Message from Roberta

Roberta called today to check on the cats and the house. The cats are doing fine, more or less over the trauma of having the carpeting cleaned yesterday. The house seems a lot cleaner due to same - the carpets being cleaned, not the traumatized cats.

Sid and Roberta are toward the end of their Mexican Rivera cruise. Their return is expected back in the US on Sunday morning and supper time in Phoenix.

Roberta said that "Sid has not missed a step or a dessert". She said that they have been visiting on land for the last few days and will be just cruising for the next couple of days. Also, it has been hot (90s) . . . I think it did make her feel better to hear that it has been relatively cold (30s in the evening an 50s in the day) here.

Sid's use of his walker has been helpful in more than just the usual physical way. It also gets them priority in seating, lines, etc.

They did attend the Crystal Cathedral (Schuller's church) this past Sunday. For those interested in seeing if you can spot them - they were sitting in about the seventh row, Sid was on the aisle (because of the walker). For those who need to know when the show is broadcast in their particular area, the website is Hour of Power.

Roberta did very first thing inquire about THE BIG NEWS . . . which I couldn't figure out what she was referring to. She was somewhat disappointed that Kenneth Charles Counts III (Wendy Jean Morgan's son) hasn't been born yet. She was happy to hear that the baby will be "out" by Monday. She didn't indicate she wanted to see the blood, guts, gore, slime and placenta in the delivery room.

Roberta said that she and Sid would have blogged and written more often if the "high speed connection" wasn't so slow. And she couldn't find the Uible blog due to a poor sense of direction, not an inability to spell. Or so I presume.

KC: December 4 or sooner

Latest maternity news from Wendy after her Dr.'s appointment today is an appointment next Monday at 4:30am if KC does not decide to arrive sooner. Wendy is ready, the house is ready, all KC's things are ready, Wendy and Ken have been busy -- and are very well prepared!

HELP???

How do I get into my email when I am away from COX........

Katherine Elizabeth Uible in the Nutcracker!

Roberta Uible-King, Katherine Elizabeth Uible, Wendy Jean Morgan, Virginia Katelyn Crowson

Roberta is thinking, "I only have to keep my mouth closed for a few seconds for this photograph".

Ginny is thinking, "I only have to be quiet for a few seconds for this photograph".

Wendy Jean is taking a quick breath before her next monologue.

Kate is thinking, "These people talk too much".

YES!

We will have internet on the ship, there are places where it is hi-fi (editor says: known by most people as "wi-fi") where we can use our laptop, and then they have a computer room too! So do blog and/or email so we can stay in touch. OF COURSE I want to know immediately about the newest member of the family who could easily arrive while we are at sea.

We are all packed (X4) and ready to go......stopped by AAA yesterday to get new passport pictures (free in November) and also got the maps, including one of Mexico, and had the car get a free go over too. AAA has a brand new state of the art building on Thunderbird near 75th ave. Serena did a Mapquest for us so we anticipate an arrival of about 6 hours after we leave here, not counting the many stops we make along the way! ha

A good weekend and week to one and all.....we leave with great peace of mind having Serena here. The closest thing to a store we were in yesterday was the bank, after the AAA office! Getting out the door.....

Not to be left out

Didn't want the rest of the family to have all the fun of blogging without me! Sounds like the baby of the family---always wanting to be in the middle of things! The only shopping we did yesterday was at Home Depot to get paint and supplies. Painted bottom half of living room (between the new floor and where the chair rail had been moved) plus my dressing area. Roberta will remember I started that project when they were here in August! Will try to get a picture of living room and post it this weekend; we are very anxious to have the new carpet which will arrive 12/4.
Today Don has a funeral to conduct at his (former) church; the kids and I are going to help with the Soup Kitchen at church and then go on to Macon to donate platelets through American Red Cross as they have a 3 yr. old patient with leukemia in need of transfusions. How blessed we are with good health!
Maybe the highlight of the day will be the GEORGIA vs. GEORGIA TECH football game today on tv. Having 2 children rooting for opposing teams should be interesting. Their own school, Trinity, will be in state football playoffs next Friday night in the Georgia Independent School Association.

Thanksgiving with Counts/Jones Family

We were honored to be guests at Marsha Jones (Ken's Mom and Wendy's boss's boss) house yesterday for Thanksgiving. Gerry fixed squash, yams and salmon as our contribution. Of course there was turkey, which I managed to avoid, vegetarian stuffing as well as the regular kind, green beans with pearl onions & bacon -- I tried to get just the beans and onions and then pretended the bacon flavoring was soy -- rolls and dessert as well as a very cheesy potato dish which I also avoided. I did eat plenty of the fresh vegetable appetizer and the mixed nuts. As well as Wendy, Ken and Marsha, Ken's two sisters and his niece Katie was there, also Marsha's father, Tom, and her brother Jeff and girlfriend, Molly. After dinner we went outside for the first official lighting of the Christmas lights on Marsha's house which the guys had put up earlier in the day. Marsha said this was the first year she had put up lights because now that she will have two grandchildren at Christmas time, and the specialness of a new baby plus the magic of Christmas for four-year-old Katie, lights suddenly became more important. The house did look quite festive, especially the lighted reindeer that look like they are actually moving.

Speaking of new babies, Wendy ate Thanksgiving Dinner and then mentioned some gastric discomfort, making us wonder if the baby might arrive on Thanksgiving after all. However, she called me this morning on her way to work rather than on her way to the hospital. Monday is the next Dr. appointment.

Today we have been to the gym and will soon be heading off on a (local) bus journey to see the sights of Glendale/Phoenix while avoiding the malls and probably going out for a mid-afternoon meal. Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you all!

The latest

Happy Day after Thanksgiving! Trust everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving Day! If you haven't heard I had the opportunity to work. Quite the day, I was there at 10 am to let the cooks, oh I mean chefs in and the first guests began to arrive at 10:30! Quickly the one chef said, "it is 12 noon that we are to serve?" Speaking of serving Serena just brought me in my hot cap of tea! Back to yesterday, the meal went fine, I brought home many leftovers from carrot puree to green bean casserole made with fresh green beans! All the food was wonderful, all made from scratch. This couple who did the catering (at $14 per person~~~~ a deal) Ah, that is another long story, the hope was to have Discover credit card folks pay for the meal, but then the promise came of more dollars in the future and $200 for now. Last year we had an assisted living facility cook the meals......but their kitchens did not want to participate this year! We served a full house (had been turning away names for the last two weeks plus!) of 75 folks and some did use those donation envelopes we had handy, as whenever we had the opportunity to say, this year it was necessary for us to purchase.....

This time tomorrow or sooner we will be on our roadtrip to California, and then get on the VISION on Sunday for the Mexican Riviera cruise. If the trip is extended we will be fine with the amount of stuff we take!

I am about to go and have some of Serena's muffins.....pumpkin ones! The small loaves of pumpkin bread that Serena made for me to hand out made a big hit.

Was anyone in the stores this morning at 5 am? I saw where some opened at 3 am!!! I almost wanted to go just for the experience of it all!

I do want everyone to know that I continue to read and enjoy the posts even when you don't see my name up on the screen! Ah, that picture of me......Andrew gets the credit for taking it this last July. I have even more grey hair now! And Serena is the poster. Best of weekends to one and all! Roberta

Thanksgiving in Sun City West

Sid had a minor health crisis yesterday, but is feeling, looking and sounding MUCH better today. We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast, without the bacon since I forgot to cook it. I thought about making pumpkin pancakes, but since neither Sid nor I are that wild about pumpkin (unlike Roberta), so I made plain buttermilk pancakes. Plus we have pumpkin yeast bread left over from yesterday to eat.

After much discussion, we have settled on Coco's for Thanksgiving lunch. Roberta is going to Chez Nous to NOT work, but work-the-crowd fairly soon - lunch is at 12 noon there. And then about 2 we plan to leave for Coco's.

Roberta and Sid are also getting ready for the big trip - they leave for LA Saturday morning and the Mexican Riviera on Sunday.

I'm thinking about taking a long bike ride today - rode to Meeker/Reems and just south of Cactus the other day - about 20 miles round trip. I never did see the post office that Roberta had mentioned - turns out it is just south of R. H. Johnson, but you can't see it unless you turn left on Wilson. I only went about 16 miles out of the way - nice bike ride though.

Roberta, up-close

Not actually posted by Roberta

Fat Cat and Skinny Cat

Wendy looking pregnant at First Watch

Photos from Roberta's camera

Saturday, November 18, 2006

I need to get to the kitchen soon as I'm planning several things - coffeecake, at Sid's request, and bread for Roberta and Sid to take to group dinner tonight.

In addition to the chocolate covered peanuts of Sid's, we also got wheat germ, ground flax seed and cracked wheat. Also, Stash's Tea was on sale (for $1.99) - so, thinking of Catherine, got raspberry white tea. I don't remember trying the white tea at my last breakfast when I was there - on the other hand, there are so many grains in the bowl that it would be hard to notice, especially since white tea is known for its non-assertiveness. They made granola while I was there last time - it was excellent!

Catherine, have a postcard and sudoku puzzles for you plus at least one library book to be returned (the Berg one - the ending was pretty good, but the rest of it . . . didn't care for, not worth it). Also, tonight I'm going to clear my old phone - I read that the phones are being collected at GPL for some group to distribute to . . . abused women, I think. I don't know if they really want mine - it is the old kind without the 911 "enhancement" now required which is why I had to get a new phone in the first place.

Cabela's was okay - huge place for gear related to hunting, fishing and other stuff I'm not interested in, at not cheap prices. We went to REI the other day - prices more reasonable and much more interesting stuff. Got a few new things for my new bike. Also got a new bag for my bike at Target last night - interesting comparing REI and Target - Target had more stuff than I had guessed and REI, on at least some things, was more reasonable.

Looked for swimming goggles at Target, but no luck - they are out of season. I guess not enough people who use indoor pools buy goggles in the winter time. I can't swim in pool water without goggles - not more than a length of a pool, so will probably go some place more expensive and spend the bucks for a more expensive pair.

Daytime temperatures here have been in the 80s, nights in the 50s. So I'm still biking in shorts and sandals.

Get inspired banners

This is supposed to be a randomly generated banner, but so far I've only seen the one.

Blog posts and comments showing up . . . or not

Except in pretty unusual cases - like Google having Blogger problems (which would be noted 99.99% of the time), if you blog a post or comment, it will be posted without publishing the post/comment more than once.

If the post/comment fails to appear. Hit F5 which refreshes/reloads the page.(F5 is the fifth function key - function keys run across the top row of your computer keyboard. In many software programs function keys do various things . . . or can be programmed to do various things. F1 almost always takes you to the help menu - no matter what program you are using.) If F5 doesn't work, wait a minute or two, Blogger may be really busy and it may take a bit for your comment/post to appear. My experience is that hitting F5 almost always "makes" the post/comment appear.

Whenever I come to the Uible blog, I always Hit F5 first. That way I get the newest "edition", not just what is saved in my cache.

Tea anyone?

All this blogging about bread and muffins made anyone thirsty? I just made a pot of white tea* with a scoop of raisins for my morning pre-breakfast drink. An especially leisurely morning for me as I have the day off after a short 3-day work week. Tomorrow will start my next five day work week which then will be followed by the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. November is a great month to be employed -- just so one can enjoy the days off!

*From about.com: Black tea has been fully fermented during processing, and green has not been fermented at all. Oolong teas are somewhere in the middle. So what is 'white tea'? Well, just like those other teas, white tea come from the Camellia sinensis plant. But the leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. Hence the name. White tea is scarcer than the other traditional teas, and quite a bit more expensive.

White tea is similar to green tea, in that it's undergone very little processing and no fermentation. But there is a noticable difference in taste. Most green teas have a distinctive 'grassy' taste to them, but white tea does not. The flavour is described as light, and sweet. You should steep white tea in water that is below the boiling point.

Wendy & KC Update

With 17 days until her due date of December 1, Wendy had her Dr. appointment yesterday and learned that the Dr. thinks KC may weigh about 8 pounds. Dr. says all is well and that Wendy may need to have labor induced if KC isn't born by December 8th. Meanwhile, Wendy continues to work and do the other zillion things needed to be done before such a big event! Next Dr. appointment is Monday, November 20.

Hoping for a weekend get together -- Sunday brunch? -- with Serena, Roberta & Sid. Location to be chosen by Ken whose birthday of November 24th we will be celebrating early.

Molasses Baked Pork Tenderloin

This is one of the entrees we had at the Biltmore and made it last night---tasted even better! Sorry to the vegetarians, but we did enjoy some asparagus with it....
2 small pork tenderloins
1/4 Cup molasses
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons spicy or Dijon mustard
Mix together liquid ingredients. Pour over pork loin that has been placed in a baking dish. Cover and bake at 350* for 40-60 minutes.

We'll have this when Mom and Dad come to visit in December!

King Arthur's Healthy Bread Kids Will Like

This is today's bread recipe . I have made this before. I did make a few changes - no sugar, used Splenda instead. Substituted 1 strawberry yogurt and 2 oz buttermilk for the yogurt and I never bother with the egg wash. Also substituted 1 cup oats for one of the cups of whole wheat flour.

Made the healthy muffins (the link for the muffins is here) yesterday, but didn't make them vegan this time - used an egg instead of soy flour and added dry milk powder.

King Arthur's Healthy Bread Kids Will Like

2 cups King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour*
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon diastatic malt powder** (optional)
1 tablespoon or packet active dry yeast
1 cup water
1 cup yogurt
1/4 to 1/2 cup honey or molasses (whatever it takes to help persuade the finicky)
2 tablespoons butter***
4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

The link to the full details is here for King Arthur's Healthy Bread Kids Will Like

California Living/Visiting

Had a good time here in San Diego today with Dee & Jessica who remained in town while the boys of the younger generations went to Knotts Berry Farm today. The four of us toured the Marston House this afternoon, a 1905 Craftsman Home built by a prominent San Diego merchant adjacent to Balboa Park which he helped develop. Interesting house/tour, reminded us somewhat of the Frank Lloyd Wright house we toured last year in Springfield, IL. After the tour we had a mid-afternoon meal at a restaurant in the Little Italy section of San Diego, a couple blocks up from the waterfront between downtown and the airport. Went past the apartment complex were we lived in 1976/77 where many of you visited us before or after Wendy was born. Also frequently pass the UMC where Roberta went (?) and near which she lived. Didn't see the plaque acknowledging her having lived/visited there but personal knowledge trumps plaques anyday!

Julia Elizabeth Ashcraft Uible has a birthday!

It is a federal holiday.
Is that because
today
is
JULIA ELIZABETH ASHCRAFT UIBLE'S
birthday?

And is white her favorite color for tops?

Formatting the Blog

I just changed the blog a bit so that it would be a bit easier to go back and read. First I changed it so that more posts would show on the front page. Also, I changed it so that the blog archives monthly, instead of weekly.

I think most blogs archive monthly. If a blog is very big, it certainly makes it easier to go back and read and keep track of what you have and haven't read. Each section contains the posts that were posted during the given time period. So, for instance, if you are looking for a post that was written on August 12 - you would click on the week or month that contains that month. The date of the post is the date the entry (post) was originally blogged (or posted) - doesn't matter how many comments were made or how many edits were made or when. If I write a post today and make corrections on it every day for the next month and everyone makes comments on it every day for the next month, the date of the post is still today because that will always be the original post day.

Only a blog moderator can modify the format of how the archives are displayed. However, if anybody has any requests, comments, etc., let Catherine or me know and we can play with the format some more.

If you are a contributor to the blog you can add a comment to any post from any time period. However, the older a post, the less likely anyone will know if you post a comment. Whichever moderator is set to receive a copy of all comments (currently Catherine) will know when someone posts a comment no matter which post the comment is made on. However, no one else will know about the comment unless they go back through the archive . . . which I would guess happens, but rarely.

Perhaps a better way is to think of the archive as a file cabinet. The front page is the current file - open for everyone to read. Most people who read the file regularly will only check the top few pages and they will comment on those pages, but they won't go back very far because they have read the older material and very few people bother commenting on older pages. Each month has a separate file folder - if you are interested in the pages from longer ago, open that file folder by clicking on the link for that month. You can comment on older posts, but it is rather like putting a post-it in an old file folder. The moderator knows you made the comment, but otherwise nobody knows unless they go looking and open that folder and notice your comment.

Photographs

I'm still playing around with Picasa to see how I like best to display, edit, etc. I think, at least for now, I've made a few more decisions. I had started uploading photos onto my computer at the default resolution, which is okay. However, I think that since I'm spending the time and computer memory I might as well do better and use a higher resolution in scanning them in - which takes longer and more memory, but the result is a better picture and it looks a little better on screen and much better in print. I thought about uploading into the web album at a higher resolution, but decided it was not worth the extra time/space - mainly the former. If one does download . . . the results are less than great. Like if MV downloads a photo from the album of Kate and Ginny from the album the picture would look pretty grainy (I guess is the word).

I guess my feeling is that the CDs are easy enough to produce and mail around and individual pictures to email . . . ? Anyone have any comments. I could upload into Picasa at a higher resolution, if people really think they would be downloading/printing from there. (Which I don't think will happen much.)

I don't know if posting here with a low resolution and a high resolution, one could tell or not. Plus Blogger has a limit of how big a picture one can post . . . may experiment later. I really noticed the difference when I went to send a photo to Catherine that had been uploaded to Picasa, then uploaded to the web album and then I emailed it to myself to see what it would look like. Not good.

Biltmore and The Cove

We have had a great trip and wonderful group here on the trip. The Biltmore is impressive but a little goes a long way. Felt much more at home at The Cove and can see why Mom and Pop like it so well. As an "outside" group, we could only visit the Chatlos Chapel, but it was very impressive. Will be pulling out of here around 8:30 AM in the morning....on the way here we had to stop every 60-75 minutes for 2-3 people (out of 18) who had to go to the bathroom---always the same ones who must have bladder problems, I guess. I do believe it's easier to travel with children! The 40 passenger bus drives like a dream. :)

Cousins

Ginny and Kate at various ages

Catherine, Serena, Roberta and . . .

Catherine said that the fourth person in this photograph is some cousin from California? Although the corner looks different than I remember it, I think this is the corner of First and College?

I'm posting a number of "new" photos to the albums, although mostly Kate and Ginny, I think.

I have been working on the photograph collection have the Uible collection kinda/sorta organized, well a start at least. First, I went through all the photographs I could find and sorted them by Roberta/Roberta and Sid, Grandma, Uible siblings (except for Roberta) and immediate families, Sid and other Kings, but not Roberta, Hortons, friends, and who-are-these-people. I brought the Uible photos with me to Glendale and sorted them into rough groups - Mom and Dad, Catherine, me, JB, MV, group photos, friends and the few of Grandma and Roberta that didn't get into the right category before. And there are a number that I recognize faces sorta, but don't really remember the names and a few faces that don't look at all familiar - like the non-sibling in this photo.

Link for this particular photo is here.

Biltmore time

Just over 24 hours until the Biltmore trip: ETD 0800 11/6/06. Have had one last minute cancellation---anyone interested? Everyone must be pretty busy since not much blogging going on. Even Roberta the blogger has changed her name! Getting cool here and almost had a hard freeze last night; heat in the house feels good at night!

Catherine?

Is your internet out again? We haven't heard anything for a couple of days. You WILL have internet this week-end? Actually, I'm thinking about hauling printer and photos and working on that at least some this week-end.

BTW, plan is to drop me off sometime mid to late Friday afternoon . . . hope that is okay.

Guess who has a birthday in November!

And guess whose birthday is in December whose initials are not JBU?

Don't Judge

Please don't judge the rest of the family by the picture below if you are not an immediate member of this unique group. The rest of us have gifts DIFFERENT than Roberta!

MARY VIRGINIA UIBLE CROWSON's favorite sister and fashion icon for all in her prize winning costume