Free Fries and Frostys at Wendy's

It usually costs a bundle to feed a family of 9 fast food. We eat it once a week after church on Sunday. This gives me a nice break from feeding this crew and also our church lets out about 12:30. By then, we are all very hungry and want something quick.
The local Rally's has a .69 menu we frequent a lot. Another great buy is found at Wendy's. At Wendy's for Halloween and Valentine's Day they offer a book of 6 coupons for one dollar. There are 3 coupons for free JR. fries and 3 coupons for free JR. Frostys. If nine people order one thing each off the dollar menu and use 2 coupons each (one fry and one Frosty.) You can feed a family of 9 a fast food meal for only twelve dollars. Not very nutritious but a great bargain (for fast food.)

High School Basketball

We went to the local high school basketball game last night. George was excited about it all afternoon but in the end he got a little tired and restless in the 4th quarter.

He liked to climb up and down the bleachers. He fell and banged his head on Rachel, but he's ok.

My friend Catherine who is a pizza waitress is also a cheerleader and dancer, so we got to see her perform also. And when the cheerleaders threw out souvenirs to the crowd, she made sure we got something. Nathan came home with a new t-shirt and Rachel brought home a little blue basketball.

Emma was missing as she had a dinner activity with a group of friends from church.

My Little Jock

Our 23 month old son has his sports all mixed up and blended together. He has been calling out "Hike!" before shooting the basketball into his Little Tikes hoop. And yesterday he threw a golf ball down a hole and cried "Slam-Dunk!"

He's adorable.

Trashpicking in Suburbia

I have a confession to make. Last night coming home from church in the dark I spied treasure in my neighbors trash. I snuck over and snatched it up. It is a fold up Disney Princess castle in pristine condition. The things people throw away.

I am also proud to have trashpicked the following: Duplo Lego table with storage underneath, White plastic Cosco high chair, BMX ramp and an Evenflo Exersaucer (all in excellent condition.) My husband's ex trashpicked me a solid wood accent telephone table with wrought iron legs before she became my archenemy.

Will you confess to trashpicking and what's the best thing you've ever found?

Eliza

Check out this article about the birth of my great niece!

Ashland cop helps mom deliver baby girl in van

December 6, 2007

By IRV OSLIN

T-G Staff Writer

If he could remember that far back, it would have been deja vu for Abraham Dvorak.

Abraham was born in a car 32 years ago in Valley City. His wife, Katie, recently gave birth to their daughter, Eliza, in the family mini van at Center and Main streets.

Katie, 28, went into labor at the couple's home in Nova in the early morning hours of Nov. 24.

Abraham and Katie jumped into their van and headed for Samaritan Hospital. They made it as far as Third and Orange streets, where Abraham flashed his lights at a police cruiser in an attempt to pick up an escort.

At first, Officer Brian Evans didn't think much of it. It was about 3:10 a.m. and he was used to seeing newspaper delivery people making their rounds at that hour.

"Sometimes they flash their lights at me," he said.

Abraham stopped, got out of the van and announced that his wife was having a baby.

Evans was dumbfounded.

"I just stared at him," he said.

Evans planned to escort them to the hospital, but Eliza couldn't wait.

"We came to Second Street and I turned my (overhead) lights on to go around," Evans said. "I got through the intersection at Center and Main and saw him stop and get out of the driver's door."

Evans radioed for a squad and approached Katie, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Evans can be heard on a recording of the radio call telling the dispatcher, "She's having it."

Seconds later, he came on the radio again and said, "She had it."

"She was just sitting there pushing and sure enough, here comes the baby," Evans said. "I don't have kids, so I've never seen anything like it."

Within seconds, Eliza started crying.

Dispatcher Sue Kelley told Evans to get his cell phone and she would coach him on how to handle the baby from that point. But his phone was in the cruiser and he didn't want to leave Katie's side. He borrowed Abraham's cell phone, but he wasn't familiar with the keypad layout.

Kelley began to coach him on the air as the squad was arriving.

The EMTs decided to keep Katie and Eliza in the warm van and one of the squad men drove it to the hospital.

"I thought it was very nice to let us stay inside the van," Katie said.

Eliza is the Dvorak's fourth child. She joins siblings Oren, 6; Zane, 4; and Ava, 2.

"They keep getting faster and faster," Katie said. "It was kind of a scary situation, but luckily everything came out OK."

n Irv Oslin can be reached at 419-281-0581 ext. 240 or at ioslin@ times-gazette.com.

Practicing Gratitude; or, It could always be worse

Last Monday I became very angry with my two sons over their ungrateful attitudes. I googled "teaching gratitude" and got some good ideas about how to help them realize their many blessings. One included starting a gratitude journal. In this you have to list a few things each day that you are thankful for. I thought I would join them in this exercise. "Do as I do" sort of thing. Well, last night was a real challenge for me.

As I stepped in the door from yoga, Rachel was anxious to show me something in her mouth. She had fallen into the treadmill and let her mouth break her fall, resulting in top two permanent teeth snapping off. Roots were still firmly attached and stubs remained. Four calls to the dentist's emergency pager at Monarch Dental went unanswered. I do have a call currently in to the office manager asking for an explanation.

I tried to hop online and get advice about the dental emergency and noticed our entire network was down. This sort of thing gets extremely frustrating for my IT husband to deal with. He's about to turn 40 tomorrow and was already dealing with his youngest daughters dental issue, I thought this might set him over the top.

Little did I know it wasn't the end our troubles. I had been a quite chilly all day. Having very little willpower, I knew if I walked over to the thermostat I would jack it up, so I chalked it up to my low blood pressure and poor circulation. If I'd checked earlier, I would have realized that the furnace was malfunctioning. It was down to 61 degrees at 9 p.m., the time my dear husband investigated the matter. At this moment, I am eagerly awaiting the Mitchell's Heating and Cooling serviceman to arrive for his noon-2p.m. appointment.

Corrie Ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place, writes about how after reading 1 Thessalonians, her sister gave thanks for the fleas that infested their dwelling because it kept the guards away. I am in no way insinuating my circumstances are anywhere near as bad as what they had to endure, I am only following their example.

I am thankful that:

1. we are lucky enough to have a dental plan to cover most of the cost of her two caps. Only $120 out of pocket.
2. there was enough tooth left that they could be capped
3. today is payday
4. I had someone to cuddle with to get through the cold night
5. the furnace issue came up before the weekend
6. today is payday
7. my thoughtful neighbor who has not secured his wireless network, allowing me to post this
8. last and certainly not least, my wonderful, gainfully employed, sexy, hard-working, ever patient, calm, thoughtful, generous, handsome, healthy, athletic, intelligent, optimistic, uncomplaining husband

Monkey go "Arf, Arf"

Today on the way home from church 21 month old George was practicing his vocabulary. He was rambling through all the words he knew. I recognized a lot, then he said "Mon." A second later he said "MonKEY!" Then he said it again and went "Arf, Arf." The rest of the kids cracked up! The rest of the ride home they made LOUD monkey noises to set their baby brother straight.