Fancy Cosmos-esque, Scientific, Mathematical, Calculatory Advanced Theorems

I was just glancing through my last couple of blog posts and realized that in the recently posted Thanksgiving picture I had inadvertently cut my favorite mother-in-law right out of the photo.

Oops! Sorry 'bout that, Vernie!

So here is the photo again, with all Smith people present and accounted for. (Except for Snowy, who was lurking under the table, waiting for blessings to fall from on high.)




Speaking of food, I just returned from the grocery store where I was happy to find several "buy one, get one free" deals.

What you may not know about those deals is when you get the second item free, it cuts the calorie count in each item in half because you're getting twice as much food for half as much money and somehow that sort of configuration alters the cosmos just slightly and the calorie load shifts in the food and part of the calories leak out and attach themselves to other food on the shelves that are NOT "buy one, get one free."

I just wanted you to know that.

And I really don't think you need to argue about it because, after all, I AM a homeschooler and I AM up on all of the fancy cosmos-esque, scientific, mathematical, calculatory advanced theorems which enable to me do do that sort of advanced caloric math.

You can thank me later.

Wending, Winding, Wandering

I packed two boxes last night! Hurray! Now if I can just pack two boxes a day I'll be completely packed by . . . um . . . May of 2014. Sounds like a plan.

Just wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed all the comments that came in yesterday on 1) worry 2) giving The Look 3) what to do about extremely dry skin. Boy, you never know what kinds of things you're going to learn around here; those of you who comment are half of the appeal of this blog!

And may I also just say how much I appreciate it when you take the time to comment. Thank you for making this a two-way conversation instead of a one-way monologue; I get tired of the sound of my own voice sometimes and love to hear what you all have to say about the Stuff of Life. You guys are funny, witty and profound and I so enjoy getting to know you better!

By the way, if you have any more of your favorite holiday recipes to share, then share away! I've started a file for them which you'll see if you scroll down the right column to the blog topic index.

Since this is a sort of "jumping around post" today, my next subject concerns a few websites I've come across that are great (and fun) money savers for you and your family. If you all have any helpful websites that you love, leave them in the comments area.

www.swapstyle.com (An online swap party for clothes, accessories, pocketbooks, shoes, etc.)

www.paperbackswap.com (Swap site for paperback, hardcover and books on tape)

www.bookswap.com (Swap site for textbooks.)

www.swapaDVD.com (You guessed it! A site for swapping DVD's!)

www.titletrader.com (Deals in trading books, CD's, DVD's, video games)


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And to jump to yet another subject, sometimes I like to journey back twelve months in my picture file and see what we were doing a year ago. It seems that October 2008 brought us the exciting event of Steve trimming his facial hair with Sarah's help. Are we The Scintillating Smiths, or what?


























And finally, to bring this Wending, Winding, Wandering Blog Post to a close, I'll answer a few questions that came in yesterday.


Q. Does Sarah like her huge room with the slanty ceilings? --Lyndsay

A. Yes, Sarah is quite entranced by it. She's been happily pondering where to put her stuff and how to arrange everything in all that space. (I think her room is about 400 square feet.) One good thing about it is that she'll have room for books, books, and more books. I can picture bookcases cropping up everywhere! We'll have to dub it, "The Bookcase Room."


Q. 1) Will you do any painting in the house or leave as is? 2) Have you and Sarah got the H1N1 vaccine? With this in the news so much, I got to thinking about you two. ---Jill

A. 1) Yes, we will eventually repaint the dining room/living room area since yellow doesn't go quite as well with our furnishings. However, I've always loved yellow kitchens so I may leave that that way it is.

The second floor has blue carpet and we don't have a bit of blue in ANY of our decorations so replacing that carpet will be our first priority once we actually buy the house. Of course, while we're still just renting we'll leave everything "as is."


2) Funny you should ask about the flu shots because I was just working on that very thing yesterday. Yes, Sarah's oncologist definitely wants Sarah to get both flu shots as soon as possible; we're hoping to get that taken care of this week. And with my COPD, I need to get vaccinated every year, as well.



Q. How old is the house? ---Bearie

A. Somewhere between 10 and 15 years; I'm not real sure. (And Bearie, I hope your finger gets to feeling better soon!)

Q. Is Sarah going to stick with the blue in her new room or does she still prefer pink?

A. As soon as possible, Sarah will definitely repaint her whole room. She hasn't decided which color yet but it will definitely be teen-esque and groovy!


And one last thing before I close: tomorrow's post will be a little different as we commemorate a certain, special landmark event in our family.

I'll see you soon!

The Look

Do you remember last week when I was stressing out over cooking a Thanksgiving meal for our family? I was pondering what simple, little dishes I could throw together and still legally dub it a Thanksgiving meal.

Well, this weekend, my dear sweet husband came up with a grand idea. An idea which just goes to show you that husbands tend not to be tuned into The Various and Very Real Cooking Stresses That Attach Themselves To The Female of The Species.

He burst into the room and said, "Honey! I have an idea! Since Meagan's family is going to be nearby during Thanksgiving week (Meagan's Dad's parents live near Smithfield) wouldn't it be great if we had Thanksgiving a couple days early so that they could join us? We could have the four of us, and Meagan, and Meagan's family and my parents! They could all come for a meal! Wouldn't that be so wonderful?"

As he stood there before me, radiating great bonhomie, bliss and peace and good will toward all men I thought, "He is so very definitely male. Only a man would find it exciting to have that many people over for a large meal the week before a large move."

I couldn't help myself. I sighed. And then I gave him The Look.

The Look is something that wives dole out to their husbands whenever their husbands say or do something that is beyond the comprehension of the female brain. (There is also a "Reverse Look" that husbands dole out.)

This was one of those times.

But then later on, after I had packed The Look back into mothballs, I got to thinking about what he had said and realized that it would be a lot of fun. We could have a Thanksgiving feast featuring boxes stacked everywhere, a dearth of gravy ladles, store bought pies, and chaos reigning supreme.

Hey, chaos can be fun! At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself as the next few weeks of chaos get ready to hit. Who knows WHAT we'll do for Thanksgiving? The important thing is that we will do something, and we will have fun with however it turns out. I'll keep you posted!

Here's a Thanksgiving photo from earlier years. It's nice to have such good memories surrounding that wonderful holiday.



I mentioned recently that Snowy's hair (after removing his cone) was sticking up everywhere. Here are a few pictures to confirm that statement.





Good thing we love him for his little doggy heart and not his looks!

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Here are a few pictures of our "new" house, which we will move into on December 1st.

Steve is full of ideas for dressing it up, working on the lawn and the shrubs and putting some railing up on the porch between the columns. But that will all come down the road; right now, we just need to get moved in and have a place in Manteo to permanently hang our toothbrushes!







Looking from the dining room into the living room. We were both thrilled that the dining room is big enough to hold our huge dining room table, even with all the leaves put in. We're looking forward to filling the table with people and filling the room with conversation and laughter.




The breakfast nook


Kitchen


The back deck is big enough to fit a LOT of people!


Sarah's very large room on the third floor. (That's Steve and our real estate agent poking around.)


We feel very blessed to have found this 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house since it wasn't even officially on the market when we started looking. There really wasn't one other house in Manteo that worked for us that was anywhere near our (limited) price range except this one, which our real estate agent had to really dig to find.

And to find a house where the owner was willing to allow us to rent it before buying was an extra blessing! We are very thankful for God's provision for us in a very challenging housing market.

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I'll close with a couple of questions:

Q. My daughter will be starting on Accutane tomorrow for acne. She'll be on a 6 month treatment program and we're hoping that this will work as other treatment programs have not worked. Sarah's skin always looks so beautiful in the pictures you post and i just remembered that she had to take accutane. I know the side effects can be tough - esp. the dryness. Do you have any recommendations of products for her skin or lips to help with the dryness. --Judi

A. Judi, it could be that your daughter's skin won't get as dry as Sarah's did during treatment since Sarah's skin didn't "need" the treatment for acne. However, Accutane is definitely a "dryer-outer!" Sarah's dermatologist recommended Cerave lotion for Sarah which worked well for her. As far as dry lips, we were never able to find anything much better than plain ol' Vaseline.

However, some of the Smithellaneous readers out there may have some additional advice for really dry skin/lips. Judi and I would love to hear from you!


Q. Any tips on how NOT to worry that work for you? ---Guerrina
(This question is in reference to me writing that I was very "good" at worrying.)

A. Once again, I am going to throw open this question as a "group discussion." Do any of you have any tips that work for you that keep you from worrying as much?

For me, I like to think of the phrase in the Bible that says (in various permutations) "Fear not." What I especially like about it is that it occurs in the Bible 366 times; once for each day of the year, plus a little.

Why would we be told not to fear so many times? Because God knew how many reasons we would have to fear. In fact, the Bible says that as time goes on, "men's hearts would be failing for fear." We've sure seen lots of that!

And so today, and during this crazy upcoming month, I will remember that 366 times I have been lovingly instructed to "fear not."

What helps YOU when you tend to worry?


And the last question is a question from me to YOU!

Q. Does anyone have any good stories to share about giving The Look to your spouse? Maybe you remember a specific time or incident when nothing would do but The Look.

Your stories will be well appreciated here in Smithellaneous Land!

Monday Morning Tiredness And A Cinema So Quaint

I am Monday morning tired.

That is a whole different category than any other kind of tired and I'm sure that if you've ever been Monday morning tired, you know exactly what I mean!

I am especially tired because a certain white dog of ours yipped in his kennel till about 1 am and then started yipping again at 4:30 am. Since his surgery, we've pampered him a little and took turns sleeping with him. Now we are re-introducing him to the real world and, as you know, the real world can sometimes be a bit unkind.

We got home about 8:30 last night and once again got to work unpacking the van. This involved carrying in our cooler, the box of grocery staples, suitcases, music, sermon notes, Bibles, dog supplies, kennel, coats, hanging church clothes, purses, computers, school work, snacks, water bottles and all that miscellaneous "car stuff" that seems to breed as you drive down the road. Where does it all come from, anyway?

And then this morning, when I blearily opened my eyes, I started taking a very sober look around at our house and garage. That was a mistake because now I seem to have a raging case of Moving Trauma Weariness piling on top of my Monday Morning Tiredness. I looked at the shelves full of books, the cupboards full of dishes, and the garage full of, well, stuff, and I thought, "How can we ever get this moved and unpacked without falling into melting mounds of malaise by the side of the road?"

A lesson to be learned.

Never think about Moving Trauma Weariness when you're already dealing with Monday Morning Tiredness. Trust me when I say that there will not be a good outcome. Wait until Tuesday morning and then start pondering those kinds of things. Ours brains only have so much room for overwhelment at any given moment. And that is a scientifically proven fact. I should know. I just proved it.

Alrighty, then.

Since you have no doubt stopped by here hoping to find a little inspiration in order to rise above your own Monday Morning Tiredness, let me share with you a happy story from Manteo.

Happy stories are always good on Mondays, right?

Friday night after we arrived in town, Steve and Sarah went to see "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" at the Pioneer Theater, Manteo's only cinema.

In a world where so many things are overdone, oversold, overhyped and overblown, the Pioneer Theater has one screen. One auditorium. One movie.

That's it.

It has ONE choice of show time. 8 pm. Every day.

If you want to see a movie at 8 pm, you're in luck. If you feel like going at 2:30 in the afternoon? Sorry. You'll have to wait till 8 pm.

If you're looking for an R-rated film full of sex and gore? Sorry again. You'll have to go elsewhere. The Pioneer Theater does not show R-rated films.

And let's say you want exorbitant ticket prices? Can't help you there. At The Pioneer Theater, the admission price is just five dollars. It's not $7.50, or $8.00, or $9.50. It. Is. Five. Dollars. And that applies to matinees AND evening showings. In fact, it applies to every single showing, every single day!

Um. As long as that showing is at 8 pm.

Oh, and one more thing. If you love paying high prices for movie snacks you're in the wrong place. All the concessions at the Pioneer Theater are a dollar or less. The popcorn is just seventy-five cents which made my popcorn-imbibing husband extra extremely ecstatic.

The theater has been in downtown Manteo (near the waterfront) for over fifty years and even now, George, one of the elderly original family members stands at the back door and greets everyone who comes to see a movie at his theater.

At 8 pm.

Gotta love it.

Snowy Goes To Sea

More to come . . .

Suture-less Snowy. Some House News. And Scaring the Ocean.

Suture-less Snowy! Cone-less Snowy! Happy Snowy!

Yes, indeedy. When we took Snowy to the hospital yesterday, the nurse took him to a back room and when she returned him to us five minutes later, he was smiling a big ol' happy doggy smile, free of all those annoying, lingering encumbrances of his bladder surgery.

Hard to believe that just one week ago, he was in ICU, and not doing well at well. Now he's bouncing around with alacrity and flitting from place to place like a puppy instead of the (almost) 10-year dog he is.

We've been laughing at him a bit because while he was wearing the cone, his ears got all matted and mussed and now the hair on them sticks up everywhere and he looks just like a very small Phyllis Diller. He obviously needs to his hairdresser, er, groomer when we get home.

We knew for sure that he was on his way to recovery this week when he finally volunteered to go into his kennel on his own and take a little nap in it. Up to that point, he had to be glued to the side of one of us at all times; he was just so traumatized from all he had been through that he couldn't let us out of his sight. Yesterday, however, I was thrilled to see him walk over to his kennel, sniff it a minute, and then curl up inside on his pillow for a (solitary) nap. His little emotions are recovering along with his body.



It's been quite entertaining to watch him deal with that cone on his head all week. He made a couple of attempts to get up the stairs to the second floor but usually gave up and whimpered until the elevator (um, that would be me) arrived to ferry him up to the second floor. Every time he tried to go up by himself, he kept on whamming the cone into the next step and he just couldn't seem to get the hang of getting everything coordinated.

Here he is, mid-attempt.






In this particular incidence, he actually made it about halfway before halting his efforts and crying piteously for assistance. When we get back home tomorrow, I imagine he will race up and down those stairs, just because he can.

Hurray for healed doggies!

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In house news, we got a phone call late yesterday afternoon from our realtor in Manteo who told us that the deal has gone through on the house we've been looking at. This morning we signed all the papers, so unless something completely unexpected turns up during the pending house inspection, we will move into our "new" rent-to-own house on December 1st!

Another hurray!

Of course, I would be "hurraying" even more vehemently if our house in Smithfield had sold already, but I am definitely learning patience and trust in this whole process. I'm quite certain that God is not pacing back and forth in heaven, wringing his hands and worrying over the sale of our house.

And why is that?

Well, for one thing, God doesn't worry! And for another thing, he already knows exactly who will buy the house, and when, and for how much--and if HE knows, well then I guess my worrying is really pretty needless. However, I am SO GOOD at worrying that I really hate to let that "gift" go to waste! (smile)

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Today, we have the whole day free here in Manteo so we might do something really amazingly different and unique and creative. We might Go. To. The. Ocean.

I hate to say it, but in seven trips here, we have yet to see the ocean. I mean, we assume it's still there and everything, and it doesn't really need checking on, but we still figure that maybe it would be nice if we went on over there (a whole ten minutes away) and took a peek at it.

We're going to take Snowy with us and see what he thinks of it. He's never see a whole, entire ocean before. Knowing him, he will probably bark at it furiously to see if he can scare it away. You know. The way he barks at squirrels and birds at home and makes THEM go away?

Must be nice to have such awesome doggy power.

We'll see how he does with scaring the ocean. We'll be sure to let you know.

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Be sure to look at the post below for the second edition of Holiday Recipes from Readers!