Things are looking up for Baby Nettie (Myra). She responded quickly after they finally got an IV in (naturally)--Lily noticed that her eyes were no longer sunken, and her little jowls puffed back up (only in a baby are jowls considered "cute!"). They will check electrolytes this morning, and hopefully, she will be coming home sometime today. Thank you all so much for your prayers.
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Still working on Joe Hardy's birthday quilt (now almost 30 days past birthday). The good news is that I *think* I'll be finished by Memorial Day! I am anxious to take the "finished" photo on that one, to share with you. He will be able to use it all summer, because he sleeps in the basement next to the a/c. Since we live in an old house with leaky ductwork...let's just say it's the Coolest room in the house!
But before I can continue on Joe's quilt, I need to make birthday gifts for Sweet Pea, who is turning four this week. She wants a ballet outfit for her doll. I got the incredible reuse/recycle idea to use an old pink t-shirt for the fabric for the leotard. The tutu will be easy-schmeasy: remember the fifteen yards of purple tulle from Blackeyed Susan's prom dress? Yeah. Lots of leftovers. And Sweet Pea requested a "pink and purple" outfit.
Perfect.
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I finished my "monster trilogy" that I began last summer. (I was going to link to the blog entry, but it is over on Homeschoolblogger, and they are re-doing their entire site, and I can't access the archives.) In my ongoing effort to read some of the classics I missed the first time around (you know, high school...) I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Frankenstein. In my blog entry of last year, I noted that I was surprised that in both of the books, the "hero" did what he did in order to honor the Lord. Dr. Jekyll was looking for a formula that separated the good and bad parts of our personalities so that people would be able to live in their "good" part all of the time. Unfortunately, it so happened that the "bad" part prevailed. Dr. Frankenstein was trying to find a way to generate life from the dead in order to restore children to life who had died from disease. He sorta forgot, however, Who is the Author of life.
So, on to Dracula. The book is long (417 pages) and it took me several weeks to read. It is set up as a series of journal entries by several of the characters. The story was predictable, tho', as in the case of the other two books, much, much better than any of the movie versions. For most of the book, the only references to God were the use of the crucifix and the communion wafer as deterrents to the "undead" characters. Finally, about page 365, Van Helsing makes a speech about why they are doing what they are doing, referencing God's saving work through the death of His Son.
So, I can cross another "classic" off of my list.
Next I picked one off of another list: Newbery Award winners. This time it is Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. It reads much faster (of course, it *is* a children's book!) and is a good picture of life in the last part of the eighteenth century. Charming had a long period of fascination with "ship" books as a youngster, but I never indulged. My next classic will probably be Two Years Before the Mast, since I'll be in the "life at sea" mode...
I just picked up from the library This Momentary Marriage by John Piper. I hope to read a chapter a day along with my devotions.
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Finally...horrors! Susan called me from upstairs this morning--she saw a mouse! I have several questions:
a) Mice come in houses in the fall, not the spring. There is plenty to eat outside.
b) Mice that have dared to enter our home come in through a hole near the back door, and either go to the kitchen or down the basement stairs. How did one little guy get all the way upstairs?
c) Where was my cat? The fact is (and why we never fixed the hole by the back door...) when we don't have a cat, we get mice. When we have a cat, we don't have mice. Joe Hardy grabbed Sherman and took him upstairs, but he didn't seem interested. I think we give him too many kitty-treats....
d) I need to buy a trap, b/c I obviously cannot trust my attack-cat any longer.
We have not had to deal with this for eleven years. I feel betrayed.
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3 comments :
Barbara,
I just "stumbled" across your blog article.
If you are going to be reading ship books I suggest some of the Horatio Hornblower series. I have been reading some of them in recent months and have enjoyed them quite a bit. It seems that once I start reading one I have a hard time putting it down. I had never read any of them in my long-ago youth.
There is a lot of action/adventure in them. They might be more appealing to a guy, depending on what you like.
C. S. Forester's (the author's) knowledge of wooden sailing ships and what's involved in sailing them is amazing. When reading, all the nautical terms for the various sails, ship parts, and procedures fly by my eyes with only vague comprehension on my part, but I have enjoyed the adventures and Horatio himself. I have learned some about the Napoleonic era and geography as well.
Forester also wrote the book African Queen which was made into a movie with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Knowing this might give you a point of reference.
We really liked Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. I think I might try Dr. J and Mr. H. I admit, I get hung up on the old style language. I lvoe it, but sometimes I have to think so darn hard about what they mean!
I feel better that I don't have the only lazy cat in the neighborhood! At least your mouse didn't appear during a wedding shower in which your MIL, to your horror, announced it to the entire party! *wink* My kids have taken well to the ant "friends" maybe they'd like to upgrade some time soon... =) -Lily
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