Freedom!

Another week has zipped by, but the good news is I am ALL DONE with my census work! While it was okay some of the time- met some real nice and helpful people- overall it was disappointing. As seems typical of any government enterprise, the census bureau was quite disorganized with a lack of efficiency as well as fiscal restraint. So many mistakes were made and repetitive actions taken, that I quickly became rather disillusioned. I did my assignments with speed and accuracy, but I can't say the same for other enumerators. The U.S. Census needs to make some major changes and go digital in 2020! Hopefully 'change' will come.... but, as with the promises of my successful presidential candidate, one's rhetoric is often completely disengaged from one's actions and results.

Still no camera, so I can't share updated photos of our little "Elphaba". She is growing like a weed!! So adorable! All the cats are getting along well now except for the skirmishes which are typical of any 'siblings', two- or four-legged! :-)

It has been horrifically hot here in Iowa. Heat indices in the 100's! I feel blessed to have central AC! I don't know about you, but the combo of heat & humidity has always done me in!!! Despite the heat, I did do a little cooking yesterday. I made my first homemade chocolate custard/pudding. No jello pudding box mix for this gal!! It was quite the project, but it turned out awesome. So thick with a great chocolate flavor. It was worth all the steps... making sure that the initial heating of the milk did not reach boiling, grating three squares of unsweetened chocolate, separating eggs (yeah, I put the custard in a pie shell and topped it with meringue. Realized too late that meringue is touchy to make in high humidity AND more is not better when it comes to the time your eggs are left outside of the fridge before separating!!), and then CAREFULLY heating the mixture to a full boil lasting thirty seconds WITHOUT scorching! The one step I drew the line at was putting my finished custard through a sieve to make sure there were no little egg clumps- figured a few tiny egg clumps wouldn't kill anyone. (I've yet to really taste any!) I'll try to post the recipe when my daughter has time to show me how to attach recipes to my blog. Remember to bear with me.... I'm a newbie!!!! :-)

Finished reading Take Two and Take Three by Karen Kingsbury- both so good! Now I just have to wait for her to complete Take Four which I think completes her Above the Line series. Now I'm on to reading Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song. Started out kind of slow but now I'm totally into it. I LOVE to read.... I really try to restrict my reading time to defined periods (a half hour break during the day or just before bedtime) otherwise I can easily find myself reading away an entire day! I know there are worse vices, but nothing gets done around the house (i.e. cooking, cleaning, taking care of the pets, interacting with my hubby :-), etc......) when I'm totally enraptured by a book! Ah, it's my 'cross to bear."

This has been a nice weekend starting Friday. Had to pick up my husband from the airport and got to combine that with a visit with my son! It happened to be moving day for him because of renovations occurring in the college housing complex he is residing in during his summer internship. All the interns had to move into the newly renovated apartments so their old ones could be updated. The new apartments are much nicer, and he really 'lucked out' on having Mom and Dad available to help on the hottest day of the year!!! Yesterday, I did a little cooking (my custard!), and we did some grilling (pork roast, hot dogs and hamburgers) in order to avoid using the stove. Despite the wicked temps, my hubby and I fit in an evening bike ride- not too bad since there was a breeze and we kept moving. This morning we slept in a little and attended the 10AM Mass rather than our typical 8AM Mass. Father Matt was back from his two-week vacation which was nice. He always gives good homilies with at least one joke!! Now I'm just waiting for my daughter to check in- she was up in the Twin Cities visiting a friend this weekend- and should be on the long drive home about now. Gathered she's having a GREAT time via her facebook update!!

Well, I know it is the Lord's Day, but I still have a little housework to do. The saying does go, "cleanliness is next to Godliness", so I think God will be okay with me doing a little vacuuming! Have a great Sunday! Peace!