Freezer's Filling Up! & First Camping of the Season

The "Copycat Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade" would be wonderful but for one thing - we picked up "Lite" Lemonade (diet=blecchh! and aspartame=NASTY!) at the store.I will definitely make it on a regular basis, but use the good stuff instead!

Saturday, 6/7/14 - Tuesday, 6/10/14: Camping with Dad & Erica at Deer Creek State Park. One of the best campgrounds! Many of the sites are "secluded", with vegetation growing up between them. There are several that are also built into openings in the woods, and most of the sites have wonderful shade. The showerhouse we used (#2) was just ok - no bench in the shower stall - it was outside the stall. Also, #2 is not handi-accessible, but it appeared that another one might have been. Beautiful weather Saturday, rained off-and-on Sunday afternoon (Erica said it was fine in the a.m., while we were at church), Monday was cool with a couple of sprinkles, and it rained all of Tuesday morning while we were packing up. Took a drive to the beach on Sunday afternoon, but it was too cold and windy to swim. Took a walk on a "Lake Access Path" on Monday - beautiful views.

Wednesday, 6/11/14: Raining most of the day. 

* Backed up 2 years' worth of photos to DVD and removed them from laptop to external drive.

* Hung a load of clothes out to dry for about 1-1/2 hours until the rain started again. Finished them in the dryer.

* Made Passion Tea the Sun Tea way.

* Had 2 mangoes in the fridge that needed to be used, but I forgot why I bought them, so I cut them up and froze them. 2 mangoes will fit on the broiler pan top

* Had bananas left over from camping, so I cut them up and froze them. 5 bananas will fit on the broiler pan.

* Family has not been eating apples lately, so I cut up 4-3/4 Honeycrisps (had used 1/4 in a smoothie this a.m.) and 2 Granny Smiths. The gingerbread man tray holds 3/4 Honeycrisp and 2 Granny Smiths. Then I realized that used pizza boxes would make great flash-freezing trays. Each box will hold 2 Honeycrisps (2 boxes).

* Froze the grapes (red & green) leftover from camping. Neither bag had been opened, about 2 lbs. each. Filled snack baggies (2-1/2 handfuls each), then placed 6-7 baggies inside a gallon baggie to freeze flat.

* Scooped the leftover ice out of the cooler (there was still quite a bit, since it wasn't hot) and into baggies to put in the freezer. I had used 3 of the jugs I had frozen earlier, and the ice from these was still intact (though the plastic wasn't). Put these blocks in baggies as well.

Rhubarb & Rain

Wednesday, 6/4/14: PD (Professional Development) in the a.m. (got to tour one of Piqua's new elementary schools! Yippee!). After lunch at Cracker Barrel with the Nicklin staff, I went to Charlie's to help Betsy clean. The plan was for me to work outside, but it was raining, so instead I took down (and photographed) all of the fall decorations that were still up around the house. The rest of the evening was unproductive because I was tired!

Thursday, 6/5/14:
* day #2 of yoga workout
* did a load of laundry and hung it outside to dry
* remembered the rhubarb still in the fridge, so I looked up a smoothie recipe that didn't involve cooking the rhubarb. Best. Smoothie. Ever! Strawberry-Rhubarb with a bit of banana and honey. Mmmmm.
* sliced and froze the rest of the rhubarb in individual baggies, 1 stalk per bag
* made a batch of "Copycat Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade"

Start of the Summer

Saturday, 5/31/14: U-Pick at Fulton's. 3 buckets (12 quarts?) of strawberries took me 1.5 hours. 11:15-12:45 gave me just a bit of sunburn (nothing unbearable). Also bought 2 lbs. of rhubarb and 4 lemons.

Monday, 6/2/14: Put 1 bucket at a time of strawberries in the sink and covered them with enough cold water to be able to swish them around to wash them (Bob didn't like this method, saying I was "washing" them in a dirty sink, even though I scrubbed the sink before using it). As I washed, I cut up enough of the smallest berries to make 2 pints of strawberry syrup and 1 pint of strawberry lemonade concentrate. This took about 3 hours. Put the washed, uncut strawberries back in the buckets in the fridge. Also squeezed the lemons to get 1 c. of juice.

Tuesday, 6/3/14: Canned the syrup and lemonade concentrate using the water bath method, but in the pressure cooker pot. This involved cooking the previously-cut strawberries, then squeezing them through a colander, and saving the "mush" for later. Cut tops off of the whole strawberries and laid them on waxed paper on trays for freezing. I used the big and little cookie sheets, a casserole lid (plastic), the gingerbread cookie sheet, and the broiler pan and top (6 trays in all). It took about 20 min. per tray, so about 3 hours again. I also froze a few of the "bad" berries to get seeds.

Tuesday was a productive first-day-of-summer (had to work Monday a.m.) I also:
* started a new yoga workout, geared toward weight loss in the tummy (my old workout was an intro to yoga, and was getting too easy)
* did a load of laundry and hung it outside to dry, and later folded it and put it away (gasp!)
* planted my potato planter
* put the strawberry and lemon seeds in a plastic take-out bowl with a wet paper towel and a lid, and set it outside to see if they will germinate
* made a jug of sun tea
* used the leftover strawberry "mush" to make an awesome strawberry bread in the bread machine (that I don't think I've used since we moved here 11 years ago!)
* tried my hand at building a solar oven. It didn't work because a) I started it too late in the day, and b) it needs some design kinks to be worked out. Put the soup (which is in mason jars) in the fridge, to try again. The soup is: 1 can each of peas, corn, green beans, mixed vegetables, turnip greens, and diced potatoes, and 1 box of beef broth. It makes exactly 4 qts.

Musical List

As I was looking through programs of the musicals I've done over the years, it occurred to me that, should something tragic happen to our home, I would have no record of the musicals I've performed or the years each one was done. So I thought I'd record it here, just for safe keeping.

(while in high school)
1985: Fiddler on the Roof, Sidney HS
1986: Guys and Dolls, Sidney HS
1987: No, No, Nanette, Sidney HS
1988: Grease, Sidney HS

(after college)
1995: Into the Woods, Sidney HS
1999: Hello, Dolly!, Sock & Buskin
2000: Sound of Music, Jackson Center HS
{sometime between 1996 and 2002}: Cinderella, New Bremen Crescent Players
2002: Oklahoma!, Sidney HS
2002: Wizard of Oz, Sidney Dance Company
2003: Into the Woods, Wapakoneta HS
2003: Calamity Jane, Sock & Buskin
2003: Four Tickets to Christmas, Grace UMC
2004: Fiddler on the Roof, Sidney HS
2005: The Music Man, Troy Christian HS
2005: Sound of Music, Sidney HS
2005(?): It's a Wonderful Life, Grace UMC
2006: Fiddler on the Roof, Troy Christian HS
2008: South Pacific, Fairlawn HS
2008: Seussical, Sidney Dance Company
2009: White Christmas, Grace UMC
2010: Oklahoma!, Troy Christian HS
2010: Pajama Game, Sidney HS
2011: Cinderella, Sidney Dance Company
2011: Hello, Dolly! Sidney HS
2011: Phantom of the Opera, Fairlawn HS
2012: Oklahoma!, Sidney HS
2013: Music Man, Sidney HS (violin/viola)
2013: Beauty and the Beast, Troy Christian HS (violin/viola)
2014: Seussical, Fairlawn HS
2014: Sound of Music, New Bremen Crescent Players
2014: Beauty and the Beast, Sidney HS (violin/viola)
2014: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Troy Christian HS
2014: Darkness Into Light (Christmas Cantata), Sidney Presbyterian Church
2015: Wizard of Oz, Sidney HS
2015: Crazy for You, Troy Christian HS (violin/viola)
2015: Journey to the Manger, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Celina
2016: Into the Woods, Troy HS
2016: Sound of Music, Sidney HS
2016: Bye, Bye, Birdie, Troy Christian HS (violin/viola)
2017: Bye, Bye, Birdie, Jackson Center HS (violin/viola)
2017: Mary Poppins, Sidney HS
2017: Music Man, Troy Christian HS (violin/viola)
2018: Into the Woods, Sidney HS
2018: Little Mermaid, Troy Christian HS (violin/viola)
2019: Anything Goes, Sidney HS (percussion!)

2022: Peter Pan, Sidney Dance Company, Historic Sidney Theater
{unk}: Annie Get Your Gun
{unk}: Mary Poppins, Troy Christian HS?
{unk}: Miracle on 34th Street, Grace UMC

My Bucket List

After seeing one post on Facebook tonight about how the person would like to take part in a flash mob and another post about your "past, present, and future self", it got me to thinking about the things that are on my "bucket list." Along with that, I also started thinking of some things I've done that would have been on my bucket list if I hadn't done them yet. :-) So, just so I have it in writing, here is my bucket list (in no particular order).

1. Perform on stage at Carnegie Hall. Completed in 1988.

2. Go on a mission trip. Commenced in 2009 (Tijuana, Mexico), continued in 2011 (Cap Haitien, Haiti), and 2012 (Dilkon, AZ); completion date TBD.

3. Own an "Earthship."

4. Participate in some type of flash mob.

5. Perform in the pit for the following musicals:
     a. Cats.
     b. Phantom of the Opera. Completed in 2010.
     c. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Completed in 2014.
     d. Les Miserables.

6. Perform Handel's "Messiah" at Christmas. Completed almost every year from 1995-2011, then again from 2014-2018.

7. Raise a daughter. Commenced in 1994; completion date: never.

8. Raise a son. Commenced in 2000; completion date: never.

9. Become a missionary in Haiti.

10. Go on an Emmaus Walk. Completed in 2006.

11. Serve on an Emmaus Team. Completed in 2007 and 2009.

12. Teach kindergarten for an online school.

13. Go to Disney World. Completed in 1984, 2012, and 2016.

14. Perform with local orchestra musicians onstage for a famous recording artist.(I had the opportunity several years ago to perform with Selah, but they weren't known yet, and I had to turn it down. Shoot!)

15. W(atthcihs moyn edaiusghptreirv adtoet utnhtei l'i'i tduhraipnpge nasn) Ohio State Football Game.

16. Own a hybrid or electric car. Completed in 2009.

17. Perform in an orchestra pit for a real Broadway production (ex. Dayton or Columbus).

This list is a work in progress, of course. I will add to it as my hopes and dreams evolve, and I hope that I get many more chances to "cross things off" of it!

Another Dream ... Message from God?

Another God moment is posted here: http://jesuslovesmeeveryday.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-dream-message-from-god.html!

Jesus Loves Me 5 Miles More!

I've just posted today's God Moment on http://jesuslovesmeeveryday.blogspot.com, titled "5 Miles Closer to God".

Pour Out Your Heart In Prayer

"Pour out your heart in prayer, and this mountain will be thrown into the sea" (see Mark 11:23)."

"Not seven times, but seventy times seven." Does this mean I have to face a complete lack of respect for the rest of my life?

"Father, I don't have the strength to do this on my own. I'm trusting in your strength to enable me to believe and think and say and do the right thing. In Jesus' name. Amen."

"How do you love when you just don't feel you have it in you to love? Suppose you're thinking, "Of course I'd like to start feeling love again. Everything in me would like to start loving my husband [...] again. Don't you think I've tried? I can't do it." Then Jesus comes along and says, "I command you to love in a new kind of way." How is this possible? How can Jesus command us to feel love? The fact is, he isn't! He is commanding us to act with love."

"You can't command an emotion, but you can command an action. When Jesus says, "I command you to love one another," he's not saying, "Feel this way"; he's saying, "Act this way." Act with love toward another person. If you've fallen out of love or stopped loving altogether, the first step is to begin to act with love again. Remember which actions of love were once part of your relationship with your husband? Act in that way again."

"Learn to pray as Jesus prayed - honestly telling God your feelings, and then saying, "Nevertheless not my will, but yours." This kind of love can only come from God. There are moments when not a single fiber of your being feels loving, and yet you act with love anyway. When your husband has betrayed your trust and yet you love them anyway, that's nevertheless love. [...] When everything in you says, "Run away," or "Yell in anger," and yet you stay and talk, that's nevertheless love."

"What do you do when you feel like giving up? [...] if you think not giving up means you have to be perfect and have it all together, it does not. Not giving up means you realize that Jesus takes whatever little we give him, and he does so much more! Don't give up. Don't give up on people; the minute you do, they'll surprise you. Don't give up on prayer; God is doing so much more through your prayers than you can see. Don't give up on God's promises. [...] When you feel like giving up, choose to act instead. Act on Jesus' command - and "love one another."

"Point to Ponder: If you've stopped feeling love, the first step is to begin to act with love again."

"Verse to Remember: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9)."

"How much of what you call love has become just a habit? You do what you do today because you did it yesterday [...]. How can you renew a love that has grown old? [...] Here instead is where to begin: rediscover the attitude of love in the everyday habits of your life. You simply take the things that have become mere habit and inject love into them again. [...] Say to yourself as you do that routine task, "I'm doing this because I love him;" [...] Why is this so important? Because much of life is routine. If you don't allow love to become a part of the routine of life, love will be missing from the majority of the minutes in your day. If you find yourself still wondering if you have the ability to make this daily choice to love, remember that this new commandment was given to us by Jesus. Jesus walked this earth as God in human flesh. No one knows us better than he does. And Jesus never commands us to do something he is not willing and able to empower us to do."

Story of Peter walking on water. Focused completely on Jesus, he was successful, but the minute he lost focus, he started to sink.

"I know I can't, but I know God can. God can do in me what I cannot do for myself." Read 1 Samuel 25, about Abigail, Nabal, and David.

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