Friday Fourteen

Wow! It's been a while!

There's not a Friday Fourteen that I know of, but I missed yesterday's Thursday Thirteen and I have had so much going on lately that I can fill you in on 14 things.

1. I went ten days ago to have some dental work done. Thankfully I didn't have to have a root canal! Ten more days until I get my permanent crown.

2. The boys' schooling is going nicely. We've all gotten into a good routine and are usually finished with everything by 12:30 p.m. Jacob is doing well with his reading, too. I made him some flash cards for practice, and I add to them each time he learns a new sound. He's proud of his progress.

3. My friend Kim and I have decided to start meeting each Wednesday morning to work out. This Wednesday was our first day. We walked about 3/4 mile or so on the outdoor track, then went inside to use some of the weight equipment. We finished up with some crunches, then sat and relaxed for a few minutes in the sitting area of the dressing room. I'm very sore today, especially my right arm. At times I can hardly bend it. I think I'll take some pain reliever before going to bed tonight so I can sleep. Last night I had a hard time finding a good position for my arm and woke up several times.

4. Billy and I watched One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest last weekend. It wasn't great, but it held my attention enough to watch to the end. It was great seeing Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito when they were young. DeVito reminded me so much of someone else, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. I want to read the book now because I didn't understand part of what happened in the movie. One more book to add to my ever-growing list.

5. This weekend I'm hoping to watch The Lake House. Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves are in some of my favorite movies. Anyone seen it?

6. Caleb is learning about ancient Greece right now, so we've been reading some Greek myths. He loved the story of Echo and Narcissus. Today we read about King Minos, Theseus, and the Minotaur. He really liked that one, too. He thought the story of Daedalus and Icarus was okay. Next week we'll read about Arachne, Hercules, and Odysseus. I'm really enjoying this part. I remember reading and falling in love with Greek myths when I was in 8th grade.

7. I've been working hard with my SWIM Secretary duties the last few weeks. With the new semester starting up, I've been busy inputting all the new wives' names into our database. Then we decided to clean up our email account. I didn't realize there was a limit on the number of sent emails each day and ended up blocking the account. We decided to get another account elsewhere, so then I was busy researching free email services and determining which one would serve us best. Then I had to get it set up and export our address book - nearly 1,000 email addresses. Now I have to count up the hours I spent doing all that so I can include it in my September monthly report.

8. In other SWIM news, we had our Fall Opening last Saturday. There were about 95 wives present, with about half of them new to the seminary. The program was good and several wives signed up for various programs.

9. Caleb decided he doesn't want to be in the science fair after all. I think he got aggravated because I went from Home Depot to Lowe's to a nursery without finding what I was looking for. I had decided to go back to Lowe's to get what we needed, but he said he didn't want to do it. He just wanted to get the few groceries we needed from Wal-Mart and go home. There's always next year...

10. Tonight is the last night of new Monk and Psych episodes until January. Too bad! But at least Survivor starts back up next week. The week after that is CSI, CSI: New York, and ER.

11. The 51st Annual Greek Food Festival is in two weeks! I can't wait to go back so I can eat some more souvlaki. I might even try some spanikopita (spinach and feta cheese fried in phyllo). They'll also have baklava sundaes there. That sounds good. Really sweet, but good. Oh, and Constantine Maroulis will be there, too. He's supposed to demonstrate a recipe Friday night and play two short concerts on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. They need to book Yanni.

12. I've got a full month of bookings for October - 4 cooking shows. I'd like to get one more show. I've got another lady who's very interested in the stoneware that's on special next month, but I haven't been able to get in touch with her. Maybe I'll be able to reach her tomorrow...

13. Pampered Chef has some really good-looking recipes out this fall/winter. I can't wait to start trying some. One I'm wanting to make next week is the Mediterranean Hummus Pizza. I'll get Billy to pick up some of the good hummus from Fadi's. I'm also wanting to make some Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies. (I think that's what they're called.) I tried some Truffle Brownie Cups the other night at our PC Cluster meeting. They were sooo good, and they look really easy to make.

14. Sundays are now chock-full of activities. After church and lunch, we'll all be home for a couple hours before heading back for the afternoon. I'm attending a Bible study series called "The Truth Project" (by Focus on the Family) for the next 11 weeks. The boys have started AWANA, too. It begins right after the Bible study session is over. I'll be helping some in Cubbies this year. (They've added a new group for 2- and young 3-year-olds called Puggles.) Billy will be using the 4 hours we're gone each Sunday afternoon to work on his online class and other school work.

Now that things are slowing down again (or so it seems), I hope to get back to blogging regularly.