sigh… been away a while

Sorry everyone… it has been a busy little while here in my world.

(before you ask, yes it is blue here in my world. Everyone is friendly too)

so, sorry to have been away, I know that all 5 of you are distraught over my lack of posting these long weeks!

Things have been crazy! I was hired to teach at a new school, so there has been training, and new classes to learn and conference calls to attend.

I am still busy as a beaver, as a new term at KU started this week as well. My first seminar was last night, and I was *on*. Do you ever have those days?  I know that all the teachers will understand this..

teaching is a bit like stand-up comedy… it is part entertainment, and part trying to pry their little heads open and pour in the subject matter.  Disturbingly, it seems to me that more and more students want the material spoon-fed to them.

Let me give one example: A student is having trouble opening Word 2007 documents. I tell her that she can go to Microsoft.com and find a converter that will allow her to use her old version to read the new ones.  Easy enough right?

nope.

Throughout the day, she posts two messages in the course, two emails and then IM’s me after seminar to ask about this converter. On AIM, as well as one email she expressly asks me to “look it up for her and send her the link and info”. I tell her in the email response to look on MS.com or “google it”. I know it is there, I have seen it. Used it on an older computer when it first came out. I KNOW it exists and is easy to find.

So, she IM’s me after class to ask me to find it for her again. I ask her if she has even looked for it. She says no.

So I tell her again to look for it herself…. but I can literally “feel” through the IM that she is just not sure she can do this… I mean… look what  I am asking her to do! Google! READ! DOWNLOAD! ALL BY HERSELF! oh no!  Too much, too hard! Do. it. for. me.

No.

I refused. I told her to  google some key words like converter and word…I told her that if she looked, and still had issues, that I would help her. BUT only after she tried to do it on her own.

she left me with a long pause and then… “ok, I’ll try. But you will help me if I can’t do it, right?”

SIGH.

This morning….

email. from student X.

I take a deep breath and open it.

“Dr. Alex, I  found the converter, and it works perfectly!!!! You rock”

Why is it that I have more confidence in them than they do?

I think this fear and coddling and handholding has something to do with it. Add in the helicopter parenting, and you have a generation of ‘kids’ sho have absolutely no confidence in themselves to fend for themselves.

I am addicted to this new website… free range kids. See it here.

Read the comments… they will FLOOR you…

like the guy who cannot be the Sunday School teacher anymore, because he bandaged up a skinned knee, complete with a hug, and the parents are now convinced he is a pedophile… or the sister who believes that her brother-in-law was ‘grooming’ her son as a future victim because he gave his nephew a set of tools.

Seriously… where is the common sense? And anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have much… I might be book-smart, but I didn’t start generating any street smarts or common sense till I was 25.

So for me to say that there is a lack of common sense… well…

it is a sad state of affairs!

XOXO

strange meeting

Today as Ed and I were walking Einstein at Scott park, I had a strange encounter.

Einstein garners all kinds of reactions in people… many people stop me and ask me about his ‘wheels’. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. So many people have stopped me and expressed to me awe or congrats or simpy curiosity about how and why we chose to put him in the cart, and how he took to it, how he learned to use it, and how it has changed his life.

Today however, this many stopped me and asked about Einstein. Ed had a call, and was walking ahead of us (as usual).  We had met a woman and her dog a few yards back on the trail, and this man identified the woman and dog  as his wife and dog. He asked me if I had faith in god and Jesus.

Now, mind you, my spirituality is not something that I discuss openly with anyone. I have learned in my family that religion is either “my way or the highway”. I learned a long time ago to just smile and nod….. or try to run for the nearest exit. Barring that, it might be a good idea to start gnawing on your own arm if that is the only way out.

I will say only this to express the how  discussion of  of beliefs goes  in my family… once after I slipped and made a comment about my something in the way of what I truly believe, I had a cup of coffee thrown at me. Across my office.

Fortunately the coffee was cold.

But I am getting off track…

So, this man, on the trail…

He asked me to confirm what I believed, and told me that he was not trying to convert me.. or even invite me to church.

From there it got a bit strange…. but in a good way.  He said that in order for him to pray over Einstein, he would need my permission. Actually, it made a good bit of sense. The idea that it is kind of an invasion of privacy to just pray when someone  has not given permission. It is kind of like entering someone’s home against  their permission. That  if that were not true then God could enter anyone’s life and take away all the bad things… that we have to accept it into our lives of our own will. Kind of made sense. He then asked me to repeat after him and asked for command of healing for Einstein.

The whole encounter was maybe 5 minutes, but it was interesting in many ways.

Without going into my beliefs or how I feel about the whole thing. I will say this.

I certainly felt something during that conversation.

If nothing else today, stop and remember how blessed we are.

XOXOXO

The Busy Begins

Good morning all my faithful 5 readers!

This week is the beginning of a very busy month for me. I started the training class for “Mountain U” and I am now teaching 2 courses with “Southern State”. This is, of course, at the same time I am contiinuuing to teach my 3 classes for KU.

I am really hoping that it all works out. If I said I wasn’t at least a bit scared, I would be lying. But, I am far more excited than anything else. It has been a long year,  with a bit hit on our income.

Maybe I can even afford to find someone to help me with the ‘heavy lifting’ with the house cleaning. Since I can’t run the vacuum, and I try not to lift anything heavy…. scrubbing the tub is a no-no….. Ed has to pick up a lot of the slack. No offense… but most men don’t “see” dirt like women do. So, it is often a trial to get Edward to help. On top of that, in a month, he will be a busy-bee with fall work.

Looking forward to all of it!

Today, I can count my own blessings!

XOXOXOXO

Einstein’s Big Adventure

wall at EYC... we've already walked pretty far!

so, for those of you who have seen Einstein in the past few months, you have seen that he has trouble getting around. He has a degenerative condition, and his back legs don’t always do what he wants them to do…. He walks on the tops of his back feet, and oftern ‘tips over’.

But, make no mistake, this dog IS NOT ready to “go quietly into that dark night”. He still RUNS AWAY for goodness sake. He can’t go very fast, or very far, and even I can usually catch him. But, its just the idea, that if his daily walk is not up to snuff, he will try to extend it all by himself. He will pull himself up, and keep going. Some days, I think he would do it all day long….

But, its sad to watch him drag his back legs into working order. Heartbreaking in fact.

I went to the vet a few months ago, and had that really difficult conversation…. my vert adamentally said that Einstein was not ready. And steadfastly assured me that I ‘would know when he was ready’. Einstein is bright eyed, and full of life. Its just that his body won’t listen to his head. (I understand that so well!) My vet  has said that he is not in pain, and I agree. There are times, when Einstein has taken a spill,  or walked too far, that I can see he is  is pain. Usually and Ecotrin, and he is good to go! The vet he suggested I look into wheelchairs for him.

So I did.

 http://dwanecart.com/

There are many kinds, you can check out handicapped pets for one.

It made its debut on Weds night, but on Thursday, we walked him at the EYC…. BIG HIT! He was off and running.

He doesn’t like to …. ummm….

(whisper) poo in it.

so, he took himself out, and did that, then went back in. Neither Ed or I saw how he did it, but we are aware that if he hated it, he would simply remove himself from it.

So… here…

without any further run up, is the video! (I can’t embed the video for some reason… perhaps I need to upgrade my blog!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVTQwMAYyaw

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgl5KtjXDu0

 Cheers, to you Jennifer for the wheels!

 

 XOXOXO

good and bad….

so, I have some good and some bad to share.

I usually start with the bad news. I don’t know why. Just cause. I guess to mitigate the bad with the good news. Maybe so we can remember the good  part and not the bad.

On with it… while I was in Chicago, partying it up with the peeps, my name was drawn for $3,300 in the daily at the club…. now, I had a great time  in Chicago… I am not sure I had 33 hundred smackers worth of it.

-sigh-

Maybe they’ll pull it again for even MORE money today. 🙂

Second, my laptop has a fatal flaw… so it seems… my external mouse will no longer work. It worked the day before I went to Chicago, but once I got there it won’t do anything…  I have tried numerous things to fix it… and nothing has worked. So, it looks as if I will need to wipe-out the laptop and reinstall Vista. If its not one thing, its another I tell you! Technology is wonderful, but when you rely on it, and it goofs up… well, its a pain.

Third, when I went to the farm yesterday, I took the eggs out of the fridge… got sidetracked by the fresh green beans, and left  the eggs sitting on the counter by the money box. Mrs. D. emailed me today to ask if I forgot them. I had finally realized last night, long after I got home.

-sigh-

Fourth, I have to have an MRI  on Friday morning, to be sure there isn’t anything funny going on with my head. I have been having deadly migraines for months, and now I have a weird bump on my head… I am sure its nothing, but need to be sure!

So, now the good news… I made raspberry ice cream yesterday with fresh raspberries from the garden. It is wonderful! A nifty shade of purple, and so creamy. It was my first foray from vanilla, and I had a scoop of each last night for dessert. Now I need to master chocolate, and bake those wonderful blueberry muffins I saw on joy the baker.

Also, THE CANADIANS ARE COMING! It’s Dover Days this weekend and  many Canadians are coming by boat and car to spend some time with us! YAY!

I have a new term start tomorrow, and I have 3 classes! Wheeeee!

One more…. I have been steadily working on the house for the past 2 days, and I have a good handle on the normal kitchen and bathroom stuff, and I even got the old dresser cleaned up, and almost ready for use! (I have been putting that off for a while) I  have attacked the 2 upstairs bedrooms, and have them this close  to presentable.  I won’t be good for much for the rest of today, I overdid I bit, and my leg is throbbing, but I have that delicious satisfied feeling that I accomplished something!  Now, I need to reclaim the dining room from the clutter, dust and vacum and the house will be as good as it ever gets!

 

So, there you have it some good, and some bad from the past few days. I guess its fortunate that the ‘bad’ things aren’t really all that terrible… and the good things FAR outweigh them.  I think that’s called blessed!

I wish you all the same satisfaction of accomplishments and may you week be as good as mine!

 

XOXOXOXOX

weeks in review

So, maybe I should talk today about all the stuff I have been doing lately… besides traveling and worrying about how to manifest that Florida vacation next winter…

But, I mention that Florida vacation is very important to us… I WANT that month in Key Largo more than almost anything. In fact, when I am looking at spending money, I weight it against whether or not it is more important than Florida. As in: “do I want these shoes, or do I want Florida?”

I haven’t purchased new shoes in a while.

Since I am only able to work at KU for now… I can’t be on my feet long enough to teach, and practice is just not physically possible for me now… so my income in the last year has taken a BIG hit.

If you know my husband, then you know that he is a bit of a procrastinator.  One example:

Several years ago, we had cabinets made for our kitchen. Beautiful custom cabinets that will match the ones that exist in my 1930’s kitchen. In this future kitchen, there is a moveable island, floor to ceiling storage, and counter space that can accommodate more than just a toaster.

I am still waiting.

So, Ed will contribute to Florida. When he gets around to billing his wonderful customers. He works from morning till late at night… but, doesn’t bill those lovely people in such a timely fashion. (I love it when they come to me begging for Ed to send them a bill) So, you can see, that in my marriage… I am the one who worries more about the long-range-plan.  

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah… catch-up on life.

We have been having Sunday picnics at EYC, which has been my favorite part of the week. Each week has seemed to have a ‘theme’… week one was the Canadian Seafood Fest, where Ed and a friend had the gigantic lobster… week 2 were thick, juicy steaks… last week… I slow-roasted some pork, and made BBQ pulled pork ‘wiches, they were wonderful.

What will this week bring? I am traveling back on Sat, and I sure I will be dead tired… maybe Ed should can do the picking and shopping. I can say that I have eaten so much chicken that I think I might start clucking soon… So, I know I want something that does not have feathers.

Beef. It’s what for dinner.

Other than that… worrying about starting a new term next week, and I still waiting to hear the specifics of the training course for the other. I guess I will still be nervous until I have the specifics of the training course are sent to me.

Einstein has been having good and bad days. By the time I get home, his new wheelchair should be there when I arrive. So the first part of next week I will be fabricating a ramp with some sticky tape out the back door, as well as getting the cart together for him to try. I am curious to see how he will do. I think either he will take to it like a duck to water, or he will be very Brittish on me and look it with disdain and stand still.

 

I will be sure to post pics and post about that adventure when it happens. Including some of the new ramp….

 

My backyard will be ALL hill-billy then… clothesline, plants in the driveway, the jungle of raspberries, and completed with the new add-on ramp.

 

Stay tuned… it’ll be an interesting week.

traveling

So…

 As you can see, I have again, been clacking on posting. What can I say, I have a life.

I have been very busy, trying to get my house together, keeping up with the general house-work, trying to enjoy a bit of summer, and now I am in Chicago working.

In fact, right now, my brain hurts right now. I have been trying to focus on what someone calls “Edubabble” for several hours.

We have a free night tomorrow, and then I head back to Erie early on Sat morning. I don’t get to stay for graduation because in order to get back to Erie at some point on Saturday  I have to leave extra early.

Did I tell you that I hate traveling? I am usually fine once I get where I am going, but the process… the torture of airports, and deadlines… flight attendants who ignore me, and then shoot glares at me…. Security people who hate their job.  Add to this, an almost paranoid fear of missing my planes and it’s a recipe for disaster.

 

I did miss my plane last year. In fact, it was all around difficult trip. I was 4 weeks out of surgery, and I could just about stand up straight finally,  I came to Chicago for Kaplan.  I was soooooo excited to meet everyone, and I had a great time… although I was not as mobile as I would have liked. I am still not as mobile as I would like, but I find that I am much more capable than last year.

I attended graduation, which I probably should not have done. I missed the Kaplan-sponsored bus to the airport, and snagged a cab to O’Hare. I was at the airport in plenty of time… BUT…… the lovely Continental  unnamed airline employees, took over an hour to check me in.

So I missed the plane, and had a full-blown panic attack, complete with crying,  mascara running and a nasty employee telling me that if I needed assistance walking, I should have filed against them for ADA violations. They were awful. But, I found a phone, the AMEX travel people found me a new flight on USAIR, and I made it home at about 9pm on Sat.

 

It was a LOOOOOOnnnnnngggg day, but I made it through it.

And now I sit here again, a year later. Physically better,

I do wish I was FT here… but … no worries… everything happens for a reason, and I am sure that life will bring something to me. I am sure.  Everything I am looking for is not far. I just try to keep that eye on that ball.

Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble, but my brain is tired. Be happy I posted to you at all!

 

XOXOXOXOXO

what a week

So, another week is here, and quickly disappearing! Today, I picked 2 quarts of raspberries from the garden. They are freezing as I write this. They will soon join others of their kind in becoming jam, sorbet and margaritas!

This weekend I spent some quality time with my icepack…. I had a terrible migraine on Sat, and missed out on a trip to camp. It has been a few years since I was there when it was warm. Usually, I am only invited on blustery, freezing weekends in January. So, I was a bit disappointed. Still… how often can one catch some time with excruciating pain and the ice-pack permanently adhered to the neck and head?

I need to seriously go to the chiropractor… find out what is causing these damn things… this is getting to be too frequent for my taste.

Sunday we had another wonderful picnic at the pavilion at the EYC. Just 6 of this week… down from a dozen last week. I was just a participant this time too, so I did not have to do too much. I  made potatoes and some lemon cheesecake with blueberry compote… (which is a fancy word for lumpy sauce to drizzle over the cheesecake). It was a new recipe, from Bon Appetit and it came out terrific! I even screwed up and didn’t properly prepare the pan, and it still slid right out! YAY!

I have not been sleeping well these past several days… not sure why… but each day, I have trouble falling asleep and then I am up at the crack of 5am. This morning, I was able to fall back asleep on the couch.

I will confess that I fell off the wagon a few months ago and began to smoke again…. so I started chantix again a week ago. I forgot how nauseous it made me… I took it this am when I came to the couch… and I promptly brought it back up.

-sigh-

I guess cold turkey will have to do…

I had a nice visit with my  Aunt Bird on Sunday… I loved that she came to see me, and stayed for a long visit. Even if my house was a wreck!

Damn Canadians… it dawned on me that Miss K and her hunny have never seen my house clean. every time they are here, we are at the EYC and sunning around having so much fun that I don’t have time to do dishes, or pick up the clutter… and picking up the clutter is a full time job for an able bodied person… and I am not.

So, that’s my week… seems quiet, comparatively.

Tonight, we will be attending our first 8 great Tuesday at the Amphitheater…. Big Bad Voo-Doo Daddies! YAY!!!!

XOXOXOXOXO

Too many things to have one title…

So, I’ll start with telling you the story of the vanilla extract… you might even be inspired to make your own. Its that easy.

Last week, I was reading Joy the Baker, a blog a read sometimes, and she posted about making her own vanilla extract. I was amazed at what a simple product it was to make! And here, all this time, I have been spending a small fortune on tiny bottles of the stuff at the grocery store. All this time, I could have been making my own!

vanilla beans split

First, I will tell you that  a few months ago I purchased some Tahitian vanilla beans on Ebay, from this seller. Here is a link to their website, where you can also purchase beans, extract… (but we are gonna make our own)  I had a great experience with them, and they were wonderful sellers. The beans are plump and filled with LOTS of pasty vanilla beans! I would say, this is a good place to order from, if you do not already have a source.

I have also tried Madagascar beans… and to tell the truth, I could tell the difference. I was amazed that the difference was so pronounced. I love both of them…. but I think I prefer the subtle sweetness of the Tahitian beans a bit better. I would say try them both, if you get a chance, and use them in a few things to see the difference. I bet you would also be amazed at the range of flavors!

First, you need a bottle of booze. Cheap booze. Vodka, bourbon are the normal picks. I went with the cheap vodka. I made 2 liters of it…. Maybe I bake a lot, or maybe… just maybe, if you are really nice to me….

I will bottle it up and give it away with Christmas gifts. 🙂

So, you slice the beans, put them into the booze, shake…. and viola…. after a few months, you have vanilla extract.

I wanted to make ice cream with some left over cream, and milk, and I did, in fact start the ice cream… but the entire batch curdled in the pan. What a bummer…. it was a huge loss and a blow to my cooking pride.

The vanilla extract is a no-brainer, and helps to bolster morale.

I did, in fact, make a new batch of ice cream yesterday, and it turned out wonderfully! So, I guess, I am redeemed. Cooking, and especially baking is a series of mistakes,  hopefully still good enough to eat. Sadly, the ice cream fiasco was not.

But, today we have new ice cream… and start of vanilla extract!

So, over this glorious weekend, I kept trying to get to the liquor store to purchase the above mentioned cheap vodka. I talked about if for days. I would be on Miss and Mr. K’s boat and utter “dammit, please remind me to go the damn liquor store to get the cheap vodka”  Then we would be off and running on some other wonderful list of stories and howling with laughter… and….

I would never get there. In fact, I did not get there until they were back in another country.

They are so distracting, those damn Canadians… I tell you.  Always with the stories, and the laughing, and the teasing, and the harassing… and the stories, and the laughing at the dog, and the stories and the eating great food… and drinking many cocktails… and the stories and the laughing…oh, the M80’s with their fab-80’s music were in there too this weekend…

Did I mention how distracting they are?  Did I mention that we ate till our sides split, then talked and laughed until they hurt, and my cheeks were sore?

Good times. Good times.

I wish every week was the week they were here….

wait. Hold on… after the state of my abandoned house… maybe every other week?

I love you all, you make the summer even sweeter!

Can’t wait to see them on their side of the pond!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

friends

Apparantly, it is Lynda’s turn to make me cry!

Doesn’t she know yet  that their week here is one of my favorite of the whole year? She makes me laugh so much, I swear it takes my face a week to recover!

She is now one of my links, but you can read all about her adventures here.

Love you,

xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS: more posting later today….