Addressing The Invitations

My Downton Abbey Dinner for my Tea Ladies grows ever closer.  The menu is being planned and the games are ready (waiting on one treasure that goes with the "Hidden in Plain Sight" game I have planned).  Prizes are already here (courtesy of my sister, who won a Downton Abbey basket at a silent auction, and donate the contents to our group for this dinner, thanks!).  I am working on some music to play on the harp.  My children are hired to be characters/servants.  I thought it would be fun, and oh so fitting, to send official invitations.  I found some beauties through Vista Print of all things, and some "vintage tulip" stamps to place on the envelopes.

Of course, I addressed them using a fountain pen!

Would You Believe - I'm Afraid of Heights?

However, necessity inspired me to once again conquer my fears in order to get some house painting done.  We have been painting one side of the house each year.  We did the front first, but already it was in need of a new coat.  I suppose we will just plan to keep rotating around our house, painting until the end of time.

As usual, we were in a time crunch due to weather and other projects (kitchen and dining room!) taking precedence.  So this past weekend we plowed ahead.  Paul set up the scaffolding.  Paul is fearless, and has no problem getting up on the highest point (top level of scaffolding with an extra half-height plank) in order to reach the yellow tongue and groove boards at the top of our house.  I can manage the top level, moving very slowly, often hanging onto the support braces for dear life.  I was up there twice for two different sections. Each time I worried that I would be too afraid to climb back down the ladder, much like a cat who climbs a tree but then can't get back down (visions of firetrucks having to rescue me!). But I just blocked all thought out of my head other than gripping supports and ladder rungs and placing one cautious foot down after the other.  

I suppose we shouldn't be doing this.  But house painting is so expensive.  Anyway the worst is over, the scaffolding is down.  I worked a lot on the front porch today, and Paul and I are going to try and finish up tomorrow morning.  We'll still have all of the balusters to paint and the top trim, may not get to them before the cold.  I'll post a photo of the finished front soon.  In the meantime, here I am, crazy lady on a scaffolding:

By the way, I do NOT recommend this to anyone!

Bible Study - Can a Catholic Come and Play?

I have recently joined a group Bible Study.  It is an ecumenical study (many different Christian denominations represented), which pleases me, because I really do like this particular method of study (discussion of previous week's homework, new video lecture, and workbook homework to be done during the following week).  I was a little nervous the first time I went, because A. the study is held in a church in a very wealthy suburb, and I was afraid I would not "measure up" (I know, I know, dopey of me!), and B. it is not a Catholic church, and not all Protestant churches are accepting of Catholics.

To expound on that a bit - it has been my experience that some members of some non-Catholic churches can be very judgmental of Catholics.  When we "came home" to the Catholic church in 2005, I had a friend, a friend, tell me that she feared my family and I would not receive salvation in the Catholic church.  I was so flabbergasted, I could not think of a reply.  And it made no sense, because she is of the belief that all one has to do to be saved is to accept Christ as their savior.  Well, I accepted Christ as my savior a long time ago, so what - is it now nullified because I am worshiping as a Catholic?  Totally illogical conclusion, yet it persists in some.

Anyway, no fears on that score at this Bible study.  The women are lovely and accepting, and there just happens to be two other Catholics in the group.  I have gotten so much out of the study already, and I am very glad I sought it out.  The idea to do this came to me in prayer, and everything just lined up so nicely.  I came into the group two weeks after it started, but I simply caught up with what I missed and am now right in sync.  It is very nice to spend time each day working on this and having time with God.

I am memorizing a small bit of Scripture.  While I can memorize music and phone numbers easily, Scripture is very difficult.  But my index cards are helping.

Washer Woes

I have been loving our HE washer over the past few years.  But lately there has been something amiss.  The clothes were not smelling fresh; in fact, were downright manky.  We always leave the washer door open after use.  I thought perhaps we had left clothes in the washer too long after the wash cycle ended.  I had tried Affresh to no avail.  Online research found me solutions.  I ended up using the "tub clean" feature, but this time I poured bleach in the bleach cup (about 1/4 cup), and also in the washer itself (about 3/4 cup).  This website also gave good ideas.

I did several loads of wash after the treatment.  All is well, and the clothes smell fresh!

Autumn Sunbath

There Be Latkes

On Sunday, Robert and I made latkes from the Hello Fresh ingredient boxes.  They were yummy.  I am loving the Hello Fresh boxes, because they, and my new kitchen, make cooking fun and easy.

Adjusting the Dining Table (With Nods to a Bible Study and Downton Abbey)

Our dining table is an antique that my mother gave to us.  It is oak, and it is lovely.  The one problem with it was that it had wheel casters under the four legs, which were not original to the design.  Now, this was very convenient, because it is a heavy table and the casters helped it move.  But it also lifted the table at least 2" higher than it should be.  I had been aware of this, and sometimes it bothered me.  But it really started bothering me once Tyler came along, because the extra height made it even harder for a child to be comfortable at.

The kicker was that I am having a fancy dinner party (Downton Abbey themed!) in November, and with the sprucing up of the dining room, I wanted the table to be just right.  Additionally, I have started attending a group bible study (more on that in an upcoming post), and I like to work at the table for this - more room to spread out with the bible and the workbook.  Oh, and a cup of tea of course!  But at the higher table I always felt a little bit like Edith Ann (for the younger folks, Google Edith Ann and Lily Tomlin from Laugh In in the 1960's).

So, Paul endeavored to remove the wheel casters and replace them with glides (a product unavailable when the casters were put on, otherwise I think they might have used them).

Paul, hard at work.

One of the legs with the new glide on it (not visible once the table is upright). 

All done.  Beauty!