It's Not Easy Being Green

Catching Up (the short version)

What a busy couple of months! It been kind of like wedding vows in that we have had better and worse, richer and poorer and sickness and health. Thankfully, it's all been wedded to God's faithfulness, so all is well.

Here are a few notable things...

• We enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families in Huntsville.
• I've had a kidney infection coupled with kidney stones. The infection is gone, but the stones are still making their way through.
• Katie's hair is currently green and Mike has a cut similar to Katie's, only his is dyed black.
• We've attended two of Katie's orchestra concerts, Nicholas' Christmas concert, and for Mike, two orchestra concerts and two gigs at Rocketown by his band, Love Fire.
• I finally unpacked the last two little boxes in the kitchen that had been living on top of the fridge. (Now I need to figure out where to hang all those ribbons from the fair that I found.) And there are still plenty of other boxes scattered around the house waiting for attention. Not to mention the piles where I've unpacked a box, but didn't get all the contents put away...
•And a big hurray because I got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully I can post some pictures soon.

Happy new year to all!

Ode to Autumn

Trees wearing hot colors do a slow striptease
while standing in the spotlight of a golden chill.

Their dry leaves provide the applause
as they dance closely with the wind.

The audience shamelessly watches the show
while sipping hot cocoa.

After the stage is raked clean,
the heavy perfume of burning leaves lingers
to remind us of our seduction.

August 2007

I realize that posts have been rather sparse lately. August 2007 was a very full month, and I have to admit to being a bit glad to have it in the rearview mirror. It is tempting to focus on all the hard parts: Pop's passing, things slamming hard at work with our back to school rush, several other deaths among family members of coworkers, the drought and extremely hot temperatures we had, and a few other odds and ends.

However, despite all the difficulties there were constant reminders of God at work: Fresh tomatoes, huge sunflowers, a garden full of butterflies, getting buzzed by hummingbirds, the outpouring of love and care from friends, the precious time grieving and remembering our common history with family, our thankfulness for air conditioning and running water, watching caterpillars become butterflies and the daily joys of living.

Life can be hard. God is always good.

Happy September!

Edwin Lacy Buchanan

June 23, 1920 Aug. 6, 2007
Edwin Lacy Buchanan, 87, of Meridianville passed away Monday, August 6, 2007. He was a faithful servant of his Lord Jesus Christ. He was a charter member of Lakewood United Methodist Church, where he served as chairman of the building committee and held many key offices. Mr. Buchanan was a resident of Huntsville since 1953 and retired from the U. S. Army Missile Command with 32 years of service. He graduated from Brandon High School in Brandon, Miss., and was a decorated World War II Army veteran. He received a degree in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lacy Elisha and Hattie Buchanan; and siblings, James Warren Buchanan, Mary Celeste Buchanan, L.E. Stingley, Bivian Clark Buchanan, David Graves Buchanan, Sam Henry Buchanan Sr., Benjamin Hal Buchanan, Sr. and Hattie Sue Smith Allen. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Dorothy; daughter, Nancy Bryson and her husband, Charles, and their sons, Tom Bryson and wife, Ashley, and Steve Bryson of Leland, Miss.; sons, James Buchanan and his wife, Sherri, and their sons, Jamie Buchanan and Jacob Buchanan of Kosciusko, Miss., and David Buchanan and his wife, Nicole, and their children, Katie Buchanan, Michael Buchanan and Nicholas Buchanan, of Nashville; sister, Minnie Stephens of Magee, Miss.; and numerous nieces and nephews. Interment will be at Huntsville Memory Gardens. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Lakewood United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 3918., Huntsville, AL 35810. The family expresses their immense gratitude to the doctors and nurses of the STICU of Huntsville Hospital for the loving care that they provided.

We are saddened by his passing, but so very grateful for our time with him.

Prayer Alert!

David and Mike headed out for Mexico on Friday morning. A few hours after they left David's father (Pop) was in a serious car accident in Huntsville, AL. Pop had to be cut out of his car and transported to the hospital by ambulance. He was immediately taken to surgery because he had internal bleeding. They removed his appendix, spleen and gall bladder and determined that he had two or three broken ribs, but no additional injuries.

As of today (Monday) he remains in Surgical ICU and on a respirator and heavily sedated. They are weaning him from the respirator but are still predicting a 2-3 week hospital stay. He seems to be in a great deal of pain when his sedation begins to wear off, but he has responded to simple commands.

The Mexico Men have continued on to Reynosa with much faith for Pop's speeding healing. Today was there first day on the worksite. I should have more to report if I speak with David this evening.

Thanks for your prayers!

Yard Sale

So, we have such a tremendous amount of "stuff" that I have been making a Yard Sale pile every since we moved in and it currently takes up the entire foyer. So, I've never had a yard sale, and I really don't want to do it but, it's a LOT of stuff. So, I'm wondering if it's okay to not price anything and let people just make an offer...

Hurray for Summer

Well, the kids and I have throughly enjoyed our first week off together. They've actually been out two weeks, but my first day off was Monday. I swore I would spend all my time catching up on house work and trying to finally finish unpacking all the boxes around the house, and I am sure I will start that next week.

In the meantime I've enjoyed the hammock that the family got me for my 40th birthday a few weeks ago. I guess they figured I am so old I need to rest more often. I'm not arguing.

I've spent a great deal of time this week trying to get organized and sort out the chores. The kids always pick up a few extra in the summer and they also each have a "Junior Chef Night" where they plan the menu and do kitchen duty. They are all getting very good around the kitchen, and it is fun to work with them.

For the annual changing of the chores I actually print up cards listing the job, how often it's done, and assign it a point value that is a combination of the time it takes and the "yuck factor." ( High on the yuck factor, picking up dog poop, washing underthings, and doing dirty dishes.) It's like a fast paced card game as we sit down and play Choose your Chores. I get all the discards and if anyone complains I always offer to switch one with them. They rarely take me up on the offer, though.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer, too.

How rare is it?

Katie likes her meat so rare she is trying to grow a cow. We'll let you know if the spirit of Ellijah the prophet beings to manifest.

New cut and color

Katie's hair has been changing again. It's getting shorter and brighter....

Mexico Mike (& David) 2007

David and Mexico Mike are on the move again this summer!

Click on the letter below to see it full sized and find out how you can participate with them on this adventure.

Easter Pictures

Strawberry Pie

Mike 13th birthday party. His band had their first public performance. That's Chris on guitar and Tom on drums.

Kind of yucky...

Nicholas and I are home from school today. He started throwing up last night and continued on through the morning, but things seem to have calmed down now. I woke up with a mysterious ankle sprain last Monday, so I don't mind a day to lay in bed, either.

Everyone else seems to be fine, although Mike is a bit grumpy. He went on a ski trip with the youth group this weekend and didn't get much rest. He's got soccer tryouts this afternoon, then hopefully will have an early night. David is on the tired side since he was up much of the night with us, but last time he called in, he seems to be holding up okay.

Not too bad in the grand scheme of life, but a slightly yucky day.

Kaylee and Georgy

Kaylee Bark-Bark seems a bit too fond of Georgy the Guinea Pig. Last night David and I heard a loud crash from the other end of the house. We went to check it out and discovered that Kaylee had knocked Georgy's cage off of its little table and onto the floor. Bedding full of you-know-what spilled all over the floor. Georgy was fine and Nicholas slept through the whole incident, including the vacuuming. We decided to move her cage to the floor so it wouldn't happen again, and I took her out of the cage to make sure she wasn't hurt. Kaylee hovered around me, sniffing and even licking (tasting?) Georgy. Then, once she was back in the cage Kaylee started biting on the bars. We are keeping Nicholas' door closed until we can convince Kaylee that Georgy is a friend, not food.

It's another girl...

Nicholas is now the proud owner of a Guinea Pig named Georgy. He used all his birthday money to buy her and all her necessities. She is a cutie and her cage is situated by the foot of his bed so he can watch her.

One other animal update: Molly Cricket was spayed yesterday. She came through it just fine. She was full of pain killer when we got her back, and it showed. The vet's office told us that we should keep her in Katie's room with her food and water (and litter box, of course) for a few days so she had time to heal. They also said that if she didn't start eating by today we should give them a call. So we got Molly all set up in a corner of Katie's room with her food and water dish and a shoebox litter spot all on a beach towel. She felt well enough during the night to rearrange everything. She pulled the food dish into the closet and tipped it over. She pulled the water dish off of the blanket, and then she tried to pull the entire towel (with the litter box on it) into the closet. When that didn't work, she tried to move the litter box by itself.

I think she will be fine.

Orange you glad she's Katie?

Well, after a 24 hour visit to blonde, Katie is now neon orange. We did it on Super Bowl Sunday, and she cheered for the Colts because if the Bears won people would be wearing orange and the first rule of Katie hair color is, "Never match the season or event."

Katie got a haircut

Well, Katie got a haircut. I didn't think she could be even prettier, but she is.

Tonight, we bleach it and tomorrow color it neon orange. One of us will post as soon as we get finished.

The Titans' Year

Kaylee, along with the rest of us, was very disappointed that the Titans didn't make it into the playoffs this year.
Maybe next year, girl.

Snow Day

My trip to Fairhope, AL

A few weeks ago I was blessed to attend the Southern Stitch-In, held in lovely Fairhope, AL and hosted by Blair H. We had full run of a needlework shop and spent our time stitching, preparing for our upcoming certification application for the JTA (Japan Temari Association), shopping, eating and laughing. It was a fabulous get-away. The town of Fairhope is a jewel. We had beignets and coffee one morning in the French Quarter courtyard. Ahhhh....

Christmas Break

One might think that Christmas break would be a great opportunity to unpack a few more boxes, especially since we were coming up on the one year anniversary of being in this house. On the other hand, Molly Cricket really enjoys sleeping at high altitudes.

Perhaps my time would be best spent organizing my temari threads....

New Year's

Christmas on the Road

Buchanan Family Christmas




Schmitz Family Christmas

Christmas at home

Stockings hung by the chimney with care....



Christmas Kaylee Bark-Bark



Christmas Rosie



Sleepy Katie in her new Papasan Chair



The boys with their new Bikes



Niki's favorite present