If you should get a little icon come up at the bottom of your screen saying that downloads are ready to be updated on your anti-virus software, do NOT click on "update now". That little click allows a virus to attack (and it sneaks past some anti-virus software programs which we discovered the hard way!) Oh, if only the people who develop these viruses would use their intelligence to bring good to others.
The good thing is that we learned our lesson, and hopefully, our experience will keep you from catching 'computer virus woes'. The kids are dealing with computer withdrawal, but that, too, can be a good thing since it's reminding them that there is more to life than jockeying for their time on the computer.
We're off to Albany again tomorrow for the latest kidney test.
Tomorrow is also Marc's 17th birthday. A friend is taking Marc hiking in the a.m. while we're in Albany and we hope to be home by early afternoon to have our family celebration before he and Rachael go to a YFC (Youth For Christ) event in the late afternoon.
One of today's quotes that made me smile...
Ian came back inside from playing in the yard early this morning. I asked him, "Is it nice outside?" "Yes, but the grass is a little wet." "I wonder what makes the grass wet. What do you think makes it wet, Ian?" "Well, today is the first day of summer so probably the grass is sweating."
I don't think I'll ever be able to experience the morning dew again without thinking of it as 'grass sweat'.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Another Busy Week
Since I can't add pictures to the blog yet, I decided to get creative with the background. I found some new templates to pick from and thought this was a neat one.
The week started with another trip to the ER with Wayne due to severe back pain. Six hours later he was sent home under the influence of heavy pain killers.
Tuesday it was another trip to Albany Medical Center for last week's test results. The results indicated that Wayne needs to undergo another test this coming Tuesday, with those results coming on July 1st.
Wednesday it was the girls' music lesson day. I was able to do some last minute birthday shopping while they were at their lessons. Rachael was able to spend the rest of the afternoon with a friend.
Wayne has been working on Fathers' Day gifts for the men in church. He and Bob have put together approximately 26 cut glass crosses over the past couple of weeks. (I'll try to get a picture to add later.)
Matthew took all of his younger siblings (minus Nathanial) to see the movie TOY STORY 3 this afternoon. It was the first time inside a movie theater for Jonathan and Ian and they did well. Ian did get bored about 1/2 way through the movie and decided he needed a snack. Marc came to his rescue and bought a treat from the snackbar so Ian decided the movie theater was an okay place.
This afternoon I was able to play with some fiber. The sun was out and the humidity was low so I pulled out ALL the alpaca fiber (including previous years' fleece that I hadn't sorted) and did each animal's fleece completely by grade. Now that the fleeces have been graded, I can clean, dry, card, and spin each grade separately resulting in a better quality yarn. When you have mixed grades carded together, there is an increased 'prickle' factor making the yarn less desirable. I've been wanting to tackle this 'grading project' since I attending the Alpaca Symposium last winter. I finished all but Peter (white Suri) and Mr. Wonderful (black). Peter is about 1/2 done. His takes a lot longer to skirt since vegetable matter really sticks in the long locks of fiber. Mr. Wonderful shouldn't take long. He doesn't have great quality fiber, but I'm hoping to salvage at least a little from him. I may experiment with felting some of his fleece.
Jonathan continues with his fascination of caterpillars, and I continue to remind him to keep them OUTSIDE. Tonight he brought one upstairs to show me. I told him to take it back outside. "Mama, it's not nasty, it just needs to grow up." I once again explained that they can only grow up outside. A few seconds later I heard his sweet little voice asking, "Mom, did you see where my caterpillar went?" After a few minutes of searching, we found the creature and it was quickly removed from the house.
The week started with another trip to the ER with Wayne due to severe back pain. Six hours later he was sent home under the influence of heavy pain killers.
Tuesday it was another trip to Albany Medical Center for last week's test results. The results indicated that Wayne needs to undergo another test this coming Tuesday, with those results coming on July 1st.
Wednesday it was the girls' music lesson day. I was able to do some last minute birthday shopping while they were at their lessons. Rachael was able to spend the rest of the afternoon with a friend.
Wayne has been working on Fathers' Day gifts for the men in church. He and Bob have put together approximately 26 cut glass crosses over the past couple of weeks. (I'll try to get a picture to add later.)
Matthew took all of his younger siblings (minus Nathanial) to see the movie TOY STORY 3 this afternoon. It was the first time inside a movie theater for Jonathan and Ian and they did well. Ian did get bored about 1/2 way through the movie and decided he needed a snack. Marc came to his rescue and bought a treat from the snackbar so Ian decided the movie theater was an okay place.
This afternoon I was able to play with some fiber. The sun was out and the humidity was low so I pulled out ALL the alpaca fiber (including previous years' fleece that I hadn't sorted) and did each animal's fleece completely by grade. Now that the fleeces have been graded, I can clean, dry, card, and spin each grade separately resulting in a better quality yarn. When you have mixed grades carded together, there is an increased 'prickle' factor making the yarn less desirable. I've been wanting to tackle this 'grading project' since I attending the Alpaca Symposium last winter. I finished all but Peter (white Suri) and Mr. Wonderful (black). Peter is about 1/2 done. His takes a lot longer to skirt since vegetable matter really sticks in the long locks of fiber. Mr. Wonderful shouldn't take long. He doesn't have great quality fiber, but I'm hoping to salvage at least a little from him. I may experiment with felting some of his fleece.
Jonathan continues with his fascination of caterpillars, and I continue to remind him to keep them OUTSIDE. Tonight he brought one upstairs to show me. I told him to take it back outside. "Mama, it's not nasty, it just needs to grow up." I once again explained that they can only grow up outside. A few seconds later I heard his sweet little voice asking, "Mom, did you see where my caterpillar went?" After a few minutes of searching, we found the creature and it was quickly removed from the house.
Friday, June 11, 2010
We're in the midst of the Jackson "birthday season" so there's been lots of cake and excitement. Ian turned 5, which doesn't seem possible. I'll add pictures when our computer gets fixed.
Ian had requested a Vincent Van Gogh quilt for his '5 year quilt' (I make the kids one every 5 years). He had seen the fabric in a catalog and begged me to use that for his quilt. I finished piecing the top the day before his birthday so he got to see that much finished. For the '5 year quilt' I have each child lay on the backing and draw around them, embroider the tracing, and add the date so in years to come they can see how big they were on their 5th birthday. Ian saw where I had written the date "6-6-10" and exclaimed, "Mama, 6 take away 6 does not equal 10!" I tried explaining what the numbers stood for, but in the end decided that it would be easier to write out the month of June and the year as 2010.
Yesterday Wayne had another scan to check on the kidney cancer site. We'll get the results next week.
After being in the car and medical offices all day I decided to take a walk in our field. Jonathan joined me and we spent at least an hour discovering butterflies and other insects in the grass. It's so fun seeing nature through the eyes of a little boy. Jonathan sees beauty in the most common bits of nature. As he examined a slug, he exclaimed over the trail of slime that it left on the ground. "Isn't that amazing, Mama?!" "Yes, Jonathan, that is amazing." "Mama, we need to thank God for making the slug!" and he quickly bowed his head and offered a prayer thanking God for slugs. So often I get caught up in the challenges of raising 2 boys with Aspergers that I forget the gifts. How thankful I am to have a little boy that keeps reminding me to take pleasure in the little things in life and not to dwell on the big issues facing us.
Ian had requested a Vincent Van Gogh quilt for his '5 year quilt' (I make the kids one every 5 years). He had seen the fabric in a catalog and begged me to use that for his quilt. I finished piecing the top the day before his birthday so he got to see that much finished. For the '5 year quilt' I have each child lay on the backing and draw around them, embroider the tracing, and add the date so in years to come they can see how big they were on their 5th birthday. Ian saw where I had written the date "6-6-10" and exclaimed, "Mama, 6 take away 6 does not equal 10!" I tried explaining what the numbers stood for, but in the end decided that it would be easier to write out the month of June and the year as 2010.
Yesterday Wayne had another scan to check on the kidney cancer site. We'll get the results next week.
After being in the car and medical offices all day I decided to take a walk in our field. Jonathan joined me and we spent at least an hour discovering butterflies and other insects in the grass. It's so fun seeing nature through the eyes of a little boy. Jonathan sees beauty in the most common bits of nature. As he examined a slug, he exclaimed over the trail of slime that it left on the ground. "Isn't that amazing, Mama?!" "Yes, Jonathan, that is amazing." "Mama, we need to thank God for making the slug!" and he quickly bowed his head and offered a prayer thanking God for slugs. So often I get caught up in the challenges of raising 2 boys with Aspergers that I forget the gifts. How thankful I am to have a little boy that keeps reminding me to take pleasure in the little things in life and not to dwell on the big issues facing us.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Our 25th!
Yesterday was a very special day for Wayne and I. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It's been a wonderful adventure. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful man as my husband.
Wayne wasn't able to provide a trip to St. Kitts (where we honeymooned) as he promised when we left the island 25 years ago, but we both admitted that we'd rather be in Unadilla with our children and all the activity that surrounds normal life. We took a drive through the countryside and ended up at an old fashioned ice cream parlor where we enjoyed kahlua almond amaretto ice cream with a brownie. After ordering our ice cream I realized how close it was to our wedding day treat. On our wedding day we stopped at Lone Oak Ice Cream on Rt. 1 in NH because we were starving. We enjoyed free kahlua fudge brownie ice cream since the owner saw our 'just married' sign on the car. I guess our tastes haven't changed much over the years.
Life has been full of a bit of craziness the past few days. Our computer crashed (explaining why there are no pictures). Matt's car has been in the garage repeatedly over the past month and broke down on him again Monday. We're waiting to hear the diagnosis for that. Monday morning our water pump died. Thankfully, the new pump was installed Tuesday morning so we were without water for only a day. I tease Wayne and tell him that he gave me something silver (colored) for our 25th--a shiny new water pump! (And there's nothing that I could have wanted more than a working water pump!) The struggles in life aren't as tough as long as we're together and trusting the Lord to carry us through.
Wayne wasn't able to provide a trip to St. Kitts (where we honeymooned) as he promised when we left the island 25 years ago, but we both admitted that we'd rather be in Unadilla with our children and all the activity that surrounds normal life. We took a drive through the countryside and ended up at an old fashioned ice cream parlor where we enjoyed kahlua almond amaretto ice cream with a brownie. After ordering our ice cream I realized how close it was to our wedding day treat. On our wedding day we stopped at Lone Oak Ice Cream on Rt. 1 in NH because we were starving. We enjoyed free kahlua fudge brownie ice cream since the owner saw our 'just married' sign on the car. I guess our tastes haven't changed much over the years.
Life has been full of a bit of craziness the past few days. Our computer crashed (explaining why there are no pictures). Matt's car has been in the garage repeatedly over the past month and broke down on him again Monday. We're waiting to hear the diagnosis for that. Monday morning our water pump died. Thankfully, the new pump was installed Tuesday morning so we were without water for only a day. I tease Wayne and tell him that he gave me something silver (colored) for our 25th--a shiny new water pump! (And there's nothing that I could have wanted more than a working water pump!) The struggles in life aren't as tough as long as we're together and trusting the Lord to carry us through.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)