This is sweet little Ella Claire Daniel, daughter of our Hendrix friends Chris and Megan. “Ellie” is at Arkansas Children’s Hospital right now because she’s been having seizures and they’re trying to get to the bottom of it. The original likely diagnosis is quite bad, but now they’re thinking that might not be what it is after all… but still more testing is necessary. You can read more on Megan’s and Chris’s blogs if you like. They would appreciate your prayers and support!

She’s such a sweetie, by the way… I got to visit yesterday and hold her and feed her a bottle while her mom ate lunch. It’s a little different with a gazillion wires attached to her, but we managed. She’s a doll!

Comments(1)

It’s grill week! That means the bulk of my dinner cooking is done for the week already. But I have to remind myself that 6 burgers don’t last 3 meals anymore when Anna eats it too. I never know if she’s going to eat meat or not (I usually just give her a couple of bites of mine and see if she eats it, then give her more if she wants), but tonight she put away almost half a hamburger patty!

Visit the original Menu Plan Monday for more meal ideas.

Monday: Grilled chicken sandwiches, sweet potato wedges

Tuesday: Chicken quesadillas, fresh fruit, chips & homemade salsa

Wednesday: Burgers, veggies & dip

Thursday: same as Monday

Friday: same as Tuesday

Saturday: Wheat-oat pancakes w/ strawberry topping, scrambled eggs

Sunday: Father’s Day dinner, as requested by David—Steamed shrimp (ordered from Kroger), baked potatoes, salad (I put that part in), French bread, carrot cake for dessert

* * * * * * *

Recipe: Carrot Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting (more…)

Comments(0)

Last night, David and I got to hear the Fuchsia Band from County Cork, Ireland. They were performing in Little Rock at Studio Joe in a concert presented by the ACMS. (It was sold out, which means we should actually come within a couple hundred dollars of breaking even on this one!)

Here’s the thing about Irish music: you get to hear some of the best musicians in the world for their genre, but you get to pay 10 bucks a ticket and sit just a few feet away from them, and even talk to them afterwards, and sometimes even play with them in a post-concert session. Do you get to do that with pop music? No way! you pay 100 bucks and sit with 18,000 of your closest friends in Alltel Arena, and if you’re lucky and persistent enough, maybe wait in line for hours for a 10-second autograph from the artist(s).

I remember a few years ago just after I had started playing pennywhistle, I got to meet Mary Bergin at a pub in St. Louis. I know, you’re thinking, “who?” But I was thinking, “oh my gosh I’m shaking hands with Mary Bergin and talking to her and I can’t believe she’s sitting right there playing pennywhistle not five feet away from me and WOW!” Little did I know then, that’s pretty typical with this genre of music. You get to mingle with the best of the best in a casual setting—no media reporters, no bodyguards, no crazy mobs—just people like yourself who appreciate good music.

I’m pleased with my choice of entertainment.

Here’s a short video clip of the boys tearin’ it up on a reel set last night:

Comments(3)

Thanks, cousin Addie, for the loan of the car. And the sunglasses. Oh, and the outfit.

Comments(5)

Monday: Chicken strips, baked sweet potatoes, green beans

Tuesday: Beef enchiladas, Mexican rice, green salad

Wednesday: same

Thursday: Macaroni & cheese, green beans, carrots

Friday: out

Saturday: same as Thurs.

Sunday: same

Visit Menu Plan Monday for more ideas!

Comments(1)

Comments(3)

As I mentioned in my first story about the great dog rescue adventure, we were unable to get one of the five dogs that Saturday. He is very skittish around people (thereby earning himself the name Mr. Skittish in our blog posts). So picking up where I left off last… between Jennifer M. and us, we checked the lake on Saturday night and twice on Sunday with no sign of Mr. Skittish, but some folks camping there said they had seen him, so we weren’t giving up yet.

On Monday night, David and I were on our way to celebrate our anniversary but stopped by the lake first, just in case he was there (after a difficult decision of what to wear that is appropriate for both catching filthy dogs and having a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday). And he was! But that’s not all… he had teamed up with a new pack! There was a momma dog and three puppies with him. And, let me tell you, they were CUTE!!! All 5 dogs were very hungry. The momma and puppies were very sweet and loveable; in fact, after she had had enough to eat, the momma was a bit of an attention hog. We set up the crate to try to catch Mr. Skittish, but we were unsuccessful. When we left, David talked to Donna (with All About Labs, who took the first batch) about the new additions to see what could be done about them. Between Donna and her friend Judy, who runs a rescue in Malvern, they had places for them!

Tuesday we didn’t see them, but we theorized that maybe they wander around and re-appear at that spot around 7 PM, since they had been seen at that time twice. So Wednesday night, the three of us showed up around 7, and they were there. (more…)

Comments(1)

Well, it’s a bit of a boring menu plan this week. But here it is, nonetheless.

Monday: It’s our anniversary, so I’m thinkin’ I’m not cooking.

Tuesday: Manicotti (that we didn’t have last week), salad, foccacia

Wednesday: Chicken rice casserole, green beans, carrots

Thursday: same

Friday: dinner with family

Saturday: dinner with family

Sunday: Leftover chicken rice casserole that I’ll freeze after Thursday’s dinner

Check out Menu Plan Monday for lots of (hopefully more interesting) menus this week!

Comments(2)

Wow, it’s been quite a week.

Last Saturday, a quick Facebook check of people’s status updates turned into a week-long drama when I read that one of my friends (also named Jennifer) was “making an emotional plea for her friends to go rescue 5 dogs that were dumped at Lake Conway. Very sweet, but very skinny and tick-laden.”

Oh boy. Well, we couldn’t just ignore that, now could we?

There is so much I could write about this past week’s experience that I hardly know where to start, and if I wrote it all at once it would be way too long. There are several topics floating around in my head:

• The pitiful state of animal control and rescue in Faulkner county
• What I think needs to be done about it
• Our own frustrating and at times infuriating journey that led us to today
• Our observations about and interactions with the dogs themselves
• The actual rescue

I think I’ll start with the happy ending and work my way backwards, because it’s late, and posting pictures and writing about them is the easiest kind of blog post.

To give proper credit to the happy ending: first of all God, who reminded us that He works things out just when we think they’re crumbling apart, and His instruments: Lynda from Memphis Area Golden Retriever Rescue (Lynda is a local contact), and Donna from All About Labs.

Here are the dogs at the lake:

(more…)

Comments(6)

… for a bow! Oh boy, now I can go bow shopping! But I suppose it would be more economical for me to learn to make them.

Comments(1)