Thanksgiving 2007 in Holmes County

I am so glad that it worked out for me to fly up to Ohio for Thanksgiving! Mom went up Tuesday and I flew up on Thanksgiving morning. I left the house at 5:30 AM and got almost the whole way to the airport when it started to pour. We certainly do need the rain here but the timing wasn't really the best to suit me. Atlantans had much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving morning. Since I flew up on the day of the holiday I was not able to cook anything for our feast so I brought mixed nuts, trail mix and cookies from Trader Joe's as my contribution.

Dinner was the Hummel usual stuff that we've been having every year since way before my 46 year existence. We always have turkey with dressing, mashed taters & gravy and then there's the sweet potatoes, the date pudding, the waldorf salad and the corn. These are the necessary items and if even one is missing, dinner is not complete. We also had deviled eggs and a relish tray with pickles and for dessert there were pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate pies with freshly whipped cream. Dinner was at one aunt & uncle's house and then we decided to go to another uncle's house to see their gang and the new baby. Many years ago, this branch of the Hummel's decided that they would do thier Christmas every other year in Holmes County to allow them to alternate between the in-laws. It's worked well for them but this means that we don't get to see the whole gang. It was really nice that we could go over there and see everyone who couldn't attend our gathering.

I am hoping that someday I will be able to move back to Ohio and be able to host this gathering myself.

College Football & Getting Organized...

Being from Southern California originally and having a pop who was never much into sports, I just never got much into college ball. This weekend proved to be the exception. I watched both the Ohio State and Georgia games simultaneously. Both games were very important games for the teams and both were very low scoring games.

The CEO of the company I work for is a graduate of the team that lost to OSU today (their name shall not be mentioned here but they wear Blue & gold) and the CEO of one of the other Cox Enterprises companies is an Ohio State graduate. To say that they are hard core rivals is putting it mildly! Our CEO even went so far as to have posters created and posted all over the building last week that said the other guy was going to be "singing the blues", oh so sorry sir but that would be you who is singing the blues today! I will most likely be sending you a sympathy card via the interoffice mail system on Monday morning. ;-)

That Georgia also won today was icing on the cake! I hope they continue the streak, it's been rather exciting!

Between the excitement of the games I am working toward getting my home organized and getting some stuff sold on eBay. i've just gone through a bunch of clothes and placed them in piles to keep, give away and throw away. When I start on some more piles I will also have a sell pile and what does not sell on eBay will go to Plato's Closet or Psycho Sisters or a nearby consignment shop for sale.

Dave Ramsey say's sell some stuff so I will also try to get as much stuff on eBay today as possible. I have way too much stuff and I just don't need it all. I unloaded three pieces of furniture via my Free-Cycle community about a month ago and that felt terrific! I've got a cool queen sized slat bed that I'm going to try to unload on Craig's List too! What single woman needs two queen sized beds and a queen sized sofa bed? I haven't decided yet but I'm considering making the second bedroom sort of a den type workroom. At the moment the computer and a lot of my project stuff is in there along with the queen bed. I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment but I need to do one project at a time and move on to the next. Speaking of that, I better get off the blog and move on with the projects right now but I'm finding it difficult since Missy the cat climbed into my lap a few minutes ago and is fast asleep. Ah well, it's a good thing that cats have short memories because she's about to be disturbed!

Thanksgiving in Ohio after all...

Woo Hoo! Looks like I'll be able to get up to Ohio for Thanksgiving after all! You have no idea how excited I am about this. There's a new baby to play with and lot's of folks traveling in from all over the place. I really treasure the times with my family up there. The only issue with this visit is that I will need to fly on the morning of the holiday if I plan to get on a stadby flight. It's looking good so far but one never knows what's going to happen until you actually get to the airport and watch the boards for your name.

We'll come home Saturday afternoon so it's a short visit but it will be well worth the hassle to be able to spend time with my loved ones and get caught up on all the happenings up there. One day I really would love to move back there but for now it's just a dream far back in the recesses of my cluttered brain and my wonderful life continues in North Atlanta...

Where in the world did 2007 go?

Oh my goodness! Thanksgiving is two weeks from tomorrow! Mom's going to make her annual Thanksgiving trek up to Ohio to spend the holiday with her brothers and thier families. I usually like to go too and bake some pies for the big Hummel gathering but since I am working at Trader Joe's this year I'm just not going to be able to get up there and I won't really be able to go anywhere for Christmas either. I am however going to Macedonia on December 30th though (have you heard?) so I won't be "stuck" in Atlanta for the entire holiday season. I'm hoping that my Pop will be able to drive up from Florida to spend some time with me here.

I sent out an email message to all my local pals with no nearby family here in the Metro Atlanta area and I'm going to make a traditional Yankee Thanksgiving feast at my house. I'll do a turkey, mashed taters & regular dressing & gravy. None of this cornbread dressing for this California girl! I don't do grits or greens and I don't do cornbread dressing! I do however do sweet tater casserole which is just about the only traditional Southern dish that I'll eat. I will also be baking several kinds of pie using my Grandma Hummel's recipe's which I have updated slightly for health reasons but the Ohio family seems to really like my pies so I don't think the changes I've made make the pies less palatable. Pumpkin, Pecan and apple pies are on my list for baking here. If I was in Ohio for the holiday we'd also have chocolate pie on the table and date pudding. Wow, we sure put a whole lot of food on the table for Thanksgiving! We'll need somthing green on the table or everything will be brown and white so I may have someone bring Green Beans and maybe a raw veggie platter.

Gotta run - all this food talk is making me hungry! I suppose I should start posting recipes like my Hummel cousin Trent does. I'll add that thought to the agenda I have in the old noggin...

Milan, Not Zurich

We had our 3rd team meeting for the Macedonia Mission trip yesterday afternoon. We got a whole lot accomplished and were assigned our actual posts for when we're there. I will be working on Set Design/Decorating/Gifts with the local folks and two others from our team here at home. It turns out that the local Macedonian folks wanted just a small group of us so we have a very small team which will be great! The leader and his wife are in their 20's, there's another single woman about my age and we have 3 guys who are in their 20s. The age differences make it sort of an odd group but so far we are meshing really well. God knows what He's doing!

It turns out that our layover will be in Milan instead of Zurich now which is just fine with me. For a minute or so we thought it was going to be Paris but that flight was sold out before our travel agent could lock it in. I think Milan will be a great city to see and I can't wait to try some "real" Italian food! DaVinci's "Last Supper" is in Milan and the church where it's painted is also something to see. I've seen a replica of the painting at Forest Lawn which is a huge cemetary in California but it will be great to see the actual painting. Our travel agent will try to book us a time to see the painting.

Brrrr, the lows in Macedonia will be in the lower 20's and the highs will not be much above 40 farenheight! I brought this up to my other team members and a couple of them said they were going to need to go shopping! The weather sounds like it is pretty close to Midwest weather. We do get a few days of that here in Atlanta and we usually get a little snow and ice each year but most folks here are just not prepared for that type of weather.

Stay tuned...

Much to talk about...

...well, actually not that much. We'll see what happens after I get started here.

I have now lost about 40 pounds since my insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X diagnosis! I'm still way too fat but I'm a whole lot less way too fat than before. It sure feels good to have less than 50 pounds to try to shed. Before this diagnosis I tried every diet known to man and had very little success. I was even gaining weight when I was on a very strict diet and working out at the gym! How frustrating is that?!

Let me tell you, the internet can often times give too much info but in this case it was very helpful. About 5 years ago I was trying to diagnose myself and had read about Syndrome X and thought this sounded like what my problem had to be so I went to my Gynecologist for my regular annual check up and boldly told him that I wanted to begin taking Metformin/Glucophage and he shot me down! He said "you don't need that, you can lose weight without that" and referred me to a nutritionist whom I did not bother to see mostly out of defiance and knowing that I had already done everything I could to try to lose weight. Meanwhile the pounds just kept packing on, only five or so a year but they do tend to add up over the years and I became quite unhappy about the whole situation and used to cry with frustration over it but I did not give up! Periodically I'd search for more info and I found some great info, one thing being that I should find and go see an endocrynologist which is exactly what I did! I found Dr. Black on the docfind feature at my insurance company's website and I looked him up on Kudzu.com and he had some good comments so off I went... After much talk and nearly draining me of half my blood he told me what I thought I had and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment in two weeks. Sure enough, it was indeed what I'd suspected all along and I was immediately put on Metformin/Glucophage! Dr. Black referred me to a nutritionist and I went; turns out it was the same one that the GYN referred me to. I told her that I'd mentioned this to my doc 5 years earlier and she said "he knows better now".

So I'm well on my way to being thin again! I've given away many of my giant clothes since they hang on me and I'm doing my best to hold off on buying anything new until I get closer to my goal which is only 35 pounds away now! I weigh less than I have in about 8 years!

On the travel front: The team leader for my Macedonia trip in December just informed us all that they were having difficulty getting us back home on the 8th of January and did we mind spending a day in Zurich at the end of our trip! Nope, I don't mind at all! I'd love to see another city in Europe even if it's only for a day in the dead of winter! Ha! I now have 99.5% of my funds in and the promise of more from several other places so it does indeed seem as though the Lord really wants me to do this! It's getting more and more exciting every day!

Macedonia Support Letter

It seems so much more real now! I stayed up until around two this morning putting my support letters together but since they're now in the mail this trip seems so much more real now! Here's a copy of the text form the letter:

I am going to Macedonia! You have no idea how excited I am about this trip! A small team of eight to twelve people from North Point Community Church will go over to the capital city of Skopje (pronounced sko-pee-ya) to help our Partner Church, Soulcraft produce a big Christmas event for 600 people. Since the Macedonians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, I will get to Celebrate Christmas twice this year and I’ll get to celebrate the New Year in another country!

At the beginning of 2007 one whole Sunday at my church, North Point Community Church was dedicated to Missions. I have supported many of my friends on their trips both with prayer and financially over the years but we were challenged on this particular Mission’s Sunday to become “Goers and not just Payers”. It just seemed like now was the time for me to consider actually going on one of the trips so I went to North Point’s Missions website (http://www.globalxm.org/) and checked out the trips and this one in particular looked the most interesting to me.

Macedonia’s religious structure is about 70% Orthodox and 30% Muslim. Since the Orthodox Church is not evangelical in nature, Soulcraft is a very unique and creative environment for this country and they are in need of “invest and invite” opportunities to help get their friends in the front door. These people are hungry for this type of contemporary church setting and Soulcraft has been quite successful using a model similar to North Point’s model for their Sunday afternoon services. The event will be advertised on the radio, on TV and with posters all over the city. Many people who never really thought much about attending any church have found Soulcraft to be an irresistible environment.

We had our first team meeting a couple of weeks ago and will have 4 more meetings and a weekend retreat to get our planning done but we can’t do this without you! I need you to partner with me and be on my support team to pray for us that God would use us to do exactly what the He intends and also to support me financially if you feel led to do so. This trip will cost each participant $2,300.00 and I am confident that The Lord will provide the funds for me to go. I have included a map for you to see exactly where it is I am going and for you to put on your fridge to remind you to pray for me and the team. I’ve also attached a coupon for you to return to me so I will know how you are supporting me through this adventure.

I am really looking forward to having some wonderful stories to tell you all about this trip in 2008!

In His Grip,


Tracy Anne

Going to Macedonia Part Two

Tracy Anne in Skopje, Macedonia December 30th, 2007 through January 8th, 2008. She will help produce and implement a large Christmas event in partnership with North Point Community Church’s Macedonian partner church, Soulcraft.
Thank you for being part of my team!

I'm going to Macedonia!

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that I got accepted for this mission trip but it's really true, I'm going to Macedonia December 30th this year! We'll stay through January 8th and will be producing a great big Christmas party for our partner church's members & attendees to invite all of their frends to. They just don't have many invest & invite opportunities there and that is exactly what we'll be creating for them. The party will be on January 7 which is the day that they celebrate Christmas. This means that I get to celebrate the New Year in a European country and I'll get to celebrate Christmas twice!

Needless to say, I am very excited that I get this opportunity to do this Kingdom Work! Stay tuned, there's more news coming soon!

Last Weekend in Holmes County...

Mom and I traveled to Holmes County, Ohio last Friday so we could spend some time with my cousin Deb and her family while they are in town. It's much cheaper for us to make a weekend jog up there than for us to try to get to California to visit. I was able to see Deb last November since I had to go to San Franciso on business but wasn't able to see the rest of the family while I was there. It sure was nice to be able to see Judy, Hannah and Isaac this trip!

It was a relaxing weekend for the most part and we managed to get a meal of home grown sweet corn while we were there too. We arrived Friday afternoon which was Aunt Betty's Birthday and Deb was in the process of creating a feast for the occasion and what a feast it was! I can't wait for her to send me the recipe for the chicken she made because it was just delicious! There were kalamata olives, capers and prunes in the marinade and garlic etc. which became a really delicious sauce when it was cooked. It was served over basmati rice and we had salad too. The meal was topped off with a really yummy flourless chocolate cake that Deb served with fresh mixed berries & whipped cream!

Saturday afternoon, Deb & Family went to Lake Buckhorn to meet up with Deb's neices & their children, Mom stayed behind at M & B's house and I went into Millersburg to check out Mad Marty's bead store which is sort of new in town. Then I decided to be really stupid and go to Berlin to pick up a couple of things at the Berlin Bulk Store. It was sheer madness in Berlin what with all the tourists running around. The town is nothing like it was when I was growing up and it's a sorry sight. I found some great bargains at the bulk store after I managed to find a place to park. One thing I bought was a bag of dried peppermint to make tea with and when I got it back home to Atlanta, Abigail the cat took it out of my suitcase and tried to open the bag! Maybe I should get her a peppermint plant to chew on!

That's it for now, I'll post some more after my appointment with the neurologist on Friday. We're gonna get to the bottom of these headaches yet!

Tracer Works at Trader Joe's!

Alright, I have not posted in a little while but not too many people are rushing out to read my blog on a daily basis. I have been a bit busy these last few weeks after all!

I started working part time at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago and have been there long enough to have gotten a second paycheck. This is in addition to my regular day gig at Manheim. I needed a second job so I could get caught up and become debt free with the exception of the mortgage. Over the last few years I've applied at several retail type places but didn't get hired, I guess my heart wasn't in it and they could read that during the interview process! I even applied at TJ's last fall before they were open and didn't get hired. Who knows why they didn't hire me then but I spoke with the Captain in early June and she had me fill out another application and I got called for an interview and hired pretty quickly. The gal who interviewed me told me that they hired a whole bunch of folks in the beginning who just didn't work out but they were "hiring the cream" now. So, I'm working 2 - 3 evenings and most Saturdays and I'm having a blast even though it's very hard work! Most of you reading this know that I worked at TJ's in California for 5 and a half years so I sort of knew what I was getting into. Things really haven't changed much for the part timers except that the registers scan now and we don't need to memorize & call out prices. Also, since the registers scan now, we don't need to price every little thing in the store anymore.

Georgia's liquor laws are a bit backward so things are a bit complicated but TJ's has come up with an interesting solution. We have a special Trader Joe's label for our "Charles Shaw" wine also known as "Two Buck Chuck". It says Trader Joe's right on the label to discourage other retailers from buying our product and putting it in their stores but believe it or not, it's been seen at a couple of Kroger & Publix stores!

Well, I've begun to ramble so I'm going to sign off here pretty quickly! Mom & I are off to Ohio again this weekend since Cousin Deb & Family will be up there and it's cheaper for us to visit with them there than to try to get to California for a visit.

More soon...

Stuff off the top of my head.

Mom & I went to Holmes County Ohio last week and had a really terrific time! We went up for the Hummel Reunion. This reunion has been taking place every other year for my whole life and quite possibly since many years before I was born. We are all decendants of Crist & Amanda Hummel who were hard working folk in Holmes County. Sadly, both of them were gone long before I was born. We were talking about them this trip and how they had 10 children! Two died in infancy and one girl died at 16 when she had an attack of apendecitis and they operated on the kitchen table. The apendix must have burst because she did not survive the surgery. I have a picture of Crist & Amanda and I have a picture of the 7 siblings (Ray, Esther, Fanny, Isaac, May, Paul & Dean) taken at a reunion sometime in the 60's when I was just a little kid. I think the photo was taken at Uncle Paul & Aunt Mary's place. Both pictures are framed and up on a shelf in my home. Only Uncle Dean, Aunt Jeanette & Aunt Mary are left from that generation and it was so good to see the three of them last weekend!

We decided to be tourists in Holmes County this trip and had a really great time. We went to Behalt which is a 265 foot circular painting depicting the origins of the Amish, the Mennonites, Hutterites, Seperatists, etc. We really learned a whole lot and thought it was quite an interesting visit. The next day we went to lunch at a Tea House with some of Mom's childhood friends and then we went to Zoar which is a Seperatists Village with some very interesting history. The gardens were gorgeous and the shop keepers we spoke with were really terrific representative of the town. None of the decendents are there any longer and are actually a little embarrassed to claim that they are from this lovely little village.

We'll go back for a weekend in early August when Cousin Deb & Family will be in town for their annual visit and we're excited to see them!

It's time for another post

Howdy - I figure that it's about time I posted again! Since it seemed to me that my last ENT was mostly just interested in the almighty dollar and not helping me get better, I've fired him! They insisted on doing a sinus CT every time I came in and I had to pay 20% of the charges! On top of that, I'm not too comfortable with the radiation they're zapping me with each time! So I went off to My GP and they have referred me to a brand new ENT which I will see on the 29th of this month. I hope he can be a help to me.

I feel like such a heathen because I have not been to church in the last three weeks! One of hte weekends I was in Florida spending a long weekend with my Pop and we had a terrific time! I have however been doing my study and meeting with my community group girls over these weeks, just haven't been attending church so I'm not a complete heathen ;-). Andy's starting a new series tomorrow and I'm excited to get to go!

I'm off to meet Mom! We're going to the High Museum to see the second part of the three year colaboration with The Louvre in Paris. These last few months the exhibit has been called "The Kings as Collectors" and they're showing pieces that used to be owned by the kings. They also have "Decorative Arts Of The Kings" which is porcelain etc. I'm sure that this stuff is not so interesting to some folks but we are very excited to see it!

I'll try to get on again sooner next time and post more interesting things...

No Colon Cancer!

Praise God! Yesterday's colonoscopy went very well with the exception of having to be stuck a number of times for the IV. I guess I was pretty dehydrated from the prep and from the lack of fluids so they had to use a skinnier needle & IV Catheter on me and it ended up in my wrist. I've got a nasty bruise on top of my right had and it's quite sore but I'm sure that it's going to feel better very soon.

The great news is that there were no tumors and no polyps! Everything was completely as it should be in my colon and that's a real blessing! The doctors, nurses & Staff at St. Joseph's were absolutely wonderful and I'd be happy to go back there the next time I need any sort of procedure done.

Thanks for the prayers folks!

More tests...

So yesterday the ENT tells me to finish the current round of antibiotics and come back if I get sick again, duh! The good thing is that he really doesn't see any need for surgery at this time. I'm afraid that the very best thing for me to do regarding my sinus issues is to move and that just isn't possible at the moment. So I'll go on suffering here in the south for at least another couple of years.

On the other hand, the proctologist "thinks it would be a good idea" if I have a colonoscopy so that's been scheduled for April 5th. He didn't see any abnormalities today so we're basically just playing it safe. I am hoping that this is IBS or something minor and not the dreaded C word!

Stay tuned...

Doctors & More Doctors...

I'll tell you what, I am getting sick & tired of being sick and tired so I'm bound & determined to get to the bottom of this. Monday I have an appointment with the ENT, Tuesday, with the proctologist and next Monday with the Gynecologist and then on Tuesday the 27th I am scheduled for a complete physical where they will check everything that the other 3 docs missed. My company pays for a complete physical every other year as part of a wellness program which is fabulous! My pal Becca's life was literally saved because she had her physical and they found Hodgkins disease. Praise God that she is cancer free after two bouts of the nasty disease! I am so thankful that our company offers this valuable benefit! Okay, signing off now but stay tuned...

Inaugural Post

Howdy! I created this blog yesterday so I'd have a place to post thoughts on a variety of subjects. Everything from my relationship with Jesus Christ, living in Atlanta, praises & prayer requests, food & wine, to the silly little things I create using crochet, beadwork and various other crafty tecniques. Several of my Ohio cousins have been blogging for quite some time and I check in on them quite often. I am hoping that folks will check in on me regularly too once I start getting the hang of this blogging stuff. Actually, Google has made the process pretty darn easy...