Life is so busy lately, don't have much time to post. We've been keeping up the garden and yard, doing laundry, painting the front porch (in above picture you can kind of see the blue ceiling; the walls will be tan and the trim a nice shiny white, still in process), etc. George is outside now mowing the lawn, and I'm itching to get off the computer and vacuum the dirty floors, and then it's off to work for me.I have been walking to work when I can lately, so that adds an extra hour to my work day. The walk is mostly pleasant, about 2.5 miles each way which takes me half an hour, but it does take away another hour from home. Still, my friend Rebecca just got back from Europe and she said, "Europeans walk EVERYWHERE, miles and miles...", which I knew from my trip there when we walked and walked and walked whole days (joined by everyone else walking, not just tourists). I remember that being very pleasant and of course it's good exercise, so I'm trying to do that. I've decided I prefer walking over biking; it's less sweaty and fast-paced. The nice thing about St. Cloud is you can walk everywhere, mostly on sidewalks too. I look forward to the day when there are even less cars whizzing past me, though. Cars really do stink and make a lot of noise, don't they? I've decided they really decrease my quality of life, at the same time they have their benefits.
One of the automobile's benefits is that we can go visit my family (which probably would not be an hour or two away, or more, if it weren't for the car in the first place, though). This past Sunday we celebrated my Grandma's 90th birthday at my parents' house. Doesn't she look great for being 90? She just keeps trucking along, in good physical health albeit with some aches and pains. Her mind isn't what it was, but she does pretty good. And she still has the cutest impish smile ever! Speaking of walking, Grandma never had a driver's license so she walked everywhere in her small town. I definitely think that has contributed to her good health and living to an advanced age. 
Last Friday George and I stopped at a garage sale and picked up these few things...A pair of boots for Eli, a pair of Pottery Barn Kids curtain panels for Rose's room, and some books. The one on top is a 1940s Betty Crocker cookbook and it's a hoot. It's a book on how to deal with food shortages and rations during WWII, and I thought it so appropriate to our times. It's called Your Share. 
It's got sections and recipes on "stretching meat", using eggs, taking advantage of dairy, etc. We haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but it's fun to read and we plan to try some of it. George was really interested in the "meatball pancakes" recipe, in which you can get 1/2 pound of ground beef to feed six people. 
And here's one last picture of Elijah with his new guitar. I have to sneak in photos of him, taking them from the side and surprising him. That's why he's moving--he certainly wasn't posing. George got a great deal on this guitar and a case at the music store where he teaches, and since Elijah has shown interest we got it for him. Yesterday he spent several hours learning to play, mainly teaching himself from the couple of books we have. He lets Dad give him a few tips, but mostly he likes to learn on his own (gee, I wonder where he gets that from? I plan to teach myself banjo in the same way soon!)
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