Growing Clothes?

Friday morning (remember the time of day for later) I needed to iron a skirt for work. Running a few minutes ahead of time (shock!), I quickly grabbed the ironing board and set it up in the spare room (obviously, I don't iron that much), plugged in the iron and set to work. As I set the iron on the cotton/steam setting, I realized that the iron was out of steam water, so I grabbed the jug of distilled water out of the closet and filled it up. Then I quickly ironed my skirt. After work I ironed a pair of long shorts for a casual rehearsal dinner that evening.

Sunday afternoon I finally cleaned up that room, putting the ironing board and iron away in the very messy closet that makes me wince every time I open the door. For some reason I felt like cleaning it up Sunday. So I start to pull things out for the trash pile and the Goodwill pile. I made it to a jug of fertilizer water for my African violet, pulled it out and watered the plant. It was then that I realized I had filled the iron with blue fertilizer water. Thankfully, it didn't turn my clothes blue and the iron was no worse for the wear. A few minutes later I came upon the jug of real distilled water. Now that I can see it on the floor of the closet, maybe I won't make that same mistake!

New Uses for My Washing Machine

So my shower liner was beginning to make my tub dirtier than it needed to be. You know how the orange soap slime drips down into the tub? Ew!! I've always hated scrubbing the shower curtain and mentioned it to Randy. He told me his smart mom just throws hers in the washer. Why didn't I think of that?

So Saturday I cleaned like a mad woman and gave it a try. In went the plastic liner with a couple of towels for scrubbing, detergent, and baking soda for good measure. One wash cycle and two rinse cycles later, out came a shiny clean liner. I'll admit, it's not quite as clean as scrubbing it myself but it's a whole lot less painful!

Home At Last...

Last weekend Randy & I had to take a flying (in the car) trip to Iowa to say goodbye to my grandpa. He was already home where he wants to be, but we were able to say goodbye in our own ways.

The last time we saw him was in April. We went to Iowa with my parents to get Grandpa's woodworking tools and bring them home to Randy's garage. We went straight to the nursing home in Kalona and walked back toward his room. I'll never forget the picture of him as we came around the corner to the sitting room. He was sitting at a little table with his head bowed over his extra large print Bible, Ezekiel I think. I've often wondered since then what God was speaking to him through His word.
He knew who we were that day. He might not have been able to say our names, but he knew Mom was his daughter and I was his granddaughter. And when we asked if he knew who we were, he responded with his typical humor, "Well, you know who you are."

I'm so glad he's home with the Lord and with Grandma. He's been wanting to go for so long...

Adventuring...

We have a friend at church who likes to take backroads on his motorcycle, and he often gives Randy good ideas for places to check out that have beautiful scenery. One of the drives he suggested is near our hometown. We mapped the drive up to Kanopolis Lake on Google to make sure that we didn't get completely lost. While we wondered how old the data was that Google pulled from, we had a great adventure and broke in the truck as an expedition vehicle...finally. And we again realized that not all of Kansas is flat!

This was called 2nd Ave. on the map and believe it or not had road signs.



This was Rainbow Road. It may have had two plowed fields that ran through it, but it did have a road sign!















We eventually got up to the lake and went hiking on the trails. More pics later.

Tomatoes, Grapes, and Girls

Tomatoes...I just picked a heaping ice cream pail full of romas. I've already made sauce twice and salsa a couple of times. Does anyone need tomatoes????

Grapes...tonight Randy and I were working in the yard when we caught a whiff of a sweet scent. Like a can of grape pop. Turns out it was our grapevine loaded with concords that are just about to ripen. I better call our moms for grape jelly and grape juice recipes. Num.

Girls...I had 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN) 3 and 4 year old in my class Sunday! Thankfully, I had 3 helpers too for the 15 potty breaks. They all did great! Other than one hiding under the table, the morning was surprisingly calm.

Why I Like Cake

This blog was named "I Like Cake" for a reason. In our house we like cake. Before I met Randy cake was...cake. My mom's chocolate cake was mmm yum, but it was for birthdays. Other chocolate cake might taste like chocolate styrofoam (Not so yum) .

And then I met Randy and his cakes. His cakes each have specific flavor and texture. Then he started playing with different combinations of dark chocolate and new textures of frosting and filling and ganache. Oh mercy. So I thought I should start posting pictures of his cakes. While it won't be a cake of the week (although there is almost a cake of the week), I'll try to get the best ones posted.

This latest (mostly eaten!) cake is a fluffy chocolate. The cake itself has great flavor, but combine it with the ganache and filling and it makes me melt. The thin blue layers are a light blueberry filling, a perfect compliment to the dark chocolate. On the middle layer he used his "special sauce," the perfect chocolate sauce for ice cream and now cake, too. The whole four-layer confection is topped with a light, glossy ganache that absolutely melts in your mouth! Now that's yum!

Weekend of Calm Chaos

This weekend seems to be a pivotal one. On the same Saturday, we scheduled the training for Reno County Backstage Pass and the GBC Women's Conference (Oops!) So, while I did get elicit help from my mom for early morning registration duties, I didn't get to enjoy the day with her. (Sorry, Mom!) Instead I got to go do a presentation and finish hosting a meeting for work...all before noon. Everything went off without a hitch...so far.

This weekend is also Promotion Sunday at church. That means that my 5 year olds and almost 5 year olds are moving up to the next class AND I get a brand new group of 3 year olds! For the last two years I've had mostly boys...very busy and often entertaining boys. These boys include one who very earnestly prayed for my dear friend "Danika in Danikastan" (I think he meant Afghanastan!).

Tomorrow it all changes. I am getting at least 6 girls and 1 new boy in my class. We'll have sorts of adventures in learning to sit still and to raise a hand instead of shouting and to be lady when wearing a skirt. And Lord willing, these sweet (I think) girls will learn a whole lot about the love of Jesus and how much He has done for them!