back online

Well, those who aren't on Facebook (or don't pay attention) will be wondering where I've been. My computer has refused to turn on for a week. Before that, there was some user-interface problems. But now I'm back online for real (but no promise of tomorrow). So, I'm glad to have my computer. I was almost glad to have the iPad as a backup, but it is so incredibly limited. People who only use those things (or a phone) have no idea what they are missing. While I was "gone" Blogger changed the setup. I hope it all still looks right on the other end. I really have nothing new to say except I'm happy to be back.

quick hello

I had my sonogram on Tuesday, and baby looks like a boy. Everyone groaned when we saw that... Not that I don't love my boys, but it would be nice to use those ruffly dresses again. Also there is the task of choosing a name - we've had our girl name picked out for almost 5 years now.

Monday was the state mandated achievement test for the three oldest. Naysha was very nervous, but came out all right. We won't get scores for a while, and I'm not expecting much this year, to be honest. Though we are getting better. I got to chat with some folks I knew, including one gentleman that was a family friend when I was quite young. Mom and Dad, he says "hi." A lady talked me into going out for coffee with her, and we met up at the coffee house downtown. That was a new experience for me, and I enjoyed it a lot (the drink and the chat).

Thursday we went to Green Forest to pick up our beef. It was butchered at http://dasbutcherhaus.com/, which is Mennonite owned. In addition to the beef, I got a pair of gloves that look like they might last more than a week. Bob asked what they do with the skins, as he's been wanting to try tanning. They sell the skins for $35. Our steaks and roasts were vacuum-sealed, and the ground is in little bags. We didn't get the soup bones, but I didn't want to go back and ask about it. We did get liver and tongue, which I'll give to the dog. I picked up a business card for a greenhouse, so when we finished packing the meat, we headed across town to the plant nursery.

The nursery was in the backyard of the butcher. He has a large Amish-style house (complete with two-story add-on, just like in the movies). Several women worked in the greenhouses, and were courteous enough, but it was when Mr himself came out that we got the questions. Where are we from? Do we go to church with Dan? Why are we out in Green Forest? It's nice that even though we don't conform to the costume, we are recognizable as kindred spirits.

Today Bob took SSon to have his wisdom teeth removed, and this evening he grilled burgers for our supper. Yumm.

Sometime this week was also managed to take a trailer load of cardboard, and two old mattresses, to the city recycling center. All the potatoes sprouted in the garden, we have eaten 3 strawberries, and we planted some green beans. My iris have begun to bloom, just as the tulips and daffodils stopped. We bought the lumber for the children's long-promised playhouse, and if we ever get a clear forecast we will start staining it.

So I guess we had a pretty full week, and no wonder I feel unprepared for Resurrection Day.

Testimony time

Well, I missed my chance to testify at church tonight, but I do want to publicly give thanks to God for keeping me.

At church there is a gas meter in the parking lot, which has been surrounded by railroad ties and landscape timbers to keep people from running into it. We usually park next to this enclosure. This morning we were a little close, and when I put Elijah in the van after church and went to get into my seat, I stepped on top of a railroad tie. It rolled out from underneath my foot; I grasped at air and fell on my bad hip, hitting my head against the gas line. I suppose it would have been easy for me to have suffered a concussion; at least I could have sprained my ankle. But I got up and walked away with only a bruise on the top of my foot. So I am thankful for my well-being.

March (Right?)

I am very tired. My first thought for the date was February,but that can't be right because we've already planted some garden. hmmm.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that we finally got a price on our 1/2 beef that we are buying from a guy at church, so we went ahead and bought a vanity for our master bathroom. Remember that project? We opted for a small vanity, so we still have room to turn around, and got a medicine cabinet mirror to put our stuff instead of the drawers in the larger vanity. Bob set it up today, but hasn't hooked up the water yet. Looks nice. I am excited about having my own space to wash up and brush my teeth.

The beef? Should come to something like $1.50 per pound, and that includes T-bones, ribs, and Ribeye steak. For Grass-fed beef, which demands a premium in certain markets, when 80% lean ground beef at the store costs at least $2.79 per pound. I'm pretty excited about that. With the cheap chicken from the Tyson store ($28 for 20 lbs), we should be able to eat even more meat than before. It's easier to fix meat without sugar than it is bread. ;-)

Though I must say, that tart the other morning.... Rolled out a pie crust, topped with a mix of cream cheese, egg, vanilla, and just a touch of honey, then topped that with peaches canned in 100% juice, and a few slices of pie crust on top... It was VERY nice.

Our sweet tooth has been declining, and I'm so glad. I've even been able to say that a dessert (on a magazine cover, or store shelf) looks good, but I don't want it. We ate at Western Sizzlin (a buffet) the day we shopped for the vanity, and I had one 2" square of no-bake cheesecake, and was perfectly satisfied. Oh, and I shared it with Elijah.

So now I've come back to the vanity it all goes together and makes sense, right? Good night.

I have to blog AND think of a title?

We did buy a freezer last week. We got the 21 cubic foot Frigidaire from Lowe's. They had 10% off major appliances, plus they always give 10% off to military/veterans. They were offering free delivery, which we tried to turn into a cash discount but they wouldn't (it has happened before), but we still felt like we got a good price. I used the new shelf space to organize my frozen goods and make room for ice trays. Then there was the 20lbs of chicken we'd just bought. Yesterday I made a triple recipe of fresh tomato soup, divvied it up and put it in the freezer. Our cow will be butchered this Thursday.

Saturday we went for a drive and ended up in Eureka Springs just in time for the St. Patrick's Day parade. The children enjoyed the parade and caught several strings of Mardi Gras beads. Bob got some pictures for his class. Elijah got scared of the noisy motorcycles and wanted to "sleep" on my "shoulder". Overall it was a good day.

We have worked further in the garden, and have planted broccoli, leeks, and strawberries.

Bob's new college class is somewhat of a breather for him, though frustrating at the same time. The instructions are rather vague, and the instructor only comes into the class once per week to give copy-and-paste responses to all the students (with few variations), and grades half-way through the following week (though she indicated she grades the day of the assignment). I realize that she's a person and has other things in her life, but the instructor post is obviously a part-time job and it is difficult to work with.

Ella's appetite has finally picked up, and she's starting to look healthier. Today Bob bought a pair of jeans that are a few inches smaller that what he had been wearing. So I guess the diet is working, in spite of our frequent lapses.

It's been warm, but it's raining now, and I need to go close the windows.

good times

Today we actually did something interesting. :-D

Last Sunday's paper had an article about upcoming events at Pea Ridge National Battlefield, and by much deductive reasoning and searching of websites I was able to discover the times and locations for the events. (I'm so proud of me!)

This morning, in downtown Bentonville, there was a reenactment of a skirmish that occurred on this day 150 years ago, very close to the spot on which it occurred. The days following saw larger battles fought in Pea Ridge (but the national park service doesn't allow reenactments in the parks).

So this morning we quickly did the chores, had toast for breakfast, and took off to Bentonville. (It's about an hour's drive.) Of course, the main street to the town square was under construction, so we had to take a detour, but that led us to a parking lot from whence we walked to the square. The side we first approached had a podium set up (you know that means the platform, right? I looked it up) and a small band of men in Union uniforms were playing and singing. The street was roped off, so we found a spot just behind the rope and waited for things to start.

(Riah had to go to the bathroom, so I took him inside the courthouse for relief.) We weren't there long when a group of children, led by a multi-pierced middle aged woman, squeezed in front of us and sat on the curb. When Bob went to the end of the street in search of a better view, the children got pushed a bit and ended up not in a good position. We were also in the shade, and it was pretty chilly. So we moved across the street to the sun, and the children mostly sat on the curb like all the other children there. (According to one of the speakers, there were 2000 children from the Bentonville school district. There weren't a lot of non-school people there at all.)

Some people stood up on the podium and gave speeches that we couldn't hear much of, and then the lectern (which appeared to be a substantial piece of furniture) rolled off the podium and fell on the legs of a little girl who was sitting there. (Yes, the lectern had castors!.) She appeared to be 8-10 years old. Several adults rushed over to her and the speaker asked for paramedics. Some men in uniform showed up, but we couldn't tell if they were police, firefighters, or EMTs. After several minutes they got the girl to her feet and she limped away.

Then the show started, on the other side of the square. We heard gunshots, saw smoke, and some soldiers on our side ran over there. The speaker gave a narration, but we couldn't hear him. We stood there and tried to pretend we were civilians at the time - we wouldn't have had any idea what was going on, just hearing the shots and distant yells. Eventually the fighting came to our side of the square, but as we were at the end of the street we mostly saw the backs of the soldiers. Anyway, we enjoyed the performance. From what I have gathered, the Union had taken the town prior to this fight, and the Confederates were trying to liberate it, but were unsuccessful. The later battles at Pea Ridge are considered the greatest turning-points of the war West of the Mississippi.




When the show was over we walked across the square to the Sam Walton/WalMart museum. It was pretty nice, if a lot of propaganda for WalMart. They had some neat looking toys and candy in the cafe and gift shop, but we didn't stay to look.

Then we drove to a nearby city park, where we had our picnic lunch. One school group (ages about 12-14) was occupying the playground, so we just played in the grassy area by our picnic table.

Then we turned toward home, stopping at a Tyson outlet store that I'd just heard about. Mostly they offered breaded, flavored, or pre-cooked meat, but at the end of the freezer there was boneless skinless chicken breasts - 20 pounds for $28. So we got a box of that.

Then we passed the home appliance store, so Bob did a sort of U-turn into a gravel area on the far side of the road. As he was waiting for traffic to pass, a policeman pulled into the turn lane and gave him a dirty look. Sure enough, he turned around, too, and followed us to the appliance store. He stopped Bob for "improper use of a lane" - he said we were blocking traffic (but we weren't - a semi went past us). Anyway, he saw that Bob had a clean record and let him go without a ticket.

We went into the store and looked at freezers, and then we came home to put the chicken in our freezer and decide where to put the new deep freeze we will buy.

Tax return

Most of you have heard by now that our tax return was rather disappointing this year. Bob always has very little held out of his paycheck, and always gets it back with quite a bit of "interest," especially since the Bush tax cuts which included the "additional child tax credit" that counted as if you had paid in that amount. This year we got back about 25% as much as we had the last few years. The reason being that retirement income, while taxable, doesn't count as "earned" income, and for some reason that I have NEVER understood, the more one makes the more one gets for free (up to a point) in ACTC and Earned Income Credit.

Anyway, we did get our money this week, and Bob was able to get a new tripod. He's been working with a tripod made for a video camera, which doesn't allow for vertical shots. B&H has better prices than our local store, but they also have so many choices that it was really hard to narrow it down, and of course there's the lack of touching and trying it out. So we went to the store in Fayetteville and Bob was able to narrow the choices down pretty quickly. He ended up with a Manfrotto aluminum tripod and a Manfrotto ball head. They had a carbon fiber model which was about half the weight and twice the price, but Bob didn't think the weight would be a problem in studio, and the cheaper one had all the same features.

We will soon be going to get an upright deep freezer, and soon after that we will buy a half of a cow which will probably fill the freezer. That will use the rest of the IRS deposit, and possibly more. But we will have healthful meat for quite some time, so that's a plus.