Crutches...

     Have you ever had to use them?  They are very troublesome, especially if they are two inches to big.  Even so, I am thankful for them.  If I didn't have them I would be in a lot of pain.  On Friday, I went to the doctors office.  While there I had seven plantar warts treated with some sort of molasses colored goo.  The doctor, (who is a very nice gentlemen)did not mention any pain, he just said, "It may blister tonight...".  It has blistered.  The blisters are very big.  These quarter size blistered hurt tremendously.  Little stubborn Jo-snazz does not, can not swallow pills, she just gags on them.  Jo-snazz actually asked for a Tylenol, and swallowed it, that should give you an idea of the pain.

     So recently, I have been using crutches to stable me as I hobble along on my heels(the only part I can put weight on without pain).  I had to bring them to the chapel, I had to bring them to co-op, I am tired of using them.  Let's see, I was asked 1..2.. no, probably 20 times what I did, or, "What happened to you?".  I do believe I looked very silly.  What a way to start the school year!  Do you think the blisters will be gone by Friday?

    Well, at least I learned how to swallow pills!

My first ride in a Limousine...

Was very fun. I invited my two best friends, two of my brothers, and their best friend. On Monday morning my friends arrived. Tuesday morning we planned what to wear. My friends did not know about our adventure until they arrived, and so they didn't bring anything special. I had a nice blue gown for Irene, and I would wear my mom's black dress, but I didn't have anything that would fit Grace. So, we went down to the neighbors. Mrs. B is very nice, she also has a store on ebay where she sells vintage clothing. I thought she might have some things, and I was right. She had lots of dresses, but none of them fit, so she took us shopping. We stopped at the Mission Mart, Thrifty Boutique, and Good Will. We didn't find anything at the first two stores, (though there were a lot of nice dresses at Thrifty Boutique, I will probably go back) but Good Will, was on the way home, so, discouraged we went in. There was one periwinkle dress. Grace put it on and it fit perfectly, and, it was only $5.00! Now everyone had a dress. Next we took showers and did our hair. Finally it was time to leave. We grabbed shawls and hopped in the car with the family, off to the library we go! After a 15 minute wait in the car, the chaperone, named Heather, came out and we got into the Limousine. Tony was our driver. So off to Pizza Hut we went. And we had a lovely pizza dinner...not exactly! We arrived at Pizza Hut, but there were no tables! We would have to go somewhere else, we looked at the options, and decided on Chiles. En-route, I said something funny, and Irene, who was drinking pepsi in a champane glass, promptly spit it out all over her dress. I was sitting to her right, and she was so surprised at herself and still laughing so hard that she just said, "uh-oh!" and tipped her glass over on me! Thankfully there was paper towel there(probably for that reason) and we laughingly cleaned it up. The boys at the other end of the limo were laughing hysterically. Thankfully both of our dresses were very dark and now stain showed. It was a very nice dinner. Afterwards we went to get ice cream at DQ Grill and Chill. Later, after thanking the Limo driver and our Chaperone, we got back into our 15 passenger van, and headed for home. Then to a car passing by it would seem like everyone in the car had gone crazy. There would have been kids screaming and clapping their hands and jumping up and down in their seats. Mrs. M (Grace, Irene, and Taylor's Mom) told us that since our free movie didn't work out she had bought Enchanted at Walmart and we were going to watch it when we got home! We were SO happy. (and loud, it was after 10:30 and Emily had fallen asleep, we woke her up.) It was actually much more fun to watch in our PJ's anyway! We finally fell asleep at 1:30.

Irene drying her hair,

Irene with her curlers in,

Grace with my mom,

The three musketeers,

Grace, Irene, and I

Right before the Pepsi accident,

Clean up,

Pepsi, glasses, and the paper towel we used,

Tony the driver,

Mrs. Morell and the Organizing Mommy (Check out my mom's blog, she is going to interview Mrs. Morell on time management!)

Heather, the chaperone,

Hurray!

     Well, the improbable event has happened.  I won the drawing for the Rockford Public Library contest!  Now, on Tuesday I get a limo ride, pizza dinner, and a movie.  Too make that better, I get to bring 5 friends!  I can't wait!  I will take pictures and post them afterward.

California Pioneer Series

     I stumbled upon the California Pioneer Series after my Mom bought the first four books at a garage sale.  Thanks Mom!  I really like them!  My mom always finds the best stuff at garage sales.  They are a fictional series about the Talbot family or their relations, and how they get to California Territory, starting in 1848.  They end up stuck in the middle of the gold rush, and try to share the gospel.  Some come in covered wagon, others across the Isthmus of Panama, and others around the "Horn"  of South America, they all get to California.  In almost all the books someone gets saved.  I believe the author, Elaine Schulte is a Christian.  To the left is the cover of the first book, The Journey West.  There are actually 6 books in the series, the last two I just ordered on ebay, I can't wait for them to arrive.  The books in order are: The Journey West, Golden Dreams, Eternal Passage, With Wings as eagles, Peace like a River, and Mercies so Tender.  They are really good books, and I would recommend them.

Reading Programs

On August 8, the reading program ended.  In the past 2 months I have read over 7,000 pages.  If you read your ten books you get a free pass to Magic Waters Water Park.  So on Friday we went.  It was very fun.  We stayed until 9:00 and got to ride the Splash Blaster(a water roller-coaster) in the dark.  That was a highlight.  Also, this year my little sister Emily was big enough that she could go on the tube slides with us.  She was shivering, but really liked it.  Were all those pages worth it?  Yes.

Hurray! Houdini!

     One of my favorite on-the-go hobbies is collecting pressed pennies from wherever  I go.  On the left there is an example of a pressed penny.  I do not have the one displayed.  I am not completely serious about this hobby, and only have like 12, but I always keep my eye open.  Recently my friend Kara was at historical museum, she remembered that I like pressed pennies, and got me a penny with Houdini on it from the Houdini section.  I was elated.  Some of the places I have pennies from are The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the Mississippi waterfront museum in Dubuque Iowa.  There are many things you can do with pressed pennies, but I like mine the way they are.  This lady made bracelet out of hers!

Pumpkins

     In my moms garden, there is basil, peas, cilantro, eggplant(supposedly), and pumpkins.   The pumpkins are doing very well, Regardless of the fact that the ones that have grown into the ard have been mowed over, they missed a couple waterings, and were started late.  At the count this morning there were 18 pumpkins.  The biggest is about half the size of a big cantaloupe, or a very small cantaloupe.  I guess we will see some different pumpkin recipes soon!

Recipe of the week

This weeks recipe was given to me by my Grandma Judy. 

 We made it last week and it was very good.  

Rhubarb Crunch

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour

• 5 Tablespoons powdered sugar

• ½ cup butter

• 2 eggs, beaten fluffy

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 ½ cup sugar

• ½ cup flour

• ¾ teaspoon baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 2 ½ cups finely cut rhubarb

Directions

1. Combine first group of ingredients for pie crust.  Pat in bottom of 8 or 9 inch square pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350°, or until light brown.  Remove to cool slightly.

2. Mix eggs and vanilla.

3. Combine third group (sugar, flour, baking powder, & salt).

4. Stir into egg mixture, add rhubarb and stir together.

5. Pour mixture over baked crust and bake the crunch for 35 minutes at 350°.

6. Serve with ice cream of whipped cream.  Best when served warm and definitely the ice cream!

Bon Appetite!