'd buy more stuff.)
Then we went to Sams club for groceries, then to a fabric store so I could get material for Cedwryck's tabard and cape to match the ones I made for Riah and William 2 years ago.
If we went anywhere else I didn't write it in my notes, so that was Monday.

Tuesday Bob went to install the dishwasher, and had to go to town for a part. Finally found it, came home, and broke the part trying to attach it. So we all went to town (Huntsville) and he bought it again, and we did some other stuff (dinner, maybe?), then came home and I "helped" him install it by hanging out on the dirty floor. Every time I'd lay my head on the floor, whatever he was hung up on would suddenly work out. :)

Wednesday we got up early and went to Little Rock, to have Riah's heart checked at the Children's Hospital. His apt was at 1pm, and we were there until 4:30. For some reason they didn't schedule an MRI this time, only the EKO, but the Dr. wanted an MRI. So he said they schedule one for the first of June, but so far we haven't received notice of an appointment. Anyway, there was 1mm of change in the valve. They are basically watching and trying to decide when to act. Every time we go they say come back soon and we'll decide what to do. This time they also prescribed some medicine to lower his blood pressure, even though it's already low, to reduce stress on the valve.
On the drive I was enchanted by the masses of red clover that has been planted along the highway - there's been some in LR area for at least 15 years, but we've never had any up here before, and it's nice. I also had time to reflect on how grateful I am for having the opportunity to drive in England. There is such a difference in attitude, and with the greater density of traffic there, that's a good thing. Here, we are taught "defensive driving" - always check your mirrors, try to anticipate what the other drivers are going to do, etc. This (combined with learning to drive in San Antonio, where gang violence is a real possibility) led me to drive worried. Don't make the other guy mad, don't let them tailgate, keep up with traffic flow, always know exactly where you are going... In England I learned to relax while driving. There the attitude seems to be each driver is responsible for doing what's right, and everybody else can deal with it. With the added practice of "keep moving and get out of the way." I didn't worry about getting lost there, and I learned to not drive in my rear-view mirror. If I want to go slow, the person behind me can slow down or go around; it's not my problem. Viola! I enjoy driving now.
We made it home 14 hours later and went to bed.

Thursday Bob and I worked on his school all day.

Friday we went to town again, taking Bob's crashed computer to the repair guy, to Goodwill again, to a Hastings that is closing, stopped to visit with SSon at a gaming store, and for DIY frozen yogurt at 3 Crazy Berries - we had great sundaes from a myriad of choices, for just a little more than it would be for hot fudge at McDonald's.

Saturday I think we all just kept trying to do something and it didn't work out.

Sunday was church, then out for lunch where we bumped into an acquaintance who paid for our dinner.  By Sunday PM our colds had strengthened to the point that I stayed home with Elijah. (I think we're on the mend now.)

it gets odder

My mother tells me that she does, in fact, not have a grandpa Arthur, though I was sure she did.

Taryn says maybe we got confused because I have a Grandpa Theodore, and Bob's step-grandpa also had that name. It doesn't seem likely, but anyway, there's another thing we actually have in common. By the way, both of those names have been handed down to our boys as middle names.

oddments

First and probably oddest, we got snow yesterday!

This is my front flower bed - you can almost see the dianthus blooms peeking through the snow.
Arkansas has never had snow in May before (since we've kept records).  My tomatoes made it through and still look okay - the newspaper said that if they are still just sitting there after 2 weeks then I should replace them anyway.

We had some time to talk in the car Wednesday (more on that later, maybe), and reminded ourselves that:
Bob and I both have a dad named Bill; both of them worked on airplanes; both of them have a brother Jerry.
We both have an Uncle David and an Aunt Linda
Both of our maternal great-grandfathers are named Arthur
He has an uncle with the same name as my last boyfriend; I have an aunt with the same name as his last girlfriend (before we met each other)

My eyes... I have always called them brown, though at times they look rather green, and at times even golden. But, this week, while trying to get dirt out of my eye, I realized that they seem to be turning blue around the edges. Taryn just took this pic.