Catching Up ... Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall flu and cold season has made its way through our house. It has hit everyone of us...which is probably good so we can be done with it!

We're going through clothes and putting away the summer ones and pulling out the winter ones. Just discovered that the winter ones for Beth and Lil don't fit anymore. Guess that shouldn't surprise us. Except for me, the rest of us needs new clothes. Jim lost so much weight this past year, he swims in his clothes. Lilly also has lost weight, but thas grown taller, too. In fact, she is only one inch shorter than me! Beth is still at 5'3-1/2'. The budget is having to stretch because of all the needs for clothes, especially since we just got a new car! When I was growing up, my mom made all my clothes. Wouldn't that be a novelty now? My sewing machine is a dust collector in a storage closet. I should be ashamed of myself!

I just got another computer for the house. Well, for me, really. With school assignments and printed requirements, the other one has graduated on to the teens. Of course, the baby computers each of them has won't suffice. Right!

Fall has brought cat mayhem in our house. The 3-yr old neutered male and the 6-mo old non-spayed female are confused. It's hillarious, but one must be quick to get out of the way when the race is on. And, the race is not limited to the floor! They have grown invisible wings...taunting each other from the top of the frig just is only one of the antics to stay away from. Then, if one of them has decided to take a cat nap on top of the frig, and you are not aware of it, there will be an unexpected crash; especially when sneeking out in the kitchen to get some ice cream when the freezer door is opened at 3 am. That's right...a cat and some freezer items will scare the hell out of you as they crash on your head. Not to mention the screeching of a disturbed cat!

Looking forward to seeing the CNN Heros show later tonight. It motivates one to become more aware of the needs of those right here in our own country. In fact, in our own neighborhoods. A surprise bag of groceries on the door step of a neighbor will go a long way toward boosting your own selflessness. Try it!

Can you believe that there are idiots who pitch a tent outside the doors of retailers who have scheduled 2-3 am to open their doors for BLACK FRIDAY. Where did that name come from anyway? You won't find me there; in fact, not at all during the day. Catalog ordering is a hit in our house!

Time to order from Pizza Hut. Yes, PH has the very best chicken alfredo fettucini...to die for! The next best thing to a roast turkey with dressing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, peas, etc., etc., etc. Eat your heart out! I won't have as many dishes to clean up as you will !!!

An Update...On a Saturday...in Southern Illinois

Haunted Chittyville Schoolhouse

Well, so Lilly and Marie (her friend) weren't very impressed with the haunted schoolhouse. Took 20 minutes waiting in line to go 20 minutes through the semi-scarry haunting experience; all for $12.00. They agreed it was a waste of money. Chittyville must have a good PR person...website proclaimed more than it was. Oh, well.

Other Stuff

First quarter ended and Beth got A's and B's, Lilly got A's and B's and one C+. For them, it is a great start of the year! Not much else to say about that, other than keep up the good work girls.

We've been checking out the fall colors, although it rained this week, so lots of leaves are on the ground now. Our Crab Orchard Lake tour was probably the best we'll get this fall.

We've been fighting fleas and other bugs trying to get into the warm house. So, we had to go all out and use the flea defogger, and Advantix the cats. Bethany and I get all the bites. Lilly and Jim seem to be immune to them. Now, the laundry room is loaded. Even all the bedding has to be washed.

This coming week will be filled with more haunting jaunts, getting out winter clothes and putting away summer ones, being sure the lawn is set for the winter, etc.

See a few current shots.. sorry, I'm camera shy!

Just Another Saturday - Almost!

Prayers for Seven wrongly-imprisoned Baha'is in Iran

Please take a moment to say a prayer for these wrongly-imprisoned Baha'is in Iran.

http://iran.bahai.us/2009/10/14/october-18-trial-of-seven-imprisoned-baha%E2%80%99i-leaders-likely-to-be-postponed/

Gotta Bomb 'da House

Yep...the fleas have attacked us. I HATE them! They love me. This is not a mutual relationship! They have to go!!! With the weather changing, these little buggers have found the warmth, two furry resorts, and lots of human skin to attack. I know, yuk! So, for the survival of the fittest, we must bomb our domicile. Then, laundry, laundry, laundry. I really needed this right now.

To Rake, To Mow...that is the question

With our temperatures running in the upper 40's and 50's now, the grass has decided to slow down its summer growing pace. But, it still looks sort of ratty. Then, the leaves have started to decorate the lawn, but not really enough to do anything about it yet. And, the eaves on the house are growing plants! That is a task that I'll have to call someone to handle. I'd rather cuddle up with a blanket, hot chocolate, and a good book.

Chittyville

The haunted school is still calling all teenagers for a cheap thrill! We'll see if our teens are going tonight. Since today is somewhat spooky now, why not make the night spookier? Lucky for them, I found $2 coupons for the entrance fee, so now each teen only has to cough up $10 to get in to this crazy excuse for fun event.

Farewell, Bear

Our little MinPin has found a new home! His new owner is Isaiah, a 3 year old little boy. He has a new fenced yard, and lives on a farm in Rosiclaire, IL. Funny thing, that town sounds familiar...to those of you who followed us when we moved to Southern Illinois. We spent our first month in that little town. Ironic.

I've decided it's a day for abandon...the color-turning leaves and other fall scenery are calling me. It's a day for pictures. Until next post.....

The Haunted Month...October is upon us!

It's called 'The Haunting of Chittyville School. It is an old elementary school that has been renovated to be a Halloween Haunted House. Live ghosts are a spooky feature, along with dark, dark, dark, narrow hallways with thingies that reach out to touch you....Scared yet? Well, it's the hottest thing here in our corner of the world. For the next two weekends I'll be carting teens back and forth. I guess the $12 per person admission isn't the worst way to spend money for a few cheap thrills!!!! Check it out! http://www.wix.com/ucmj22/chittyville


As I hear about winter weather stories from friends around the country, in our neck of the woods, we're having misty wet air, cooler temps (45 degrees), and trees slowly turning color to show the splendor of autumn. We live in this pocket where the weather is not extreme cold or hot (well, maybe hot). Certainly, better than Chicago, Fargo, Denver, etc. Precisely why I left North Dakota 54 years ago!!!!!!

That's it for this morning! It feels like a day to cuddle up with a fuzzy blanket and watch a good movie; or, maybe just take a day-long nap!

Later...

Our Hiatus is Finally Over!

Unbelievable! The gap in posting from last time to now says something about our lives. In a nutshell, here's what's happened:

• We moved from one location in Carbondale to another.
• Immediately following that move, Jim had a heart attack followed up with bypass surgery.
  It has been a long road to recovery. Recovery has been very challenging and is still a work in progress.
• Lilly spent six months with her grandma and dad in Chicago for the first semester of 2008.
• Lilly is now in 8th grade at Carbondale Middle School
• Bethany is now a freshman at Carbondale Community High School
• Jokingly, Bethany is called our 'wild child'! She is the life of the party, and has gobs of friends, including a boyfriend!
• Lilly's library of reading fills her floor to ceiling bookselves. She is an avid Web surfer, and is our resident veterinarian.
• Me? I just celebrated (don't know about that) my 62nd birthday! Doesn't seem possible!
  After having double knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago, I can now dance a jig! Ah, not really!

 Our pets have filled our life with laughs and groans. Bear, our MinPin, chews on anything, especially if it's leather...like my shoes! Our tabby tom cat now weighs 18 lbs., and has given up jumping over the pet gate. And, our latest edition, Isabella, our little black cat, keeps us all running.

Isabella and Tabby Tom Cat

Tabby will never have a sedentary life and may loose some weight with a new adopted sister in his life. There is nothing too high to climb on or too scary to investigate. I opened the freezer one day, and Isabella fell down into my arms!

Bear the MinPin

Unfortunately, we've made the decision to find Bear a new home. His upkeep requires more than any of us is able to focus on at this time. With Jim's health, the girls' schedules, and my trying to hold together everything in the family, poor Bear gets left behind. He will do much better in a home with smaller children, a loving family, and a yard he can call his own!

The latest in the saga of our lives is a new car: a PT Cruiser. We're still getting used to the differences from our habits in the other car. It is fun, though, to see the sky through the sun roof, listen to music on a Bose system, and when folding down the back seat having lots of space to haul stuff, like groceries.

Oh, yes...a couple of other things since our last post:

• I was so happy to attend our daughter's college graduation in Dayton, OH last November. It gave me an opportunity to spend some time with Reyhan and Razi, two of my beloved grandchildren.
• Then, in September, I visited son Greg, his wife Jody, and Austin and Natalie, two more of my beloved grandchildren in Aptos, CA. That's about five miles from Santa Cruz; and for my Baha'i friends, it's just down the mountain from Bosch Baha'i School.

So...that's it for now. I'll try to keep up our 'happenings', and in the meantime, visit my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/mari.hurt?ref=name

10 days...and counting!

This week is "shopping for school" week. We always have double trouble when shopping for school supplies. Finally this year, we will take each girl separately to purchase their supplies and clothes. You'd think we might have tried this before!!! Anyway, the count is on...

Sorry, we still don't have current pictures to post.

We attended a wedding this weekend, in the 100+ degree weather...an outside ceremony. At least the reception/dinner was held in a very air conditioned indoor building. We were told by one of our friends who just returned from 6 weeks in Saudi Arabia that this weather is cool compared to the 140 degrees they experienced while there. Yuk! Not sure how they breath in that sweltering heat!

A short FYI on Jim's surgery....his face looks great! There's barely any scaring from the stiches. He even has feeling on the skin where the nerves are reconnecting again. Yah!

Not much else today...

Another Summer To Remember

It's been a summer of surgeries, camps, and babysitting.

There's been no clicking of pics, so you'll have to visually imagine our experiences.

Jim had his face rearranged...following removal of malignant cancer tumors on his cheek and neck. After 240 stitches, the healing has left virtually no scar. He just has to shave a little higher on his right cheek, since the plastic surgery pulled his skin around a bit.

Mari got new knees! It was one of those things that couldn't be avoided any longer. About one month after the ordeal, I wondered why I had done this. But, now, four months after surgery, I'm so glad I did it. If anything hurts, it's my feet and back. There's still a couple of things that are irritating...getting up from a chair, getting in and out of a car, and...oh, well I won't go into that one.

Lilly spent a whole week at a girls camp in South Eastern Illinois. It was called Camp Ondessonk. Such a name. Activities included swimming, hiking, crafts, other things, but most important to Lilly was the horseriding. She came home exhausted. Being her second camp experience, she is looking forward to the next one...next week! It's only a three day, day-camp. After that, it's time to start getting ready for school!

What's Beth been up to? She has learned to care for infants to toddlers. Lots of the time she spends the night or even several days at one family...sort of like a nanny. She loves it. She'll be busy next week at the sports day-camp also. And, of course, getting ready for school is the next task.

We have friends whose son is getting married the first week in August. It will be the first Baha'i wedding the girls have gone to. They are so excited. Both girls have dressy dresses and shoes. There should be some pictures of that later on this blog. Watch for them.

* * * * * * * * *

We'll try to keep this blog updated, since it's been ages since we last posted. Feel free to leave comments. We'd like to know what you think, or suggestions on what you would like to know.

Happy New Year....All!

It's been some time since there has been an opportunity to post new comments on this blog. As everyone, we've been very busy for the first couple of months this year. Although, one of the most exciting things to happen was the day after Christmas when dear friends of our chose to have their private wedding in our home! It was lovely, and such an honor to host their memorable moment. Congratulations Mr & Mrs Gabriel Morris! Gabe and Bethany have become our 'adopted' children. See photos...

Happy Ayyam'i'Ha!

Our Baha'i community had another exciting party to celebrate friendships and family with an annual winner...a white elephant gift exchange. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what Ayyam'i'Ha means...here's a brief overview:

Intercalary Days (Ayyam-i-Ha) February 26 to March 1
The Badi' calendar (used by the Bahá'ís) is based on the solar year of 365 days, five hours, and 50 odd minutes. The year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i.e. 361 days), with the addition of four extra days (five in a leap year). It was not specifically defined the place for the intercalary days in the new calendar. Therefore, the excess days have been assigned a fixed position in the calendar immediately preceding the month of Ala', the period of fasting.
In the West, the Intercalary Days (Ayyam-i-Ha) are the four days of the year (five days in leap year) which fall between the eighteenth and nineteenth month of the Bahá'í Calendar (Mulk and 'Ala'), February 26 to March 1. These days are set aside for hospitality, gift-giving, special acts of charity, and preparing for the Fast.
Fasting is the cause of awakening and mindfulness and conducive to protection and preservation from tests.... The Fast occurs from sunrise to sunset for 19 days until March 21, Náw-Ruz, which marks the New Year for Bahá'ís.
For further information, log onto www.bahai.us.

Other news...in brief...

Jim will be having some skin surgery in the very near future on a couple of spots that have been diagnosed as melanoma. Details still coming on when, where, etc.

I will be having bilateral knee replacement surgery on April 2nd. That means both knees will be replaced. I'm not even looking forward to the recovery on this; but, am told the results will be worth it. I hope so...right now, I can hardly walk at times.

Beth and Lil are moving along in their school year with ups and downs. They are looking forward to spring break, just for a 'break' from it all.

Happy Birthday to Jim who turned a whopping 64 yesterday!!! And, just think, come October, I'll be 60! Is that getting old, or what?????

That's if for now...it's late, so I'd better get some sleep, since that doesn't come often.

Love you all!

Santa Came!!!

Wow...What a Christmas!

From jewelry and clothes to new electronic 'toys', we had it all! These pics are posted without captions...enjoy...

Holiday Season is Here...Best Wishes to All!

Hope your Holidays are Super!
Here's our season's e-card to all...

Even though we also celebrate the Baha'i gift giving holiday at the end of February, we can't resist still celebrating Christmas. It's a pricey holiday this year. Can't say what Santa will bring...don't want to spoil the surprises!!! Check back after Christmas and you'll see all the goodies; and the girls, too!

Lilly's School Holiday Program

All decked out in holiday garb! Wish I could post the music...it was really a great performance!


Of course, Papa and Nama had to pose with the star of the show!!!

We'll have more pictures after Christmas...

Wow! Changes in our Life ...

Sorry we don't have any pictures to update our recent activities. But, I'll share all the recent 'happenings'...which have been a lot!

WE'VE MOVED!
Yes...that's right. It's been a happy, good, and exhausting transition. We now live in Carbondale. The girl's are in a new school...they love it, have a bunch of new friends, ride the bus, and are doing very well! Each girl has their own room...finally! We have a dishwasher!, a garbage disposal!, and a laundry room right off our bedroom! I know it sounds a bit overdone...but those are things we haven't had for a couple of years. We also have newly finished oak hardwood floors! Can you tell we like it?

HOLIDAY PROGRAM AT SCHOOL
Lilly has two performances tomorrow at school celebrating the holidays. So, she and I spent the better part of the afternoon out shopping for an appropriate outfit. She's very hard to fit, but we found such a neat outfit. Of course, we had to add shoes, hair trimmings, hose...etc.

Beth doesn't have a program this year. Seventh graders are too old for that stuff, she says. Actually, in the new school, the 7th and 8th grade are the junior high and are more like high school. Even though Lilly is technically in elementary school now, it doesn't seem to make much difference to her.

GAMES, DANCES ... OH, BOY!!!!
Did you have school dances in the 6th and 7th grades? I don't remember having them that early. Well, not now a-days. And, real basketball games (football is over for the year)! In fact, Lilly is at a game tonight with a couple of her new-made friends.

Beth has swing dancing in her PE class. She is appalled at having to dance with a boy! I asked her what she does when she goes to the school dance? Silly me...she said the girls dance together! At least we're not having to deal with the 'boy' issue...YET!

TODAY'S STYLE
We've hit the stage where have to pry Beth away from the mirror, hair straightening iron, trying at least 6 outfts on every morning. And, of course, any suggestions about clothes from anyone else means that outfit is banned forever. The style is layering, tight fitting, and nothing but jeans...ever. The color of the jeans also make all the difference in the world. If they are not faded and light colored, forget it.

Lilly, on the other hand, is concerned about warmth, covering up, comfort. All the things that don't enter Beth's realm.

FINAL COMMENTS FOR TODAY:
This move has saved us in gas money. Instead of traveling to Carbondale on average of 3 times a day. Now, we only go to Murphysboro about twice a week.

We're about 1/2 mile from the SIU campus. There are all sorts of resources there. It's a real advantage.

We have no yard to maintain, all of our pets found new homes, we don't have to pay for water or garbage anymore, plus gas and electric are much cheaper.

In all, we feel making this move now is better than having to do so in a couple of years. Jim's and my health made it difficult to upkeep the yard. Then the girls really needed to be in their own rooms. After a couple of days, we've agreed we love it here. That's a first for us in a long time.

Now, just let us know when you all are coming to visit!

Happy Halloween!!!

A SPOOKY HELLO-O-O ...

Trick or Treat Anyone?

The girls are busy making themselves up for Halloween.

In Murphysboro, the age limit for trick or treating is 12. So, this is Bethany's last year for getting "treats"!

Lilly is dressed up as a cowgirl, wearing her pink suede hat she got in Cheyenne, WY.

Bethany is dressed up as a second grader in the 60's. (Wouldn't smile...it's all too embarrassing, even though getting goodies can't be passed up!)


An SIU student and friend, Luella, is taking the girls and several other kids out for a couple of hours. The kids range from about 3 years old to 12. We adults will be at her home with her parents for the evening, ready to sort through the goodies when they come in for the night. There'll be hot chocolate for everyone...it's co-o-old outside. It'll be "sweet"!!!

Happy Birthday ... Erin!!! I didn't forget!!!

Hwy 127 - Southern Illinois

Last post I mentioned that the drive to Springfield was "same ole, same ole", so on our trip last Friday, I decided to take some pictures to see if my opinion had changed. See a selection of those photos below ... then maybe you'll see why I did change my mind. There are some shots included taken in Springfield of the Capitol building, and from the Abraham Lincoln Museum. Bethany spent a couple of days with a friend, so you'll only see Lilly in some of them. We had a blast! Especially, when we were trespassing on the abandoned farm! Maybe that's why our car battery died when we tried to leave. Jim and Lilly flagged down a good samaritan who jumped the battery, and we went on our merry way. What a hoot!

Enjoy ...

The leaves on the trees are turning ...

The farmers are harvesting their fields ... and bringing their corn to the grainery ...

Then we came across an abandoned farm that provided some excellent photos ...

... from the sheds, to the barn, to the water pump, to the falling down and rotting wood that was everywhere!

There was a hint about the age of the farm that came from the old truck and farm machinery.

Then, there were the final artistic finds ... what do you think they are?

That's it! There were a lot more pictures, but you get the idea.

By the way, thanks everyone, for the birthday wishes!
Mari