Beef with Cheesy Names

Notice the food terms? I do like food. It does not like me as much as it used to; or better put, it likes me too much and wants to hang around much longer than I would like it to!

My girls like to tease each other (lovingly) by calling each other cheese nicknames. Things they do are translated into terms like "macaroni with cheese," "extra cheese pizza," "string cheese," ( for our diminutive daughter), "cheese puffs" (for our round-cheeked girl), etc. You get the picture. This is all done with laughter and joy. Really!

If I could just get them to redirect this creativity toward my blog. It was their idea in the first place! :) I do not like the name of this blog. So I am going to poke fun at it just for something to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The current name evokes pictures of six unmoving and massive figures like those seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. Kind of creepy. I don't want to be one of those. I have often referred to my "Jensen" legs as "tree-trunk" legs. I really don't wish to be reminded of that every time I log on. That also reminds me too much of the food issue. Hmmm... how about a flowery name like Evergreen? Too reminiscent of an old pop song I never really knew well or liked in the first place.

Branching Out? Tree House? (Nut House in Certain Seasons), Greentrees? Willow? Redwoods and Saplings? Aspen Grove? The Orchard. THE Grove. Groovy Grove. Run, Forest, Run. Magnolia Blossoms for the girls. Alders for the elders. MAPLE for the boy (programming pun). Cedars of Lebanon.

OK, Mockernut Hickories it is. For today.

To see the fine features of this marvelous tree, cut and paste the following link:
http://www.trees-online.com/types_of_trees/mockernut_hickery.shtml

Thanks for enduring this post. And posts are made of trees, so it's all good. (And still corny....ahh, food again....) I'll spare you any additional pain. End of post.

Summer

The kids are back from Denver. They ended up on a different flight because of delays with their original flight. The wonderful folks at Midwest Airlines served them well! We got them back an hour earlier, even though they left an hour later than originally scheduled. This worked out well - even with the extra security check they had to endure. (Nothing was confiscated.)

They came home, full of excitement and refreshment, eager to show all their pictures and tell us everything that happened the entire time. It is SO good to have them back! Thank God they are safe and happy and blessed! Thank you to all who hosted them!!!!! You made their summer an unforgetable one! They enjoyed seeing you all again and enjoyed the beautiful mountain weather; albeit a bit colder than they have been used to!

Joel is back to work, Aliya is looking for paid work, playing soccer, and enjoying summer life. Abby & Elle have a clean-swept room (thanks to Elle and I while they were gone), and it feels great! They are enjoying friends, the pool, and getting tans with lots of sunscreen. I have tried my hand at the tanning with lots of sunscreen, but not much is happening for me. I have more freckles. The girls have a few more adorable freckles, and much more melanin everywhere else. How are we related?

The house is taking shape. Brian has repainted our kitchen, put up the moulding under the new counter tops, and is working on replacing the piping in our house (polybutelane). Then he can have a drywall party to help finish the basement. I can't wait!

I need to do some gardening. So gardening friends, infuse some of that love of the earth and the great outdoors into me. I have weeds growing considerably larger than my azalea bushes. Why do I not pull them? Because they are spikey and stubborn. Does this say anything about my spiritual life? Hmmm..... I have a flower bed up front with lots of various "leaves" and no flowers. Time to redo it. My gardenia bush is blooming, then failing. Time to prune off the old buds and allow some new ones to appear. They smell so wonderful! We have trees growing where we thought we had pulled them. How do we keep up? But I am not whining. I love my yard; I just need to love it enough to do more about it! That is on the agenda today. It is not quite so hot, so it is a perfect time to get going.

One interesting thing happened. We had petunias (?) growing in our front porch pot last year. We bought a million of all the same color and planted them everywhere in all the pots we had. This was my idea of creative gardening. We let them die out at the end of the season and did not, ahem, do anything about cleaning them out and replacing them with seasonal flowers in the fall. Now we somehow have a new, freshly blooming pot of petunias on our front porch. I have done nothing but let them grow.

So is the lesson that I really just need to let nature take its course? Or do I really need to pull those weeds? Don't answer that.

Too MUCH sugar???

Bridgette Ellise

I cannot resist. We were at the pool last night with Elle, Bridgette (sp?), Annie, Maggie and Camille Ellise. They had a wonderful time trying to cool off. Elle came out of the pool at one point with a tiny cricket in her hands. Bridgette saw the cricket ready to leap as Elle opened her hands to show me the little guy. I heard this tiny, cheery voice (Bridgette's) call out so earnestly, "Hop away, little guy!" Sounds silly, but it made me laugh! Thank you, Gidge, for being so CUTE!

Charley

With our three oldest kids in Denver on a mini vacation, we have had the pleasure of keeping a neighbor's labradoodle, Charley. Charley is a delightful, fluffy, very large, and perpetually smiling fellow. There is nothing not to like about Charley! Aspen has pretty much tolerated him, but there have been no fights or ugliness to speak of.

Today was a breakthrough for our usually timid Aspen. She began the day today by zipping frantically around the furniture and house at full speed - commonly known as the schnoodle burst of energy. In tow was Charley, who bounded right after her. He could never match her low center of gravity or her blazing schnoodle speed, but he was a great sport and all game. Aspen established herself as the top athlete in agility today. Charley established himself as the faithful, ever-ready buddy, always looking to play, regardless of who wins.

His enthusiasm seems to have rubbed off on Aspen. She has been picking play fights with Charley today and making him chase her. They have run, wrestled, teased, and rested together all afternoon. Yesterday, Aspen spent all day in the corner of the loft away from Charley and her crate. Today, she is curled near Charley's giant paws as they both lie in the middle of the loft floor. They have become friends at last.

Quiet Around Here

It has been very quiet around here. Joel, Aliya & Abby flew to Denver last Tuesday. They are having a lot of fun catching up with friends, seeing old sights, and trying to adjust to the time change difference of two hours. Aliya has enjoyed staying with her friend, Rachel, whose graduation Aliya attended on Saturday. Congrats, Rachel! Abby has been enjoying her time at the Longtines, and is giving and getting her fill of silliness, singing and laughter. She is grateful to have time to spend with her dear friend, Stephanie. Joel has enjoyed hanging out with his good friend, Bryce, doing things they used to do "way back when," and sleeping and eating and hanging out some more. Joel also had the chance to work for his first boss, Mr. Doyle, for a few profitable days. What a blessing! Joel also had to cram for a chemistry subject test (SAT) to take this past Saturday. He felt like he did well; we shall know soon enough. If he gets a certain minimum score, he can skip re-taking chemistry (which did not transfer to Tech from FRCC) and jump right into his electrical engineering major at Georgia Tech this fall.

Here at home, Gabrielle has had quite the busy social calendar. Thanks to her friends, she has had plenty to do; swimming, sleepovers, baking, visiting, babysitting, etc. Saturday evening, we met some friends at a mini bluegrass concert at the Red Top Mountain Restaurant/Lodge. We drove a mere half hour away to feel like we were in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, listening to some rather entertaining songs and lyrics. Many of us came to the conclusion that one of the musicians had the exact profile of our friend, John. I still think John resembles Craig T. Nelson. :)

Brian and I have been enjoying the peace and quiet at the same time we have been missing our three oldest offspring! The kids can attest to the fact that they are being perpetually bothered by daily phone calls, text messages, etc.

Soon they will be home, with many memories to keep with them. I hope the next few days seem to go slowly for them and quickly for us!

New Place

Howdy All:

I'm trying this again. Still uninspired, I am attempting to rebirth my blog and keep it going!
Have fun waiting for the latest - and hopefully reading, listening, and seeing the latest as well!