SL Core 100 Week 12 April 8-14, 2018
G&G visit for Dd's Birthday
Last Band and Orchestra class for the year
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| Sweet Sixteen! This is the exact cake Dd wanted...as if Hagrid had made it up just for her! |
Hello Friends!
Another crazy weather week for Dd as she turns another year older! Dd had her last Intermediate Band and Intermediate Orchestra classes, the concerts for those classes will be next week on Monday and Tuesday nights. Giz and Grampy drove up from Indiana and brought with them one day of warm weather before the snow and sleet returned. Dd was SO happy G&G were willing to come up and spend her birthday with her!!!
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| We had to shovel off new snow and ice the night before Giz and Grampy were due to leave. |
We had more than our usual share of car problems this week! The week started off with Dh taking the minivan to work, but by the end of our driveway, he noticed a flat tire. He drove back up our hill and switched to his truck. He didn’t get very far before he heard a very loud ‘bang!’ and had to turn around and head back home. He woke me up to tell me he had to take my auto. Needless to say, he was late to work! On Monday night we took the flat tire to Costco, where we had just bought it recently to get it patched. Oddly and irritatingly problematic was that Costco said they “couldn’t” fix the hole but we would have to buy a new one. Dh was really upset as this was really a very simple fix, but, Costco wouldn’t budge. Then, come to find out, they do not keep ANY Michelin tires in stock?!?!! We had just bought these four Micheline tires from them last summer. They only had one brand of tires there and it wasn’t a brand we had heard of. So Costco had to order a Michelin tire to be mailed/sent to the store that we could pick up in 5-7 working days. So, I was out of a car for most of the week and drove Dh to work and picked him up in the evening on the days that we had music lessons. Thankful Giz and Grampy were there to help with getting to church in their car. So for those of you keeping a tally, we own four automobiles and only had ONE working most of this week! 1/4 ratio. I asked a retired General Motors man who he takes his truck to for repairs and we did get the truck to his shop to evaluate. It was what Dh thought—a ball barring joint, ball barrings, and other things in that area and would take at least a week to repair.
Giz and Grampy Visit:
On Wednesday, Giz and Grampy came up to visit even though snow was in the forecast and winter still holding on. Giz continues to fret over her health and worries she might have to have another surgery. We were sure to have lots of great food for her here, as she has been losing way too much weight. Each day she’d go to my bathroom to weigh herself and was tickled to see she gained a pound each day! I’m not sure if that was due to the birthday croissants, Nutella, home-made cinnamon rolls, birthday cake, or the other many foods we had to celebrate! The past months she has complained of ‘not being able to eat,’ but here she did an amazing job of eating! It was only on the last two days that she slowed down some. She sees her doctor next week to get the results of tests.
UNO, Skip-Bo, and Pit:
Boy, did I enjoy getting to play cards with G&G again this visit. They sure do make our evenings super fun when they visit!
We rarely, if at all, turn on our TV the whole time they visit. We don’t want to miss a minute of our visit!
We rarely, if at all, turn on our TV the whole time they visit. We don’t want to miss a minute of our visit!
Grampy and Dh teamwork:
Whenever Grampy comes to visit, we usually have things to work on with his help and supervision. He is 82 years old (83 next month), but he is a hard worker and sharp as a tack. We had planned on him working on auto repair after helping with the easy task of doing the molding around the French door they put in last year in the Rec Room (in the basement). 
The door frame and wall were not square and the “easy” job became a shoring-up job quickly. After planning what they needed to buy, shopping at Lowe’s and figuring, the first day was gone. Then they spent a whole day trying to make everything flush and putting in boards or strips between the drywall and the door.
It was kind of a good thing that the first steps took so long because I couldn’t take the molding outside to stain and coat because the weather was way too cold to do the job outside, and that isn’t an inside job! I need to wait until we are closer to 70 degrees to get the wood finished.
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| New Water Heater Installed! |
Hot Water Heater:
Wouldn’t you know our water heater died while Giz and Grampy were here! And on Saturday night! And when we got a major ice storm that made the roads hazardous! Somehow Dh drove our minivan, which is horrible in the snow, with its new tire, to Lowe’s to buy a new one. So, on Sunday when most people were staying in because of the ice, Dh and Grampy were in the thick of it. Our church didn’t cancel, but literally, all the other area churches did. We had a guest speaker for a revival for special Friday, Sat, and Sunday sermons and I guess they felt they couldn’t cancel. I hear that 20-30 people did come for the Sunday sermon. Dd, and her friend FA were scheduled to sing a special for Giz, but that didn’t happen. They were going to dedicate: Just A Closer Walk With Thee to her. Grampy and Dh got the new heater in and even added a needed shut off valve to the water system in the utility room. The ironic part is that I had been talking to Giz the day before about our water heater, how I thought it needed to be changed out soon, because in Michigan you need to get chores like that done when the weather is good because you don’t want to have to bring a water heater, on a dolly, through snow! Which is exactly what they had to do the very next day!!!
Some Spring Signs:
The Mocking jay that sets up house on our deck returned to grade our home. As she flew near our window for the first time this year, our cat Dickens jumped at her and she flew off; not seen again. I’m not sure she will come back after a welcome like that!!! I do enjoy seeing her and hope she will come back.
Frogs have begun to sing again---on Wednesday, April 11th! Yay! Glad to see spring finally coming in; we had our FIFTH gas refill this week. Last year we only had to fill it twice!
Frogs have begun to sing again---on Wednesday, April 11th! Yay! Glad to see spring finally coming in; we had our FIFTH gas refill this week. Last year we only had to fill it twice!
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| Dd had yellow straw quarters in her nose for breathing. |
Birthday Gift: Face Molds:
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| She was a champ through the whole process, except she kept trying to talk, then started fingerspelling (sign language), as if I had time to stop and read!!! |
We bought Dd a nice camera for Christmas, which she agreed would be her Christmas AND her birthday gift, so I had to think creatively what I could do for her special day.
I always like doing a memory instead of a physical gift and this year I decided to make a plaster cast of her face and was able to get out two molds of her face before I ran out of plaster!
I always like doing a memory instead of a physical gift and this year I decided to make a plaster cast of her face and was able to get out two molds of her face before I ran out of plaster!
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| Dd's masks are the top two and my masks are the bottom two. She hasn't done anything to hers yet. |
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| Polymer Clay Set |
Birthday Gifts:
Aunt April & Uncle Greg sent along a major set of polymer clay and all the accessories that go with it, in the plastic drawer cabinet (see picture above, with each drawer full of goodies). Come to find out, it was THE major hit of gifts! Dd has spent hours making things with it! This was a really amazing gift.
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| Record Player in the box! |
Giz and Grampy’s gift to Dd was a new Record Player and the old records that once belonged to her father!
She enjoyed playing the old records! They also gave her a little money; right now Dd is thinking about putting it towards perhaps buying a new guitar, but she will need to save some more to get something so expensive. It is nice for her to have a goal too.
I had birthday gifts for Giz and Grampy to open too!
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| Dickens and Honeysuckle sharing a chair |
Chickens:
We had a very WINTERY week, but whenever it warmed up, even if just in the late afternoon I would get them out and into their chicken tractors for some grass and fresh air. We still have two Black Sex Link hens that remain bare-backed. I’m thinking they must be on the bottom of the power structure and that is probably the reason for their appearance. The chickens are all doing well!
Academic progress for the week:
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| Dd really has enjoyed this bible I bought her a while back. |
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| Our two copies |
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| I keep finding good books to add to my study for doing Entrusted. It feels great to dig into some meaty research, even though my Sunday School class isn't as into as I am! They humor me, at least. |
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| Grampy was hamming it up--putting on a silly tie with a plaid shirt! He has the best sense of humor! Giz threw a fit until he took it off after the picture was taken! |
Thursday: Made the cast of her face 1:00 hour
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| Dd made these pieces for me to have as a scented necklace. |
Polymer Clay: 4:00 hours
Friday: Polymer Clay: 4:00 hours
made molds of her face (two): 4:00 hour off and on, as she sanded and spackled and fixed them
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| The white Groot, before she painted him green! She also made some flowers. |
Saturday: Polymer Clay: 4:00 hours
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| Dd made a clay GROOT! (From Guardians of the Galaxy movie) |
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| She's been making heads |
Art Classes:
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| a new watercolor that she framed for me to hang |
Painting Studio w/ Mrs. Dykstra: 2:00 hours
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| This watercolor of Black-eyed Susan's is one of my favorites from this year!!! |
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| This is an oil painting |
Botany Art w/ Mrs. Dykstra: 1:30 hours (Turtle Head Plant)
Cooking:
Zucchini Bread: 4 loaves
Macaroni and Cheese & Mashed Potatoes (with cream cheese)
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| Honeysuckle had the concrete rock, holding down the birthday balloons on her while she was sleeping and didn't care one bit! Funny! |
Music Classes:
LAST class of Intermediate Orchestra: 1:30 hours (violin)
LAST class of Intermediate Band: 1:30 hours (alto sax)
Private Music Lessons:
Piano with Mrs. March: 30 min
Violin with Christie: 30 min
Strings Group: Ukulele: 1:00 hour
Music practice at home:
bits here and there, we haven't been able to keep track.
bits here and there, we haven't been able to keep track.
Fun Reading:
She has a few books she has been reading, but nothing official to share.
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| Isn't Agnes a peach?!! |
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