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So...

His thought of proposing on the soccer field was foiled by her soccer injury on Wednesday.  And with only one day of school left, what was Her Hero to do, to get that ring on her finger before graduation on Friday night?

On Wednesday night, he invited over a group of buddies to help him brainstorm, and by midnight, they had a plan.  It involved driving all over Kenosha County, filming in the darkness (even outside our own house at 2 a.m., we found out later), having to explain themselves to several policemen, and then a whole lot of editing work before 1:47 on Thursday.

But we didn't know that.

The phone call I received from Her Hero's mom (in which I learned of her injury for the first time) was not only to see if Blondechick was okay, but to make sure that she was still going to school for her last day, and to suggest that we show up in her Bible class at 1:47 p.m.  Papa Rooster should bring his camera, she urged.

Bible class? we wondered.  But it's the one class that all the seniors are in together, and it's held in a large auditorium, not a classroom, so we could see the potential.  Both PR and I had other plans for that time period, but we began rearranging our day.

The younger kids and I had a 10 a.m. performance of Robin Hood, our first school day show.  There were professional pictures afterward, and then a fundraiser at a nearby Wendy's which I had organized, so I needed to be there--with one eye on my watch.  And you know how those last ten minutes always go so much faster when you have to be somewhere?  I was eating salad as fast as I could and enjoying the conversation at our table, when suddenly I realized that the ten minutes I guessed I had left was more than passed, and if I didn't leave immediately, I might miss the whole thing.  So I had to stand up abruptly and say to my friends, "So sorry, but I've got to rush out or I'm going to miss seeing my daughter get engaged!"  I grabbed B16, who wanted to go too, and B6, because Her Hero's 6-year-old brother would be there, and left the other two to go home with friends.  "You can't just say something like that and LEAVE!" one of the moms at the table yelled good-naturedly at my retreating back....

We made it.  (Phew!)  In fact, we had to wait a little while to enter, as the teacher conducted class as usual.  Our cue was the lights going out.  At that moment, a video was projected onto the screen, as two of Her Hero's friends came to her seat to escort her, limping without her crutches, to a seat on the stage facing the screen.  Her Hero appeared on it, offering to take her on a tour of significant spots around Kenosha, where they had had special dates or events, including our front porch--the site of their first kiss--and the Kemper Center, where they had attended our church together and first prayed together.  It ended with him at her school, where they had first met, and showed him, in the video, opening the door of the auditorium where Bible class was held.  Then in real life he walked through that same door, and...

I'll let the pictures take it from there!

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As if we needed to squeeze one more significant life-event into these two weeks--

we've had a final day of college for B20, a senior prom for BC18, finals, and her graduation from high school, plus dress rehearsals and performances of Robin Hood (no small event in the lives of our younger children), and all four grandparents here for graduation and the show--

Blondechick18 had to go and get herself engaged!

Actually, we knew it was coming.

People keep asking me how I feel, and the truth is, I've had nearly six months to work through a lot of emotions.   I think it was at Christmas time that Blondechick first broached the idea of getting married...THIS summer.

I was so overwhelmed that I wisely didn't say much at all, initially and to my credit!  I was very calm and I asked questions about what they were thinking and I didn't say much of what was going on in my brain. 

Not to my credit, the loudest voices in my head were not the ones asking, "Is this God's will?" or "Are they mature enough?"  No, the voices screaming in my head were, "How can we possibly plan a wedding for this summer when you're not even engaged yet?!" and "I'm sorry, but I do NOT have time to plan a wedding with everything else we've got going on this spring!"

Okay, got that confession off my chest.

Then my husband and I talked.  And talked.  And decided it would be good to invite the young man's parents out to dinner, so we could see how they felt about this plan.  (Oh dear, am I going to have to come up with a blog name for him, too?)

So we met and enjoyed getting to know them!  It is a delightful family that she will be marrying into.  We had a wonderful conversation about our young people, in which we all agreed that it was only the timing that we had concerns with.  We love him; they love her.  We see a lot of good things going on in their relationship.  They complement each other in their strengths and weaknesses.  Most importantly, it was clear that they are both fully committed to God and to following Him the rest of their lives.

We agreed that this summer was just too soon...but that we would be fine with them getting engaged then.

Then a month or two later, BC's young man invited Papa Rooster out to breakfast, and they had The Talk.  After receiving PR's blessing, he indicated that he might even propose before graduation, because he thought Blondechick would like that.

Then we heard nothing more for awhile, except for Blondechick's observation that he sure was working a lot of hours, but he was always broke.  He's a store manager working nearly full-time, as well as finishing out his first year of college at a local school; he's living at home to save money.  That's one thing we like about him--he's such a hard worker, and he's not a big spender. 

Then he invited Papa Rooster to breakfast again, the day of their prom.  He just wanted to give us a heads-up that he now had the ring, and it would be soon--before graduation, he hoped. 

He had the ring with him at the formal dinner, which was on a boat on Lake Geneva, but the moment never seemed right.  The weekend passed.

On Wednesday night, just as we were pulling into the driveway after dress rehearsal, my cell phone rang and it was the young man's mother.  "How is Blondechick?" she asked anxiously.  "Are they back from the hospital yet?"

Turns out she was injured at her soccer game that afternoon, in a head-on collision with the other team's goalie.  She may have had a slight concussion, but the bigger concern was her knee, which was what eventually ended her up in the ER for x-rays.  It was a bad sprain, and she would be on crutches for graduation and unable to play soccer for awhile.

Which blew his plan to propose on the soccer field at the game the next day!

In fact, woul

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1) Pictures, don't you think?

Father Rooster's "Priust," half-buried. ("My dad is a priest, so he drives a Priust!")

Drifting around our front door

Same view, with the front sidewalk shoveled

Lake Michigan shoreline, 2 days before the blizzard

2)  I ventured out on Thursday to find most roads passable, but with huge drifts on either side in places.  It felt like driving through a canyon!  At the worst spots, it was down to only one lane plowed--a little hairy to navigate with oncoming traffic.

3)  Still, as high as the drifts are in places, I'm not that impressed.  When I was a kid in Ohio, in January of 1978, the Great Blizzard nearly buried our one-story house.  I remember looking out the windows--to the north and to the south--and seeing nothing but snow.

4)  I also remember a snowmobile arriving at our house to pick up my mother, an emergency room nurse, to take her to work!  She got in a little trailer behind, and then we watched as they zoomed off toward town, level with the tree branches in our front yard.

5)  It was days before our country road was dug out, and when they came, they came in a Caterpillar.  They pushed the snow up on the sides of the road in piles that were 14 feet high!  My brothers and I made slides down all sides of those piles.  Some twisted and turned, some were straight shots, some were steep, some more gradual; we gave them all descriptive names, like "The Twister."  Then we started tunneling and building snow caves. It was the most fun a kid could ever have in the snow!

6)  And it lasted for weeks.  On March 21, the first

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So I had a pretty bad medical scare here lately.The day before my 45th birthday, I got the results of an echocardiogram that had been done to check out a heart murmur. I'd been told that the murmur was probably not significant, but still, if I'd never had an echo, I should, they said.So I had the echo, or ultrasound of the heart, and sure enough, the murmur is insignificant. However (they said)

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Those two days of waiting-- for the rest of the story--were unintentional on my part, but they are a perfect representation of the two weeks we spent waiting and praying while the kids were away at camp! No cell phones were allowed, just good old-fashioned pencil and paper, and we only received one brief letter from each while they were gone.Blondechick16 and Bantam14 returned from Honey Rock

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I've been hinting at some educational rearrangements that might be in store...and now it's time to share a story of how God has worked in some amazing ways!At the beginning of this summer, I met a couple, friends of mutual friends, who told me about their four kids' high school experiences, after being homeschooled through middle school. Their first two went to the public high school that

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Part the First Part the Second Part the Third A week before finals, on a Friday night, I had a stomach ache. I met PR for a little studying before we went out, but the stomach ache got worse and worse. It was unlike any pain I'd ever had. We decided I'd better go to the campus infirmary, but there was hardly anyone on duty and they suggested I go to the emergency room. The pain was so

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Part One So we're both back on campus at the beginning of our junior year. Papa Rooster has decided No More Girls for him. I am determined to play the field and get to know all the boys I couldn't while I was tied up with Mr. Pre-Law. There is a square dance on campus on Saturday night. I should mention that at Wheaton in the 80's and before, dancing on campus was not allowed. Unless it was

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Today's update brings one clog fixed... one to go!

My brand new Canon Pro 9000 printer had been misbehaving with a clogged Photo Magenta print head. I had been scouring the net for ideas about how to fix it. And I found one! Since the print head pops out on the Canons, I followed the suggested 'ammonia cure' on the Yahoo Canon printer board. And I am delighted to say It works!!!

I am totally amazed and indebted to this amazing fix for a clogged print head. The test pattern difference is shown in the image above... the before and after. I'd probably recommend trying the Windex and distilled water soaking before going to the ammonia. But if you're out of other options... it just might work.

I tried everything before trying this ammonia overnight soaking. I ran the cleaning cycle 8 times, I did the deep clean 2 times. I took out the print head and sprayed it with Windex at least three times. I tried soaking it in hot distilled water for 10 minutes... but nothing I did made one tiny bit of improvement.

I was skeptical after all these failures... but soaking it overnight in ammonia worked like a charm!! I also understand that soaking in Windex overnight works well too, and may be less harsh on the print head. That might be what I'll try next time.

I also think blowing out the ink from above, using a computer compressed air can is key in clearing out blockage. It's very easy to do with the straw attached and touching the pad where the ink cartridge usually sits.

So now my printer is back in business again... hooray! And when my printer goes down, my whole operation goes down.

Below is the technique I followed... in the event some poor Canon printer soul finds this message in a bottle drifiting on the seas of the internet.

jn

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From the Yahoo Canon Printer board:

I have had occurrences of the very sort of nozzle clogging that your nozzle check pattern is showing; as a matter of fact they have been far worse. I just got a used head that made your picture look nice and that head is now completely unclogged using the process that I am listing below .

Here is what I did for that head and have done before for other heads.

1. I took the cartridges out of the print head, and the printhead out of the machine.

2. I put pure ammonia (if the clog was not too bad, I sometimes use Windex or head cleaner) in the place where the cartridge sits in the color slot that was showing the streak pattern.

3. I placed distilled water in the other color slots to keep them moist.

4. I sat the print head on a lid that I have that is perfect for catching run off or soaking the bottom of the printhead.

5. I covered the print head and lid with a plastic bag to stop evaporation and left the head with the water and ammonia overnight (8 hours) to loosen up.

6. In the morning, I took compressed air and from the top side put the straw right over the fabric and gave the clogged slot about three good blasts until the whole length of underside of the bad color showed ink coming out of it.

7. I then rinse the whole bottom side with distilled water, use a lint free cloth to dry it off, reinstall the printhead, and I am back in business.

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Also, I've discovered the world's most in-depth online forum for solving printer problems!

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

This site has amazing information about inkjet printers of every sort. It's a real gold mine of information and I'm sure I'll be frequenting it's lists to learn how to keep my expensive inkjet printers running.

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