Where Do I Work?

I read my mom's story below to my co-workers today. Of course, they laughed. One of them told me that if they came in one day and I'm sitting in someone else's office, they'd just gently guide me back to my office.

Too Funny to Keep to Ourselves

Mother K once said: "When I forget, you consider it senility, but you think nothing of it when you forget." Bear her words in mind as you read the following:

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) we joined Mary's family for the usual traditional dinner. All the family contributes food and when we arrived, we rang the doorbell and walked in through the unlocked door. What a surprise to see that unfamiliar folks were already eating; Mary had not told us of these extra guests. Can you believe that we were at the house next door? The design is much like that of the Mary and Joey's home--same sidewalk leading to the porch and the dining room immediately to the right as one enters the front door (that was as far as we got!). Had we not been so intent on getting the food into the house, the different house appearance would have been obvious. The next door host met us immediately and said, "Are you looking for Joey?" The whole thing was too ridiculous to be embarrassed. We beat a quick retreat and are still laughing at the blunder.

At our age--Date Night?

Last night Lynn and I attended a premier showing at the Huntsville Space Center of the film "The Mysterious Islands." I'd been reading about this film for weeks and we were delighted to get a notice that it was to be shown in Huntsville last night. The theater was packed with what Lynn estimated to be 800 people. The Islands are no less than the Galapagos Island and the purpose was to retrace Charles Darwin's trip there in the 1830's. The film director is Doug Phillips of Vision Forum along with an entourage that included Dr. John Morris of ICR. The photography is beautiful as it shows the many unusual aspects of the Galapagos Islands, including the animals found only there such as the salt-spitting marine iguana, the blue-footed booby birds, and the very old tortoises.

Another most interesting feature was the conclusion of the film showing that both Robert FitzRoy, the admiral of the HMS Beagle, and Darwin, who is no stranger to any of you, spent five years together at the Galapagos Islands as naturalists, exploring these unusual islands. The conclusion for Darwin was that life originated by chance and for FitzRoy that God was the Creator. Both men had the same evidence, showing that our world view depends on our starting points and how we choose to look at evidence: man's opinion or the absolute authority of God's Word. The film can be purchased from AiG, ICR, VF and other sources. Incidentally, this week marks the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Darwin's book titled "The Origin of Species....,or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." The last part of the title is usually omitted and you can easily guess why.

It Works!

Was awake early, and having seen in the Meijer flyer that the Little Tykes Basketball was on sale for $19.99 (reg. 34.99) today only, I decided to get up and go get it. One hour and 15 minutes later, I'm home, and my ticket says $362.26.

Happy Christmas shopping, all you suckers out there!

New topic...

I loved reading about all the wonderful men in the family...we didn't hear from any men though, hmmmm....

My next question is about company cooking? I can specifically remember a few disasters I have experienced in preparing food for guests:

I had a group of ladies I didn't know that well in for a business luncheon. Our main course was to be Taco salad. I had the big bowl of salad on the counter and was preparing the meat mixture. Shelley was little and was sitting on the counter next to the salad bowl. In front of all the women, the bowl fell on the floor and salad flew everywhere. They all said, "Oh, wash it off, and we'll eat it anyway!" Which we had to do as it was all we had.

A few years ago I had my neighborhood ladies in for dessert after our Christmas eat-out. I had made a frozen pie of some sort. Again, in front of everyone, the glass pie pan slipped out of my hands and crashed to the floor, shattering glass everywhere. The frozen oreo crust and ice cream pie stayed intact, and they all thought it would be fine to eat it. Thankfully, this time I had a couple of other choices prepared, and I did not take the chance of serving any glass with my dessert.

Years ago, in the big house in Gridley, I hosted my family for some holiday meal. I remember I was proud of myself that I had fried chicken that turned out pretty good. Mashed potatoes, etc. But when I passed the food, they all took chicken, then the mashed potatoes, and when I came back in with the next item, I saw they had all made a little scoop out of their mashed potatoes all ready for the gravy...Gravy?? I never once thought of it.

I know I have tons more...but what are some of your entertaining disasters??

A Thanksgiving Tribute

I was recently asked the question: "What about your spouse are you most thankful for?" I thought about it for awhile, and decided I am especially thankful that Dave is absolutely "trustworthy." What he says, he does. What he believes, he lives. The decisions he makes are always for our best interest, as far as he is able to determine. He would never purposely betray me or lead me astray. Just thinking about it made me appreciate him more.

What about your spouse (or if you don't have one, a friend, parent, etc.) are you thankful for?

INJURY

Sunday I walked right into the couch and injured my little toe. The bruising began Sunday night and is still growing . . . Thankfully I was able to refrain from saying a nasty word - especially on a Sunday morning! It only hurts if I pivot to the left quickly or if Jerry pulls it to the left to see if it hurts!! ha ha

Klopfenstein Christmas Dinner

Perry's are planning to host the annual family Christmas dinner on Saturday, December 19, 2009 @ 12:00 noon. You are all invited and should be receiving a post card in the mail soon.

Aunt Mary

There were fourteen responses to an early November blog entry especially about cutting the lawn grass. That was indeed an experience in the early 40's. Yes, Cleve, I well remember the little well pump outside the back door. It was fascinating to pump away and then the water came! Next to the well pump was a huge apple tree. I'd usually stop to get one on the way back to school from eating lunch at home. (No such thing back then as a school cafeteria.) Everybody went home for lunch. In the fall the big red juicy apples were a delightful part of walking back to school for the afternoon that finished at 3:40.

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In addition to the well pump and the apple tree was the "privvy"! If you walked within 20 feet of this facility, you would easily pick up the scent that was not light. It would nearly gag a maggot! There was something charismatic about needing to use this facility. How time flies by! If there was a big family gathering like Christmas there was only one bathroom for 50-70 people so the folks had to resort to the "privvy". It beat nothing or the alternative!

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And then the "shop" was like a mystery house. It was always interesting to just look around for the old stuff that was stored there. And Bert Bluminshine drove around the side of the building and drove into a "garage" from the back side. My dad, EJK, usually had a few cows and the 2 or 3 lots back there were fenced off. We boys had to always watch the cows particularly if they would break out.

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If some of you older Grandma Sophia descendants would record your memories, I'd be happy to assemble and help retain some of the great history that is gone upon demise. How about it. Let some of the family who are not on this blog know about it.

FRIDAY THE 13TH

I have not feared Friday the 13th since my 13th birthday which was on a Friday and nothing bad happened. So those of you who are "fearful" -- just give it up!!!

Jerry is up and out early this morning for his weekly breakfast with buddies. I kinda miss it now that I don't have to take him. He thinks he's pretty smart these days, now that he can just up and go wherever and whenever he wants all by himself. And I think it's wonderful also! When he gets home, we plan to clean the house, and later we're going out to dinner with friends.

Here is a picture of my latest creation. The snowmen are appliqued - my first time using this process and it was fun.

A Note from the Not So Sunny South

Hello all, from the piedmont of South Carolina, where we have been socked in with rain and wind from Tropical Storm Ida, for about 24 hours now. It's not been so bad that we couldn't go about normal activities, but I am very glad to be home for the night and not have anywhere to go. I can hear the wind and the heavy rain as I type. This is expected to go on until at least tomorrow afternoon.

The good thing about it, and some previous rains this fall, is that our lake is now full! No drought conditions at this time, and it's no longer painful to drive on the bridges that cross Lake Hartwell and see the cracked shoreline that was way, way too big.

I'm thinking of the Knoblochs in Alabama and wondering how Retta is doing - and how the kids are doing in anticipation of this move. It's difficult for teenagers even if it is the best thing all around.

Mike and I drove to Greenville yesterday to take the kids out to supper at Olive Garden - Andrew turned the big 21 today. He's celebrating with friends tonight. My little baby boy is 21 - that can't be. Where did the years go? Mary Lee took us to the art department to show us her drawings. She loves her drawing class. I should have thought to take some pictures of her work.

If you possibly look at my personal blog you know that last Friday night was the school play that I directed. It's now four days later and the cast and I are still kinda "floating" about how well it went. The kids did a super job, far better than I ever expected. The only drawback. . .we didn't prepare for what to do if a live cat throws up onstage. Somehow that didn't make the list of anticipated possible problems.

Extreme Home Makeover

Sunday, November 8 watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's on ABC at 8:00 pm. Eastern. Last winter I met the father at a wheelchair basketball tournament. The coach of the team is the former girls basketball coach of the school I was at in Ohio. He and his wife are friends of mine. The show actually taped quite a bit of a wheelchair game between the show's cast and the team.

The Terpenning family's father is the last Vietnamese orphan airlifted in the 70s. He had polio, and in addition to his own health issues has taken on the care of his younger brother as well.

Great story, great family. Catch the show if you can.

Update Alabama Knobloch's

This has been quite a week for our family.

This past Monday I interviewed in Lawrenceville IL at Automotive Technology Systems for an open Quality Manager position in their seat plant supplying to Toyota. We got back to Alabama on Monday evening about 8:30 pm and went into work and worked the night shift.

On Tuesday about 6:00 am, Retta drove herself to UAB West and checked into the hospital with another bout of Pancreatitis (3rd time in 4 months). I went home and slept a couple hours and then spent the evening at the hospital before going back to work for night shift. BTW, night shift at the plant meant 4pm to 6am for managers.

On Wednesday morning I went to the hospital and slept in the vacant bed in Retta's room. Spent the day there and went back to work that evening.

On Wednesday afternoon they also found the cause of Retta's pancreas issues and will do a procedure week after next to correct it. The opening to her pancreas is constricted and prevents the bile from exiting completely. The procedure will be to go in and open this up so it is not constricted.

I worked Wednesday night and on Thursday morning at 7 am I met with my HR Manager and "left the company by mutual agreement". I am officially unemployed.

Thursday afternoon I also received an offer from ATS in Lawrenceville IL to come be their quality manager. I start work there on November 22nd.

Friday, Retta came home from the hospital, and we told the kids we were moving. Oh my, teenage female hormones are something.......tears, tears, tears, drama, drama, drama.

It has been a stressful and hectic week, but God has been in control of it all. His provisions are amazing and I am so glad He gives us the opportunity to experience His grace for us. We are trusting Him to have our home sell quickly so the relocation process can occur quickly.

Thanks for everybody's prayers.
EDK

PS: Roll Tide Roll.......Chris and I think we are going to go to some Illinois Football Games next fall. It should be easy to get tickets.......

GOOD MORNING

Nathan and Heater spent the night with us. It is now 7:15. Nathan and I have watched Thomas the Tank (FYI - Thomas is the blue train and Percy is the green train ), made coffee, and had some cinnamon toast, and are playing with the cars. As you can see, Heater is still sound asleep - as is Grandpa but I didn't think he would appreciate my taking his picture. Fortunately Nathan has not yet learned any unusual armpit sounds! But he's begging for playdoh so I gotta go.

Four Months Old!

Here we are with 1/3 of a year gone already! Babies are doing great. They've both doubled their birth weight--Riley is 10lb 10.5oz and Gavin is 12lb 4.5oz as of Tuesday. They both are rolling tummy to back, smiling, and "talking." It's funny, though, Riley hits the physical milestones about 2 weeks before Gavin while Gavin hits the social milestones about 2 weeks before Riley.

Gavin has recently discovered his voice and loves to scream. Riley tends to be quiter and let Gavin do the talking, unless she's by herself. Then she gets a little more vocal. Gavin is really quick to smile and interact with people (looking to be the most extroverted of my children) while Riley likes to study you first (another introvert). When she does smile, though, it's with her whole body. Her smile doesn't just light up the room, it lights up the whole city!

GOOD MORNING

Greetings everyone! Just thought I'd slip in here on a bright, sunny morning and say "Hello." Jerry left for his first day at volunteering at the hospital since his surgery; he was so excited! He has a meeting this afternoon, so he will probably be worn out by the time he gets home. Maybe I'll make him his favorite dinner - homemade pizza. We are so thankful his recovery - though long and difficult - seems to be successful.

I've been busy with my quilts. I finished binding one yesterday and am waiting for the owner to come pick it up. I have three more to prepare for quilting. I want to have enough ready to keep the quilters busy through Jan/Feb when we are in Florida. Sometimes I enjoy this job I volunteered for and other times I get quite frustrated.

Jerry's been working outside, in the garage and shed, and trying to catch up on a variety of MAN jobs that have been neglected. Of course, no matter how much we do around the house and grounds, there's always more.

Corn's still standing in two fields by our house!

Y2K

Yes, Retta is back in the hospital with another attack of her pancreas as Mom posted earlier today. She is scheduled for a "scope" of her pancreas on Wednesday morning to try and find the cause. In the process they will enlarge the duct openings to the pancreas to try and help her condition. However, the side effect is the pancreatitis could get much, much worse as a result of the procedure. Pray it all goes well.

On another note, while driving home from Lawrenceville IL on Monday (a whole other post topic that I'll address in the near future). I had to work night shift when we got home and I had packed a "BSC" shirt to wear to work. Of course, BSC is where I worked when we lived in Bloomington/Normal. Chris brought up the fact that we have two very warm blankets with the BSC logo on them and he stated that he had wondered why we had them. The answer: "one of my suppliers was concerned that our small children would freeze during the Y2K catastrophic events and made them for us." Putting the BSC logo on them avoided any ethical gift receipt issues.

So, the kids asked, "What's Y2K?". Wow, Y2K was 10 years ago. We told the kids what it was and about some of the preparations people made a head of the new year. We only prepared a little, buying a 50 lb bag of rice, instant soup, a couple gallons of water and propane for our camping stove. I still have some of the propane and we donated the rice to VBS about 5 years ago for a craft project.

How did you prepare for Y2K and do you still have any of those supplies on hand? EDK

Hospital again...

Just to solicit prayers for Retta as she has been admitted to the hospital again with the same pancreatitis pain. They are scoping her again tomorrow morning. The doctor is puzzled as to why this continues to flare up. Please remember her and Eric and the kids in prayer.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Today the sun shone all day. I'm not sure the last time that happened. October ended up as the second wettest on record. It appears we could go through this entire week without rain.

It has been rainy or overcast for so long I had to look all around for my sunglasses this morning on the way to church!

EDIT MONDAY 11:45
It was raining lightly on the way to work this morning.

Aunt Mary Martin

We haven't had any history pictures on here lately. I recently found this in my scanned pictures and don't think it's ever been on here - If you can get past the huge unflattering glasses on that woman on the right, it's a nice picture of Aunt Mary on the left.

I did not appreciate Aunt Mary enough when she was alive. But looking back, I realize what a friendly, outgoing, and gracious woman she was, who always took an interest in other people, especially family. She and Aunt Minerva were very similar in that regard.

In the last years of her life, she taught me a new crochet stitch and I used it to make a baby blanket or two, and we both enjoyed the correspondence about that.

Any stories to share?