Comings and Goings

Lots of things going on around here -today and over the coming week too - that will be keeping me moving a good bit.

This morning, Mandy, Maya and I went to the annual Fall Bazaar at the church in Morrisdale that my Dad's family has always been affiliated with. My cousin, Margaret Anne, had mentioned to me the other day as we were chatting on the phone about their bazaar today so we decided to go up and check it out. One thing we were hoping to get was some of Margy's husband's ham and bean soup! Jack makes a couple gallons every year for the bazaar of his special recipe Ham & Bean soup but today, by the time we got there, it was all sold out! He was lamenting a bit too about having cooked up two gallons of this commodity -"loaded it up too with ham" he informed us and then, he had to pay to get a bowl of it at the church but unfortunately, it sold out before even Jack had a chance to get a serving of it. They had -besides his Ham and Bean soup - Vegetable Beef, Chicken Noodle, Chicken and Corn and Potato soups available too but when we got there, all that remained was some potato soup. Fortunately, that's a flavor of soup that ALL of us like so Mandy got a quart jar of it to bring home for our lunch - along with some really tasty spice cupcakes, ahalf dozen red cupcakes too with whipped topping and a strawberry top it off top them off, some rice krispy treats and a loaf of pumpkin bread. All excellent, I must add. I got a large, hard-bound book, published by Vogue, on knitting as well as a packet of 12 old, worn a bit but still usable, Workbasket magazines with some great knitting, crochet and other craft instructions in them.

I also got a little folding chair -white, with a very pretty padded seat upholstered in a lovely pastel stripe pattern. There were four of these chairs - of a size for pre-school children and were manufactured by Samsonite so you know they are sturdy - very well-made. These chairs I already knew were going to be there because my cousin had told me about them the other day. They had been a part of the nursery Sunday School department for many, many years and were being thrown out now because the Sunday School had revamped the area of the church used for that purpose so Margy and her husband Jack had taken seven of these chairs, refurbished them very attractively and then, brought them back today to put them out for patrons of the bazaar to purchase for a mere $10 each! And, each chair has written in calligraphy on the bottom of the seat that it had been a part of the Morrisdale Methodist Sunday School room. Pretty neat, huh? I wanted one because although I grew up attending the Lutheran church where I live, I had on many occasions as a small child gone to Sunday School at the Methodist church in Morrisdale with my cousin, Ruth Ann, and no doubt had parked my little fanny on one of those chairs at some time or other. So I wanted one for the sentimental value and also, to put in our bathroom that Maya can use to sit on while getting dressed or we adults can use it too as a place to lay our clean clothes waiting to be put on after a bath or shower.

Then, this afternoon a friend of ours who lives up on the hill near my son, called to see if my son would be interested in a set of tables - a coffee table and two end tables - glass-topped, dark wood, very nice too that her neighbor had a her moving sale today but the tables didn't sell. She thought perhaps Clate would like them, could use them in his house. So, I sent my son-in-law up to pick them up, figuring if Clate DIDN'T want them, we could most likely put them to good use here. Bill returned with the chairs and said "We're keeping these!" They'll make a nice addition now to the living room I'm quite sure.

Next week, I'm going to be busy doing some extra cooking - the occasion being next Saturday is the Fall Bazaar at our church in Lanse - at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The ladies of our parish have this event every year, the first Saturday in November and the proceeds are put towards upgrading various things either in the Sunday School Social Room or in and around the sanctuary as need be. So far, I've been asked to fix a big pan of lasagne for the dinner the women have that day, bake at least one batch of the Swedish Limpa Rye bread I make and also, make a batch of fudge too for the "Candy Shoppe" part of the bazaar. Now, I just have to go on a "search and destroy" mission on my computer and locate the fudge recipe they want me to make! It's a white chocolate with chopped red and green candied cherries in it - very pretty to look at and also, pretty darned tasty too!

Sometimes, for our bazaar, I have in the past made different craft items and I think I will put a couple of the baby bibs I make - using either fingertip or terry-cloth tea towels with a neck opening that has a knit rib trim around it - either in a crewneck or turtle neck style. These bibs work really great for small babies as well as toddlers -even up within Maya's size range - because they cover virtually EVERYTHING and also, they launder up beautifully. As a result, they wear very well for several years worth of meals that are then pretty much as mess free as that can get when you're dealing with little kids! (Now, I need to find something to put on the floor under the chair where Maya sits as well as under the high chair. I'm thinking maybe a nice tarp would work for a drop cloth there! LOL)

I've also decided to take the plunge too and try my hand at pay for post work at home stuff. I'm hoping this will work nicely into my home routine - something I can do while attending to the grandkids, cooking supper, and of course, reading my blog favorites and posting my own stuff then to my blog as well. As you can see, I have my first post done tonight but I have no idea as yet if it is acceptable, if I did it all correctly. Hopefully it will pass muster and I can move on to selecting other topics to write about and gee, who knows, maybe make tons of money!!! Yeah right! Well a little extra moola sure won't hurt if it works out ok.

And finally, I have some news that to our family was really exciting. As a matter of fact, we're all pretty darned ecstatic about this recent development.

Today, the 16-year-old was in the bathroom, taking a shower so she didn't hear Maya come in the room until she went to get out of the shower and there sat Maya, on the "big potty" quietly doing her "business!" Yay, yay! Not only did she go then but she has returned to the bathroom on four more successful visits since then too. The only drawback to this new found knowledge on her part (yeah, you know there has to be a downside, don't 'cha?) is that every five or ten minutes now, she is coming to me, telling me she has to "go" and I need to come turn the light on, etc., etc. Plus, whether she does anything in there or not, each visit requires that she MUST flush the commode too.

There goes the water bill - skyrocketing over the next month or so till this process becomes old hat. Thank goodness we aren't living down in the Atlanta region where they are experiencing a terrible drought or Maya would single-handedly be rapidly draining the last reservoir there I'm afraid.

So, bear with me - a busy week ahead and let's cross fingers and toes that I manage to get myself well-organized and get this stuff on completed - on a timely basis - and without draining our water supply dry or the bill escalating too much, huh?