Het Gaat Lijk Lukken Bakken

We are safely returned from a weekend with the folks. I'm sleepy-tired, but everybody had a good time. Both girls got sufficiently soused with grandparental affection. Fresh raspberries and peaches were consumed in quantity.

The Great Lakes Feis was today, so we dragged Anneliese - who normally enjoys this, but was so upset about being parted from Grandma that she mostly cried and whined. New reel shoes were acquired - and new poodle socks. She MIGHT like these shoes better, as they have a bit stiffer sole and more pad in the interior. We've gone from Antonio Pacelli to Rutherford, for the sole reason that they fit. ;-) I twiddled a bit about saving the old one for Rori, but I think I'll sell them in the Academy newlsetter instead, and get Rori new ones if/when she takes it up herself. I suspect she will - the exposure at this age is going to give her a taste for the glitz.

Much talk was managed again on the trip, and more will follow on that later. But I'd like to look into making John a wheel lock pistol. ;-) *helpies, plz?* Nothing functional - just a decorative one to go with his German stuff.

I also raided Mom's cookbook collection for vintage elements. Hee! I was right, she DID have the Betty Crocker Cake and Frosting Mix Cookbook - it's a companion volume to the Cookie Book that was recently reprinted. She was more than happy to let me have them. The other scores were the 1972 printing of Farm Journal's Bread baking book, and a Dutch cooking booklet she got from Mrs. Wielenga - an old family friend we used to visit when we were kids.

Yeah for Vintage, useful, and sentimental value all rolled into one happy score!

Dad called tonight. Mom found the gift card in question today in the bedroom we usually sleep in. ;-)

I didn't lose it. Which is a good thing.

I feel like less of an idiot. At least about that.

We did spend some time tonight at the Tulip Festival tonight. Or at least, wandering Holland. Rori likes Elephant Ears (sort of an un-funneled funnel cake for those not in or near the MidWest), and corn dogs.

I got a shower gift for my cousin Jennifer - some darling little baby leg warms and some Sunday-go-to-meetin' burp cloths. It was all very sweet stuff from the TipToes - possibly the cutest little Boutique in Holland. And now I don't have to knit. ;-)

There is also a spice shop there that I hadn't noticed before. They have a cinnamon that has a better aroma than any of the varieties Penzeys carries, AND they carry cacao nibs. Plus I got to page through the Gingerbread cookbook I'd been considering. Me likey.

I anticipate an aggravating summer, full of too many hours of week and too many aggravations in general. But in the meantime, I get to decide what to get with my Birthday money:

1. A dress form (I want the Uniquely You, I think)
2. A milk pasteurizer - in the interest of buying a cow share at a local farm that is milking Jerseys. It do make a difference.
3. A grain mill - reallyfresh flour

Not sure it was SUCH a good idea to put Rori and Anneliese's respective IEP/Conference meetings in the same week.

Whilst I realize the need to justify continued services to the state (especially once pointed out to me as the reason for a lot of the negativity by Anneliese's teacher), it does tend to be a serious, serious downer.

Rori will now also be receiving Occupational Therapy services for a perceived Fine Motor delay. O_o The cognitive delay I'm not sure exists. But it's all enough to really make you lose your cool.

Anneliese is Anneliese. Her conferences tend to upset me less, as I've had to readjust my expectations so many times, I don't really have any, anymore.

Which, now I think about it, is rather my take on life these days. No expectations whatever.

...though some days I'd like to.

Time/life eater #1: Learning Joomla!, which is fun, but oi.

If you're so inclined, I've just started to port info over. I have to rework a lot of the code in the template. For now, the box on the left is there to eventually hold the Secondary nav. Next, I need to put in the code to collapse the left column on the home page and make it disappear. For whatever reason, the only link I have up isn't working. No idea what's going on there. From the menu manager, it looks fine. From the front end... not so much.

I'm also not a graphic designer, so it's a bit clunky. Hopefully, a little dinking with the CSS will help both the nav bar and the date bar will eventually go ALL the way across the screen. I also might have to shrink the banner a bit to get the search bar to stay where I want it most of the time.

Still and all, it's coming, and I'm learning. It currently lives at www.insaneaboutgarb.com/joomla. I will change the folder name before I really take it public, but for the moment, this is where I kick the tires. Usually, they fall off.

#2 - The infamous trip to Chicago. Not bad, but could have gone better. I'd avoid the Ambassador East again - clean enough, but very worn. And the staff wasn't really on the ball until day 2. There was a bit of frustration involved in that whole business. You couldn't have let us know that the revolving door FOLDS the first 3 times we struggled in with it folded through the side door? Grrrr.

Anneliese had two rather major metldowns. The first - she sobbed through the Sesame Street starshow that she loved so much last time. No idea what that was about. The second - while we waited in the lobby of the Ambassador 30 minutes while our room was being cleaned. *eye roll*

BUT - both girls seemed to like the aquarium, and we had pizza at Gino's East. Plus a stop at the American Girl store and a dolly for Anneliese.

Given the hair-trigger state of my eldest, however, we opted NOT to go up to Kenosha or even attempt to get to Northshield's Coronation. Instead, we did a bit more of the Magnificent Mile, then wandered up to Schaumburg and had lunch at the Rain Forest cafe. Which Anneliese loved and Rori hated - apparently, gorillas a extremely frightening.

And, of course, a visit to the Disney Vacation Club outlet. ;-) Here, the hope lays like a deep snow. Someday.....

As usual, by the time we got there, everybody was crabby and we'd used up most of our vacation budget - so I once again missed out on browsing through Janie and Jack or Hannah Anderson. *sigh*

Whilst downtown, we did get to visit Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Whole Foods was OK. Sort of a Fresh Market with less selection and three aisles of supplements and bath salts in the middle. Trader Joes - what is the appeal, here? It was like an organic Sav-a-Lot. Blech.

At least Rori seems to be making sounds that her speech therapist is happy about, if not actual words. *sigh* What did I do for my children to deserve this? (Don't answer that).

Off to pound my head on the website some more....

Most of the resounding horrors of the past week seem to be now winding down. Which is a good thing. Eli is apparently starting to recover, though still faces more surgery on the leg and hopefully won't lose any more of it.

Rori has been a little up and down in terms of her sleep habits. Up this AM at 5, but back down at 7 - which is a good thing, since she has her infant program today. She did sign for "more" this morning, and said "mama" - though both were relatively indiscriminate rather than with distinct intent. *sigh*

I picked up the new issue of Inspirations with my JoAnn's coupon - some cute stumpwork patterns and an adorable rag dolly. Wonder if the girls would like one.

The website is turning out to be an awfully steep learning curve, but progress is being made. I've got a base template, just can't figure out how to get my graphics to display, which is irritating. *sigh* But once learned, it will be a good thing. Joomla! is a definite upswing for managing the site. I'm just being fussy and wanting it to look like MY site and not a free template.

Time goes by so quickly these days. And John seems to move so slooowwwwly. I must resist the urge to get out and push, as it were. Hopefully he's spending more time doing the online job hunt in Chicago/D.C. than I am currently aware of.

In the meantime, plans continue for the Extended SCA/Relocation/Spring Break Road Trip. I sort of suggested that a reciprocal D.C. Road trip would logically be in order, but got shot down by Mr. I-Don't-Want-To-Spend-10-Hours-In-The-Car-With-The-Kids. Each way.

Just peeked at my website and it really needs updating. My Joomla! book should be here tomorrow. And more research needs to be done on how big an external drive I need to create my "portable desktop." Hopefully 8G will do it. Hrrrmmmm. Especially if I upload then transfer files to another drive and remove them from the main Flash.

The Novartis rep, meanwhile, has learned that I can be influenced if you give me practical ways to apply things. So, I've made his A-list, and snagged an invite to an overnight roundtable with Spa privileges. Yea, me!

The day began badly, with me nearly bludgeoning my husband with a kitchen towel. The reasons really are unimportant - excessive build-up of frustration. On the upside, it had a motivating effect on him. He now has recommendation letters from former superiors of high rank to submit along with his application. That can only be a good thing. (He's feeling silly enough now to refer to D'artagnan as "Perry the Catapus."

I DID manage to finish a birthday cake for my boss. The frosting slid on one side, but likely was my own fault, for not sticking it in the fridge before frosting. It's the Sweet and Salty Cake from "Baked". A three layer chocolate cake with caramel filling and chocolate-caramel ganache. What it lacks in looks, it should make up for in taste. ;-)

I also got in a good (long!) talk with Odrianna (fiannaharper) regarding this and that. Apparently, it's not just that I'm crazy. Things around me are also crazy. So there. Pttthhhbbttttt! Looking forward to an in-person natter at RUM. Maybe Sarafina can join us. Ideas on rebuilding and maintaining quality for Kingdom-level Academy/University programs can be bounced back and forth!

Master Henry has had to cancel his class on Advanced Tailoring. *Sad face* But, I have another class already lined up, a few more to firm up, and I suppose I can teach myself, if need be. I should add up what I've got, and try to see what would balance things out best. I have my notes on the Dutch gowns, of course. I also have plenty of time to make a variety of breads - desem, ale-barm leavened, pan forte. Sort of the right time of year for the precursor to Hot Cross Buns, wot? I may not quite have time enough to get notes and samples together for an overview of spice cookies in continental Europe. I probably could manage something on whitework or Klosterstitch. Sarafina, I will forward you an update very soon!

Hopefully the shoulder muscle cram that started yesterday has been beaten and heated into submission. And hopefully I won't have TOO much surgery tomorrow, especially as I'm working Friday.

Oh, and I got actual kisses from Rori today. ;-) She blew a couple, then just planted a couple. Baby kisses are good.

Well, John had a near-death experience last weekend. He went to Lake City to get our meat - we split a side of beef with my parents. On the way home, he came around a curse to find, not the straight-away he expected, but rather a 90 degree turn. With no warning. (Must be somebody else hit the sign ;-) He immediately panicked, thinking about missing Anneliese's wedding, and Rori's graduation, while the Garmin (and it's weighted stand) flew across and smacked into the passenger side window. He was, however, driving the Audi. Ilsa dug her claws into the pavement and swung around the turn with the attitude of "What? I'm only doing 60 and it's a 90 degree turn?" Heh. Love that suspension. All is well.

Mistress Sarafina gave me an extra track for RUM, and I think I STILL may have managed to overbook. Eh, I can't count. Or rather, I forgot Duke Eliahu wanted 1 1/2 hours per class. There still may be things that don't come through. And it's a better problem to have than the reverse. In addition, I might just bring some notes myself and ask a few of the latecomers to bring THEIR notes. So that, should a teacher or two no-show, I can fill in the gaps.

The girls are doing well. Anneliese is getting better and better about following along at Dance Class. Still not QUITE sure what we'll do for the month of January. Linsey won't be able to be there, as she's being forced to pick up a 101 course in order to graduate. (Been there.) So I'll ask her in a week or two if she thinks Anneliese can go by herself, or if one of her classmates might be able to fill in.

In addition, the Grand Rapids Ballet Company has put Anneliese on the waiting list for their Pre-ballet class. I think we'll let her try that alone, unless Linsey really feels otherwise and is available THAT day, too. But they do have some experience with Autism and are willing to try it. Now I'm debating about taking her to see the Nutcracker, to gauge her interest level.

I bought some steel bones for the lacing strips on the bodice of my dutch gown. And some buckrum strips for the waistband, as well as some wool for the hem. Hopefully I can play around with that some, soon. And hopefully I'll be feeling a little more up to it.

( Cut for female details - enter at your own risk )

All-in-all, hoping for a better weekend to come, as we're visiting the folks. We can't go home for Thanksgiving, as I have to work. Which was OK with Mom and Dad, as I think they're planning to go up north and visit my Grandmother anyway.

And, it should be noted, a mere 3 weeks until vacation!!! I nudged my travel agent today, and she's mailing out the paperwork/itinerary/tickets tomorrow. Yeah!!! Orlando, here we come! All that's left to do is finish gathering all the stuff we need to pack, set up the stroller rental, set up the in-room sitter, and but the Photopass CD. Keen.

Wow, what a weekend!

( Cut, cause it got long and rambly )

I'm not 100%, but definitely recovering from the evil Virus. It ran through everybody in the house last week. After 6 days, I thought I was safe. Nope. I had to cancel all my appointments yesterday - which means today will be rough. And I look like white trash, since I was vomiting hard enough to end up with a black eye.

Had lots of time to think things over though. Maybe instead of replacing that brocade undergown with plain linen, I'll do a quilted silk petticoat in coral? Whaddaya think?

I also want a copy of "Baked" by Matt Lewis. I DID find the Red Hot Velvet Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream recipe online, which I may make this weekend for Dale's Birthday. But I want a lot of the recipes in that book!

Also got our dining reservations made for Disney. I'm still going to check a few here and there to try to move them around. BUT we got Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. ;-) Good fun.

I also concede that I need to learn to listend to ablackram 40 mg of pred = not enough. 50 mg = not enough. You were right, I should have started at 60 and been done with it by now. I are a chicken. And it gives me hot flashes.

Working tomorrow. Maybe I'll try to go raspberry picking on Monday. Next weekend - up to CHarlevoix to hang with the folks. SO lazy. No ambition.