Goings On

We're moving again, so today was all about packing and fruit processing. Some of us have been working on packing books and breakables while the others have been working on making five apple pie fillings and applesauce. The last batch is in the works and then we'll be moving on to a few batches of pear sauce. I can't count how many times I've listened to Keith and Kristyn Getty's cd Hymns for the Christian Life, but I do know that "The Village Reel" is awesome background/working music! Betsy Bea always skips the calm songs. : )

By the way, I found out that my personal stash of books takes two small boxes. : )

The Definition of Autumn

The definition of autumn is walking out in the yard wearing a green
sweater because of the breeze and chomping on a juicy red apple while
clutching four crookneck squash just picked from the garden, and looking
lovingly at the walnut leaf that stuck to your shoe. Ahhh.

Word Puzzle

This is a very fun word puzzle we just discovered. Enjoy! There are 30 books of the Bible in the following paragraph, can you find them?

This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket on a flight from Los Angles to Honolulu keeping him busy for hours. He enjoyed it so much; he passed it on to some friends. One friend studied it while fishing on his john boat. Another worked on it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it, she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend, Joe Schmotz, while he judges the job of solving this puzzle finds it so involving that he brews a pot of tea to help his nerves. There will be some names that are easy to spot, and that is a fact. Some people however, will soon find themselves in a jam especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have, seeing some of these books. During a recent fun raising event which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Beta Phi Lemonade stand set the record. The local news paper, The Chronicle surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it; the books are there in plain view hidden from sight. Those able to find them all will hear great lamintations from those who have to be shown.One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also keep in mind that punctuation and spaces between words are normal. A chipper attitude may help you compete really well against those who claim to know the anwsers. Remember there is no reason to make a mad exodus, there really are 30 books lurking somewhere in this paragraph... just waiting to be found.
Did you find them? : )

Cinnamon, Cinnamon, Cinnamon

Did you know that it is very hard to sing the word cinnamon to the tune of "The William Tell Overture"? I discovered the fact while making spiced shortbread with my four-year-old sister. We were having fun. : )

Adventures in Dollhouse Land

In our new school schedule each of us older kids has a scheduled time to play with Emma and/or Betsy Bea. Betsy Bea's hands-down favorite thing to play is dollhouse. Although I keep branching out to other games for us to play, we always return there. I thought I'd share some funny things that have happened while we are playing.

Betsy Bea insists on always using a certain dollhouse Daddy and when I asked her about it she said, "He looks like Tyler."

Any other dollhouse daddy was declared to look like "Goob from Meet the Robinsons." : )

Yesterday, I threw her doll a birthday party with real miniature books I had made as the presents. One of the books was called "Christy Hunt". Her doll replied, "Oh, thanks, I'm sure my dad will read the hunting one."

Today, she was looking through a bag of accessories before our dolls went camping. She discovered an interesting hinge that was in the bag for some reason and the 'wheels' starting turning. "I can use this for a tortilla press," she decided.

Whenever our dolls would go places, my daddy doll would open and shut the door for the mommy doll. Her people used to always explode out of their separate doors and get to business. Now her daddy opens the door and the mommy politely thanks him.

We played dollhouse dentist one day, (BTW-the dentists were always washing their hands in a bird fountain rigged up for the job), and the boy doll named Avery had a cavity. A few days later I was talking to Anna about a story I was writing with a character named Avery in it and Betsy Bea pipes up with, "Avery had a cavity." That took me a little while to make the connection.

So, it's been fun and she even sings me a Josh Groban love song while we play. I asked if she liked the song and she said, "No." "Then why do you sing it?" "Because it is dumb."