This weekend was a wonderful Josh's birthday time. We arrived in Strasburg, Lancaster County before nightfall, but ensconced in a misty fog. [Even though the forecast was no moisture.] By the time we actually got to our campsite it was dark. The campground did have post lights for each campsite, which came in handy.

We weren't set up in record time, but it wasn't forever either. Since it was a rainy weekend we decided to put up the awning, even if we weren't really going to be outside, it would protect the door some. We forgot we still have to fix the legs and braces since they aren't working very well. We than had dinner, got settled in, and then packed ourselves back into the car.

We were off to find a Wal-Mart. We were only on the road for maybe a half hour when Gary asks if I remembered the heater. No, I forgot it. Since we definitely needed one for this weekend, we had to go buy one. While settling in, I found an electric cord for RVs that we never used or opened. So, we returned it and bought the heater and a few other things, without having to put out any money.

Sometime in the night the rain and wind picked up. The children thought that 4:00 AM was a good time to get up. We didn't think so. Gary on one end, me on the other, each with a kid. We got a little more sleep.


Saturday came with the predicted rain. We made our way to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It houses many train cars and engines, a few of which you can get on and look through.


We had a bathroom emergency, a fit and some screaming, but mostly cooperative children and good memories.

At the museum store, we bought Josh a wooden train whistle that enjoys hearing. And Gary was tickled pink, or black in his case, to receive with the purchase, a little wallet size card that has the different train whistle signals. For example when a train approaches a public at grade crossing (or simply put, a street crossing) it blows a long, long, short, and a sustained long signal.


Here are varies photos I took of our day at the museum.

And here's the birthday boy marching down the isle of a passenger train car.

The sun actually came out by the time we were done in the museum. While we ate lunch in the car, we could enjoy the sunshine for a bit.

We decided to take a ride on the Strasburg Railroad after lunch. It's a twenty minute ride through farmlands and then twenty minutes back.

It was a nice ride, and Ellie and Josh enjoyed it.

After our ride and while waiting to get a video of the train coming into the station, the clouds poured down the rain and winds blew sideways for 20 minutes. But it stopped the train came in and I got my footage. We made our way back to the car and as we got in the rain started again.

Sometime during the night there was a loud crash. With more agility than I knew Gary possessed, he jumped over me and out of bed. [He is on the outside edge of the slide out bed.] We both looked around, not so easy for me with no corrective lenses, and saw nothing that would have made such a noise. He checked outside. With what sight I did have without my glasses, I noticed the sky. The sky, which I shouldn't see if the awning is out. Gary looked up and saw no awning, save for two ends of the poles. The wind had picked up overnight and yanked the braces from their brackets and flung the awning onto the roof of the camper. We decided to just put the awning away and went back to bed.

Again the children were up early and again they were separated, so adults could get more sleep.

Today was beautiful and frigid. The heater was working nonstop. We lazed around the camper for the day. When we decided to pack up the kids had fun running around outside.

While driving home, we came across many more buggies than we had seen all weekend. Sunday is visiting day for the Amish. I wanted to get pictures but was more compelled to respect their wishes of not having photos taken of themselves.

We had a nice drive home across the countryside of PA. Gary and I used to do a lot of driving around the countryside before we were married. It was nice to do some country driving, especially to the soft snoring of sleeping children.

Choo-Choos here we come

Even with the forecast of a rainy weekend, we are going camping.

Monday is Josh's birthday so we are headed to Strasburg, PA for some train adventures.

In Sickness

I was in pain all day yesterday. My stomach was revolting the no food thing, but also revolted when it was confronted with food. The lemonade did nothing, but endear itself to me less and less. By the afternoon, my mouth would let none of it pass.

Gary and I had decided to end the diet at dinner, but I couldn't even wait that long. I made some squash soup and had some by 3:30. I actually thought that I would feel better. But I was so mistaken.

My twisting insides sent me to bed after Gary arrived home. [I stayed in bed for 10 hours.] This morning I had Cheeios. Lunch found me eating the soup again. I did notice that the pain, mercifully, did lessen after each meal, until finally I am typing pain free.

I am confident that it would take a serious event for me to try that diet again.

I will make one comment about the "smooth move" laxitive tea. It works. After my Wednesday experience, I doubt I will be trying the salt water colon cleanser anytime soon.

Tired Yet?

If you're like me and already tired of this cleansing diet, you might want to skip reading this post. My feelings won't be hurt.

Two more observations:

It would be far, far easier not to want to eat, if I was not preparing meals for Josh and Ellie.

A drink will never, ever be able to take the place of solid food.

Giving it another go?

Alright, I said to myself, you can do this.

Again, I am not eating, but drinking "lemonade." It's a far stretch to call it lemonade, by the way. I had breakfast at MOPS, because I knew that there would be yummy food there. I brought along my drink for after tasty food and have been partaking of untasty beverage since.

On Sunday, we had our friends over and J said that another of her friends did this cleansing thing, and had great results, nice skin, energy. That's what I'm hoping for, even if I sneak food a few times. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

I can also say that it would do my body better if all this extra water I'm drinking would head to my somewhat dry skin instead of my bladder.

There is just something to be said for chewing your food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a completely different note, the kids and I ate our lunch in a fort on the living room floor. I loved making forts as a kid, and thought mine would too. Josh, not having the best balance and sense of propriety since only being two, nearly wrecked it a few times.

I'm not Cleansing!

Okay, my day's observations in chronological order.

There is not 4 TBSP of juice in the average lemon. I had to squeeze way more lemons than it called for.

I highly recommend taking Cayenne pepper tablets instead of putting the powder in the lemonade. Very nasty tasting. My first taste left me reeling and mixing a new batch with less Cayenne pepper. That still didn't work, but I drank half of it. A new batch with no Cayenne pepper isn't much better, just not burny.

The Cayenne pepper tablets are no better. Especially if taken at the end of drinking said beverage.

I want potato chips. I want chocolate. I want food! I do not want a glass of lemonade.

I had lasagna for dinner, along with too many potato chips. I felt a little sick with my food splurge. I also had M&Ms, popcorn, and two Carmel cremes.

I will not be continuing this "diet." If I ever try again, I need some serious resolve and a tongue with no taste buds.

Gary's experience has sent him to bed early with a serious headache and very sick to his stomach. But so far he is still resolved to follow through.

A Cleansing

Monday is the big day! For what, you ask? For the cleansing diet. I know you are on the edge of your seats just waiting to hear about it.

Gary heard about fasting to clean toxins from your body. The Master Cleanser was a suggestion. It involves lemons, pure maple syrup and Cayenne pepper. It is also known as the lemonade diet. It is designed to eliminate all sorts of toxins and yuck from within the body, with some help from laxative teas and a salt water drink. He read up on it, and I thought I'd give it a try also.

Ingredients (per glass:)
2 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice (1/2 lemon)
2 TBSP pure maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper (red) or to taste
water

Combine ingredients in glass (10 oz.) and fill with water.

So, we get to drink "lemonade" for ten days. I bought organic lemons and organic maple syrup. We have Cayenne pepper. It isn't a cheap diet.

Several concerns:
Can I not eat food for 10 days?
Will I like Cayenne pepper in my lemonade?
How exactly will the experience of eliminating all those toxins go?
How quickly and effectively does that salt water work?

Check in Monday night to see how's it's going.

If all this sounds fantastic to you, click here to see what you can get out of your system. [Or maybe wait 10 days first.]

Trying to make some money

I was a vendor at a craft fair this weekend. I made chocolate candy. Chocolate covered pretzels and raisins, peanut butter cups, and assorted shaped candies, a few with peanuts. I used milk and dark chocolate, white, green and red candy melts. The white, green, and red candy melts did not have a very nice melted consistency. They were much, much harder to use than the chocolate ones, and I had a few messes.

I also put out my prints and note cards from last year, the ones that never sold. My note cards sold better than I hoped. Last year I had them in packs of four. This year I had them all laid out individually.

To my way of thinking, if I sold anything, I'd do better than last year. I made over $70.00. Unfortunately, none of it was profit. It just paid for all my costs. Overall I did not enjoy the candy making process and do not care to repeat it. Although I have no problem eating leftovers.

I did get some help with my photography. The vendor next to me gave me the names of several websites where I could print my stuff for whole sale prices. She also gave me pointers. And other bonus was a young woman came by interested in a print that would go over her mantle. She liked two of my prints and wanted to know if they could be printed that large.

I looked into it and found that, yes, they could be printed that large. Now just need to figure out how much to charge.

Another opportunity has come from my sister. She knows a cafe owner who would be interested in displaying my photography. And on the first Friday of every month cafes will feature an artist's work. He said he might be interested in featuring my work! How exciting is that! And, it's a little intimidating.

A Family Day

Our family went down to Philly today for the Phillies parade. We started walking to the train station around 9:30. We were going to drive, but my mom called and said traffic was backed up way down main street. We decided to walk. My dad had his hair cut and was driving down our street, so he gave us ride the rest of the way.

When we got in sight of the station, we couldn't believe our eyes. It was packed. There were people everywhere. A mass of people on the train platforms waiting for a train and a long line coming out of the station waiting to buy tickets.

Officials had been saying to take mass transit to the city for the parade but SEPTA was not prepared for the amount of people who actually did so. They couldn't meet the demand and ended up telling people to find other transportation to the city. [The news reported that approximately 400,000 people used the subway system, up from an average of 150,000 people, and the Regional Rail system was used by about 300,000 people, up from a normal 130,000 people.]

As people started taking the find-other-transportation advice, the lines thinned out considerably. Amazingly in about 5 minutes, more than half the people left. We were undecided about what to do. A train was sitting on the tracks, and a woman was exclaiming not so nicely and not using my choice of words, that they were told to disembark so that us Phillies paraders could get on and go downtown. [Gary said that for some trains Lansdale is the end of the line and this train was probably one of those trains.] I thought we should wait and see if SEPTA would let those of us still there on the train.

They did. We even got seats. We were on our way. I believe that although our train was not express, we didn't stop on the way down to center city. There just wasn't any room for anyone else.

The streets of Philadelphia were wall to wall people along the parade route. The only way we could sort of see was looking through a subway glass enclosure. Since people were not right in front of us, we could see the tip top of the parade floats.

After the parade went by, we made our way to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. I think many others did as well. We did find a food establishment without much of a line. And we had a place to sit and eat. Not that the kids did much of that.

We headed back to Market Street station and discovered that they weren't even letting passengers down on the platform to get on a train. I asked where trains were before they came here. Gary said 30th Street Station. So we took the subway (for free - they were just herding people on) to 30th St. and made our way to the fairly unpacked platform. We got seats on the first train that came by. It stopped once letting people on to stand and headed out of the city.

When we started making stops to let people off, the stops were way longer than necessary. At Elkins park we were sitting for about 30 min. As I was looking out the windows, for what else is there to do besides stare at other passengers, I noticed a police car coming toward the parking lot. Than another and another and another. All the policeman walked toward the train. In all I think there were 6 police cars. There was no explanation to us passengers, though. We just started up again and went on our way.

After a 2 hour train ride that should have taken 61 minutes, we were finally in Lansdale. [I looked at the schedule and on a normal Friday, the train leaves 30th street station at 3:13 and leaves Lansdale at 4:14.] Our train ride was a slightly longer.

But hey, we were on a train.

THE PHILLIES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!

Choo-choo

Josh has taken a fancy to trains. But in his little world they are strictly known as Choo-choos. For example, the other day Josh had taken several items and was lining them up one behind the other. Gary noticed and asked Josh if he was making a train. Josh said "mm-mm" (or however you spell his form of "no") and said "choo-choo."

Josh as also been introduced to the world of choo-choo videos. Now all he wants to see are videos of trains. He'll open the computer cabinet and point to the screen and say "choo-choo." It will entertain him for quite awhile, and Ellie too. They both sit here and watch train videos. I try to find the longest playing ones, since it keeps their attention so well. I have some peace while fixing dinner. We have to be careful though, because once Ellie found a video of a train wreck with people involved.

Here's one of my favorites due to length of time playing. It is also of steam engines, which I prefer over diesel.

What do you know

Gary and I would like to go camping one more time this year. Elk Neck State Park in Maryland is an option. It is in walking distance of a lighthouse, so I asked Ellie if she'd like to see a lighthouse. With the enthusiasm of a child asked if she wants candy, she said "YES!" She also excitedly asked Josh if he wanted to see one too. My next question was if she even knew what a lighthouse was. No, she said. I find it humorous that she is all excited about something she knows nothing about. Her next question was even better. She asked "Which houses light up?"

Her question made perfect sense to her.

PHILLIES!!

In case anyone is unaware, the Phillies start the World Series tonight. I am very excited.

The boxelder beetle.













The boxelder beetles all over our window.








We have five windows that face the afternoon sun. We have five windows crowded with boxelder beetles. They find it a very desirable place to be. It's like a little bug sauna. Yesterday I closed the storm windows in the downstairs windows. The windows with the sun were not for the faint of heart or fear of insects. As I pushed up the screen and pulled down the storm window, it rained beetles. Not kidding - at least twenty of the things were crawling around in there. I just left them alone and quick shut the window. They just want a place that's warm.

See video below to witness the beetles.

I forgot to include these photos in my array from our trip to Colorado. This is what you can see of the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the home of StarGate Command from the TV series "Stargate SG-1." Since we were in Colorado Springs, we thought we'd try to see it. You can't really see it, but we got as close as legally possible by road. I could have scaled up the side of the mountain, risking life and imprisonment, but decided against that option.

A rake: $23.00

A pack of paper leaf bags: $1.99

Watching my son enjoy a pile of leaves: Priceless

To the untrained eye it might appear that Ellie is investigating a cabinet and surveying kitchen gadgets on a table.

But no.

She is actually looking for something in the refrigerator and deciding what needs to be done at the counter.

The mind of a child is a wonderful thing.

Remembering

I find it interesting how a smell can remind you of things long ago.

Today, we are having bagels (Lender's) for lunch, Ellie's idea. [Lender's onion bagels the best onion bagels, in my opinion, because the onions are in the bagel not just on it.] Every time I have them, I am reminded of a time when I was a young girl. My mother gave us, my brother and sister and I, bagels for lunch, and we ate them in the family room while we watched "Swiss Family Robinson." I sat against the couch, probably on a blanket, with my little metal lap tray. Of course, it was a Lender's onion bagel with cream cheese. I think that when I watch "Swiss Family Robinson" I remember having a bagel while I watched.

The sound of a wood thrush also brings along memories. This one is not of a specific time, but a place. My grandparents' cabin in the Poconos. I'd sit on the porch swing with Grandpop and just listen to the sounds of the woods - the different songbirds, the rustling of leaves as squirrels and chipmunks scurried about, the trees swaying and creaking. Sometimes I think you could even hear the motor boats on the lake. All precious memories to me.

Where could they be?

There was a very important question in our household that needed to be solved. And it was of great import that it be answered. Where are our rally towels?

Thursday night we rallied our Phillies to their victory using our rally towels. [I shook mine more than Gary did.] At the end of the game, we folded them nicely and placed them on the table to await the next game, Friday night at 8:22 PM. Sometime during the day on Friday, I realized they were missing. Gone. Vanished. It was nap time so I couldn't consult my daughter of their whereabouts, since she likes to "acquire" things to herself. We didn't find them.

We were resolved to watch our Phillies play Friday night without the support of the towels. They did win, however.

On Saturday I did some more looking. Upstairs, downstairs, in the basement, in all the little places a child might stick something. Nothing. Where in the world did they get to?

On Sunday I was really perplexed that they still hadn't turned up! Ellie was awake when I remembered they were still missing, so I asked about them. She said she put them in a bag to take to Aunt Sissy's house. That was no help, since the bags I looked in revealed no rally towels. I employed the children to help look through their toys more thoroughly, which they heartily agreed to, since it involved being able to empty the contents of the toy cabinet onto the floor. Especially great fun for Josh. Nothing. I was convinced that Ellie had a lot to do with their whereabouts, so I took another look into her things. I actually removed objects in bags instead of peering inside. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Two rally towels waiting to be shaken in victory!

Unfortunately the Phillies outing on Sunday left all fans wondering how they ever even got to the NLCS. They couldn't hit a ball even if it was on a tee.

Now apparently they had a sound talking to, because last night Jimmy Rollins actually hit the ball and so did many other players, to take the Phillies to a win. Our rally towels were flying!

We might actually make it to the World Series.

I do have one comment: The 8:22 PM game times are really messing up our get to bed by 10:00 PM thing.

Oh yeah, one more thing: I am on the computer this morning due to MOPS stuff needing to be done, being up a little early, and Ellie having already eaten.

We aren't getting to bed at exactly 10:00, but we are doing way better than before. It's before 10:30, though. [Except for last night. If any of you follow baseball, than you'd know why. Our Fightin' Phils won the first game in the NLCS. Today's game is at 4:35, so bedtime won't be interrupted.]

My devotional time isn't happening every day in the morning, and I missed one day.

My computer time thing is going great. Interestingly, I get more done when I don't have kids underfoot. Who would have thought that! So, I get more done with less time spent on the computer. I'm practically giddy with all this extra time.

I am still reading the Shepherding book, and looking forward to implementing it's Biblical teachings. I still have to go through and memorize, or for right now, write down the Bible passages I want to use immediately. The two I am quoting to my children now are Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," and Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another." They need to know that I am not coming up with this, but it is from God.