Baseball!, Cruising for Dweebs, Town Hall Meetings, and Soap Class.

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Yes, we went cruising. Sort of. Friends and family had no idea they were being stalked.

After a mad morning on Friday of mowing and weed spraying, we were unable to do our office cleaning due to yet another rebellion. "Mutiny On the Sciatic".

But that freed us up for the town hall meeting with our local congressman. We went, armed with digital camera AND a video camera, but I did not expect much ruckus. Our congressman is actually FOR the people.

Everyone I talk to is upset about what is going on in politics, but apathy is still a huge hurdle to overcome. Out of a county with a population of over 66,000 people, only about 100 were at this town hall meeting.

I understand. Really I do. But I think people still, by and large, do not understand that unless they rise up and make a lot of noise, they are going to lose everything they hold dear about this nation. I'd like to catch this thing before it gets so ugly some sort of physical revolution develops.

Our congressman, holding up what I think is the cap and trade bill, and standing next to the board in which he explained a bit about the health care bill.





Taking questions from concerned citizens. They wanted to know what can we do when government won't even listen to us? What can we do when government is becoming a tyranny?

The answers: 1) Vote. Get them all out of office in the next election. 2) That cannot happen when we have the 2nd amendment.

Everyone knows, the 2nd amendment is sadly being eroded faster than we can vote them out of office.





Michael and I stood in the back, due to the sciatic pain. But the other side of the room held several of our dear friends.





Here are the bills. They were given this one at 3:09 in the morning. They were told they had about 8 hours to vote. I believe you can thank Nancy Pelosi for that time frame. Most of them went home. Our congressman met with about 8 others and they stayed up and poured through as much as possible.





Another ginormous bill, no time to read it, demands by Pelosi for a vote.





Held in the hands of my son. The future of this country, who will have to deal with what is being done today. May God help him.





We left and needed to blow off steam.

Not too many were at our Friday Fellowship, due to so many things going on this weekend; Town Hall meeting, soap class, Civil War ball, Monster truck lessons, concert and baseball game. So with only four of us, a trip to get ice by one, turned into everyone piling into our minivan and grabbing a box of ice cream drumsticks and other goodies we had to eat before they melted.

Did I mention my van's A/C is broken and my window does not roll down either?

As we ate drippy ice cream, we took the long way back to the warehouse and pointed out houses to each other of people we know. Then we just hung out, goofing off and trying to learn how to make ice cream sticks whir through the air when you flick them.

Yes, we are an intellectual bunch. Just try to keep up.

Saturday morning was a slow one, taking a Shabbat rest, before we met friends and headed off to another of Cheri's soap making classes.





I never did see Michael, once we arrived. He zoomed like bee off to find the other boys.

Like Cheri's Herbal Medicine class, she also makes this book and help available on her web site.

Cheri also is looking into video versions of her classes that you can watch online. So keep up with her on that development!

Her modest kitchen was packed with soap-hungry wenches, as well as lots of laughter.





Some of her oils, soaps and instruction book.





How to spell fun with medicine droppers...





We all massaged a variety of oils into our skin to see how they felt. These are some choices available for soap bases.





One of her sons, Josiah, made these mini soap molds for sale. I am a long time customer of Josiah, having bought one of his nose warmers he offered for sale when he was about 5. I love to encourage entrepreneurism.





Heading out of doors for some work with lye.





I snapped a quick pick of the attendees.





Learning how to line a soap mold.





Chit chat.





Sampling superfatting oils.





Everybody helps.





A fun game. Mix your essential oils to find your own delightful fragrance you want in your soap! We were given access to the oils, droppers, and bits of paper to combine them on.









Pouring the lye mixture into the heated oils.





Bringing to light trace, to add the scents and herbs.





Bringing to heavy trace to pour into the mold.









Spreading it.





Covering it.





And setting it aside under towels to begin curing.





Some clays to mix in, if you like.





Going for just the right color orange, using paprika and turmeric.





Shaving a previously cured soap batch.





And cutting it from the cutting box.





Some of her wares....





At this point, I should end this post. But in the interest of continuing this blog of sharing Lemonade Adventures, I will continue. Life is very full, even when you lose what you centered your life around. :)

I made an executive decision to skip the Civil War ball dance of that night and went home to rest my aching body. My face was still hurting some and my sciatic nerve was complaining from hours of mowing, I guess.

So fun was had by the rest, and we went home and rested. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh....

Sunday, however, I had to pay the piper for not doing office cleaning. Michael and I started it, then I had to take him to church and go back to finish it myself.

Michael had a wonderful day, leaving church with friends and going on an adventure of his own. One of the men in our church decided to by

One of THESE!





And Michael got to drive it, along with anyone else who wanted to. LOL

And that's why I cleaned the office alone til 4 pm. What boy would want to miss a chance like that!

I hope to get some really cool pics from a friend who went and share those with you soon.

However, I was not entirely alone...

You know you have good friends, when they stop by after a long drive from out of state, in their dresses and heels, and help you wash windows!





And, I kid you not. Ashlee pulled a Spiderman, and scaled the side of the building to catch the build up in the corners.

My kind of friends. LOL

Sadly, we had run out of tickets and we were so sad to not have them with us at the local worship concert and the farm team game. It was not the same without them.

I still had a horrific headache and the loud music was not doing it any good, so I went down to the far end of the park and sat to do Sudoku and wait for the game to start so we could go grab our seats.





I was soon joined by several others, so we could chat and catch up away from the decibels. I think I'm getting old-ER.

Here comes the first wave of them.





Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd!





We lost, but they put out a good effort, and we had a lot of fun cheering our team.

OK, I'm done.

I've got apples to can. But help is on it's way, so that will make the load lighter and more fun.

Happy adventuring!

~Faith

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Pain and Dance Practice!

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The awful truth about this tooth. I have no idea how it's going.

I went to my dental appointment. It all went fine and I left a couple of hours later with my mouth numb and a temporary crown.





The temporary crowns look a lot nicer than they used to! They used to be stainless steel, I think, but these temporary ones look like real teeth. I could live with this!

While running around, buying a new tire, some chicken feed and such, I began getting a headache. Then it spread to my eyes, then my cheeks, then my lower jaw and front teeth...

And then the anesthetic wore off. By the time I got home, I was holding the entire right side of my face and rushing for aspirin.

It did not help. I took more and called the dentist. I could not get to him. A series of unexplained things happened and I was on my own until 10 pm when I finally got a call from his wife. Might have been due to the sobbing on the last two calls I left.

By that time however, I was very calm. Very tired, very sleepy, VERY calm, and dizzy. You see, I found the pain pills that I'd been given when I ran my fingers through the Skill saw last year.

Mind you, I never used those pain pills then, but I sure needed them for my face! I have not felt that calm in a very long time. What bliss. My friend suggested I leave those with her.

So I am on antibiotics, because I'm thinking I've got an abscess. I will keep you updated, you poor people.

We had a few days of clear weather so we got nearly caught up on mowing and spraying. That's what we did most of the day yesterday, after running to the pharmacy.

Then we ran to town for our Civil War Dance Society's practice at the park pavilion.

We were a few minutes late, pulling in at the same time as this energetic and happy group.





And they had started on time! How punctual of them!





Here are a few shots I snapped in between dancing.

















Running through some steps with just two couples.





It was warm and muggy, due to the rain arriving about the time we began. Nothing was evaporating.





Probably about 30 of us were there and we had so much fun. The plan is to do this for a few more Thursday evenings until the bulk of us have these dances down pat.

We have one particular young man who knows how to lead, really well.





I have no idea if this in instinctive knowledge, or if he learned it somehow, but it sure helps. I have never danced other than a few square dances for elementary school P.E. and a very sad attempt at a three week long jazz dance class, so I know nothing. Having a guy who knows how to lead you through the dance, is AMAZING! I'm going to ask if he can give lessons to all the men and boys.

Rain all morning, so looks like we'll do schoolwork and catch up on housework til it's time to go clean the office. Then it's Friday Fellowship time.

I've got three more bags of apples in the kitchen. Need to find time to turn them into canned sauce, pie filling, and apple rings.

~Faith

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What Was.

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I have been busy. Doing what?

I have no idea! All I know is I seem to have accomplished little, and still been as busy as a manicurist in a mall for millipedes.

I have heard from my long lost, dear departed husband. For the first time in a year. In leau of actually coming through with court ordered support, he offered me the wonderful opportunity of declaring joint bankruptcy with him.

Oh happy joy. Mmmmmmm...no. I don't think so..... No.

Next audacious question?

Ah yes, there was another. :) Would I settle with him out of court? Only for my sake, of course.

Let's see.... NO.

No, I don't think so. I tried that once and he went back on his word. Thank you for the thoughtful idea though,

He spoke to his son for the first time in a year. Michael said he wanted to talk to him. So he did so. He told me me later that he told his dad exactly what he thought of his dad's actions and choices, and telling Michael that it was my fault he left. My 13 year old son has more courage and integrity than many grown men. I'm very proud of him for standing up for what is right.

Well, it was good for a jolt to my morning, though. Michael and I were both shaking a bit afterwards, so we just spent some comfort time together before getting back to schoolwork and chores.

Lesson relearned that day. Answers should be very short and sweet. "You will have to discuss that with my lawyer."

All kidding aside - I was sad to hear him remain so cold and deceived. There was no yelling or anything, just futile conversation. He remains in our prayers each day.

Meanwhile I've been busy working on ETSY shop ideas. Also canning and a lot of running around!

Here are a few scenes of what was...

What was found on the inside of our screen door...



a good four inches long.

What was a futile attempt to locate the garlic for canning spaghetti sauce...




What was a darn good example of accidental food art...




What was fun company for dinner...




What was found on the George Foreman grill...




What was delicious accompaniment...




At this very moment, I am reprocessing 14 pints of spaghetti sauce, of which I forgot to add the lemon juice in when I did them this morning. It's OK. I love to make sauce. Over and over again. Practice makes perfect, you know.

We have been blessed many times over this last week. I had a few rough days. It's not always easy to be cheerful when junk happens and, believe it or not, I have been known to occasionally dabble in the morose for a few moments or so.

I had couple of days like that, but refocusing on what I know to be truth helps me to see things in a proper perspective.

It was just after that, that help began to arrive in earnest! We were given a gift that not only bought us a replacement for our scary-bald front tire, but enough to even buy some other put off necessities. Yes, I admit it! I bought a lipstick. I'd been scraping bottom for a month now. I have no idea how there was ANY color left in that tube at all!

We were given an anonymous gift of cash from someone at church. When I shared with the elder's wife that we no longer needed to ask for help with our bills, she insisted that we do so anyway so that we can get ahead a bit. So we not only got bills paid, but had some money as well. We stopped at the store and bought some 1/2 price beef. It was SOOOO delicious!

I found out I had a cracked tooth. BUT - the dentist is going to fix it for me at cost. So the whole crowning achievement should be a hundred dollars or so, and my dad said he'd like to pay that for me. WOW! I'm so grateful to get this taken care of. It's been hurting a lot. We are hoping it will not need a root canal.

And we got a gift of leftover meat from the church BBQ. I love this church body. We truly are trying to live out what it means to love and serve. I have not much materially to give, which is difficult for me.

But Michael and I pray each day that we can find ways to bless, love and serve others in whatever way we can find. I hope we are doing so.

For now, I'm off to bed. I've got to be up early to go down and have my face drilled on.

WooHOOO!

~Faith

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