Welcome to Diamonds in the Rough, the inconsistent scribblings of a preacher's wife, mom, and city girl happily out of her element. If you are a first-time guest here, please read "Why Diamonds?"
Last night as I was procrastinating going to bed, I thought I'd try to look up some old friends. Google is as good a place to start as any, and I entered the name of a friend I knew in elementary school and high school. Her name was mentioned in a blog, so I went to take a peek. What a surprise! I did not find my friend, but I did find the slide show that was shown at my Senior Brunch! And look what was on it:
That's me with another long lost friend. I have not been able to find her, either. I don't think I was really lifeguarding, lol, and no, I did not normally dress that way for school... who knows. I do recognize those tortuous shoes. I did not recognize many of the people in the slide show, and one thing's for sure, we all looked a lot younger back then! (And thinner, too, I might add.) :(
Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this. Ecclesiastes 7:10
Time for a new post. But if I tell you what's new, then what will I say for my month in review?? Hmm... resolved. I will tell now and show later.
There is some crochet going on here, another table topper for my dear mom, thanks to Alison redeeming her free time. She hauls that thing along in the car and hooks away on it at the table when we are done eating, having devotions or just having a nice family chat. It's almost finished! Photo to come.
Amy is photographing, and that's all. No, wait, make that photographing and blogging and reading books about photography. She has started a new blog for her photography only, MimiBeth Photography. Check it out. For now it only contains postings of her 30 Days / 1 Thing pictures, the subject of which is a red HotWheels Corvette. My dad has no idea what a HUGE gift that "old" camera was to her. It's about the closest thing you can get to a DSLR and still have a point-and-shoot. She LOVES it! (Thanks again, Dad!)
Elisabeth is tinkering with leathercrafting, learning how to use some basic tools. There are some nice tutorials on YouTube. Of course! You can learn how to adjust your bike gears, fix a washing machine, do calculus, use Sibelius, make a bomb, or do anything else on YouTube!
With much determination, Emily is learning the clarinet. Well, she was the other day. You never know what she is going to get into next, or how long it is going to last. All I know is that whatever she begins, there will be a mess left over when she tires of it. Paper doll scraps, Monopoly pieces, wooden blocks, Legos, sheet music, flour.
Monocogman keeps a calculator handy, as he is constantly juggling numbers (mathematizing, we call it). He loves numbers. Numbers tell the monthly temperature average, the price of a round-trip train ticket to Wichita, the percent of people in the USA who work for the government, and our gas mileage. This is important information! :)
As for me... there's not much to say about me. Here I am. I pitted four sorry, two gallons of dates the other day, (it seemed like four!) and we are now enjoying the "fruits" of my labors. It doesn't take long for a family of six to devour a loaf of date nut bread. Even with Amy abstaining! Amy says she doesn't like dates (she's never tasted them), and that they look like cockroaches (it's true, they do). That's fine with me. Normally I make my kids try new things, but if Amy finds out she likes date bread, there won't be enough for the rest of us. My concession makes her suspicious. I predict her resolve is weakening, and that she will try a bite of bread soon. But maybe not. It is loaded with walnuts, too. Oh! Aha! A light bulb moment! If I put walnuts in the brownies... :D
We are almost finished memorizing Hebrews chapter 11, which is the great chapter on faith. In almost every case, the person's faith was proven by his obedience to God. Even where their obedience isn't obvious, it's not hard to figure out where it occurred. Where do we get this idea that as long as we don't drink, smoke, or dance, we are obeying God? (Of course, some people think they are obeying God even when they do these things.) I'm sure there is something more that God wants me to do. I think that in the days to come, our obedience to God (our FAITH in him) is going to be tested. Have you ever had to decide whether to give your tithe or not, because you knew you couldn't afford to? (I wonder how people think they can afford NOT to, but that is for another time!) I am grateful for my husband's resolve. As long as we are blessed with increase, we will be giving the Lord his tithe. But right now I am thinking about what I can do to either keep money from flying out the door so fast, or else to get some to fly in. Anyone know a great job I can do at home, with little work? You know, like, I just hit a button on the computer, and the money rolls in? :D (No, Jane, not the slot machine, hee hee! You wouldn't do it, either!)
Back to the kitchen. I have ten pounds of skinless, boneless chicken thighs (obtained really cheap!) marinading in Italian dressing, taco, or teryaki marinade. If you have any tips about how to use them, I'd love to hear your ideas! Tonight's supper, teryaki chicken and French fries. Let's eat.
Did you, my half-dozen dear and faithful readers, wonder if I was ever going to do this again? My kids did. My camera has been virtually abandoned since about half way through our summer vacation, since Amy has taken over as family historian. The problem is that I have to rifle though about 10,000 photos in her files to find a few to write a summary of our month here. :) I am thankful to be able to say that Amy keeps her photos organized by month, so it can't be that hard. Can it? In no particular order, here I go.
Since August:
We had two birthdays. My first baby and my last baby both got older. Alison is now the age (finally -- we did not go through this when my girls were little) where she wants to wear nail polish, earrings, make-up and high heels. :) Who can blame her? These things make a girl feel pretty. But without quite a bit of discretion, these things can also make a girl looked used up. Her daddy has asked her to wait til she turns 18, and Alison has sweetly complied. Eighteen is just around the corner anyway! Pureness of heart shows in a girl's countenance and in her attitude; I am so grateful for her desire to please her daddy and the Lord.
Emily turned seven. She is learning to pull some weight around here, thanks to big sister, who is teaching her how to sort laundry, pick up after herself, and keep her room somewhat presentable. Below, the watch that "lights up", thanks to Nana and Papa, and another wonderful birthday gift, sitting with Grampy and a book.
The dentist/orthodontist's office has been kept busy with little Diamonds in the office regularly. I believe this is Elisabeth's mouth. ?? (Amy says, "Mom, you can't tell by looking in her mouth?" No.) If this is Elisabeth (must be-- Alie is missing teeth), it is just short of a miracle to see her with the isolite in her mouth, and NOT gagging. Poor kid.
There is nothing more fun than a day at the park with our friend, Mackenzie. :D That kid has more energy! Our local park has a nice fountain for cooling off on hot April/May/June/July/August/September days. The kids are soaking wet, but don't worry. They will be dry in five minutes.
Some of Alison's violin students have a date orchard. I was the blessed recipient of gallons of delicious dates! Here we are pitting them. So far we have enjoyed a batch of oatmeal date cookies and four loaves of date nut bread. So yummy! These were the high-protein variety; I am sure they included a few worms. My neighbor ate a pint of them and never knew it.
It is finally bike-riding season here again, and I love it, because it means my kids play outside more! Kids need sunshine, you know. We don't lack sunshine, but for half the year it's too much for us. Unless we are under water, of course. When you don't have a horse, you have to settle for a bike:
We joined 4-H! I am feeling a bit squeamish about this. For one, I am not a global citizen, or not a good one, anyway. I am not a very good team player, and not competitive. I am not into making points for our club. Second, I really don't like feeling an obligation to be as committed to 4-H as I am to our local church. But we're in it now. Elisabeth and Emily are loving leathercrafting, and Emily is going to start sewing, as well. And Amy is going to take up the 4-H digital photography project.
Had to add this one -- a rare photo of Amy!!! She generously shared her camera(!) with one of the little girls at 4-H, who was just dying to take a picture and then see it on the little camera screen. That Amy is so good with little kids. They love her. :D And she loves them!
Elisabeth is getting quite good with her Sculpey clay. After several years of begging, Emily got some for her birthday, as well; someone should have told her that you make little things with Sculpey. Her first project consumed at least a block! Oh well, says the seven-year-old mind. We can always get more. Ha. Betsy's Tiny-Dream-sized dollhouse people:
The aforementioned Mackenzie indirectly inspired us to have a family soccer game. We don't play by the rules, and we don't use the right ball or the right goals, and we don't wear the right shoes or clothing, and we play in the wind so one team is at a distinct disadvantage. But we had a very fun day together! One of the Diamond family preferred the playground, but what do you expect from a little girl? Even Mom got in on the fun here. If I am on the opposite team from my husband, I cheat. I admit it. You have to push him around and get him out of the way if you want to make any progress. :)
Amy tried her hand at portrait photography, among many other genres. Is there such a thing as a photography genre? Isn't it just amazing that a child who can't remember a single fact from her history/science/English curriculum can quote photography tips from photo-bloggers at me all day long? :) This is why we need to be unschoolers. I would feel better, at least. :) Amy has more posted more details of our activities here, here, and here.
The highlight of October was, of course, a visit from the PlainJane family! I can see how people who meet on the Internet end up married to each other. :) Jane and I met more than three years ago over a comment left at someone else's HSB blog. I commented back at Jane, we connected our girls, and that was the start of a sweet long-distance friendship. Our girls have emailed, chatted, and talked on the phone almost every week for the past two years or more. Even our husbands share avid interests in the weather and cycling. While I do complain about the desert (because that's what you do when you live in extremes), we did our best to show the Janes how wonderful it is out here in our wilderness, and we all tried really hard to convince them that they should move here. :D While Mr. Jane (lol) seemed to really enjoy the exploration potential of our desert home, I don't think he bought it. We had a wonderful time, and we miss you, Jane's family! See her blog and Amy's for the details of their visit.
In un-photographed news, Alison is now busy with eleven violin students; Amy has been keeping my sewing machine running non-stop making towels, quilts, curtains, rugs, and warm clothes for her little sisters' dollhouse people; all the girls have been busy practicing their instruments; John Garrison, the man of the house, fixed my kitchen disposal; and I... ? I'm here. Thanking God for his goodness in all kinds of situations. Feeling more contemplative lately, but not coming up with any thoughts of my own to share. The scripture is good for that, rather. :)
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Psalm 130:3-5
A friend brought to our attention the fact that the International Space Station would be visible in its orbit around the earth this week, so after supper tonight we all ran out to watch the sky. We saw it! At Heavens Above you can chart the times of visibility for your city or coordinates:
Under "Configuration" find your location by selecting it from the map. Click where you live. Now scroll down, and below the map enter the name of your town if you like, and correct time zone. Now click "Submit".
Under "Satellites", click on 10 day prediction for ISS. The next page is a chart that tells you the dates and times of the space station's visibility from where you are, its magnitude (the lower the number, the brighter it will appear), the height at which it will first appear in degrees from the horizon, and the compass direction in which you should first look for it. The chart will also tell you how long the ISS will appear in the sky, the angle at which it will reach its maximum altitude, and where it will again fade away into the earth's shadow.
The space station is only visible for a few minutes, so search quickly for it!
Little boys (and big boys, maybe even girls!) will love this tour of the inside of the International Space Station, as well:
[youtube]H8rHarp1GEE[/youtube]
(Sorry about the music.)
I have never understood women who leave small repairs for their husband to do. Sometimes a screwdriver can pretty the place up a bit. Now, I admit there are times when I am very lazy about prettying the place up with or without a screwdriver, but it can be done, and using manly tools is not a big step over the line that divides the HE jobs from the SHE jobs. I have always loved a hardware store. When I was a kid the local hardware stores had a wooden floor (love that sawdust smell), and all sorts of fascinating gizmos and mysterious stuff. I could spend all afternoon in that place. When I was a much younger woman than I am now I did all my own auto maintenance. Dad showed me how to change the oil, wipe out a wet distributor cap, and change the brake pads. I didn't do it often, but I liked doing it. I liked feeling capable. I like knowing I could.
When I got married I had to make myself capable at other things, like cooking. I left most of the tool-oriented stuff to the man of the house. But while the man of this house is really skilled with a Sword, many jobs that require tools just frustrate him. He has lost his salvation once or twice, banging his knuckles while wrenching on a tough nut. (Just kidding. You can't lose your salvation.) I came to realize that being a helpmeet doesn't just mean cooking and cleaning! So once I installed a disposal in the kitchen sink. And once I went around nailing or gluing all the loose pieces of trim. But really I have not done much in the tool department in years. Until today, I had forgotten what a great feeling it is to know you can DO IT!
For the past year or so I have had to stand over my washing machine to make sure it drains, rinses and spins. The whatchamacallit was wearing out. The wash cycle would finish, but then nothing would happen. I had to remember go give it a good BANG to get it to drain. One day I figured out I could fool it by gluing a piece of K'Nex to the peg that starts the motor when you shut the lid. The inevitable was inevitably going to happen, but we put the repair off. For one, getting to our washer is a Major Undertaking. Before you can even get to the washer, the dryer has to be disconnected first, then moved out of our minuscule laundry room. It would be a Big Headache. And the $$ involved in a fix required making do for as long as I could.. The husband knew about it. I was sort of waiting on HIM to do something about it. On Saturday, however, the inevitable happened. The washing machine gave out, full of water and heavy darks, of course. :D
So. Striving to be a help meet for him, I went online and Googled "my washer won't drain or spin". All the solutions that I could skim in 60 seconds suggested that the pump was out. The pump was obviously not the trouble, so I made a little trip over to Sears to find out what that worn out little doohickey was called. The nice salesman told me it's the "switch", and said I would want to call the service man. I told him, no, I was going to replace it myself. He gave me that smile, you know, the one that says, "Come on, lady, you can't be serious." I told him you can learn to do ANYTHING on YouTube. Just in case, he showed me several really pretty clean, scratch-free, high efficiency washers that I'd rather not put money into, if I can help it. Even a nice cherry-red one! I thanked him for the information, and he said he hoped I'd be back.
Next, I went home and looked up the model number of my washer. Then I Googled the part number. I found an amazing website right here, where I could not only order the part, but also watch an exciting little video that told me how to replace it! (I love the internet!) I was so thrilled! My repair rated two stars out of four, for difficulty. "I can do that," I thought. I was amazed to see that the washer cabinet comes apart (hey, someone was thinking!), and that I was not going to have to haul the whole thing out and turn it upside down, plus get the basket and the pump out in order to reach the on/off switch. I eBayed (new verb) the part, found the same one for 2/3 the price that Sears wanted, and placed my order. That was Saturday. It arrived TODAY, Monday. In less than one hour my washer was fixed! Yay me!
I must be somewhat humble and admit that I did NOT do it all by myself. My manly husband found the the ratchet wrench for me, and he unscrewed a tough bolt. He also pried off some tough wire harnesses, but I was happy to let him feel useful. I even played the helpless female just a teeny bit.
If I sound pleased with myself it's because I am. My husband is pleased with me, too! :D ...Now I should hit him up for the cash I saved him. Hee hee.
I promise you, our vacation was not nearly as long as the time it is taking me to post it! I am losing interest in this series, but how can I quit? We have not gotten to PlainJane's house yet, and oh dear, I AM late. She and her family just left our house!
After leaving my beloved North Dakota (beloved except, as one astute person pointed out, for its homeschooling laws, as we are wonderfully spoiled that way in AZ), we headed for Minnesota's North Shore. Lake Superior holds many fond memories for both my husband and me. When we first began to plan this trip, it was going to be a little family trip to Minnesota. By the time it was done, it was a BIG family trip! We were joined at beautiful Lake Superior shore by my in-laws and my husband's brother and sister and their families. Such fun we had! Here's a quick recap.
All the cousins on this side were together for the first time in... 
Ooops, they aren't all in that photo. Two girls and some adults missing.
We had two groups of hikers at Gooseberry Falls, the A team and the B team. The A team was for active teenagers, fit forty-some-year-olds, and some smaller ones with good endurance. The B team did a short little walk to the falls, collected a few rocks, walked back to the parking lot, and went to buy a pie. That's my kind of hiking. :D
We all went to see Split Rock Lighthouse. It has a very interesting history, and of course there are lots of shipwreck stories to be heard at Lake Superior. It is a most treacherous body of water. Remember the doomed Edmund Fitzgerald?
[youtube]dAsLCn2WVZE[/youtube]
Our girls talked their daddy into taking them to an alpine slide, and we had planned to do that in the Black Hills. That was before the van broke down and we were forced to reroute our travels. A quick Google search assured us it would still be possible -- in Minnesota! Who knew Minnesota had anything remotely alpine? If you ever decide to do this, don't think you can just buy the cheap package and be satisfied. Get the all day ticket. Of course, the best thing about all these Lake Superior adventures was the fact that all the relatives were with us. Emily was blessed with several big "brothers" to escort her down the slide.
The more prudent John Garrison entertained himself with his new niece, Elly.
[youtube]kBzhq38ysig[/youtube]
Isn't he goofy? :D Emily did talk her Daddy into one ride, at the very end. The nice people at the ticket booth let him take his little girl at no charge. Later, while rubbing his aching back, he said he was glad he did not pay for that kind of treatment. I think alpine slides are for people with younger bodies.
We had lots of fun times. The best of it all was just being with people we love. ♥
Next stop, PlainJane's!
