Preparations

I wouldn't say that I am "riddled with A.D.D.", but I am a multi-tasker and really can't handle being totally idle. That's why cross-stitching is a good activity for me-- I can appear idle but my mind and my hands are moving and creating and producing something!

Anyway, after multi-tasking at a couple of churches for ten or so years, retirement just gave me another opportunity to be busy. Graham's ministry (writing and teaching Sunday school material) really picked up steam about four years ago. He is the thinker/writer/creator of a series of lessons and I get to do the fun part: formatting, editing, and illustrating the lessons.

Once a year we take our products to the Grace Evangelical Society conference held in the Dallas area. This year our Board has jumped "on board" to help us with a new display. My artistic partners, Doug and Lois White, designed the layout and coloring for the display, then gave me an extensive list of "homework" to accomplish. (Oh goodie!)

Once the homework was turned in, the creative team came back and set up the display board. This is what you see in the picture. We'll have ample table space to show our workbooks, tracts, and CD's. As of this date we have eight complete curricula available for sale to churches. Currently we are "class-testing" the study on Revelation and will make it available after we complete it in the Fall. (All of our material is "class-tested" by our Sunday school class at church.)

The White's also encouraged me to set up a powerpoint presentation. Over the years I have collected photos of various aspects of our ministry - Sunday school activities, Board meetings, and my Ladies' Bible studies. So I put them on slides and turned the presentation over to another creative and computer-savvy Board member, Charlene Webster, who looped music to the presentation so that it will play continuously at the display as people come to peruse our materials.

I am so grateful for creative people, and doubly grateful to have them on our Board. And the best thing is that they keep me busy multi-tasking!

Adrian and Uncle Murphy

Who knew that plastic cups could be so much fun?

Take-out barbeque sauce comes in great little cups that are just the right size for little hands.

And what could make it even more fun?

Why, getting Uncle Murphy to play with them too!

First we learn how to put the lid on and take it back off.

Then we go on to greater things, like Ziploc cups from Ludee's cabinet.
There are too many "no-no's" in a boy's life, so it helps to have at least one cabinet
at Ludee's that contains all sorts of fun playthings.

Someone is learning how to make funny sounds with a stack of lids...
And how to stack and unstack the cups...
It's so much fun to play on the floor with your uncle!

Yep! I did it all by myself!

Cups and spoons and lids and more cups! Playing in Ludee's cabinet,

with Uncle Murphy, is so much fun!

Catching Up

In all my frustration over my dear relations not posting new messages on their blogs, I realized that I, too, have been delinquent in posting this week! "Be careful pointing a finger of blame, Ludee, because three fingers are pointing back at you!" So here I am, looking back at my week, and giving highlights in pictures where possible.

Our little mister is mastering the stairs. He is simply fascinated by his ability to climb them and keeps his mommy or his daddy busy following him up and down several times per visit.

After he checks to see that someone is watching and is duly impressed with his new skill...

.. off he goes to check out the rooms upstairs. I know my children both mastered these same stairs years ago. I just don't remember having to follow them up and down all the time. I do have vivid memories of hearing Murphy bumping down the stairs in the middle of the night and climbing in bed with us. I could occasionally intercept him at the bottom and walk him back up to his bed! The stairs contain lots of memories!

Poor little Treasure. She developed another infection in her eye last week. Probably it was due to some pollen that the wind blew in. Nevertheless, we had to see Dr. Bonney to get new meds and start her on antibiotics - fortunately this coincided with her scheduled use of the antibiotics for the TCC. At her follow-up appointment yesterday she checked out a-okay! Dr. Bonney, however, was still feeling the effects of intestinal flu that hit him Tuesday night. It's been a wicked winter for flu. I'm sure my flu shot prevented something!

Remember the zucchini from co-op day? Well, I did saute some of it with carrots and it was actually very tasty. But, with three more squashes still in the refrigerator drawer, I decided to look for a recipe for zucchini bread and see what I could come up with. There is a weblog called "What Would Martha Cook?" that has lots of really great recipes and that's where I found this one. (Look at the list of favorite links and click on "Great Recipes".)

Not only was this very easy, it is also very good! It's like a sweet bread, only it has lots of little green pieces of squash in it! I recommend it for any occasion.

The rest of my week went as planned. Our Esther Bible study is turning out to be one of the best I've done. And I have the sweetest group of women this time. I'm always amazed when God brings a new face into our group and see how well everyone fits together.

Next week is Spring Break here in San Antonio. The trees already know it's spring, and now we are having to move the clocks ahead an hour. No choir rehearsal next week... Graham's Greek class is off too.

My mother's birthday is Thursday. She would be 93 years old this year. My brother's birthday is Friday.. the 13th! He's still three and a half years older than me!

Happy Birthday, Bill.

We may have to take a drive up into the Hill Country to celebrate spring.

Today's Appointment

Treasure's appointment with Dr. Earl went very well today. I have to confess that I had been preparing myself to hear bad news. Treasure had a pretty bad weekend, but then, she also has an infection in her eye and that has made her pretty uncomfortable.

After he did her ultrasound, Dr. Earl explained to me that, though the mass has grown this time, the growth is very minimal. He thinks there is a little inflammation going on, so he gave her a lower dose anti-inflammatory drug to take for ten days. All in all he was very encouraging. He thinks she is faring well - no weight loss or loss of appetite. She still loves her walks and is very vigorous and energetic with them.

Here's my sweet little dog. You can see that she is favoring her right eye. Her eye doctor (yes, she has her own eye doctor!) said the pollen might have something to do with it. She is taking her antibiotic plus an ointment four times a day. Needless to say, she doesn't really appreciate me coming after her so much these days. But she is still the sweetest dog in the whole world. She has blessed my life and our house for five years.

Co-op Day Again

Saturday was "Co-op day" again! This is one of my perks from Meredith's neighborhood community. Every two weeks a designated person goes to a market and purchases fruit and vegetables for the participants from the neighborhood. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this activity because, well, just look at the beautiful produce!

This week we got broccoli and zucchini, sweet potatoes and onions, tomatoes, apples and grapefruit. What a bounty! It sure is a motivation for me to do more cooking at home, and in this economy, that can be a big help. It also pushes me to cook with food that I wouldn't ordinarily choose for myself, like, for instance, zucchini. Not my favorite. But I hear that zucchini bread is pretty tasty. I'm sure I can find a recipe somewhere.

Another reason I love Co-op day is that I can photograph this lovely still life and let it remind me of some Jacquie Lawson e-card where she "paints" a turkey using all sorts of

fruits and veggies - so creative and original.

I'll have to work on the "turkey" part next Co-op day!

What's in Papa's Pocket?

Adrian entertained his grandparents this week while his Mommy went to Bible study.

It is always a learning experience when Adrian comes to our house,

not only for him, but also for us!

On this particular visit, Adrian wasn't feeling too good,

so Papa piqued his curiosity by pulling something out of his shirt pocket.

The following pictures show the progression from curiosity to victory!

Where did you get that, Papa?

Can I see what else is in there?

Let's see if my hand fits inside that pocket.

Ah ha! I knew something was in there! I can feel it!

I'm touching it, now I want to take it out of there.

See, Papa? I took this out of your pocket.

Is he going to tell me I have to put it back?

Please let me play with your pocket some more, Papa!

Yay! Playing in Papa's pocket is so much fun!

Treasure's Haircut

I took Treasure to Petsmart today to get her hair cut.

She was looking pretty dingy and all my trimming that I've done

over the winter was looking ragged. And I thought she should

look her best when she goes to see Dr. Earl next week for her ultrasound!

So here she is, sporting her summer "do" and showing off her precious Westie ears!

And just in case you were wondering how she looks from behind,

well, here is her, um.. here is her behind!

My, my, she is so pretty, from head to tail!