Decorating for Christmas!

Ready for dinner!

My Dennis Brown Nativity set below my new painting. The pink chairs will be covered soon with yummy yellow slip covers.

A new table cloth to match the curtains.

Thanksgiving

That empty picture frame is for our family picture from Phiip & Abby's wedding.

So nice to have the 3 sons-in-law together!

Here are some photos of our family Thanksgiving Dinner

An interesting commentary on Greece-read it!

This is an interesting commentary on Greece by a person who moved to the USA in 1995 . I get many articles from friends, and I find this one is fascinating.
Aunt Gretchen

I lived in Greece for 10 years, under the Papandreaou socialists and then the much touted Mitzotakis and then Karamanlis "New Democracy" supposedly not socialist (but just a wee bit less socialist) parties. The absolute "rightest" that Greece has to offer is something akin to a Clintonesque sort of socialism (and the Greeks think that is downright conservative).

The effects of socialism have destroyed Greece. The word "ambition" has been removed from the vocabulary. Careers are made of serving "frappes" (iced coffee) at always bustling sidewalk cafes and cafeneons, where the "retired" the unemployed sit and moan about their place in life...always to be followed by the ever-Greek expression of "Ti na kanoume"...what can we do ....how about NOT electing the socialists? How about actually taking responsibility for yourselves and not waiting for your nanny to pick up after you. So it comes down to this: they wait and wait and wait for "someone" to save them, and of course it never happens, and when it doesn't, it is always America's fault...

Look at Athens since the Olympics. The stadiums, the venues sit in complete ruin, unused, because the gov't can't decide what to do with them, and using them would take money away from the top of the food chain.

But once socialism infects the younger, it is over for the country. They don't realize that all their leaders are "left in the head, right in the pocket".

We called life in Greece the "daily miracle"...which meant something akin to this:
Buses running? A miracle.

Trollies running? A miracle.

Phones working? (by the way, I waited 9, yes NINE years for a phone to be installed. I lived there before "cell phones" and I had "meson" (an insider who was pushing my application along). A miracle.

Electricity on? A miracle.

Hospitals not on strike? A miracle.
You didn't die waiting to be seen in the hospital? A miracle.

You got the correct diagnosis in the hospital? (surely you get it, once you buy your way into med school, you buy your way out too...knowlege or talent has nothing to do with being a physician...) a miracle.

Schools - and I mean high schools and Jr schools - not being taken over by the students themselves (why would they do this? how about no heat, no bathrooms, no water, no books, and oh, ya, nevermind those classes with no teachers) A miracle.

Olympic Airlines in the air? (well, not any more...) a miracle. Oh, and it was a miracle when a stewardess on Olympic turned out to be the elder Papandreaou's mistress and finally first lady....so much for morality, but at least he did ....ahemmm.....share with the "waitress down the street"....

How about the banks being open or not on strike? A miracle.

Supermarkets not serving tainted cheese, meat from Bulgaria and calling it Greek? A miracle.

There are no jobs in Greece. There is no reason to get an education, as there is nothing to do with a degree if you get it. You can't even study what you want to study in University, as there aren't enough "seats" in the schools. IF you manage to pass the entrance exams, the state exams (now, please go back to the fact that many schools have no books, no teachers, etc....exactly how was your kid supposed to learn the physics that is on the state test?) then you will be assigned to a University. Maybe you want to study law, but your score dictates that drama or theology would be best for you.....

Keep them stupid and give the bread to fill their tummies. The PASOK (Socialists under Papandreaou and now his son George P, champagne socialist - who is American, by the way) fulfilled this promise. The mass subsidizing of farmers to keep food prices suppressed and keep tummies full but brains empty worked. It created two generations of fat lazy idiots. 40 year old men living with their mommies and daddies because they can't get a job that pays enough to rent some pathetically small apartment in a cruddy end of town.

We left Greece for the United States in 1995 and nothing nothing nothing to this day has changed. If anything, it is worse, yet party after party springs up, promising abundance, but guess what.....

I am dumbfounded, astonished, amazed, and sickened by the sheer mass stupidity of the United States in voting for Obama. He is a fool controlled by other fools.

Every empire sees its decline and fall, and Obama and his cronies will be the fall of the United States. Start learning how to serve coffee, because one day, the USA will be the "Greece" of this hemisphere...the cheap place to come and visit as a tourist because the dollar in the USA will worthless against other currencies, and there will be lots of people to serve you coffee and carry your bags and drive your taxis.

Halara

Key Issues Compaired Objectively

Here is a link http://www.cwfpac.com/candidateStance.php to an easy to read comparison on how McCain & Obama have voted on key issues. Purely objective voting records tell a lot.

Start at the bottom to see these in order.

Coming together at last

You can see the brick wallpaper bewteen the counters and cupboards. We got a new piece of flooring that matches the brick color exactly.

Eventually we will get a new couch and put our family pictures on this wall. I spray painted my old brass floor lamp with a mat finish black paint. I learned this trick from my Mother-in-law.
New chandelier and curtains finish off the new look.

We painted the paneling on the fireplace white. That helps a lot! Soon I will get a painting to showcase over the fireplace. I'm hoping for a mantel, too.

Yikes, green walls!

Nick Takacs did a good job painting the family room and office. He wallpapered the kitchen area, too. But when he was finished we realized that we didn't like the color at all! So, as you can see at the right, we had another painter come and "rag paint" over it. He actually used a mixture of pink, red and brown to kill the green. This is the half-done picture. The walls actually look gold, a mainstay in the "French Provence" look.

Decorating Update "during"

Here are some of our "during" shots. The family room and office looked like this for all of July and August! Ugh.

Heather Turns 22!

For Heather's 22nd birthday she asked for old Bing Cosby, Gene Kelly, etc. DVDs. We gave her 5 and Philip and Abby gave her 3 more. How fun! This weekend we will celebrate with Grandpa Stevens and the 5 of us.

I earned 6 new units!

As most of you know, I'm going back to school to finally earn by Bachelors in teaching and religion from Liberty University online. I am really enjoying the process. I wasn't sure I could still write a college level paper but I have and I am doing well. I decided to challenge the Teacher Pracitum course by showing proof of 20 years of teaching experience, plus numerous courses in the area of Special Needs. I had to write my autobiography, which was an interesting process. Well, I heard today that I met the challenge and received 6 units that I now don't have to take! Yahoo!

Grandma & Grandpa's 60th

Go to my blog before our Hawaii trip to read about the 60th anniversary celebration.
GS

2 Weeks in Hawaii Part 3 -Kauai

Heather and; I enjoy the leis Kirk got us at the airport in Honolulu.
(This is supposed to be the last picture)

It was fun to watch the rain falling in the distance; within 5 minutes, it was raining on us.

Here is the Kilauea Lighthouse on the North shore of Kauai.

Amazing scenery, wouldn't you agree?

We took a paved pathway from our condo area down to the private beach.
This was the view on the way down.

Kirk snorkeled here and saw many beautiful fish.



We paddled up to the sand and parked our kayak here. We found a cabana to use and stayed here for a few hours. We ate snacks and Kirk and I floated in the warm water. What a beautiful spot!

We kayaked up the Hanalei River to Hanalei Bay. Here we are going out to the bay.

This is one of MANY sunset pictures that we took from our patio.

This is what is known as the "Bali Hai" beach. This is where they filmed parts of the musical "South Pacific".

We rented a one-bedroom condo that had just been remodeled. It had granite counters and new appliances. We found it through Lynn Luttrell's friends at Remax Kauai. It is Pali Ke Kua #118.

Our condo on the North Shore was in Princeville. It was ocean front with a 270 degree ocean view. Here is a view from inside the livingroom.

Here are Lynn and I at church on Sunday. They attend Anahola Baptist Church. Lynn grew up at Granada and went to Kauai as a teacher for one term. She married Phil and they have been there for 32 years!

We spent a day at Phil & Lynn Luttrell's home in Lihue, Kauai. He works with Child Evangelism and she owns and is principal of Olelo Christian School. Kirk spray painted many desks while I organized her school files and mailing lists. Little Joey has been adopted by them and really took to Kirk. He followed him around all day, showing him his bugs and other interests. Kirk enjoyed his company. He came and sat by Kirk & I at church the following Sunday.

2 Weeks on Hawaii -Part 2 Hana

Kirk trekking to the waterfall.

This is the lovely road that we drove down every time we left our B&B to go somewhere.

A beautiful vista on the Road to Hana. We would recommend this trip to anyone going to Maui. The B&B is called Ala ania Ocean Vista. We found it on the web and were very pleased with it.

Here is where the waterfall finally goes to the ocean. What a beautiful area!

Here was our prize for the long hike. This waterfall feeds the "Seven Sacred Pools" (actually there are 24 of them).

You can see how red my face was! It was very humid. Kirk made me this walking stick from bamboo to help along the way.

Kirk and I took a 4 mile hike through the Bamboo Forest up to a 400 foot waterfall. When the wind was rustling the bamboo, it sounded like being inside a wind chime. Kirk said it reminded him of the bible verse about the trees clapping their hands to worship God.

Two Wonderful Weeks in Hawaii -Part 1 Hana (Ala aina Ocean Vista B&B)

There are so many waterfalls near Hana. This is one of the tallest in the area.

Kirk cut off the end of a coconut with a dull saw (!) and we drank the sweet milk with a straw.

A brief downpour brought our dinner inside to eat from the tray on our bed. We played Yahtzee and read in the evenings. It was so relaxing and romantic.

Here's another view from our deck. The mother-daughter team who run the B&B own 7 acres that were part of a banana plantation. They are off the electricity grid and are solar and propane powered.

Here's part of the view from our deck/lanai. We had an outdoor kitchen and table where we ate breakfast and dinner. We picked up tree ripened mangoes and bananas from the property to eat daily.

Here is the King size bed at our B&B ten miles beyond Hana. Each morning we awoke to a light rain and the birds trilling in the trees. The B&B has only one room, so we were the only ones there. It was so quiet! Only rain, winds in the mango trees, frogs at night and birds could be heard.

We picked up delicious smoked tacos here at "Up in Smoke BBQ". They were delicious!

Here we are in the Garden of Eden on the road to Hana. The road has 613 curves and 57 bridges. It takes about 3-4 hours to traverse. I rented Kirk a Sebring convertible for this part of the trip. It was so fun to have the roof down while traveling this beautiful road- one of the most scenic in America!

Mom & Dad's 60th Anniversary Celebration!

Yesterday we all came together for a celebration of Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary. We gathered at our house ( which is a MESS because of redecorating!). We caravaned down to The Laguna Art Festival. First we ate a lovely dinner at Trivoli Terrace, the outdoor restaurant on the grounds. Then we walked around the looked at the beautiful jewelry, paintings, sculptures and other lovely artwork. The Pageant of the Masters with the living Tableaus is always enjoyable. What a lovely evening!

Did you know you can freeze eggs??

I read that you can freeze eggs!
If you ever get a bargain on eggs or your hens lay too many at once, here's the solution:
Crack each egg into one section of an ice cube tray. Freeze them like ice cubes. When frozen, pop them out into a zip top freezer bag to keep. When ready to use, take out as many "square eggs" as you need, and let them defrost at room temperature. Cool huh?
Thought you'd like to know.

Peach & Blueberry Cobbler

I used Mom's modified Light-Tasty recipe for this yummy cobbler. The peaches are from my peach tree in our front yard. They are white peaches and SO sweet!