Check Up

Tuesday, Spencer has his annual scoliosis checkup at Children's

Medical Center in Dayton. As you can see, he's quite a crooked

young man! We're fortunate to have a sensible orthopedic surgeon

who has worked with autistic kids, performed back surgery on some,

and even has an autistic granddaughter! Imagine our relief and

surprise when we found these things out back in 5th grade when

we went for our first appointment! God doesn't make any

mistakes, does he? :)

*******

As it is, although Spencer's scoliosis is fairly severe, he has opted not to

do a brace or surgery unless he is in pain or the scoliosis progresses.

Each year we go get X-rays and have an exam to determine what

happens next. There has been no progression in all these years.

And in case you are wondering, he said that a 'normal' child

living in a body brace 24/7 for a year or two must be emotionally

strong, understand why he must wear it, and be determined that

he will do it. In Spencer's case, being non-verbal and not able to

understand why he must wear a brace or have surgery (7 hour

surgery, 7 day hospital stay and 4 month recovery at home), he said

it would 'put our whole family through hell'. So, off we go on Tuesday

to see what will happen to our family...the semi-hell of autism or

a full fledged 'hell' of back surgery and recovery.

*******

Oh dear..that does sound a little bleak, doesn't it?

Either way, I know we would survive, but it would be nice if

there was not any progression of the scoliosis, wouldn't it?

If you think about it, pray for us ...and I'll give you an update

Tuesday evening. Thanks, dear friends. :)

Mnemonics

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge!

Taylor, 1994

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Remember saying A rat in the house might eat the ice cream to remember how to spell arithmetic? Or Every good boy deserves fudge as a way to remember the notes for the lines on a treble staff of music? Well, those are mnemonics! They are devices to help us remember things!

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You will find them in every discipline from music, medicine, biology, electronics, spelling, physics and geography. And there are categories of mnemonics, and I've listed the three basic ones below.

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Rhymes and Catch Phrases ~

1. I before E except after C, or when sounded "A" as in neighbor and weigh. And weird is just weird!

2. Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.

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Spelling Acronyms ~

BECAUSE ~ Big elephants can always understand small elephants.

GEOGRAPHY ~ General Eisenhower's oldest girl rode a pony home yesterday.

RHYTHM ~ Rhythm helps your two hips move.

NECESSARY ~ Not every cat eats sardines (some are really yummy)

ARGUMENT ~ A rude girl undresses; my eyes need taping.

POTASSIUM ~ just remember one tea, two sugars

DESERT/DESSERT ~ just remember with dessert, you always want seconds

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List Order Acronyms

1. Order of colors in the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) Richard of York gave battle in vain. (I always just said roy-g-biv)

2. Order of taxonomy in biology ~ (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) Kids prefer cheese over fried green spinach.

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So, there you have it!

Do you have any favorite mnemonics that you use to remember something?

Home Canning, The Green Method

"Life is not orderly. No matter how we try to make life so,

right in the middle of it we die, lose a leg,

fall in love, drop a jar of applesauce."

Natalie Goldberg

******

Have you tried canning using the green method yet?

This is so great! No canner needed, no pressure, no water bath! All you do is make sure everything is boiling hot and sterile. Put the lids on tight and turn jars upside down. Wait 1 hour for the hot food to 'seal'

That's it!

Woolly Bear Caterpillar

The current Creative Tuesday theme is "hair".

Well, this little guy has hair! He's a Banded Woolly Bear

Caterpillar. And here's some fun facts about woolly bears that you

may not have heard....

• Fable has it that they predict the length of the winter by the wideness of their stripes.
• The wider the middle stripe, the milder the winter.
• They do however, manufacture their own antifreeze, a cryoprotectant in its tissues.
• They are the larvel stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth.
• It is the most familiar woolly bear in North America.
• The Official Woolly Bear Festival has been held in Vermilion, Ohio for 37 years.

If you'd like to visit other Creative Tuesday participants, click HERE!

Auction and Awesome Clouds

This time of year, when the humidity lifts, Ohio has

gorgeous blue skies. We've had cooler weather and today

I actually had to drink coffee to warm up!

I'm sure we'll have Indian Summer come in September,

but for now, it's a welcome change to have the house

opened up and the AC off.

I worked at an auction today and snapped a few pictures

on my trip. The clouds were low and amazing!

We don't have gorgeous mountains like Mmm out west, but we do have picturesque barns and farmhouses! And we have vast horizons of farmland with acres and acres of corn and soybeans. I thought these skies would be worthy of joining Sky Watch Friday! There are some jaw-dropping skies featured there...go take a look! I even got to enjoy the clouds from my perch in the auction truck!

"May I help you?" :)

Fair Weather

The weather this week has been cooler and less humid! Here's the flat Ohio farmland that I see on my grocery trip. The clouds were amazing today on my drive home.

I'm sure I see an animal or two in this one, especially!

I'm off to work at another auction on Thursday!

And They're Off!

...and so am I, to the grocery ALONE. :)

And some birthday shopping for The Mister.

Every Group Has A Leader

A few days ago when I posted about Harry hiding in the hall closet, I mentioned

that he might have been hiding from Spencer . This is because Spencer is kind of bossy. OK...really, really bossy! I suppose all multiples have a leader and followers.

In our case with triplets, Spencer the 2nd born and smallest baby, has always

been in charge! Before they were born and getting too big to really do much

moving around, I could tell who was who. Harry, a single baby (and

probably wondering what a set of twins was doing along for the ride!)

was in the head down position. Alex was breech along my left side, and

Spencer was laying horizontally. And yes, it was just as uncomfortable as it

sounds! LOL! Since they really couldn't change positions, I could tell a bit about

them. Spencer was the most active. He would stretch a lot. Back then I thought

the poor little guy was just crowded. But knowing what I know now, I think

he was being nosey, checking on what his brothers were doing!

I snapped this photo because it was the first time any of the boys raised

their head. And of course it was Spencer! And look what he's doing!

He's saying, "Hey, what's going on over there?"

******

Of course he hasn't changed at all. Even without speaking to each other,

he puts his hands on a brother's shoulders and guides them around the house.

He puts them where he wants them, whether it's on the couch or in front

of a computer. He has been known to reach over someone and take the

computer mouse away to point and click for them! Very rarely do they

complain. I guess they've never known anything else.

Sometimes they are compliant until Spencer looks away, then they

sneak out of the room...(or hide in a closet). LOL!

Spencer constantly makes his rounds through the house,

supervising his brothers. He's been known to do this at school, too!

When we say, "Spencer, stop being so bossy!"

He smiles. He knows exactly what we are saying!

******

In case anyone was wondering their birth order and weights were

Harry 6.6, Spencer 5.1 and Alex 6.2.

And born at 37 weeks.

Have you laughed today? No?

Well, look at the picture again then! :)

*******

“Every survival kit should include a sense of humor"

Anonymous

Hunting Down Harry

After spending quite a while cleaning bathrooms today I

thought I'd better check on the guys. A head count only

produced two out of three. Hmmm. Harry was missing!

Then I noticed the baskets that hold the raincoat linings,

hats, and gloves had been removed from the hall closet!

The closet door moved a little, so

I grabbed my camera and called his name.

Yep! There he was! Too bad he can't talk

or I'd ask him who he was hiding from. :)

I'm just glad he was still in the house!

I wonder if we should try a game of hide-n-seek!

Repo Girl or A Brush With Danger for Theme Thursday

I've had lots of brushes with danger in my life. Just this afternoon I cleaned the refrigerator! Any food item so old that you cannot properly identify it is certainly dangerous! LOL! But the most interesting brush with danger would have to be my day job in the 80's as a repo girl....

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Over the past couple of weeks the subject of my having been in the repo business has surfaced several times. I have mentioned it in passing before, but I thought I'd share my unique job experience with you in a little more detail.

I got married right out of college and landed a job with General Motors back in 1984. I worked there for 10 years, doing anything from recording credit applications , running credit reports, processing refinancing agreements and yes, I even did 18 months out 'in the field,' repossessing cars!

Now normally, when people cannot pay their car payments, they call and work something out. But that small percentage that refused to communicate, refused to pay and actually hid from us....well, they got assigned to people like me! This was before the Internet and we did a lot of foot work...visiting their homes, nearest relatives, neighbors, making lots of phone calls, visiting them at work and looking for the car!

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I learned all the makes and models of GM cars...able to identify them just from little things like their tail lights. Did you know that the brake light shown in the rear window began in 1991? :) I learned how to sweet talk friends and neighbors into giving me the information I needed. And I could even sweet talk delinquent customers into peacefully handing over the money or their car......sometimes. :)

The few customers who refused to pay and actually hid were the real challenge. I learned to cut keys so I could drive a car away when it was spotted. Let me tell you, there is nothing more thrilling than finding a car that is incredibly past due, especially if you have searched the entire city for weeks and your boss is breathing down your neck! There is also nothing more terrifying than actually getting in the car and driving away! You pray that the keys you cut actually unlock the door and fit in the ignition so you can go! And you pray that nobody is watching you that could run outside and cause a scene! This was before cell phones...at least supplied by GM...so after driving away...and breathing again, I'd find a pay phone. First call was to the police so the customer wouldn't think it was stolen. Second call was to the boss, telling him "Yes! I'm actually sitting in it right now!"

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There were those times when the keys didn't work! Or the key codes weren't available to cut keys in the first place. In those cases we called a tow truck. Certain towing services were familiar with working with us and I became friends with at least a couple of guys from each towing agency we used in various cities. I should probably mention that this wasn't exclusive to one city, but our region was about a quarter of the state of Ohio, so not only did I do a lot of driving, but I formed connections with a lot of places and people over a large area. Always nice to have those people to trade favors with! .

The least favorite part of the job was dealing with the car after we took it. Most of them were in terrible shape...some having been lived in for a while. Part of our job was to clean out the car and trunk. This meant itemizing all of the personal belongings, packing them up and shipping them back to the customer. All the garbage was thrown out and a detailed inspection of the car had to be made, noting the overall condition and any damage. Summer, of course, was the worst season for spending the day in a impound lot with your head stuck in a car! I literally saw everything imaginable from guns, rotting food, dead mice, used condoms, dirty laundry, drug paraphernalia, and dirty diapers!

The most interesting part of the job was the people! Yes, it could be dangerous and I did run into some trouble. If I felt it was going to be dangerous, I could call for police backup beforehand, which I did a few times. Only once did I actually get hurt, which was only a bruise the shape of a man's hand on my arm. One time someone pulled a knife on me, but fortunately he decided not to use it! LOL! I'm sure my guardian angel called in the reserves to follow me around! :)

. But the weirdest experience was this one.... I had been out to visit a woman and remember sitting in her kitchen explaining all the options available to bring her account up to date. She was odd, to say the least, but I didn't think too much about it. The next day she called my boss, saying that she wouldn't be paying or giving up the car! And in passing, she added that she had made a voodoo doll of me..complete with long brown hair and a red raincoat...which I had been wearing the day before! Needless to say, the company didn't want me to go out to her house again! LOL! I wonder what ever happened to that doll!?

And of course, don't get 'repossessed' confused with 'possessed', which I'm convinced was the trouble with my old van! Remember the wipers that would run when the key was out of the ignition? Oh yea..THAT is possessed! LOL!

all photos from googleimages.com

Chipotle Rice

If you like the rice served at The Chipotle Mexican Grill,

then you'll like this recipe! It tastes very similar!

Chipotle Rice

2 c of white long grain rice

(I used jasmine rice).

2 bay leaves

2 t vegetable oil

3/4 t salt

juice of 1 lime

1/2 c fresh chopped cilantro

******

Steam rice as you normally would, adding

the bay leaves. When done, add

remaining ingredients and mix well. Taste and

adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve immediately.

I served this with grilled chicken seasoned with

chili powder and cumin. Yum. :)

Morning Rain

Over the weekend we had pouring rain.

I spotted Alex silently watching.

I've let the boys' hair grow out this summer and now

they have mops of curly wonder! :)

Thanks to Windex, you can't see the glass, but Alex has his nose and hand pressed up against the door. I should have taken an 'after' shot of the dirty glass when he left! LOL! No garden this year, but it did finally get tilled and the weed block is laid. I'll be ready to go nice and early next spring. I love to sit inside and watch the rain! Maybe Alex got that from me! It's beautiful! The sound of the pitter patter is relaxing. Just after I snapped these pictures, I read this beautiful poem about rain, written by Pink Dogwood of Wandering Mind. Go check out her blog !

*******

morning rain

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rain drops played a song on the roof

the wind carried it away

lightening flashed a smile in the eastern sky

the trees danced with joy

the thunder clapped with excitement

my heart skipped a beat

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it is morning commute time

and the morning commuters

ducked there heads

got in their cars

annoyed at this rain

which could only mean bad traffic

.

but if only they would use this time

to slow down and watch the show

of light and sound and water

and feel their world

being washed anew

Can You Hear The Ocean?

The Sea is the current theme for Creative Tuesday!

I've always loved the sea, which is interesting for a life-long

midwestern girl! I have collected sea shells for most of my

life and will always choose the ocean for one of my top vacation

spots. I've been on four cruises and several other beach

vacations. The ocean truly is beautiful! It has a sound all of

it's own, too. It's that same sound you get when you put a

shell up to your ear! It's a vast, deep, echo...a unique

sound of the rolling of waves up onto the shore.

♪♪♪♪♪

Sketch is done with black ink and colored pencils.

It was copied from one of my own shells, a beautiful

gift a friend brought me from Japan years ago.

If you'd like to join in on Creative Tuesdays or visit Mr. Toast's blog, just click HERE.

This theme is due Monday, August 16.

♪♪♪♪♪

Proprietary Eponyms

Q-Tip or Cotton Swab?

Eponyms are names from which another name is derived. For example, Romulus gave rise to Rome and the word sandwich coming from the Earl of Sandwich. Proprietary Eponyms could also be called Genericized Trademarks. These are general words that are or used to be proprietary brand names. Kleenex, for example, is a brand of facial tissue, and yet the word is used to refer to tissues of any brand. Xerox is a brand of photocopy machine. The same word has also been adopted to refer to any brand of photocopy machine and we've even gone a step further, using it as a verb to describe the actual act of photocopying!

Here's a list of common defunct trademarks that are used generically:

• Aspirin
• Brassiere
• Cellophane
• Celluloid
• Escalator
• Granola
• Jungle Gym
• Kerosene
• Linoleum
• Saran Wrap
• Yo-yo
• Zipper

And there are active trademarks often used generically:

• Alka Seltzer
• AstroTurf
• Band Aid
• Chapstick
• Coke
• Kool-Aid
• Dixie Cups
• Dumpster
• Frisbee
• Hi-lighter
• Jacuzzi
• Jello
• Palm Pilot
• Play-Doh
• Polaroid
• Scotch Tape
• Skivvies
• Super Glue
• Teflon
• Thermos
• TV Dinner
• Walkman
• Windbreaker

So, do you say adhesive bandage or Band Aid? Jello or gelatin?

And honestly, I didn't know anybody said 'Skivvies'. LOL!

info gathered from fun-with-words.com and wiki.

post idea from my good friend David M. Lynch

Thursday my kitchen was a cupcake factory as I baked and

frosted cupcakes for a sweet little girl's birthday party!

I got to lick the frosting bowl. :) Mmm.

I'm off to another auction Friday! Hope I don't melt!

Wednesday I got to work for my auctioneer friends again!

This one was offsite so we were in the custom outfitted van

for our office. This was my view for most of the day..except

there was usually a line of bidders at my window

waiting to be registered and get their bidder numbers.

Then near the end, they are all lined up again to pay for

for the stuff they won! :) Do you

recognize that beautiful black Jeep Commander?

Yep...I had a good parking spot and kept my eye on it

all day! LOL! A huge thunderstorm blew through and

I'm so glad I didn't have the sunroof open! ha.

The day was fun, although the 95 degrees and high

humidity wasn't! I'm ready for jeans and sweaters!

Some Fruits...

...are just prettier on the inside! :)

Sometimes you just need a friend to guide you

when you've lost your way!

♥♥♥♥♥

"A friend loves at all times"

Proverbs 17:17

Hail and Record Sizes

On Wednesday of this week, August 4, 2010, we had a brief but

vicious thunderstorm with lightening and hail! We get hail fairly

often here, and it's usually the size of peas. This was the biggest

that I've ever seen in person! It was about the size of water chestnuts

and make quite a racket smashing against the windows and the roof!

It was so strange to walk outside ~ it was 95 degrees ~ and pick

up chunks of ice that were falling from the sky!

The largest hail ever recorded in the world fell right here in the

United States on June 22, 2003! In Aurora, Nebraska, hail damaged

trees, homes, cars and left small craters in people's yards.

The 75-year-old retired Aurora farmer, Dale Obermeier, is keeping this

stone in his freezer, wrapped in tin foil beside his Cool Whip and bread.

Hailstones exceeding 10 inches in diameter have been reported on

occasion, but the Aurora hailstone is the

world's largest hailstone ever officially recorded.

"I looked outside, and it was raining volleyballs," he said.

17.5 " in circumference and 2 pounds!

*****

Pretty cool, huh!? I hope the Obermeier's power doesn't ever go

out and that hailstone melts! What do you want to bet they

have a generator just to protect that piece of history? :)

And just 2 weeks ago, on July 23, this hailstone was found by Les Scott in Vivian, South Dakota. 18.62 inches in circumference and 1 pound, 15 ounces!

Less weight but bigger circumference...I wonder if they are fighting over the record?

Grocery Shopping

Teenage boys can eat a LOT!! So can their friends!!

The first thing I thought of when I saw this picture was,

'Hey, that could be me coming home from the grocery!'

Theme Thursday = Brown

Once upon a time there was a girl I knew, who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way had to do with her. ~~The Wonder Years

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Someone once threw me a small, brown, hairy kiwi fruit, and I threw a wastebasket over it until it was dead.” ~~Erma Bombeck

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I look into your great brown eyes, Where love and loyal homage shine, And wonder where the difference lies Between your soul and mine! ~~Josiah G

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Do not expect the world to look bright, if you habitually wear gray-brown glasses.

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I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns. ~~Winston Churchill

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Visit all of my friends at Theme Thursday by clicking HERE!