Captain's Log

Coming Back

2008-09-08T13:29:00.002-04:00

Well, it appears I just can't stay away from blogging after all and I've started a brand new one called:

Life is Good

Hope to see you there. :-)

Thanks

2008-09-02T09:56:00.002-04:00

I want to thank all of you for the nice comments left on my decision to quit blogging.
It's nice to know that so many of you care. :-)

The End

2008-08-29T08:53:00.003-04:00

I've said all I have to say about my days and feel it's time to stop blogging.
It's been great!!!!!
BE HAPPY!!

happyone :-)

edit - not to worry, I'm well and happy, just tired of blogging.

My sad sunflowers

2008-08-27T15:15:00.006-04:00

Today started out cool and sunny but by the afternoon it had turned cloudy and this evening we got a couple of light rain showers. Hopefully more rain will come tonight.

I got my house cleaning done before lunch and after lunch I went through some old bills and papers so I could do some more shredding. I filled up another bag and still have more papers for shredding. I'll save the rest for another day. :-)

The sunflowers are all starting to dry up and they are looking kind of sad.

I sure have enjoyed watching these flowers grow so tall and to see their big yellow faces every day. Now I will be able to watch the birds come and eat the seeds - except for James' seeds of course. :-)

We went out to eat this evening with our friends Jackie and Kerry. Jackie is now back from Japan after a month there with work and she brought me back this little wooden doll. It's called a Kokeshi Doll. I think it is the cutest thing and I love it. I think Jackie has gotten me started on another collection!!
Kokeshi was first made in the northern provinces of Japan about 150 years ago. Kokeshi was originally made as a toy for children of farmers. It developed into a modern craft from a simple toy as the countryside developed culturally. Having outgrown the status of being a toy for children, Kokeshi is now recognized as one of the traditional folk arts in Japan. Kokeshi is handmade by skilled craftsmen entirely from wood-cutting to painting.

We watched another episode of Dexter and I had cookies and milk for my snack. Then I did a little more knitting. After I finish with the computer I will read some more until bedtime.

I hope your Wednesday was a happy one!!

2008-08-26T21:25:00.002-04:00

Today we had sun in the morning and a cloudy afternoon. It was cool with light breezes and I had the windows open again.

I got a late start to the day because when I was just a block away from my house this morning coming home from my walk, I ran into two of my friends who were walking and stopped to talk to them. 40 minutes later we all parted and went home - a little late but happy. Always nice to spend a little time with friends. :-)

My basket of things to shred was getting pretty full so I got out the shredder and had some fun shredding. I filled up one huge shopping bag.

A couple of people have asked again about the strawberry sandwiches I like to eat. I just slice strawberries and put them on a slice of white bread, sprinkle a little confectioners sugar on them, put the other slice of bread on top and that's it. A glass of milk goes well with it. I have eaten these sandwiches all of my life.

I'm still reading Lisey's Story - I'll write my usual little review when I finish. It is taking me a while to finish as it has over 600 pages in it.

After supper Kenny and I went to Arundel Mills Mall and walked around the loop. The mall is one big oval and it is just under one mile. We went in and out of a few stores just looking around. We didn't buy anything but it was nice just walking and looking.

Kenny told me this story about what happened to one of his friends from work while her and her family were on vacation. Her husband was taking lots of pictures of their three children down at the pool at their hotel when the hotel security man came over to him. Someone had called security and told them to get down to the pool because they thought a pedophile was taking pictures of kids. Once he told him that the kids were his it was okay but still what a thing to happen. His wife thought it was funny but I think I would have been upset!!

Two Netflix came in the mail today - Dexter and Roots. We watched an episode of Dexter and had ice cream - I prefer the Weis brand better and look forward to getting my old standard of Chocolate Chip next time.

And so ends another day. Hope your Tuesday was a good one.

2008-08-25T19:06:00.005-04:00

Sunshine in the morning and by the afternoon it was mostly cloudy with temperatures in the 80's.

Got some morning stuff done and then it was time to head out for Meals on Wheels. Only 4 people again. I guess 4 will be my number for a while but that will change I'm sure. It never stays the same for too long. Didn't seem to be many cars out today and I was to the kitchen in record time. Mrs P had a visitor today so I didn't stay for a chat. Mrs M did enjoy the church activities from her back yard on Saturday. Many people from the church came over by her to talk for a while. My other two people on my route were fine too.
I drive right by my house in the middle of my route and today I stopped home. The sky was looking pretty dark and I thought it might rain so I stopped and took my sheets off the line, had a drink of water and continued on my way. It never did rain after all, but I'm sure if I didn't stop, it would have rained. :-)

I had a late lunch which was one of those strawberry sandwiches that I like so much. A little blog reading, a little work, doing my exercise tape and that was the end of the afternoon.

After supper we went to Weis and we came home with some different ice cream. We tried Bryers which I'm never that crazy about. I don't think it tastes very creamy but this was very good. It was three different flavors of chocolate all in one - white, dark, and regular.

Watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and after my ice cream I knitted some more.

Now it's time to read until bedtime.

This is another picture I took on the way to Carlisle on Saturday. We are the last of the 4 Covettes driving in a row down Rte 70.

One of those do nothing days

2008-08-24T18:12:00.004-04:00

Today was a mix of sun and clouds and the humidity has crept back up there, still a nice day and it is August!

It was a stay at home day and actually it was a very nice pleasant relaxing day. It was pancake breakfast day and this time we had strawberries for them along with syrup and whipped cream.

I did the usual morning chores and then really didn't do much of anything else. I got some reading done and a little knitting. We sat out on the front porch for a while - had some nice cold watermelon out there too. I did a couple of crossword puzzles too - not the hard ones! I have a book of them and every so often I get in the mood and do a few.

We made homemade pizza with garlic for supper which we haven't done in a while. In the winter we make pizza almost every Sunday. As usual I made the dough and Kenny makes the actual pizza. I get the easy job. :-)

No Netflix for tonight so we watched All Creatures Great and Small. My snack was 4 chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

This weeks Bible verse is from Psalms.

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice,
in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

Psalm 5:3

Corvette Carlisle

2008-08-23T21:23:00.012-04:00

Our weather today was nice yet again - a mixture of sun and clouds and low humidity. Perfect for a drive to Pennsylvania for Corvette Carlisle.

We left at 7:00 this morning in Kenny's yellow Vette

and drove to Mt Airy to Mike and Debra's house. Kenny works with Mike and he has a red Corvette just like mine (a red C5) . His brother Rick and his wife Janine were there visiting from St Louis and they have a Corvette too (a red C6). Another man who Kenny works with Steve and his wife Mary drove their dark blue Corvette (a C5) to Steve's house.

Here are all 4 cars parked out in front.

From there we drove caravan style to Carlisle to spend the day at the Corvette show. It's about a hour and a half drive from Mt Airy and the closer we got to Carlisle the more Corvettes we saw.

This is a picture driving in the town of Carlisle. You can see we are surrounded by other Corvettes.

Once we got there all four of us parked in a row on the fair grounds and we spent the day walking around and enjoyed looking at the acres of cars. Here are just some of the many pictures we took.

This is me taking a picture of one of the many beautiful cars.

A 1963 - the only year of the back split window.

Isn't this picture cool? All red, white and blue Corvettes.

A red and white C1. This was the Corvette I saw when I was a little girl and knew I wanted a Corvette one day.

Thought this car was kind a neat with all the decals all over it.Look how these doors open.

I don't know what this Smart car was doing there but I thought it was cute and took a picture of that too.

It was fun walking and looking at the cars but near the end I was more than ready for us to get back in the cars and drive home. We stopped at Steve and Debra's house on the way back home for a little while. After leaving there we went and ate supper at Five Guys before coming back home.

This evening we watched All Creatures Great and Small and I had ice cream for my snack and did a little knitting.

I enjoyed my day and hope you had an enjoyable Saturday too. :-)

2008-08-22T19:09:00.003-04:00

Another day to keep those windows open. Low humidity, lots of sunshine and some clouds. We are having some great weather for August here in Maryland. Though now I guess we could really use some rain, but hopefully it will hold off for gramma jo's vacation to DC.

I got another load of laundry hung out on the line. It's amazing how much laundry two people can accumulate. Did a few more things around the house and then it was time to head out for a Meals on Wheels delivery. I only had 4 people again. I think my newest lady has cancelled getting meals because it's been a couple of weeks now since I've delivered there. Too bad, we were just starting to hit it off. Mrs P is doing fine and Mrs W was excited because the church right behind her house is having some big event outside tomorrow and she can watch it all right from her back yard.
I saw another one of those Smart cars driving around today - this one was red - boy are those things tiny, but really cute!!

Hey Deb, there is a new Maggie Moos in the new town of Maplelawn on the other side of 29 up Gorman Rd. I saw them putting up signs for it. Went to investigate where it is and it's across from Trapeze.

After a late lunch I played around on the computer for quite a while and before long Kenny was home from work already.

No ice cream for me tonight - I was in the mood for some chocolate chippers and some milk. I knitted while we watched the second episode of Roots. The series is very good but hard to watch as it is so upsetting to see people being treated so horribly.

A read a bit more and I'm now about half way finished with Lisey's Story.

Well, here it is Friday again and I hope your's was a good one. These weeks sure roll around fast.

2008-08-21T21:25:00.006-04:00

A beautiful sunny day with very low humidity - another one of those days that call for open windows.

After doing my regular morning routine I decided to go out for a while. I first went to the bank and then looked around Pier 1 Imports. I'm looking for some square dishes. They had some but nothing really hit me. I'd like a heavy pottery type with red and blue in it. It was nice being out driving my car around on such a nice day - I took the long way home.

I sat on the porch a while and did a little knitting while waiting for Kenny to come home from work.

After supper we stopped in at Kohl's to look at their square dishes. They had some nice ones that I like but I didn't buy any. I'm going to wait for them to go on sale. The dishes are blue and red and have some yellow in them too. In the meantime I'll keep looking for more square dishes. While there I saw that they had jeans on sale so I bought a couple pair of skinny jeans.
We also went in Barnes and Noble to look around - we just looked and didn't buy anything.

The shopping center was just down the road from our town house so we just happened to drive by it again. I took this picture of our empty lot. It may still be empty, but the blue bathroom is gone, they have started leveling out the land and there are some little flags there marking where the gas and electric lines are. Looks like they are getting ready to start digging.
We watched the last Dexter on the first DVD and had ice cream for our snack. I did a little knitting as usual.

Didn't do all that much today but it was a pleasant day and I enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoyed yours too. :-)

A sad moment

2008-08-20T13:03:00.007-04:00

It was one of those perfect weather days again. Nice and cool with lots of sunshine and a few of those white clouds that look so pretty against the blue sky.

I spent way too much time this morning playing around changing the template and colors on my walking blog. I couldn't seem to make up my mind which one to choose. I'd pick a template and then change all the colors around and then not like it and start all over again.

Since I did laundry yesterday, today I did the ironing - not a lot though, just Kenny's shirts.

In answer to your question Bonnie about my cleaning routine. I don't stick to this always but as a rule I do pretty good with it. I start on Monday cleaning upstairs - sheets get washed and I start cleaning the bathroom up stairs which is in the top corner of the house and work through the spare room, our bedroom, down the stairs, and each room till I end up in the downstairs bathroom in the opposite corner of the house. I don't usually finish it all in one day because I can get distracted pretty easily if something better comes along. But when I get back to it, I just continue where I left off and usually in a couple or three days everything gets done. Sometimes it takes me the whole week. Some other work like windows, kitchen cabinets, dusting the book shelves to name a few are special jobs that get done when I feel like it. This works for me and keeps the house pretty clean. It's not spotless but my house feels warm, cozy and happy! :-)

I ate my lunch outside on the front porch and then went out in the back yard to the part I call my little woods. If you look at the picture from yesterday it's the part on the other side of the split rail fence. I worked some more on picking up the dead branches and just straightening things up back there. Some stuff we will have to take to the landfill.

I sat out on the front porch late this afternoon and read for a little while waiting for Kenny to come home from work.

Good news about the cabinets at the town house. Julia said after some persuasion on her part, the builders said we would be able to change from the cherry to the oak cabinets. :-) We took a ride over to the town house to sign another paper and while we were there had some more good news - another unit was sold. Just two more to go and then they will start building ours.

Tonight we watched the second episode of Dexter. There are 3 shows on the disc, so we will watch those 3 and then go back to Roots. My snack tonight was chocolate chip cookies and milk.

I made a few weave-its tonight. I started another afghan with them a while ago and put it aside for a while to work on other things. If you want to know more about weave-its click here.
A little moment of sadness today as I remember my Daddy. Today is his birthday and he would have been 87 years old. He died in 1999 and I sure do miss him. I wasn't sad for long though because my dad brought me so many years of happiness that I can't help but smile when I think of him. I was so blessed to have him for a dad. He was one of those rare dad's who always had time for me. He is one of the reasons why Happyone is happy! :-) This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. It was taken at the Jersey shore in the late 70's.
I hope your Wednesday was a good one.

2008-08-19T15:17:00.009-04:00

The morning started off nice and cool and got warmer and warmer throughout the day. Sunshine and some clouds were around too.

I finished up my cleaning today with the downstairs bathroom and washing the kitchen floor. I did a few loads of laundry. The first two loads dried fast with the sun and breeze, so I was able to do another load in the afternoon.

After lunch I went outside and cleaned out the gutter along the back of the house. Not the highest one, just the lower one over the deck. There were lots of those spinners off of the maple trees in the gutter and the squirrels sit there eating them and the mess spills down on to the deck. I've have been wanting to clean it out for a long time, but it's just one of those SLJ's that I keep putting off . Now that's it's done I wonder why I put it off so long!

Remember yesterday Kenny got a new small camera? Well, he couldn't get it to download pictures on to the computer so today after supper we went back to Best Buy. They couldn't get it to work either. It is supposed to be imac compatible but I guess it isn't after all. We exchanged it for a camera just like mine only it's the newer model. I've never had any problems with mine at all (knock on wood) and I've said it before, I love my camera, it's so easy and simple to use.

I took these two pictures early this evening. I took both of them at the same time of day. This one looks dark because I aimed it right at the sun. I guess that's obvious!

This picture of my back yard I took sitting on the steps of the deck.

For a break between Roots shows we got Dexter from Netflix and watched that tonight. We saw the first season and the second season has just come out. It's about a serial killer who works for the police department who kills serial killers. A strange show that is pretty creepy and gross and so different from the kind of shows we usually watch but I like it.
I had ice cream again for my snack and then did some knitting.
I read some too and will again when I finish up on the computer.
Hope your Tuesday was a good one! :-)

2008-08-18T18:08:00.003-04:00

Today was a mixture of sun and clouds and it was pretty warm out. I think the air quality was orange.

First thing I did after my regular morning stuff was to put all the ingredients for supper in the crock pot and got that started cooking. Then I went around the house today like a whirlwind and got the whole house cleaned except for the downstairs bathroom and washing the kitchen floor. I've saved those chores for tomorrow. That took up the day time hours, though I did take time out for lunch and my exercise tape.

The crock pot supper was a new recipe called Easy Chicken Alfredo and it was delicious.
I've already added it to Happyone's Cookbook and if you want to try it just click on the recipe name to see it. This is the third recipe I've tried in this cookbook and every one is easy to make and delicious. I took a picture of it, but some food just does not look good when photographed, this was one of those times!

After supper we went to the Best Buy at Arundel Mills and Kenny got a new camera. It's a Fuji and small like mine so he can put it in his pocket. I love my little camera and carry it with me where ever I go.

As we watched All Creatures Great and Small I ate ice cream and then did a little knitting. Haven't had time to read today yet so I'll be doing that when I get off the computer.

Another collection

2008-08-17T19:36:00.007-04:00

Another great weather day. A blue sky, lots of sun and those big puffy clouds that I love.

After our pancake breakfast I did the usual chores around the house, while Kenny was outside once again making an attempt at getting the sheds organized for moving. We just have so much stuff out in those sheds.

We had some lunch and then got in the car and went up to Westminster to walk around the antique mall that we go to every so often. I found lots of stuff that I could have bought, but just didn't need so I passed it up. All that is except for this one milk bottle. My grandfather originally came from Friesland in Holland and I just couldn't resist this milk bottle which says Friesland Dairy Products on it. Milk bottles are another collection I have. This same grandfather had a dairy in NJ many years ago and he had milk bottles which said Schaper's Dairy. I have looked many years to try to find one but have never been able to.

On the way home we stopped in Eldersberg at Rita's. I got a small frozen vanilla custard cone and Kenny had a small gelato which was vanilla & chocolate custard with chocolate ice. Never had one before - tasted his and it was very good. I'll get one of them next time. :-)

It was late afternoon when we got back home and we just read until it was supper time. I was going to make spaghetti but we didn't feel like eating that so we ended up going back out again and had pizza for supper at Ledo's.

On the way home we made a detour and went to Daedalus Books and bought a couple of books. I got Brother Odd by Dean Koontz - I've already read it but really like the Odd series and would like to read them again sometime. Now I have the second and third books. Kenny is reading the series now. I also bought The Wolves of Calla which is one of the books from the Gunslinger series by Stephen King. It was the only book of the 7 I didn't have. I still have to read the 7th book.

This evening we watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small. Didn't have ice cream tonight because I had the frozen custard but I did have cookies and milk for my snack. I guess I'll just walk a little extra tomorrow morning.

This weeks Bible verse is from Psalms.
When I said, My foot is slipping, Your mercy and living-kindness, O Lord, held me up.
Psalm 94:18

While reading Proverbs this past week I came upon this verse which made me smile.
Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.
Proverbs 16:31

2008-08-16T19:03:00.006-04:00

A beautiful day today with a bright blue sky, lots of sunshine and some big white puffy clouds.

After getting back from my walk I made us our usual weekend breakfast of pancakes.
I did a few chores around the house and when it was time for a break we sat out on the front porch. Kenny cut up a cantaloupe and we ate some of that for a snack.

I finally got those first two rows on the afghan completed without a problem and I'm off knitting afghan number 39. I've knitted a couple more rows than this picture shows.
Lunch was eaten on the porch too and afterwards Kenny washed and waxed my car. She is shining and looking good!!! Thanks Kenny, that was so nice of you to do that for me. :-)

I filled up another garbage can of tree branches from the pile out in the back yard. I quit when I got three mosquito bites in a row on one arm.

We put in the Roots DVD to watch the second half and after a few minutes it ended. Yesterday when we thought we watched half, we watched just about the whole thing. So we watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small. No ice cream tonight, a bit too many calories for today so I had cookies and milk for my snack.

I got a little reading done too. It was a nice quiet relaxing day spent at home.
Hope you enjoyed your Saturday too.

A change from cherry to oak

2008-08-15T14:27:00.007-04:00

We had some sun today but again in the afternoon it got cloudy and we got a couple of light rain showers but still a very nice day.

I ate my breakfast out on the front porch this morning and did my usual morning stuff around the house. I left around 10:20 in the Vette to do Meals on Wheels. I only had 3 people today but all of them are fine and I got to talk a bit longer with each of them. I had a bit of a scare with the car today. I was stopped for a red light in the right lane behind a car, two cars were along side me in the left lane. I looked in my mirror and saw a truck coming behind me much too fast. There was nowhere for me to go and I sat there holding my breath. Heard brakes screech but he stopped in time. That sure gets your heart pumping fast!!

I got back to the kitchen earlier than usual and since my daughter lives right around the corner I stopped in to see her and we had a nice little visit. Didn't see the grandkids - they were still in bed!! Well they are teenagers and like their sleep. :-) They are enjoying their last week or so of no school.

Once I got home I ate a late lunch and did my exercise tape. I sat on the porch and I got all 303 stitches put on the needles for Nola's afghan. Once I get finished with the first two rows I can read my knitting and know where I am. Before then I have to do a lot of counting so I have to do those first two rows with no distractions. Kenny came home before I got my two rows knitted, but at least I have all the stitches on the needle.

We went up to the town house right after Kenny got home. After thinking it over I decided I didn't want the cherry cabinets after all and would rather have the oak so we went to change that. Julia said she would check if the change could be made because after 30 days you aren't supposed to make any changes. I think that is crazy!! They haven't even started building the houses yet. It's not like this is some major building change. Well, before I get too upset about it we shall wait for Monday to see what Julia says.

While we were out we stopped at our favorite pizza place for supper and then did a few errands.

We had our usual evening routine. Ice cream for snacks and we watched the first hour and a half of the first Roots DVD. The whole series is on 6 DVD's, each 3 hours long. It is as good as I remember it but some of it is really hard to watch.

I only got to read a little bit - I plan to read a bit more later.
Happy Friday - hope it was a good one for you!

2008-08-14T14:54:00.008-04:00

The day started off sunny, then the clouds moved in and by late the afternoon I heard the rumbling of thunder.

Did a few morning chores around the house, made up a list for the commissary and headed out the door. They are still working on some of the roads on the base and had to take the detour route. I didn't follow the signs because I thought I knew a better way but my way didn't work out so good. I went on another small tour of the base. :-) I finally made it to the commissary and got my shopping done. Not many people there today - I'm thinking they are out buying school clothes.

I put the groceries away when I got home and had some lunch. I ate some cottage cheese and I usually put some fruit in it, but today I mixed raisins in with it. I've never done that before and don't know what made me try it, but it tasted really good!!

After lunch I went outside and washed the FJ. I didn't really feel like doing it but once I got started I didn't mind and after I was done and it looked nice and clean was glad I did it. I even whisked the inside and wiped it down with a damp cloth. I just got finished when I heard thunder so I put the FJ right in the middle of the car port so when the rain came it would stay dry. I had to move it later though when it was raining so it wouldn't be in the way when Kenny came home. So the FJ got a bit wet after all. Oh well, it's only water.

I made a new recipe for dinner tonight called Lemon-asparagus Chicken with Dill. It was easy to make and we both liked it enough for me to make it again sometime. I've already added it to Happyone'sCookbook so if would like to try it, just click on the recipe name above the picture.

I finished reading 7th Heaven by James Patterson.

I liked it as much as the other 6 books in this series. There are two cases to solve in this book. Where is the son of a previous governor who has disappeared with out a trace and who is burning down houses leaving the owners to die in the fires? A good story with a few surprises. This is a library book and I got the large print one because it was the only one available.

My snack tonight was ice cream again and we watched Steven Wright which came in the mail today from Netflix. We also got Roots which we will start tomorrow. Steven Wright has some funny one liners but I don't find him all that funny.

I'm starting another book tonight - Lisey's Story by Stephen King.

That's about it for today.

A day off

2008-08-13T16:28:00.007-04:00

The day wasn't as cool as it has been but still it was nice. Some sun, some clouds, and a breeze though it was a warm one. Windows closed today.

Kenny took a vacation day and we planned to go to Patapsco Park and hike on a few trails there. We got up, had a quick breakfast and got there a little after 7:00 (it's near our home - about 15 minutes away) and it was CLOSED. Didn't open till 9:00 and all along the road was no parking so we couldn't even park and walk. It was too long to wait for it to open and we didn't feel like leaving and coming back so we decided to go walk around the lake at Centennial Park, which is VERY close to where our new town house will be. For those of you who don't read my walk blog, and care to read about the walk you can read about it here.

We were back home just before lunch so we ate and then got Brad's afghan packaged up and ready to go.
We went out after lunch and the first stop was to the post office, then we went to Walmart and we both got a couple pairs of new jeans. I couldn't believe I found jeans there. I got lucky and bought the last 2 pair in my size!!
We stopped in at the office for Parks and Recs and picked up the map with all the walking paths in Columbia. It's amazing the amount of paths there are throughout Columbia!! No wonder why I get lost at times! :-)

I made a mistake on the afghan I started for Nola that I couldn't fix so I had to rip it all out. I'll make a start again tomorrow.

I read some more of 7th Heaven and will read some more of it later.

Cheryl was in the neighborhood this evening and stopped by for a short visit to say hi. Always nice to see her.

Roots, from Netflix didn't arrive today, but that's okay because we just watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small. Another night with ice cream for my snack.

It's always nice when Kenny takes an unexpected vacation day off in the middle of the week and I had a most enjoyable day.
Hope yours was too!

And the winner is.......

2008-08-12T19:01:00.004-04:00

Once again we had a beautiful weather day. Sun and clouds in a bright blue sky with a breeze and all the windows are still open. :-)

A perfect day for the clothes to be out on the line drying which is where a load of whites were. The sun bleaches them a bit too. I also got all of Kenny's work shirts ironed.

I went out to get a couple of pairs of new jeans but didn't have any luck today. I usually get mine at Ross and you never know what they will have. Sometimes they have lot but today was one of those times when they didn't have anything good. Things were picked over pretty good - maybe because school starts in a couple of weeks. I'll go back after school starts and maybe I'll have better luck. It was still nice to be out driving my car on such a pretty day.

Just in case you aren't sick of sunflowers yet here is a video of a bee on one.

It was so hard to decide who to give the afghan to and I wish I could give all of you one. I narrowed it down to three people and just couldn't decide so I put those three names in a hat and had Kenny draw a name out.
And the winner is Brad. He called the afghan a work of art, and he said, "OK, I am shameless - I love that afghan and it's my fav colors. I can see me snuggled in my reading chair with it."
So congratulations Brad, I hope you stay nice and warm reading in your chair wrapped up in your afghan on those cold winter nights. :-) If you will email me your address I'll get it in the mail to you.
Thank you all for all the nice comments.

I sat out on the front porch late this afternoon waiting for Kenny to come home from work. While I was sitting there I started my next ripple afghan. This one will be all different colors using up yarn that I have left over from other projects. I'm knitting this afghan for a friend Nola. Those of you who read my walking blog will know the name. I met her walking and walk with her once in a while around town. Nola is the most giving person I have ever known. She is always doing something for someone so I thought it would be nice to give her something.

We watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small. Roots should be coming in the mail tomorrow from Netflix. I had chocolate chip ice cream for my snack and loved every spoonful!!

I think I'll read a bit tonight.

Last Night

2008-08-11T19:14:00.007-04:00

I could get used to these perfect weather days!! Lots of sunshine with those beautiful big puffy clouds, very low humidity and a cool breeze. Another day to open up the windows.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me and again there were only 4 people on my route and one of them wasn't even home, so I only saw 3 people today. That did give me extra time to spend with Mrs P. Today she told me a couple of stories of when she was a teacher. She taught high school before her kids were born and then stayed home while they were little and then went back to teaching. She is now in her late 80's and her mind is clear as a bell yet. A very interesting lady!
My other two people were happy and well.
When I got back to the kitchen I saw Carol, another volunteer that I haven't seen for a while. She usually delivers on Wednesday's and I knew her from when that was my day too. She was subbing today. We stood around in the parking lot talking for about 20 minutes. It was nice to catch up a bit with her.

On the way home I stopped in at the library and picked up a book for Kenny. He is going to read the Odd series by Dean Koontz. I just finished the 4th book not long ago.

After supper we went to Weis to replenish our ice cream supply again so my snack tonight was ice cream. I had Chocolate chip which as you know by now is my favorite!!

Since we are now finished with Voyager and didn't have a Netflix we watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small. The next series we have decided to watch is Roots. We watched it the first time back in the 70's when we lived in Scotland.

If you want the Give-a-way Afghan this is the last night to leave a comment there on why you would like to have it. Tomorrow when I post I will tell you who I am sending it to.

That's it for today.

Sunflowers and baby slippers

2008-08-10T18:53:00.007-04:00

Another nice day with cooler than average temperatures. Lots of sun in the morning but the clouds rolled in during the afternoon.

We spent a good part of the day working out in the yard. I got the back yard mowed and more sticks picked up way in the back. I got some more weeding done and swept the deck along the side of the house. Kenny got the gas powered weed wacker out and couldn't get it to work. He then tried the electric one that I used and had as much trouble with it as I did, but he kept at it and did manage to get the front yard done. What's with these weed wackers? Does anyone else have trouble with these things? Kenny also used the blower to clean off our stone driveway and it looks so nice now!! Some trees got trimmed a bit today too. We had a watermelon break on the porch and lunchtime we ate out there too.

I baked chocolate chip cookies and brought them over to the new neighbors who moved in last week to say hi and welcome them to the neighborhood. She's a single mom with one daughter, a cat and a dog.

I packed up all those dishes I mentioned the other day up in 6 plastic tubs. Kenny was right on the money when he said I would need 6. He is so good at stuff like that. Me - I'm always way off!!

I finished knitting the baby slippers for Marsha's soon to be born baby. They are a very light pink and in this picture look almost white.

Since everyone seems to like pictures of the sunflowers here's a couple of closeups.
One with one bee.

One with two bees.

A couple little sunflowers in between the big ones.

We watched the very last episode of Star Trek Voyager and have now finished all 7 seasons. I wasn't crazy about the ending episode but it was okay and I really enjoyed watching the whole series. Cookies and milk tonight for my snack.

Here's the Bible verse I picked out for this week.
Psalm 143:8
Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning, for on You do I lean and in You do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You.

Another weekend ends. Hope yours was a good one. :-)

Carlisle, Pa

2008-08-09T19:13:00.006-04:00

Today's weather was even better than yesterday. Lots of sun, some clouds, low temperatures in low 70's. Just perfect.

It's Saturday - oh boy we get to have pancakes for breakfast. Today we had them with bananas and whipped cream!! :-)

Right after breakfast we got in the FJ and drove up to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the truck show. It's not that far away - about 2 hours. We went mostly on back roads so it was a nice ride too. LOTS of trucks, all kinds - some for sale and some just to look at and lots of parts to buy for trucks. There were trucks old and new and in all sizes, from toys to the big rigs.
Here are just a few of the pictures I took.We watched some rock crawling jeeps. At times they looked like they would tip right over, but they never did. The sky was beautiful - bright blue and look at those white clouds.
I had a one of those big pretzels for lunch. I watched a woman make them. She cut off a piece of dough, rolled it out with her hands to make a long rope, then took an end in each hand, did a quick twist and it was done. She made one in a couple of seconds. I had one of them for my lunch. It tasted sweeter than they usually do. I was going to go back and tell her that it was the best soft pretzel that I have ever eaten, but we never made it back there.
The weather was just perfect for walking around there today and we had a most enjoyable day.

Our evening was spent in the usual way. We watched another Voyager. A change from ice cream tonight - I had cookies and milk instead.

I have finished one of the baby slippers and started the second. I'll work on it a little more later.

Hope your Saturday was a good one!!

SkyWatch Friday

2008-08-08T15:11:00.006-04:00

The weather was perfect today. Low humidity, lots of sunshine and a cool breeze. I don't think it can get any better than this. It was a day to open the windows!!

Here is my SkyWatch picture for today.

I took this on Monday when I met my daughter and granddaughter at the mall. We were outside sitting on a bench drinking our milk shakes, we looked up and thought the sky looked so pretty with the flags against it.

I suppose you all are getting tired of looking at my sunflowers by now but here is another one with more flowers in bloom. The tallest one is 11 feet tall!! These are the tallest sunflowers I've ever grown!!

It was a slow day at Meals on Wheels. I only had 4 people today and there were lots of cancellations on other routes as well. My four people were fine and happy. As I was leaving one house I saw Ann who lives across the street from her mother who is one of the people in town who I deliver meals to. Before continuing on I stopped to talk to her. I met Ann years ago while walking. One reason that I really like my route is because I have a couple of people right in my town. Over the years I've had quite a few people from town on my Meals on Wheels route.

After supper we went to Target and I got 6 of those plastic containers to pack up some dishes that I'm not using. The same kind of dishes that Debbi came to get earlier this week. Maybe some day she will want the rest of the set.

For our viewing pleasure this evening we watched yet another episode of Star Trek Voyager. This one was a sad episode where Neelix leaves the ship. Ice cream was my snack of choice tonight. Big surprise there!

A woman Marsha, who lives a few blocks from me is another person I met on my walk. I saw her the other day and realized it had been a long time since I saw her because she is pregnant and due any day now. :-) I started knitting some little pink booties for her baby. They go fast and I should be done in a day or two.

If you missed yesterday's post, you might want to scroll down to it and enter the afghan give-a-way.

Afghan give-a-way

2008-08-07T17:56:00.010-04:00

Today was a mix of sun and clouds with a late afternoon thunderstorm. I didn't have to water the flowers after all.

I got the sheets washed and hung up on the line - also a load of towels. Sheets were back on the bed and towels folded before it rained. :-)

I had a lot of Quicken work to do and got all of that done. I always enjoy doing that.

Mid afternoon I finally made it outside to do some yard work. I got the front yard mowed and got some weeding done and picked up sticks that were all over the yard. I got out the weed wacker and was having nothing but trouble with it. It never works right for me. I can never get it to feed out the line properly. I ended up getting mad at it and throwing it in the back yard. I finally just gave up and put it away. I asked Kenny to do that job for me. :-)

I made a new recipe for supper tonight and we both thought it was delicious. I already put it in Happyone's Cookbook. Here is a picture of Spicy Beefy Noodles.
If you would like the recipe to try click here.

Remember that afghan from yesterday? If you would like it to be yours just leave a sentence or two comment saying why you would like to have it. After reading all the comments Monday evening I will decide who the lucky winner is and I'll let you all know on Tuesday evening.

This is the 38th Ripple Afghan that I have knitted. I have two of them, all the others I have given away to special people I know.

A couple of questions in the comments yesterday were too long to answer there so I'm doing it here. Linda asked if I have decided where my library will be in the townhouse. I not going to have a room for a library but will have shelves in a few rooms for my books. I've found some really nice shelves that I like at Ikea. I am going to be going through my books and getting rid of a lot of them before we move. I am only going to keep the books that I really love and would like to read again. I will keep all my Stehpen King books as well as Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Charles Dickens (who is my favorite author), The James Herriot books and of course all my children book collections. There are too many to mention them all here. I will still have a lot of books. :-) I love books and need to have them around me.

Vee asked if my husband is handy. Kenny is very handy and I think I can say so am I. We have built garages in all three houses that we have lived. We put an addition on the house we now live in and when I say we built the addition, I mean we did it all. Kenny even rented a back hoe and dug the foundation. :-) He did all the plumbing and electrical work too and the roof and shingles. I am his ever willing helper and have worked right along side with him. I can't tell you how much I have learned being his helper. He is usually very patient and we work well together. Sometimes he expects me to do more than I physically can and then I stop and we compare pinky's. That makes us laugh and avoid fighting. :-)

Another Star Trek Voyager episode for us tonight. Those shows are winding down now. I think we only have 5 or 6 more shows to go.
We had ice cream tonight. I had chocolate chip on the bottom with chocolate cookies n creme supreme on top. Simple pleasures, but oh so good! :-)
Didn't knit tonight - I'll start the next afghan tomorrow.

The Afghan is finished!

2008-08-06T21:06:00.006-04:00

Today started out with a few rain sprinkles, then was cloudy with some sun.

I took my shopping list I made yesterday and headed out to the commissary this morning. Not many people there but the shelves weren't stocked full either. It always surprises me the things they don't have. Today it was lettuce and chicken. How does a store run out of those two things.

Once at home I put all the stuff away, had some lunch and then got started dusting the rest of those shelves. Debbi and Taryn came by to pick up some dishes I had for Debbi and they stayed a little while and as usual we talked and talked. We never run out of things to say. When they left I finished dusting the shelves. I always feel good then I get done with that.

A library with floor to ceiling shelves has always been a dream of mine too Scarlet! I waited a long time so don't give up the dream - you may get them one day. :-) I will miss these shelves when we move.

I finished knitting the afghan today and here is a picture of it.

As I stated before this will be a give- a- way for one of my blog friends. Come back tomorrow if you would like to find out how it could be you.

I was going to make a new recipe today for supper but we went out for pizza instead. I'll make it tomorrow.

We got the next Voyager Netflix today so we watched an episode of that. We are now on the 6th disc - I think there is only one more to go before the end of the series.
My snack tonight was ice cream - chocolate chip on the bottom and vanilla fudge twirl on top.

Only 2 more rows left to knit

2008-08-05T21:34:00.005-04:00

Today was a mostly cloudy day. We were supposed to have a thunderstorm late in the day but we never did get it. I'll have to water the flowers tomorrow.

I started dusting my book shelves. I usually just give them a quick dusting but every so often I take all the books off, dust the shelves and each book. Today was one of those days. I got through about half of them and got tired of doing it so, I'll finish that tomorrow. These are the shelves I did today.

I made up a commissary shopping list for tomorrow. I looked through a cookbook and found two new recipes to try. I don't mind cooking, I just get tired of making the same stuff all the time.

I've started reading another book. Another James Patterson book - this one is 7TH Heaven. I've read the other 6 in the series. They are all pretty good and I like this one so far too.

The Ripple Afghan is just about finished now. I just have the last white strip to do which is only 2 rows. Tomorrow I will post a picture of it and then you can decided if you want to participate in the give a way.

No ice cream tonight - I had cookies and milk again. We watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small.

I think I'll go and knit one of the white rows now and then read until bedtime.

At the Mall

2008-08-04T13:38:00.010-04:00

A beautiful bright sunny day - lots of blue sky and some big puffy white clouds.

Did morning stuff around the house and then left to meet my daughter and granddaughter at the mall. We met outside Maggie Moo's, a fantastic ice cream store. No plans to buy anything at the mall but just planned to walk, look, talk and just enjoy being together. I have a friend who works in one of the store at the mall and we stopped in to say hi to her. Walked in and out of a few stores, but none of us are really shoppers and we ended up sitting outside on a bench talking. It was such a beautiful day out. We went to Maggie Moo's and had a fun lunch - Milk Shakes!! Cookies and Cream for me, Debbi had strawberry, and Taryn had chocolate chip mint.

Here is Taryn and our three our milkshakes.

All three were delicious - we all had a taste of all three. I think next time I will get the chocolate chip mint.

This nights Voyager episode was called Author, Author and it was one of my favorites. It the one where the Dr writes a book and 7 of 9 talks to her aunt back on earth. No ice cream tonight because I had the milk shake for lunch. I did have a couple of cookies though. Still knitting on the ripple afghan.

I don't mention my walking blog very often here but today while walking I happened upon a deer who walked out of the woods and up to the path where I was walking. I got some really cool pictures of it and if you would like to see them click here.

I finished reading The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou and enjoyed it.Here is one of the poems that I liked.

Human Family

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world,
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine,
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike,

W are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

I hope that your Monday was a happy one.

Pictures from the county fair

2008-08-03T15:27:00.017-04:00

A nice day with lots of sunshine and a breeze.

I did my regular morning routine plus a couple loads of laundry and got them hung up on the line. Then we left to go to the county fair. The weather was perfect for walking around the fair. We started off looking at the car show.

Here's an old one.

Now this Ferrari is my kind of car. I think I would even trade my Vette in for it. :-)

A row of John Deere tractors. This is for you Dad!

We saw bulls.

And we saw horses.

Then there were baby ducks.

Lots of baked goods.

Veggies

And a photo contest.

The kids here are playing in kernels of corn.

We also saw pigs, chickens, goats and sheep. It was fun walking around and seeing all the sights. The fair also had rides for the kids, lots of food to eat, and a band.
On the way out we stopped and bought some nice peaches and a watermelon.

Once we were back home we sat on the porch for a while and ate some of the watermelon. It was sweet and tasted oh so good.

I got the clothes off the line, folded them and ironed Kenny shirts for work.

We attempted to eat supper out on the porch too, but the mosquitoes changed our minds.

We watched an episode of Voyager and I ate ice cream - chocolate chip on the bottom and vanilla chocolate swirl on top. I knitted some more on the ripple afghan - I'll definitely be done with it this week.

I'm reading a book of poetry by Maya Angelou and will finish it tonight.

This week I chose a Bible verse from Psalms.
Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for on You do I lean and in You do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You.
Psalm 143:8

Did you happen to notice I changed the blog header again?
I stood there so you could see how tall all the sunflowers are!!

Edit - Carla asked how tall I was. I'm 5 feet 5 inches.

More wool, a ball cap, & a blue afghan

2008-08-02T19:02:00.005-04:00

I was woken up this morning at 4:30 by a loud clap of thunder, couldn't go back to sleep and finally got up at 5:30. The storm passed and we ended up with a sunny day with a bright blue sky and some big puffy white clouds. The humidity was down so it was a nice pleasant day. We had another passing thunder storm this evening so all the flowers got lots of water again today.

We went out to do a few errands this morning and while we were out we stopped at the craft store Michaels to look around. I needed some more white yarn for the White Sampler Afghan so I got 2 more pounds of it. I also got a denim ball cap - it only cost $2.99. I plan to wear a ball caps a lot while my gray hair is growing out. I have 2 months of white roots showing now.

Since it's Saturday we went to check out the town house again. No other ones have sold in our row so they still haven't started building ours. That's okay though - we don't mind waiting. We still have to pick out the flooring by the front door and for the 1/2 bath. It is a different place from where we picked out the rugs and other flooring. We got the number from Julia to call to set up an appointment with them.

I knitted some more on the Ripple Afghan - it's the one that is all different colors of blue. I am working on the last blue strip so I should be finished with it this week and I have decided what I'm going to do with it. I plan to give it away to one of you, my blogging friends. I will post a picture of the afghan and details of the give a way later in the week when it is finished.

I had ice cream once again for my snack - same as yesterday.

2008-08-01T09:41:00.007-04:00

SkyWatch Friday

I took this photo while on my walk this morning on the path in back of the school.

Today was another one of those hot humid days. Usually I don't like to have the AC on but today I'm glad I have it.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me and today I went in my Vette. I delivered meals to my five regulars. It's been a while since I've had a new person. Maybe once the summer ends I'll get some more. For some reason there are more people on the routes during the winter. All my people were well and happy.
The crazy drivers were out there today. Some people are just accidents waiting to happen and I wonder where they learned to drive. I'm glad I have my Vette to get out of their way!! :-)

I got my BeautiControl order already!!

I just ordered it a few days ago. I have been using this stuff for years and like it a lot. Their cleansers and moisturizers are terrific. I don't wear very much makeup - just a little eyeliner and mascara and this mascara is the only one I can wear. All others make my eyes itch.

Today I finished reading Odd Hours by Dean Koontz.

This is the 4th book in the Odd series. The books are about a guy named Odd who sees the spirits of people who have died. If they have been murdered he helps find their killers or sometimes just helps the spirit move on to the next world. This book takes place in one day and is a bit different from the other Odd books. He has dreams of a red tide and is pulled to a small beach town where he feels he must stop something bad from happening.
I liked the book but liked the first 3 in the series better.

We went to the mall and had supper there at a Mexican restaurant. The food was good and the left overs will be good for lunch tomorrow.

We stopped in at the Weis and got in a new supply of ice cream. It was on sale - 4 for $10 so we got four different kinds. Kenny picked out coffee and vanilla chocolate swirl and I picked out chocolate chip and cookies n cream supreme.

Star Trek Voyager came in the mail today from Netflix so we finally got to see Part II of the episode that left us dangling. It was nice to have my ice cream after going without for a few days. I had both of the flavors I picked out. I also did some more knitting.

This week sure went by fast. Hope it was a good one for you!
Enjoy your weekend.

Cleaning Day

2008-07-31T22:26:00.002-04:00

A hot, humid, cloudy day with a little sun once in a while. Rain was predicted but it never came.

Not much to say today, but I had a busy day getting some much needed cleaning done. That's about all I did, but I feel good to have a nice clean house.

Still no Netflix so we watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small. No ice cream, Kenny finished the chocolate chip up and I had cookies and milk again. I knitted on the ripple afghan and read.

Free ice cream

2008-07-30T19:00:00.006-04:00

It was a hazy, hot and humid day. Mostly cloudy with a little sun and a couple of light rain showers.

Kenny took a vacation day and we drove over to Rehobath Beach and Dewy Beach in Delaware. We had never been there and just went to check it out. Not much to say about the towns. It just wasn't what we expected. We had lunch there before driving back home. It was a nice ride there and back and it was nice to have a destination.

Well that took up most of the day and there wasn't much time for anything else. I still need to get some housework done!!

Look at this sign I saw walking around town. They must have been thinking of me. :-) I'll have to mark this event on my calendar.

We thought we would be watching an episode of Star Trek Voyager but this DVD had a big crack in it too. I think they sent us back the very same one we sent back last week. Oh well, we watched All Creatures Great and Small instead. I had cookies and milk again and knitted while watching an episode.

I want to Thank you for all the compliments on my new table.

Thanks Dad :-)

2008-07-29T18:35:00.009-04:00

The day started out with a few light rain showers left over from during the night, then quickly turned into a hot and humid sunny day with a few clouds.

My plan was to spend the day cleaning but I only got our bedroom done. I just got busy doing other things and I also spent way too much time on the computer. But I enjoyed my day and the house work will just have to wait.

I picked up the metal part of an old sewing machine stand years ago and it has been sitting in the shed with a piece of plywood on it getting rusty. I always had visions of it cleaned up with a nice new piece of wood on it and using it as an end table.
My step-dad likes to have projects to do in the winter so I asked him if he would like to take on the sewing machine project of mine. Without hesitation he said yes. I told him no hurry at all and that it would be a good winter project. So when my parents were visiting us a couple of weeks ago he took the old rusted metal stand home with him.
Well, my Dad started the project a little ahead of schedule and has already finished the "winter project." He cleaned up all the rust and made a beautiful oak top and oak second shelf. I'm sure he put many hours of work into it and I think he did a fantastic job. It turned out better than I imagined. I LOVE my new table. Here are a few pictures of his work.
THANK YOU so much Dad!! It is beautiful!! I shall treasure it always!!
Now, let me think, what other project can I think up for him to do. :-)

Tonight we watched (Netflix) an old British movie from 1963 called Billy Liar. It's about an ordinary guy who basically lives in a fantasy world and lies about everything. It is funny in parts but over all I thought it was a bit depressing. When we lived in Scotland in the 70's we watched a television program based on this movie and it was hilarious. I wish we could watch those old shows again.
I had cookies and milk while watching the movie and then knitted some more on the ripple afghan.

Didn't read yet today - maybe there will be a little time before bed for that.
Good night all.

A Thank You GIft

2008-07-28T19:23:00.007-04:00

A pretty day with sun and clouds.

It was a nice day to drive around delivering Meals on Wheels. I went in the FJ today. I had my usual 5 people and they are all doing good. My new lady Mrs B invited me in today and told me she always watches for my car and didn't see it today. I told her I would be driving it on Friday. She is very nice and I'm glad that she feels comfortable with me already.

Lois called me this afternoon but I didn't pick up and just listened to the message because I was in the middle of doing my exercise tape. I was going to call her back when I got finished. A little bit later she was at the back door. I was on the last exercise so it really didn't matter. She came over with a thank you gift for watering her gardens while she was away. I got 6 different kinds of beer. (2 bottles of each kind) It should be fun tasting them all. I will of course share them with Kenny. She gave me something else too that I wasn't sure I should mention but here's the picture. :-)
She stayed and told me about her trip until Kenny came home from work.
I didn't get much of anything else done today. I'll have a busy day tomorrow.

Ever since I decided to let my gray hair grow out I've noticed lots of youngish gray haired ladies out there. I've even found a website about going gray called Going Gray Looking Great.

Still no Netflix so we started the 4th season of All Creatures Great and Small. After two days of no ice cream I really enjoyed my ice cream tonight. Knitted some more on the ripple afghan and a bit later I will read until bed time.

Hope it was a great day for you.

A Poem

2008-07-27T19:27:00.007-04:00

Today we had sun, clouds, thunder storms, and more sun. It was also hot and humid.

Kenny staked up all the sunflowers today for me. Now that they are starting to bloom they are getting top heavy and could break in the wind or heavy rain. I like how the flowers move around following the sun during the day. I measured the tallest one today and it is 8'6".

We went for a ride down to southern Maryland on back roads and had a nice day out. We stopped at a Subway and shared their newest sandwich, a Ruben. It was pretty good.

I paid some bills, read, and knitted. I've started on the 18th blue strip on the ripple afghan and with 19 strips to the afghan the end is very near now. I'm deciding now what to do with this one when I'm done.

We watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and finished up the third series. No ice cream for me today - too many calories already so I had cookies and milk.

Instead of a Bible Verse this week I posted a poem by Maya Angelou.

Christians - By Maya Angelou

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting “I’m clean livin’.”
I’m whispering “I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.”

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
And need Christ to be my guide.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow!

EDIT:
Vee - You are absolutely right! Maya Angelou did not write it. Thank you for letting me know.
Check this out.

The Sunflower Blooms

2008-07-26T19:41:00.006-04:00

A hot day today with plenty of sunshine and some clouds.

Debbi came over the house at 9:00 this morning so she got to have pancakes with us. No strawberries, but we did have plenty of syrup and whipped cream.

The three of us had a nice visit while we waited for David to get here from NJ - he arrived about 11:00. When the four of us get together we always have a good time and today was no exception. It was great to spend the day with both of our kids. We had lunch at Hunan Manor and then went to the town house to give David the tour.

Then we went back to our house for a while and then David left to go back to NJ and a few minutes later Debbi left for home too.
I really enjoyed this day!!

Here is David, Me, and Debbi.

And here is David, Ken, and Debbi.

Today the first sunflower bloomed. I love how perfect the seeds look in a pattern.

It won't be long before the rest of the flowers will be blooming too.

Since we didn't have a Netflix to watch we watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small which we own. I had 4 chocolate chip cookies and milk for my snack. I knitted some more on the ripple afghan.

I hope your Saturday was a good one too.

SkyWatch Friday

2008-07-25T13:39:00.006-04:00

This is my SkyWatch picture for today. I took it early this morning on my walk.

A beautiful sunny day with some clouds. It was warmer than yesterday though, so I didn't have all the windows open.

Another Meals on Wheels day for me and I went in the Vette today. Crazy drivers out there today. Two people almost crashed into me. I had my regular 5 people. They were all well and happy. Mrs M was feeling pretty good. Her nephew took her out yesterday and she got her hair cut and had a French manicure. I told her she was all set to go out on the town now.
When I got back to the kitchen there were lots of different kinds of loaves of bread and bagels laid out in plastic bags. Since it was a day old they were giving it away to anyone who wanted some. It all looked so good, but I knew if I took it home I would eat way too much of it. I just kept seeing all those calories. So I took 2 loaves of bread and 3 bagels and dropped them off at my daughters house for her and the kids. She lives right around the corner from the kitchen where I pick up the meals.

Once back home I had a late lunch, did a little computer work, and did my exercise tape (I do that 4 times a week).

Those Elder Bugs that have been all over the place this summer seem to be gone and now those little tiny ants are back. Makes me wonder if the bugs kept the ants in control. I think I'd rather have the Elder Bugs than the ants.

Finished up another Voyager DVD and it ended with a to be continued.... Since we had the next DVD we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves that we could watch Part 2. Popped in the DVD and it popped itself right back out. On a closer look we saw that it was cracked so no Part 2 after all.
Ice cream again for our snack and I did some more knitting.

Hope your Friday was a happy one!!

The garbage cans

2008-07-24T21:16:00.004-04:00

We got a lot of rain last night and when it left so did the humidity. Today was one of those perfect weather days. Lots of blue sky, with big puffy white clouds and a breeze. I opened all the windows and let the nice cool air in.

I did my regular morning routine and late in the morning I went to the library. I found three good books to read in a couple of minutes. I will start one of them later - Odd Hours by Dean Koontz. This is the 4th book in this series.
Since it was such a nice day I decided to go for a little ride in my car. I didn't go far but did take the longest way I could think of to come back home.

In the afternoon I went outside and got some long over due weeding done in the front gardens. The front and back lawn still need to be mowed. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow afternoon.

Late in the afternoon I sat out on the porch and knitted and watched people and cars go by waiting for Kenny to come home from work. I was entertained by the kid across the street coming home from work and watching him try to figure out how to get the mail, and the two garbage cans up the driveway while driving his car. First he got the mail and put it in one of the garbage cans. Then he opened up the trunk and tried to get both of the garbage cans in there. No, that wasn't going to work - only room enough for one. Took the one out, closed the trunk, got back in the car and tried to hold on to both of them through the open window and drive. That didn't work either. He got out of the car again, and put one inside the other. Back in the car, and with the window open he carried/dragged the two garbage cans along the driveway while driving the car. Mind you the driveway is only about 40 feet long. It would have been so much easier and quicker to just go park the car and come back and get the garbage cans.
To bad I didn't take a video, I could have put it on YouTube. :-)

Kenny got home late again from work. This sure has been a very busy week for him. Maybe next week he can take a day off.

We went out to eat this evening at the Cheesecake Factory. I had a Grilled Eggplant sandwich with red onion, red pepper and cheese. It sounds better than it was. It was okay but I wouldn't get it again. I prefer eggplant with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Just our usual evening at home - ice cream and Voyager.

Sunflower Video

2008-07-23T09:29:00.006-04:00

Today started out cloudy with a little sun. Thunder storms came through this evening and it's still raining right now as I'm writing.

Here's a video I made of sunflowers in my front yard. I finally made one without messing up and laughing in the middle of it. :-)

I stayed home all day. In the morning I did a few chores around the house and then I spent most of the rest of the day reading Sail, by James Patterson which I started yesterday afternoon and finished today.
It's about a mother and her three kids who decide to take a sailing vacation on their sail boat with their uncle as captain. Katherine hopes this trip will bring her and her kids closer together. They do get closer but not in the way she planned.
I thought this book was very good. A real page turner with lots of twists and turns. It's James Patterson at his best!! If you like lots of action and surprises, this book is for you.
Happy reading.

A typical evening here at my house. A episode of Star Trek Voyager, ice cream for snacks and knitting.

2008-07-22T15:53:00.007-04:00

Yet another sunny, hot and humid day, but it was breezy. Some clouds rolled in briefly and we got a little rain before the sun came out again.

I had a delicious breakfast this morning. When I make pancakes on the weekend the two extra ones I put in the refrigerator and eat them later in the week. I put a pancake in the toaster and then split it in half so I have two and then sprinkle with icing sugar. Today I sliced strawberries first and then sprinkled with the icing sugar. Oh it was good!!

I had just gotten two loads of laundry hung up on the line when those clouds came along with the rain. I just left them up though because I knew the sun would come back and dry them which it did.
I got all of Kenny's work shirts ironed this afternoon.

I finished reading A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Laura and Clair have been close friends since they were little girls. Laura works in the world of art and Clair has a daughter Natasha who she adores. The book is about their lives. Some happy moments, some sad.
I thought the book was okay but it was predictable and not very exciting though it did have some good moments.

I sat outside on the front porch for a while late this afternoon and started reading Sail by James Patterson. I liked it from the first page and read about a third of the book.

A long work day for Kenny - 13 1/2 hours to be exact. We ate a late supper of left over pizza and then had our ice cream. Another Voyager DVD came in the mail from Netflix so we watched that this evening.

Still a little time before bed so I will go and read some more.
Good night all!!

Visiting neighbors

2008-07-21T21:05:00.008-04:00

Today was another sunny, hot and humid day. That rain we got last night did nothing to cool it off.

I washed sheets and hung them on the line and it was so warm out that they dried in no time at all and felt HOT like they had just come out of a dryer!!

I tried to take a video of the sunflowers in the front yard to post but I kept messing up what I was saying and laughing so I gave up. I'll try again soon.

I went to visit my neighbors a couple of doors down. They are an older couple and I haven't seen them in a while so I took them some chocolate chip cookies and went to see how they are doing. They are in their 80's and have lived here in town all their lives. Both of them are doing fine and get around real good. He still drives and they go out quite often. Very nice neighbors. I told them we would be moving, but that it wasn't far away and I would still be able to stop by and visit. Elmer said," Oh good because I sure would miss these cookies! :-)" I was just going to stay for a little bit but ended up staying a couple of hours.

I got some cleaning done, a little reading and some knitting.

After supper we were sitting here and Lois came a knockin' at the back door. They are back early from their vacation which means my watering job is finished!!! :-) YAY!

Tonight our RV trailer sold at an auction on Ebay. It's always exciting to watch at the last minute when the bids come fast. We are very happy with the price we got for it.

Kenny stopped at the Weis on his way home from work and you guessed it, came home with ice cream. My favorite, Chocolate Chip and he got Black Cherry & Vanilla for himself. So that was our snack tonight.

My mom didn't wait for her birthday on Saturday to open her present. I knew she wouldn't be able to wait!! :-)

Hope your Monday was a good one!!

Pen Pals

2008-07-20T12:36:00.006-04:00

Today was hot, humid, with sun and clouds. A thunder storm rumbled through tonight bringing lots of rain. That means I don't have to water Lois' gardens tomorrow.

Another morning for pancakes but I didn't have the banana on mine today. I am very fussy about bananas and don't like to eat them if there is any brown spots on them. That works out fine for us because that's the way Kenny likes them.

Kenny had to go into work for a couple of hours today and while he was gone I did my exercise tape and got caught up on blog reading.

I tried sitting out on the porch today but was only there for a short while because it was way too hot and I was sweating just sitting there. I know it's hot if I'm sweating because I'm always cold.

I finished knitting another blue strip on the ripple afghan and now only have 3 more strips to go.

Chocolate chippers and milk for my snack tonight while watching yet another episode of Voyager.

Remember when people had pen pals?
I think blogging is the modern day version of pen pals. You become friends with total strangers by writing about your life. You share pictures, ideas, thoughts, hopes and disappointments with people from all over the world and sometimes you even get to meet your new friends. Blogging has improved pen pals because now you don't have to wait for those letters and you can have many friends at one time.
Just a thought.

This week I picked The Wise and Foolish Builders parable from the Bible.
Luke 6:46-49
Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.

Mom and Dad tour the town house

2008-07-19T18:36:00.007-04:00

A hot, humid day with lots of sunshine.

We had pancakes (only one each) today for breakfast and we had them with bananas, syrup and whipped cream. It's like eating banana cream pie. :-)

I just finished doing a few morning chores around the house, when there was a knock at the back door. It was my mom and step-dad getting here from Pennsylvania. We talked and laughed and had a good visit. They just got their first cell phone and were having trouble entering names and phone numbers into the phone. So me of all people, who is not so good at it either, did it for them. I guess I'm better than I thought because I got them all added without any trouble. :-)
The card I made and present I wrapped yesterday were for my mother. Next Saturday is her birthday. I told her she had to wait for her birthday to open the package so they took it home unwrapped. Now do you really think she will wait till next week? Odds are no! :-)
My dad read the latest James Patterson book, Sail (the same book that we gave him for Father's Day) and brought it down for us to read. He said it was Patterson's best book. I look forward to reading it.
My mom picked out a 3 in one novel of Sue Grafton, ( G, H, I, ) from my library to bring home to read. I told her it was due in 3 weeks and if she wanted to renew it she could do it by email. :-)

A little after 12:00 we went over to the town house model to give them the tour.

This is my mom and dad with me in one of the bedrooms made up as a princess room. I matched the room! I know my granddaughter Scout would just love this room.

Here I am in the loft in the master bedroom.Every time I come to this house this is my favorite place to sit and I never want to leave. When Cheryl and Bonnie had the tour we must have sat here talking for a half hour.

This is a sample of the Corian that we chose for the counter tops.

After the tour we took mom and dad a block up the road to have lunch at LeeLyns. This seems to be a ritual after showing people the house. I did the same thing with Cheryl & Bonnie and also with Jackie & Kerry. We had a delicious lunch and then mom and dad left to go back to PA from there and we came home.

This evening we started watching the third disc of season 7 of Star Trek Voyager. The first episode that we watched today was a double one. I had chocolate marshmallow ice cream with some vanilla ice cream on top for my snack tonight. I forgot how much I really like just plain vanilla.
I knitted three more rows on the ripple afghan and for the rest of the evening I am going to read again.

Hope every had a happy Saturday!!

SkyWatch Friday

2008-07-18T12:56:00.007-04:00

I took this picture this morning over by the school on my morning walk.

Good Morning World!

It was a hot one out there today with the air quality in the RED zone but there was a little bit of a breeze.

I got to drive around in my Corvette and deliver Meals on Wheels. I had my regular 5 people. Mrs P was excited because she has the Tennis Channel and can watch tennis whenever she wants to now. She was quite a tennis player in her day and won her college championship many years ago. Mrs M's niece was still there and I had to wait a while for her to come to the door. She didn't hear the doorbell or my knock at first. When she got to the door she said, "I didn't hear your car today, so didn't realize you were here." :-) Mrs M was sleeping so I didn't get to see her. My other 3 people are doing well.
Driving around today I saw 5 cops and 3 of them were stopped giving people tickets!!

I made another birthday card and wrapped a present.

I ran out of bird seed so this evening after supper we went to Home Depot and got some more bird seed. I like the containers the bird seed comes in there and we got three 20 lb tubs of the stuff. That should last for a little while.

I had 4 chocolate chippers and milk for my snack again. Watched Voyager and knitted on the ripple afghan.
Still time to do some reading.

Embarrassing Moment

2008-07-17T12:34:00.003-04:00

A trivia question for you.
How many peanuts does it take to make a pound of peanut butter?
Answer at the end of this post.

Today was sunny and bright and pretty hot.

Did my usual morning routine and then a bit of housework. It was watering day at Lois' house so I went back and forth there a few times. I can't even remember when their vacation is over and when they are coming back. I feel like I've been watering her flowers forever!!

I forgot to mention the other day that the baby Mourning Dove is gone. It was way too little to fly away so I think something must have gotten to it. Maybe another bird or a squirrel. I'm also thinking maybe there were two babies after all and the something got that one too. :-( I've taken the nest off of the AC unit. Hopefully they will find a better place for their next home.

I have started reading another book - A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford. I like it so far.

I didn't feel like having ice cream tonight for my snack so I baked a batch of chocolate chippers and had 4 of them and a glass of milk tonight. I always put them in the freezer and just take out the ones I want to eat. They thaw in about 5 minutes or so, if you can wait that long. :-)
We watched another Voyager and I knitted on the ripple afghan.

The other morning on my walk I walked for a little while with Lilly and she told me of an embarrassing moment she had. It made me think of my embarrassing moments - and I've had a few! This is probably my most embarrassing one.
When I was a kid, every summer the carnival would come to town for two weeks and I would be there every night. The summer I was 16 was no exception. My girlfriends and I would go and by that age we went to look at the boys. We had gotten to know all the guys who worked on the rides and one night one of the guys who worked on the sky ride was up in one of the cars. I looked up and said, "Can we have a ride?" He replied "What will you give me?" My answer which I shouted out loud because he was up in the air was, "I'll give you a free lay!" It got very quiet around me all of a sudden and it was then that I realized what I had said. I was wearing a few Hawaiian leis around my neck and I then took one off and shouted back, "I meant one of these." I don't even remember if we ever got that ride!

The answer to the trivia question is:
750 peanuts!

A juicy peach

2008-07-16T12:01:00.012-04:00

A typical July day - sunny and hot and really nice!

I am happy to say that I have finished washing all of my windows. What a good feeling!! Now if only they would stay clean!

While I have been watering my outside plants, today I noticed that my inside plants were looking very thirsty so I gave the poor things a nice long drink.

I took a couple more pictures of the sunflowers out in the front yard. I can't wait for them to flower. If you look on my header picture (on the left) you can see how small they were not too long ago.

Yesterday Kenny came home with a couple of peaches. I ate one this afternoon and it was as good as it looks.

It was so nice and juicy and I'm glad I ate it outside because I felt like a kid eating it. I had juice all over my hands and had it running down my arms, but I sure did enjoy eating it. :-)

Today I finished reading Run by Ann Patchett which I got from the library.

I don't really want to say too much about the book and give any of the story away.
Two brothers are raised by their adoptive father after their adoptive mother dies. One evening during a snow storm there is an accident and a new person comes into their life. The main part of the book takes place in a 24 hour period. There are a few surprises which keeps things interesting.
I thought the book was very good and enjoyed reading it.

A typical quiet evening with an episode of Voyager, ice cream, knitting and reading.

Little Butterflies

2008-07-15T17:47:00.009-04:00

Today was filled with sunshine and a bright blue sky.

Kenny worked different hours today and didn't have to go to work until 1:00. It was nice having him around in the morning but of course then he had to work till 9:00. We had lunch sitting out on the front porch and then off to work he went.

I did a bit of work around the house this afternoon. I got my ironing done and washed a few more windows. Only 3 more to go and I hope to be finished with the window job tomorrow.

It's my son David's birthday on Thursday and I made his card today and mailed it off.

I took these few pictures of different butterflies out in the front yard.

There are many, many of these little white Cabbage Butterflies all over all the flowers.

This small gray butterfly is a Gray Hairstreak. It seemed to like the lavender best.

This third one I couldn't find what it is - butterfly or moth but it was on a sunflower leaf.

The sunflowers are still growing taller every day but still no flowers appearing. Shouldn't be long now though.

We got a Netflix in the mail today so got to watch another episode of Star Trek Voyager. This disc is number 2 of the last season. We watched it and ate our ice cream a little later tonight because of Kenny's working hours. I had my usual but Kenny decided to have a root beer float instead - root beer soda with vanilla ice cream.

I want to thank you all for the encouraging comments you left on my last post about me letting my gray hair grow out. I might consider a shorter cut while I'm growing it out but I really like wearing a ball cap with my hair through the back of it. I'll probably be wearing one a lot more now. :-)

Gray Hair

2008-07-14T19:35:00.007-04:00

It was a drizzly morning, then cloudy and by mid afternoon the sun was shining and it was really quite nice out. Still warm but without the humidity.

It was another Meals on Wheels day for me. I found out that the reason why I haven't had Mr P and Faith the last couple of weeks is because the two of them have been moved over to another route. I am sorry that they are off my route but nice to know that they are both fine. I had 5 people today. My new lady Mrs B didn't invite me in but she did greet me with a big smile and a thank you. She watches for me and opens the door just as I'm about to knock. Mrs M still has her niece watching her and when I got to the door she said that Mrs M was in the other room and wanted to say hi. So I went and had a little visit with her. My 3 other people were all fine and happy.

I have come to a decision today about dying my hair. I have been dying my gray hair for years and every time I have to dye it I think about letting the gray grow out. My gray roots are showing big time (Kenny calls me skunk head) and I just don't feel like dying it any more. So this time I have decided not dye it and let my gray hair grow out. I am completely gray and it will be a big difference to go from very dark hair to white.

After supper this evening we sat out on the front porch for a while until the mosquitoes came out to eat.

We had our usual evening snack of ice cream and we watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small. I did a little knitting on the ripple afghan - it won't be long now before I'm finished with it.

Hope all is well in your part of the world and that it was a happy day for you.

Flooring for the town house

2008-07-13T21:11:00.010-04:00

Today was a hot, humid, sunny day - just what you would expect for July. :-) In the evening we got a good soaking rain so my flowers got a good drink. I watered Lois's gardens during the day so her plants really got a good drink.

Banana pancakes with syrup and whipped cream was our breakfast today which was delicious!!

At 12:30 we had an appointment with the company who will be installing the flooring for our town house. We had to pick out the carpets, and the rest of the flooring we wanted. We were a bit early but Kristin was there too so we got started early.
The lower level which has the garage, laundry room, storage room, and what they call the rec room. In the laundry room and storage room we picked out this vinyl flooring and in the rec room blue carpet which also will be on the stairs up to the second level.

The second level has the kitchen, living room and 1/2 bath. We picked this 4-1/2 inch oak flooring for the kitchen and a gray rug for the living room and the rest of the house except for the two small bedrooms on the upper level.They will have this beige carpeting.

The 1/2 bath and the foyer will have ceramic tile but we have to go to other company to pick that out on a different day. We already picked out the tiles for the master bedroom bathroom but I don't have a picture of that yet. I'll post a picture when I have one.
It took us about an hour to pick everything out.

We finished watching the Kite Runner and it was very good. The whole movie was pretty depressing though but it does end on a happy note.

Back to ice cream for our snack tonight.

The Bible verse for this week is found in
Matthew 7:1-3

Do not judge lest you be judged.
For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

A do nothing day

2008-07-12T19:03:00.005-04:00

Today was hot and humid again but the sun was shinning and we have AC to keep us cool.

It was a lazy day for the both of us. We didn't do much of anything.
We did made another trip over to the town house. Ours is an empty lot yet but we take a picture from the bedroom window in the model of a row being built. This is this weeks picture. They go up pretty fast. They have started another row down the street a bit. Ours will be next.
While we were out we went for a little drive and had lunch out.

A new baby Mourning Dove has hatched so we get to watch another baby bird grow up and take off. Only one this time.

No ice cream today - too many other calories. We got the movie The Kite Runner from Netflix today and we watched half of that this evening and will watch the second half tomorrow. I read the book and liked it a lot and the movie is very good too.

That's about it for today. Till tomorrow......

2008-07-11T19:32:00.008-04:00

It was a hot sunny day.

Did my morning routine and then went off to do Meals on Wheels in the FJ. Mr P and Faith were off today again. I asked but no one knew why. The new lady from last week Mrs B was still on. Sometimes a new person doesn't stay with MOW for more than a few days. Usually if it wasn't what they expected or don't like the food. Once they get past the first week they usually stay with MOW for a long time. Mrs B doesn't talk much and just takes the food at the door. Maybe when she gets to know me better she will talk more. Mrs M was back on today. She was in the hospital but is back home and doing good. She was sleeping when I got there but her niece from NC was up to help take care of her. My other two people are doing good.

I saw a big black beetle in my yard and today and took a picture of it. It's about 1-1/2 inches long. I did a little research and found out that it's an Eyed Elater and is the largest species of click beetle.

For supper tonight we went out for pizza and afterwards did a few errands.
Then back home for a Voyager episode, some ice cream and a little knitting.

Here is my SkyWatch Friday picture.I took this picture on my walk this morning.

2008-07-10T21:32:00.002-04:00

Today was a warm sunny day with a few clouds thrown in here and there. A pretty nice day all in all.

I took a break from washing windows - I'll finish the rest of the windows downstairs next week.

I wrote out a shopping list and headed out to the commissary. I got to go on a tour of the base because a road was closed and I had to follow the detour signs. I can't believe how far I had to drive just to get around the road closure. I passed another gas station that I didn't even know was on the base!! I finally made it to the commissary, got all my stuff, checked out (no line), and found my way off the base again and back home.

After lunch I washed my car and now she is nice and sparkly clean again. I really enjoy washing my car and would never bring it to a car wash. My car is 6 years old and I still look at it and can't believe it's actually mine!! :-)

I had a good combination of ice cream tonight!! My usual chocolate chip on the bottom and chocolate marshmallow on the top. Oh it was good!!

I knitted a few more rows on my ripple afghan. No reading today and I think this day is going to run out of time before I get to do any reading. But there is always tomorrow!

A few of you didn't understand how my cover was blown over the test mail so I'll try to explain it a little better. The post office isn't supposed to know who the reporters are because it is a test to see how the post office is doing. If they knew I was a reporter they would probably make sure I got my test mail right away by giving it special treatment. By being under cover the test mail just comes like all the rest of the mail. Once they find out who a reporter is the test isn't going to be a true test. One of the pieces of test mail that was sent to me was so badly damaged that the envelope was cut open and they could see that it was a test mail piece. Hence my cover being blown. Hope that explains it.

Hope you had a happy day Antonio!

2008-07-09T19:39:00.004-04:00

A hot day with sunshine, some clouds, and some rain at the end of the day to water all the flowers.

I was going to go the commissary but a couple of trucks from BG&E Electric showed up in front of the house to do some work on the wire on the pole and blocked my driveway. I know I could have asked them to move so I could leave but I just decided to stay home and go tomorrow. Instead a got some more of those windows washed. I did the living room windows and the door today. While I was on the porch washing windows one of the guys who was working came up to me and said how much he liked the cone flowers. He asked a whole bunch of questions about them and I told him he could pull a couple up when he left to plant in his own yard.

Yesterday Cheryl told us about the squirrels making nest in her tree and having all the branches and leaves from the nest fall out on her deck. Well the same thing is happening to me too. Here's one of my messes on the deck. I picked a pile like this up a few times today.
We went out to eat with our friends Jackie and Kerry for dinner this evening. Always have a good time with them. Jackie is leaving for Japan next week for a month on business and is really looking forward to going. She said she would email me some pictures.

My cover has been blown. I am no longer going to be a Mail Test Reporter. I got a letter in the mail today thanking me for my contribution as a reporter but the Postal Service has discovered my status as a reporter through a badly damaged mailpiece. Oh well, maybe when I move I can do it again.

I haven't knitted on the ripple afghan for a while so I got that out and knitted a few rows while watching Voyager and after eating my ice cream.

The time left before bedtime I will spend reading.
Hi Antonio!!

Slides

2008-07-08T21:20:00.005-04:00

A sunny hot humid day again, though I don't think it was as humid as yesterday. We never did get any of that rain that was around so I had to water my flowers today. For some reason the Black Eyed Susans are NOT coming up good this year. They usually come in real thick with lots of flowers. This year they are very sparse with just a few blooms. Some of the leaves have black on them.

Ironed the shirts I washed yesterday and continued washing windows today and got the two in the spare room washed as well as cleaning the rest of the room. Also washed the 3 windows in our bedroom. Tomorrow I can continue downstairs.

The plastic container where Kenny dumps his change every day is full once again so I counted up the money and put it in my piggy bank. When the piggy bank is filled I put the money in my savings account. I counted $46.39. This money sure adds up faster than the money I find on my walks in the morning. :-)

We got a Netflix in the mail today so we watched that this evening. It is the start of the seventh and final season of Star Trek Voyager. I will be sorry when we are finished with this series.

SLIDES

I know I will be dating myself here but as a kid I remember playing on the big metal slides. We had such fun sliding on them. They used to be in all the school playgrounds. Big things with lots of steps you had to climb and then down you would go. Sometimes the slides weren't slippery and you would get stuck half way down and then we would stand up and walk the rest of the way down. Then you knew it was time to go home and ask your mom for some wax paper. We would sit on the wax paper and boy would you go flying down then. Sometimes you would go so fast you just flew off the bottom.
I know you could get hurt and some times we did. I remember missing a step and scraping my shin on the step or flying off at the bottom and landing on my bottom!! But it was worth the risk just to go flying down that slide on your piece of wax paper.
What made me think about slides is looking at the slides kids have to slide down now a days. I mean look at this!! How can you have any fun on this thing.These kinds of slides may be safer but I'm glad I was a kid when a slide was a slide and it was fun. :-)

Hope you all had a happy day today.
Good night Antonio!

A new recipe

2008-07-07T21:38:00.008-04:00

A day with clouds, sun and very humid. I turned my AC on at 1:30 today. I usually turn it on just before Kenny gets home from work.

I planned to do a lot more than I got done but was busy the whole day. I can't believe how fast this day went by. I got some laundry washed and hung up on the line. Started cleaning up stairs and just got the bathroom done. But I cleaned it extra good. I even washed the window. All the windows are over due for a cleaning and I'll be doing that this week. Maybe by the end of the week I'll get to all of them. Instead of using Windex which always leaves streaks for me I made up a solution of 2 cups water, 1/4 cup vinegar, and a teaspoon of Ivory Liquid. Put it in a spray bottle and it worked great. I will always use this from now on.

I sewed the next strip of white afghan squares together and onto what I have finished of the afghan so far. Now there are now 5 rows sewed together (a total of 45 squares). I have 6 more rows to knit and sew. Maybe I'll be done in the next year or so. :-)

I also have Cosmos in my yard. These are annuals and I grew them from seed. These are the first ones to flower.When Kenny got home from work he realized he forgot to stop to mail a package so we walked to the post office to mail it.

I made a new recipe for supper tonight. It's called Spicy Chicken Cakes with Horseradish Aioli. It's like crab cakes only with chicken. We both liked it and I will definitely make it again. It's takes a little time but it is easy to make. I've put it in Happyone'sCookbook already so if you want the recipe just click here. We also had mashed potatoes and green beans with it.
I took this picture but it doesn't have the Aioli sauce on it. I had already taken lots of pictures and we wanted to eat! :-)

No Netflix in the mail today so we watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small and had our ice cream.

I think there will be a little time left to read before it's bed time.
Good night all.

2008-07-06T21:22:00.006-04:00

Today's weather was a ditto of yesterday. Mostly cloudy, with some sun, and a few light rain showers.

Another morning for pancakes but with out the strawberries this time.

Since I reached my goal for reading 50 books in a year I've deleted the LibraryThing goal on my side bar and have started another one. Since there is 6 months to go till the end of the year, my new goal is to read 25 books by then.

Today I finished reading The Highwayman and Mr. Dickens by William J. Palmer.

This is the first book I am adding to my goal list on the side bar. One down, 24 to go.
This book is fiction and is a murder mystery and Charles Dickens is the main character. He teams up with Wilkie Collins and helps Inspector William Field solve a double murder.
The book was okay but nothing special.

We went out to do a few errands and stopped at Weis to get some more ice cream. I got my usual and Kenny got strawberry this time. I also got some ingredients for a new recipe I'll be making for supper tomorrow night.

In the afternoon I sat out on the porch knitting (I finished another white square) while Kenny washed his car.

The Liatris in my yard are blooming now.

All of the Liatris that is in my yard came from 3 bulbs that I planted years ago. When they finish blooming, the seeds blow all over the place (like dandelions) and they just take root and I watch them multiply every year. I love the color.

No Netlix today so we watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and had our ice cream.

I started another book and will probably read some more of it a little later.

This is the Bible verse I picked for this week.
Philippians 4:11-14
.......for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

2008-07-05T21:59:00.003-04:00

It was mostly cloudy today with a couple of rain showers but we had some sun too.

For breakfast I made pancakes and we put syrup, strawberries and whipped cream on them. I love that breakfast because it's like eating dessert.

After lunch we drove up to my daughter's house to drop off most of these lemon squares that I made yesterday. Since the town house is just down the road from there we had to drive by and take another look. We didn't get out of the car this time though. The row they are working on now is going up really fast. All three levels are up and they have started the foundations of the next row. Our row will be the next one they start to build.

I read a little and knitted a little.

We went to Hunan Manor and picked up some take away Chinese to take home for supper. We got beef & cashews and garlic chicken.

We decided we aren't going to watch the rest of The Wire. Didn't really like it - just another cop show. We watched the last episode of the sixth season of Star Trek Voyager. Only one more season to go. No ice cream for me today - I had two of those lemon squares.

That's about it for today. Hope you all had a Happy day.

How we met

2008-07-04T14:17:00.009-04:00

Girly Comments & Graphics

Today was mixture of sun and clouds with a few showers thrown in there.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. Since it was a holiday and Kenny was home he went with me. We only had 3 of my regular people. Holidays are usually light because some people spend the day with their families. I did have a new person today, so we had 4 people to deliver meals to. My new person lives in the apartments down the street from where I live.

I spent some time on the computer working on Quicken. I love how easy it is to reconcile accounts with that.

I felt like baking something today so I made these Lemon Squares. I found the recipe on Meals Matter and have added it to Happyone'sCookbook. Kenny and I split one so we could still have our ice cream at night. We can't possibly eat all of these so tomorrow I am going to drop some of them off at my daughter's house.

This afternoon we sat out on the front porch. I knitted on the bobble square and Kenny read. He finished Quickie by James Patterson. He liked it as much as I did.

We watched another episode of The Wire.
I finished knitting the bobble square and Kenny updated the Afghan Progress web page. The link is on the side bar and you can check my progress any time there.

Today is the 4TH of July and it is the day that I met Ken, my husband.
The way Kenny and I met is a bit of an unusual and unique story.

We met on July 4, 1971, I had just turned 20 in May and Ken was going to be 22 in November.

We both grew up in northern NJ - not in the same town but only 5 miles apart.

My parents had been divorced for a couple of years and so was Ken's parents.

I was working in an office and was living at home with my mom and step-dad and Ken was in the Navy stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. He would come home some weekends (A 7 hour drive) to see his parents and his future wife.

I was engaged to be married and so was Ken, though not to each other.

My father and Ken's mother were going out together. My father had a boat that he kept up in Piermont, New York on the Hudson River.
On this 4th of July I went up to the boat to be with my dad and brought along my future husband.
Ken was invited up to the boat so he would be able to be with his mom for the holiday and brought along his future wife.
There were lots of other people up at the boat this day too.

I had met Ken's mom before but this was the first time I was meeting Ken.
If there is such a thing as love at first sight, this was it.
We were introduced to each other by our parents. We saw each other and our boyfriend and girlfriend ceased to exist.

I kept finding excuses to hug Ken ( and he certainly seemed to like the hugs) and saying you are going to be my brother one of these days.
Things moved pretty fast after that first meeting. We both broke up with our fiances and started dating. Our first date was going to a drive-in movie to see The Poseidon Adventure.
We were married January 30, 1972 - a little less than 7 months from the day we met.
Two kids and 4 grandchildren later we have just celebrated out 36th Wedding Anniversary this past January.
It has been a wonderful 36 years and I thank God every day that we met and I got to marry my best friend.

By the way - my dad and his mom did get married - they divorced though after a few years, so for a while I was married to my brother. :-)

That's it for today.
Hope you all had a happy day!!

Welcome Home

2008-07-03T21:23:00.006-04:00

Thursday's Trivia
Take your average cow. How many glasses of milk will she give you in her lifetime?
Answer at the end of this post.

I took Friday's Skywatch picture a day early. This picture was taken 6:00 this morning up at the park while I was on my morning walk.
A bright sunny day but the humidity has come back. I turned on the AC late in the afternoon.

This morning I got busy and got some house cleaning and ironing done.

I am knitting another white square for my afghan. This is a fun square to knit because it has bobbles in it. Here is a picture of what I have done on it so far. The directions for this stitch is MB (Make Bobble). You make a bobble this way.
Knit into front, back, front, back, front of next stitch.
Turn work, and purl the 5 stitches.
Turn work and knit the 5 stitches.
Slip the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th stitches off over the 1st stitch.
It sounds really confusing but if you just follow one step at a time it is pretty easy. It just takes a while to do.

I should have watered Lois's gardens today but I just didn't feel like it. I wonder why she planted so many annuals knowing she would be gone all summer.
I was standing in my front yard watering my flowers when I saw the FJ come down the street and pull in the driveway. Kenny as arrived back home safe and sound. Sure is good to have him back home. :-)

We got a new series from Netflix to watch to get a little break from Star Trek Voyager. It's called The Wire. It's a cop show set in Baltimore. We watched the first episode tonight. It's okay but I'll have to watch a couple more episodes to give it chance.
It was nice to eat my ice cream with Kenny.

Answer to the trivia question.
You can thank the average cow for giving us 70,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime. That's a lot of milk.

A birthday

2008-07-02T17:57:00.003-04:00

Lots of sunshine today and it is still on the cool side. AC off and windows still open. My kind of day.

It is my granddaughter Taryn's birthday today and I took her present over to give to her and to say Happy Birthday. It's hard to believe she is 15 now. Taryn had her friend Katie over too. While I was there Taryn's Uncle Dave called to wish her a Happy Birthday but didn't tell her he was on the way from NJ to give her the wish in person. She was surprised and so was I to get another visit with David. Always nice to spend time with family.

I got back home mid afternoon and there was no way I was going to do the cleaning I had planned for today. So I ended up reading. I did do a couple of loads of laundry this morning and I took them off the line and folded them.

I'm still doing the test mail reporting and every so often they send me some stamps to say thank you. Today I got 5 more 42 cent stamps. I have just finished another 2 weeks of keeping track of all the mail I get as well as getting my regular test mail pieces.

After supper I went and sat out on the porch again - didn't do anything out there this time. Just sat and watched people go by.

I got my phone call from Kenny. They worked late today to finish up and he will be coming back home tomorrow. :-) I have kept busy and enjoyed my days but when Kenny is away I feel that part of me is missing. I will be glad to have him back home.

I finished up the chocolate chip ice cream tonight while I watched another episode of All Creatures Great and Small.

A delighful day!

2008-07-01T15:29:00.004-04:00

It was a delightful day. Lots of sunshine, a few clouds and low humidity. Who could ask for a better day! It was nice that it was cool enough to have the windows open and no AC on.

My two granddaughters have birthday's coming up in the next few days. I made a card for Scout, wrapped her present and then walked to the post office to mail it off. Her birthday is on Saturday and she will be 5 years old. I made Taryn's birthday card and got her present ready too. Her birthday is tomorrow and she will be 15. I look forward to seeing her then.

I made out my shopping list and headed out to the commissary. I think it was Mary who said she bought lots of fruit yesterday - today it was my turn. I got cantaloupe, pineapple, bananas, and strawberries. I got lots of other stuff too and filled up all 6 of my green bags.
Quite a few people shopping today. I guess they are all buying things for cookouts since Friday is the 4TH. They all brought their kids too now that school is out. It would be nice if most people didn't let their kids run all over the store.
Back home to empty the bags and fill the cupboards and refrigerator. It's always such a nice feeling to be all stocked up.

That done I had some of that fruit for lunch with cottage cheese - one of my favorite lunches. Delicious and healthy.

Did a few chores around the house and then did my exercise tape.

I stayed outside after I got the bird feeders all filled up and cut all the dead flowers off the flowers. Did a little weeding too while I was out there.

Does anyone ever eat strawberry sandwiches? I love them and had one for a snack when I came back in the house.

A little time to relax so I went out and sat on the porch and did a little knitting as I watched people and cars go past the house. Stayed out there until supper time.

Kenny called this evening and all is going well with work. They were just going off to Longhorn to eat their dinner.

I watched another episode of All Things Great and Small and ate my ice cream. So now I guess I'll read until I go to bed.

Good night all!!!

Home alone

2008-06-30T19:40:00.007-04:00

Today was a day with sun and clouds and not quite as hot has it has been. We got a few light rain showers this evening too.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. Mrs M was not listed for my route again today. I found out that she is in the hospital but don't know how she is doing. Mr P wasn't doing so good today - nothing specific just not feeling well. I do worry about him because he has lost some weight and is really getting thin. The others were doing good and I got to meet the one lady in my town that I deliver too who I've never met before. The aid usually answers the door and just takes the food. Today when I peeked my head inside I saw Mrs A and said hi. She was sitting in front of a table doing a jigsaw puzzle. She is in her mid 90's and looks great. She smiled and thanked me for coming out today. I hope I get to see her again. I don't like it when I don't get to see my people. I think next time I am just going to ask the aid if I could come in to say hello.

On the way home I stopped in at the library. Lots of people have been telling me how much they enjoy getting books on CD to listen to so I thought I would give it a try. I tried listening to one but just don't like it. I'd much rather read the book for myself.

I washed my sheets and had them on the line drying while I was gone. When I got back home it was just starting to drizzle and I got them off the line just in time. :-)

I did a little reading and sat out on the porch knitting late afternoon into evening. I took this picture from my chair on the porch.
I spotted a little chipmunk out and about in the yard but he wouldn't sit still enough for a picture. I sat out for quite a while until I got hungry and came in to eat supper.

Kenny is away for a few days down in Virginia for work so I'm alone for a bit. He called me this evening to say he was there safe and sound and was just going to meet everyone and have some dinner. I wonder if he'll have ice cream for dessert? :-)
I know this is only the first day but I already miss Kenny.

I watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small. I love that series. I read the books years ago and loved the books too. I'd like to read them all again one of these days.

It's still early so I will play around on the computer a little while longer and then read until I get tired.

My ice cream

2008-06-29T19:16:00.005-04:00

Once again we had a sunny/cloudy hot humid day with a chance of rain in the afternoon and evening which never happened.

Kenny got the toilet fixed first thing this morning without a problem.

We took another ride up to our future townhouse just to look at it again. I know it seems silly to keep going there when they haven't even started it yet but we still like to go. The row that they have started building is going up really fast. They are already building the third level.
One more unit in our row was sold - that makes 3 now.

Once we got back home we sat out on the porch and ate lunch. Sat out there for a while until we got too hot.

This afternoon I did a little knitting and reading.

I had my usual ice cream snack while watching Star Trek Voyager. I'm always talking about my ice cream so I thought I'd post a picture of it tonight. Chocolate Chip on the bottom and the top is Cookies 'N' Cream Supreme. It tasted just as good as it looks!!! I think it tastes better eating it out of this ice cream dish than a regular bowl. I picked up a set of 4 of these a few years ago in an antique store. I also have 2 ice cream soda glasses that go with the set.

My Bible verse for this week is:
Luke 12:15
Beware! Don't always be wishing for what you don't have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are.

2008-06-28T20:46:00.002-04:00

A hot sunny humid day with some rain in the middle of the day and then back to a sunny hot day. The rain did nothing to cool it off, but it was good to have the rain. No need to water the gardens - mine or Lois's. :-) As I am writing this now it is very windy out and I think we are going to get more rain. I think I hear thunder off in the distance.

When I left for my walk this morning Kenny left to go to the train show in Timonium. His friend Howard runs the show and Kenny went to help him out. I expected him home around 6 in the evening and was pleasantly surprised when he came home early at 3. Not such a big turn out at the show and there wasn't much for him to do.

While Kenny was gone I did my usual stuff around the house. I did a couple of loads of laundry and hung them out to dry. I was doing some computer work and realized that it was getting dark in the house. I looked outside and it was already raining - too late to save my clothes. They were already dried before the rain came, so they got wet all over again but the sun came out soon later and dried them again.

I sat out on the porch but came back inside after a little while. It was too hot to sit out there today. Kenny stayed inside and took a little nap. When I came back inside, Kenny woke up and that is when we heard water running in the bathroom. Some gizmo in the toilet tank sprung a leak. We caught it pretty quick so there wasn't too much water to sop up. We went out to Lowe's and got the part. Kenny will fix it tomorrow.

The Mourning Doves are back to taking turns sitting on the nest. I happened to be outside when they were changing duty and I think I spotted two eggs. I feel lucky to be able to watch this happen all over again.

All in all a good day.

SkyWatch

2008-06-27T19:30:00.006-04:00

A sunny hot day with temperatures in the 90's and lots of humidity. Early evening we had a thunder storm roll on by which gave the plants a good drink. Too bad I didn't know that was coming because I watered Lois's gardens today!!

I took this Friday's Skywatch picture right at the end of my driveway when I started out on my walk this morning at 5:55.

A Meals on Wheels day for me. I only had 5 people today. Mrs M was off - no one knew why. I'll have to find out on Monday. Mr M's family is back from their vacation so he will be off a long time again. I don't really know him all that well because he is hardly ever on my route. My other five people that I saw today were all well and happy.

When I got back home, I had lunch, did a couple of things around the house, did my exercise tape and then it was time for Kenny to come home.

We went out for a bite to eat and stopped at Weis before coming home to replenish our ice cream supply. Chocolate Chip and Cookies 'N' Cream Supreme for me and Black Cherry for Kenny.

Ice cream snacks tonight while watching Star Trek Voyager. Then some knitting and reading.

Girly Comments & Graphics

Meeting new friends

2008-06-26T21:26:00.008-04:00

A warm humid sunny day but a great day all the same.

Thursday's Trivia today is a two parter.
What is Whoopi Goldberg's real name and why did she choose Whoopi as her stage name?

A little after breakfast I took off with directions in hand and drove down to meet Cheryl and her two friends Kitt and Lisa at Kitt's house in Sherwood Forest, a gated community near Annapolis. I found the place easily and once at the gate called Cheryl and she came down to let me in through the gate.
This place is located in the forest with cabins dotted all through the woods. Some people live here year round but most are vacation cabins, some of them large but all charming. Cheryl, Kitt, and Lisa have been friends since they were kids. This was my first time meeting Kitt and Lisa and both made me feel right at home. Such nice people and I can see why the three of them have remained friends for so long. We had a delightful time talking and walking.
Kitt and Lisa went off to the farmers market to get lunch while Cheryl and I sat here on the screened in porch and talked.
When they got back we had a lunch of fruit, salads, chicken, and rolls.
Then off we went for a 2 1/2 mile walk through the woods down to the water looking at the houses along the way and talking about this and that.

This is the path we walked along.

Down the steps to the water.

Kitt, Lisa, and Cheryl walking on to the pier.

This is the beach and in the distance you can see the bridge down by Annapolis.

Once we got back to the cabin we had dessert - I had a piece of chocolate layer cake with raspberry filling. It was as good as it sounds!!

Soon after it was time for me to leave to go back home.
I had such a nice time. It's nice when you meet people for the first time and you feel comfortable with them right away. I thank all three of them for making this a special day.

I said I wouldn't have my ice cream tonight because I had the cake for dessert after lunch, but I figured with that little extra walk it was okay. :-)

The answer to the trivia question.
Caryn Johnson
In her autobiography, Goldberg says she came up with the stage name Whoopi because she frequently passed gas and sounded like a walking whoopee cushion.

A day out to NJ

2008-06-25T21:34:00.004-04:00

Today was another sunny one, though a bit warmer than it has been.

Kenny had the afternoon off today and we used that time to take a drive up to NJ. We met our son David at an Italian restaurant near where he works. We had a great visit, some good food and it was just so nice to spend a little time with him.
We asked someone walking by if they would take a picture of the three of us together.
We left David and stopped by the house to see Kim and our two youngest grandchildren, Scout and Japhy. Always nice to see them. I had some fun playing with the kids. I managed to snap this picture. Scout is in her new bathing suit and Japhy is ready to do some pretty daring stuff with his helmet on. :-)
Then it was time to head back home. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive. Traffic was not bad at all both there and back. Along the way we saw a car trailer full of those little Smart Cars. Those things are really tiny and so cute!!

We were back home in time to have some ice cream for a snack.

Sunflowers still growing

2008-06-24T20:58:00.004-04:00

It was another one of those perfect weather days. Lots of sunshine, blue sky's, low humidity, with temperatures in the low 70's.

I had another day at home. Got some laundry done and hung up on the line. Days like these are perfect for that.

I didn't have to go water the neighbors yard today but did have to water my own.
Even though the sunflowers have a long ways to go yet they are doing well. Here's a picture of how big they are today.
I did a little reading and sat quite a while out on the porch this afternoon knitting. I stayed out there until Kenny came home from work and then we stayed out there talking until it was time to go in and make dinner.

It doesn't sound like I did very much today but the day passed quickly and it was a good one.

I had my usual ice cream snack and watched another episode of Voyager.

It's still early so I'll get a little more reading done and maybe knit a bit too.

Hope everyone enjoyed their day.

A quiet day around home

2008-06-23T20:59:00.004-04:00

A day with some sun and some clouds. There was a passing light shower in the evening but it didn't amount to much. The sky got quite dark and I heard thunder and saw lightening so someone somewhere got the rain.

This morning I went outside and mowed the front lawn, edged, weeded and watered the gardens. While I was working, Jimmy my eccentric neighbor came by on his bike and stopped to talk to me. He certainly likes to talk. I'm glad that I was able to keep working while he talked. I'm the only one in town who will talk to him anymore. He is harmless, though really paranoid and thinks the police are out to get him and most of the neighbors are in the what he calls "the network" who keep tabs on him. It's really sad!

I finished knitting the white square for the sampler afghan from yesterday and in a little while I'm going to start another one.

I had my usual snack of ice cream while watching a Star Trek Voyager episode. We will be coming to the end of the series pretty soon now. We'll have to find another series to watch.

I got my ironing done and did a little cleaning.
A pretty quiet but nice day around the house.

2008-06-22T21:13:00.005-04:00

A day with sun and clouds and a bit hotter than it has been. There was rain in the area this evening but so far we haven't gotten any. Have heard thunder and it was pretty windy but that's about it - at least so far.

You'll never guess what we did today. :-) Went to the town house! We took a tape measure with us and took down lots of measurements. I will have no trouble at all with fitting all the stuff from this house into the new one.

I got some more knitting done today. Finished up one white square for the sampler afghan and started another and I'm just about done with it.

The lavender in my front yard is blooming now and it attracts lots of bumblebees. Tried to get a picture of the bees but they just moved too fast. Here is a picture of the lavender though. It smells so good.

I did get this bee who stopped on one of the cone flowers right next to the lavender.

The daylight hours today was one minute shorter than yesterday at 14 hours and 55 minutes so the days have started getting shorter now. We never did make it to 15 hours of daylight.

My ice cream snack tonight was half and half. Half chocolate chip and half Cookies "N" Cream Supreme!

I picked Philippians 2:3 & 4 for this weeks Bible verse.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for our own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

I reached my reading goal

2008-06-21T15:51:00.006-04:00

A day with lots of sun, a few clouds, and temperatures in the 70's again. A little bit of humidity sneaking in, but still super nice.

Kenny has been going through the sheds outside and throwing lots of stuff away. Today we made a trip to the local landfill and got rid of a lot of stuff. When you go to the landfill now a days you have to sort the things you want to throw away. There is a place for yard waste, scrap metal, electronic items, tires, or general household garbage to name a few and you aren't allowed to pick anything out to take home. I remember the days when you got to look through everything. Sometimes you found some really good stuff that people were throwing away.

On the side bar of my blog for the past year I have been keeping track of all the books I read in one year. I gave myself a goal to read 50 books in one year. I started it July 12 and yesterday I finished reading book number 50 so I reached my goal with three weeks to spare.
Since the year is half over I am giving myself another goal to read 25 books by the end of the year. Then I'll start at the beginning of the year with another 50 books for the year of 2009. I might even up the number to 60.

Little things do mean a lot!! I had mentioned to Kenny the other day how much I like the song It's a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. Today while I was at the computer he came over and put a CD on my desk. He had made a CD for me with that song on it and some other songs he knew I would like. How nice of him to do that - Thanks Kenny!!

Such a nice day so we sat outside on the porch for a while talking and watching the cars and people go by. A nice relaxing afternoon.

We never brushed the old nest from the Mourning Doves off of the AC unit and today we noticed the Mourning Dove sitting on it again. I wonder if she could be sitting on another couple of eggs? Or maybe it's one of the babies that came back. Can't tell the babies from the adults anymore.

This evening I had some more of the Cookies 'N' Cream Supreme ice cream with a little topper of chocolate chip. Ain't life grand!?

Today we had the same amount of daylight as the last few days - 14 hours and 56 minutes.

Hope this Saturday was a good one for all of you!!

I notice that I'm not getting an email when someone comments today.

A new favorite

2008-06-20T21:11:00.007-04:00

We had another perfect day of sunshine and blue sky with temperatures in the 70's.

I forgot to post Thursday's Trivia yesterday so I'm doing it today.
What is the state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work?
This sure came as a surprise to me - I never would have guessed it!!
Answer at the end of this post.

Here is my Friday SkyWatch picture. I like to post a picture of the sky as it is today. This was taken in my yard this afternoon.
I'm posting this SkyWatch picture too even though I took it early Monday morning just because I like it.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me and I drove the FJ today. I had my regular 6 people plus Mr M again whose family is away for this week. Everything went smoothly. Everyone at home, happy and doing fine.

When I got back home early afternoon I picked up The Quickie by James Patterson again and read until I finished the book.Lauren thinks she has a perfect marriage and then she sees her husband with another woman. She decides to have an affair of her own to get even.
When you start to read this book, you won't be able to put it down until you have finished it. There are twists and turns with every page with non stop action. I enjoyed it and liked the ending too.
It's easy to finish a James Patterson book in a few sittings and not just because it is good. The writing is big and every other page is a chapter. The book has 357 pages in it and there are 117 chapters!!

After supper we stopped at Weis and I got a new flavor of ice cream for my snack. It's called Cookies 'N' Cream Supreme. Oh boy is this good!!! I have a new favorite flavor!! It is chocolate ice cream with creme filled chocolate cookies with swirls of chocolate cookie crunch.

Today is the longest day of the year with 14 hours and 56 minutes of daylight. Actually the last couple of days it's been the same. I'm always surprised how early in the year that our days start to get shorter again.
I'm not going to keep track of the daylight hours for a while. I'll start again at some later time.

The answer to the trivia question is
ALASKA

I hope your weekend is a happy one.

Creepy Elder Tree Bugs

2008-06-19T18:47:00.007-04:00

It's hard to believe but yes we have had another perfect day. A bright blue sky, plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the low 70's.

Today I finally finished all my housework. Got the sheets washed and line dried and ironed Kenny's shirts too.

I didn't even pick up my book during the day because I knew if I did I would have read until it was finished.

I posted a while back about the Elder Tree Bugs that we have all over the place. Look at all of them on my chick and hens.

Here's a close up.

The ones that are mostly red are the young ones. Some of the babies are just red specks.

They don't hurt the plant but I think they look creepy. A lot of any kind of bug is creepy!!

Vee posted a cookie recipe that her grandma used to make called Hermit Cookies a few days ago that sounded oh so good. Today I had made a batch of them and they are sooo good. I have put the recipe in Happyone'sCookbook because I certainly will make them again. Thanks Vee!!

I cut them in bars like her grandma used to do instead of making cookies.

I not only had chocolate chip ice cream for my snack but a couple of those cookies too. I'll just have to walk a little extra tomorrow. :-)

Sunset was at 8:37 again so we had 14 hours and 56 minutes of daylight.

I have a couple of hours till bedtime so until then I'm going to read my book.
Till tomorrow.......

The Shack - a must read

2008-06-18T11:56:00.007-04:00

Today was another beautiful sunny, cool, and fantastic day! Just delightful, right Cheryl? :-)

The Shack by William P. Young

Right after breakfast I sat down just to read the next few pages of The Shack before getting started with the rest of my day. A couple of hours later I was still sitting with the book but I had finished reading the second half.

The Shack is about a man Mac, whose young daughter is abducted and murdered on a family vacation. Four years later Mac finds a note in his mailbox from God asking him to meet him at the shack. That is all I am going to say about the book because you just have to read this book.

I can't say it has changed my life because God and Jesus have always been a part of my life and I know what it's like to walk through life with them, but it reinforces everything I believe.
I think the book is excellent and I believe it really can change your life. I loved this book. The book I read was a library book but I am going to go out and buy a copy of my own because it is one I will read over and over.

So once again I didn't finish my house cleaning. I WILL finish tomorrow!

The update on the baby Mourning Doves is that they seem to be all grown up already. I've named them Jill and Jan. The two of them are still together but their flying is greatly improved and they have joined the rest of Morning Doves. I can tell it's them yet because they are the last ones to fly away when I get near to them. I don't think they will ever eat out of my hand though.

This evening I started another book, The Quickie by James Patterson. It won't take me long to read this - its hard to put down!!

I have put a poll up on the top of the side bar about dreaming. Please take a moment to vote in the poll. Thank You!! :-)

The sun set a minute later than yesterday at 8:37 so we had 14 hours and 56 minutes of daylight. I don't think we will make it to 15 hours because the first day of summer is Saturday.

Before I go back to reading my book, I'm going to read a few more blogs.

Pleasant dreams to you all.

Bunny, flowers and very little housework

2008-06-17T21:23:00.006-04:00

Last night's rain brought a cold front which made today just perfect. Lots of sunshine, cool temperatures and a slight breeze. Windows were open and every once in a while I heard the wind chimes which are hung right by the window.

I wanted to get some cleaning done today but didn't manage to get much of it done. Kenny stopped home mid morning from work for a few minutes on his way from one place to another. I walked him back out to the car and as he left I started pulling weeds out of the garden and ended up staying outside a lot longer than I intended to. Then I saw the little bunny rabbit and went inside to get my camera. Here's the bunny - isn't he cute!

The red lilies are now blooming.

The cone flowers are blooming too. I have a lot of these around the yard. These are the flowers that the Hummingbirds and Goldfinches like.

When I finally made it back inside I did manage to get the bathroom cleaned. Then I got side tracked doing some filing and then got all my shredding done. I guess I'll have to get the cleaning done tomorrow.

When Kenny got home we left to go to the town house. Had to sign another paper and give them some more money. Of course we stayed awhile and walked through the house again. Lee, who sold us the house is no longer working there so now we have Julia as our salesperson. Lee decided he'd rather be building the houses than selling them, so he went back to doing that.

Today for the third day in a row the sun rose at 5:41 and set at 8:36 and we had 14 hours and 55 minutes of daylight.

2008-06-16T21:17:00.006-04:00

A nice warm sunny day though it was a bit humid, but then the rain came in the evening and cooled it off. Then sun came back out and set at 8:36 which was the same as yesterday. Sunrise was the same too so once again we had 14 hours and 55 minutes of daylight.

A nice day to be out driving for Meals on Wheels. I had Mr RM today who I deliver to every so often when his family goes away. My other 6 regulars were on too. I am happy to say that Mrs M was doing much better and knew who I was. She said her nephew came by and straightened out her pills. Everyone else doing fine too. I delivered in my Vette today. There is another woman who delivers meals in a white convertible GT Mustang. We happened to be stopped at the same red light side by side. I of course beat her on the take off. :-) Only kidding, we didn't race.

The two Mourning Doves are still hanging around and they are always together. I guess they will always be here. Oh, I saw the Hummingbird again today and this time it was at the feeder.

We went out after supper to Weis to get some ice cream so we could have that for our snack. I got my usual of chocolate chip. Kenny's favorite is chocolate and he got some of that. He picks out a variety of flavors though, not like me who usually sticks with the same thing. Sometimes when I try a flavor I don't like, he ends up eating it. :-)

I'm about half finished reading The Shack and I did a little more knitting.

I'm still doing the test mail and for the next two weeks I'm once again doing a little extra. I have to keep track of all the mail I receive everyday and let them know if any pieces are damaged.

Hope everyone enjoyed their day as much as I enjoyed mine.
Pleasant dreams to you all. :-)

Back Home

2008-06-15T17:54:00.011-04:00

We are back home from PA. We left early yesterday morning and drove up to PA to see my parents. We have some land we are selling near State College and we have a travel trailer that has been sitting on the land for a couple of years. It had to be cleaned up because we are selling that too. I really didn't feel like cleaning it so I asked my step-dad if he would take my place and help clean it. The nice man that he is said yes of course. So while he and Kenny went to clean the trailer, my mom and I got to have a nice visit with just the two of us. We had a great time just walking around her yard and sitting in the gazebo and talking. It was a cloudy day with a few light showers but that didn't bother us at all.
Here are some pictures of their beautiful home and yard.

Looking at the their property from the road driving in.

This is at the top of their driveway.

Going down the driveway.

Garage and work shed.

The view from the gazebo.

When Kenny and my step-dad got back they got cleaned up and we all went out to dinner at Outback. It was a thank you dinner for helping and since it was Father's Day the next day, it was for that too. :-)

Since we would be leaving in the morning I gave my step-dad the card that I made and his James Patterson book. He likes all of James Patterson's book so was happy to get the latest one.

SUNDAY

It was sunny this morning when we left PA to come back home. I took this picture just as we were leaving. My parents house is just to the right. A short ways down the road it was foggy and we drove in and out of the fog for quite a while. Then the sun came out and for the rest of the day it was a beautiful sunny day.

We had a pretty lazy day once we got home. We sat on the porch for a while watching people and cars go by and also watching the birds. We finally saw a Hummingbird, not at the feeder though, but at the cone flowers in the front yard which just started blooming. We only saw the Hummingbird come by once but I'm hoping it stops by again. There was also a mama Robin feeding her baby on the fence, a Goldfinch also at the cone flowers, and a baby bunny. Out back the two baby Mourning Doves are still hanging around though they are on their own now. I put some seed out by them. They were a little afraid of me, but didn't fly off. Maybe I will be able to get them to eat out of my hand. They are getting pretty big now and soon I won't recognize them anymore.

I read and knitted a little on the ripple afghan. I have just started the 15th, 12 row blue strip. There are 19 in all so the end is now in sight.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you Father's out there and an extra special HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my 4 favorite fathers.
Thank you Daddy for being such a great dad. I know you are looking down on me and smiling.
Thank you Dad - I have been so blessed to have you for a dad too. Some people are lucky to have one great dad, I just happened to luck out and get two of them.
Thank you Kenny for being such a wonderful dad to David and Debbi. How fortunate they are to have you for their dad.
David - You are such a great dad to Scout and Japhy. I am so proud of you.

I love you all!!!

Those are 4 reasons why I'm HAPPY today.

Here is this weeks Bible verses.
I Corinthians 31:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Tonight sunset was at 8:36 and we had 14 hours and 55 minutes of daylight.

Away today

2008-06-14T19:13:00.001-04:00

I'm at my mom's house so don't have time to post anything. Having a great time here. Will post all about my weekend tomorrow evening.
Hope you all are having a great weekend.

New Blue Box

2008-06-13T18:14:00.006-04:00

Another nice sunny day, though there was a bit more humidity in the air.

A few people asked about GoogleReader. Here is the link. Just go and sign up - it's easy!

Here is my sky picture for SkyWatch Friday. I took this early evening from the parking lot at Red Robin.
It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. I drove the FJ today. I had my usual 6 people. My first stop was at Mrs W's and I met her daughter who was there to bring her mom to the doctor's. (just a check-up) She was very nice and told me how much she appreciates all the volunteers who look in on her mom. The next 4 people on my route were all fine and happy. Mrs M who was last isn't doing so good. I think she is on so many different medications that it is making her confused. I have been delivering meals to her for a couple of years and she knows me well. She is the one who calls me her sunshine. Today when I got there she asked me if I was new. Once I told her who I was she remembered me. It was sad to see her this way. I hope it is just temporary.

I made a Father's Day card for my step-dad today and went out and bought him the newest James Patterson book. No telling Mom, if your reading this. :-)

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. I stopped in at the library and picked up The Shack. I'll probably start it a little bit later.
2. Today at MOW I got one of the new blue hot boxes. These are a lot nicer than the old heavy yellow and orange ones which are molded plastic. It's smaller and lighter which makes it much easier to carry. It's a cloth insulated bag which still gets plugged into the cigarette lighter. I love it. The old ones are slowly being replaced. Here it is!! My new blue box!!
3. We had supper at Red Robbin.

More chocolate chip ice cream today and we finished watching another disk of Voyager. Knitted a little more too.

Tonight the sun went to sleep at 8:35 and we had 14 hours and 54 minutes of daylight.

2008-06-12T13:01:00.013-04:00

This weeks trivia question is:
What is a rouleau?
Like always, the answer is at the end of this post.

Today was filled with sunshine and a bright blue sky. A little bit warmer than yesterday but still very comfortable.

This morning when I left for my walk #1 baby bird was sitting on the deck with mama close by. #2 baby was still in the nest. When I got back #1 baby bird was gone and both mama and papa were by the nest trying to urge #2 baby out. Mid morning #2 was still walking around the edge of the AC unit trying to get up enough nerve to take off. I looked out again later on and it was gone. Brad, you asked to see a picture of mama and papa. Here they are.
I don't know which is which - my guess would be that the one resting is papa and the one standing one is mama. :-) They both really did a great job of taking care of the babies.
Now that the birds are gone we will be able to turn on that AC.

The daisies in the front yard are really blooming now. Here's a row of them.
Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. I really am happy that both birds did well and are now on their own. I will miss them though.
2. Receivied an email from the library saying the book The Shack, which I put on reserve is now ready for me to pick up at the library. Yay!
3. I'm happy for yet another beautiful day!

I finally put all the blogs that I read on GoogleReader. Boy does that make things easier - saves lots of time. Now I'm informed when someone makes an update and then I go and read it. No more checking each blog every day. I can't think why it took me so long to do this.

I was outside reading on the porch waiting for Kenny to come home and it was getting past time for him to come home. I went inside and made baked ziti, put it in the oven and he still wasn't home. Then I thought to check the answering machine. Sure enough there was a message saying he was going out with some friends after work.
I enjoyed my baked ziti and watched an episode of As Time Goes By. :-)

I finished reading Duma Key by Stephen King tonight, all 609 pages of it.
Edgar has a terrible accident at a job site, loses an arm and his brain gets a bit scrambled. His marriage ends and he is always angry. His used to sketch and his doctor suggests that he go some where to heal and take up drawing again. He goes to Duma Key, Florida and walks the beach, meets a friend and starts drawing again. These pictures he draws are not your normal pictures and only Stephen King could come up with a story like this.
I thought the book was good though a bit long. I think as with most of his books he could have shortened it by a couple hundred pages. I did enjoy reading it and I did like the ending.

No more cake, but I did have my chocolate chip ice cream and watched Voyager. The episode tonight was called "Riddles" and it was one of my favorites.

Tonight sunset was at 8:34 and we had 14 hours and 53 minutes of daylight - the same as yesterday.

Answer to the trivia question is:
A roll of coins wrapped in paper.

Leaving home

2008-06-11T19:00:00.008-04:00

What beautiful weather we had today. Lots of sun, low humidity and temperatures in the low 80's. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Three things that made me Happy today.
1. The weather today - it was perfect. I had the windows open and there was just a little breeze to make the wind chimes sing.
2. First thing this morning when I left for my walk I noticed a box sitting on the front porch. It was my new Longaberger basket that I ordered just a few days ago. That sure got here fast and of course I love it. This is the first time I ordered one in a color and I just love the green. It is my first purchase for the new town house. I'm going to put it in our bathroom right between the two sinks. :-)
3. I was so happy to see the first Mourning Dove baby make it safely across the yard to the top of the fence. It sat there for hours with mama and papa close by. Every so often one of them would go and give it a couple of gentle nudges but baby just wasn't ready to move yet. Second baby is still in the nest. Once in a while it looks like it will leave and then it settles back down again. Mama and papa went from one to the other. I sat outside this evening for quite a while just watching them. I can't believe how fast they grew!! I looked outside a little after 8:00 and the baby on the fence was finally gone. I guess tomorrow the second one will leave. It's been such a treat watching the whole process.

I stayed inside in the morning doing a few things around the house. After lunch I went outside and did some weeding in the front yard. Such a perfect day for it.

Lois, the neighbor who I will be watering her garden for, called me and tried to explain about all the different hoses. Which ones had to be moved to where, which ones watered this garden, which ones watered that garden. It was so confusing. So I said wait a second - I'll be right over, I have no idea what your talking about. :-) So much easier to see what I had to do than to hear it. She has quite a set up over there. Six weeks is a long time, and that's just an estimate, they may be gone longer. I don't mind doing it, but I'm sure near the end I'm going to be really tired of watering plants!! I have to do my own gardens too!

We finished up the last of the chocolate cake tonight. It lasted quite a while just having one piece a day. Of course we had our usual scoop of ice cream with it too.

I did a little more knitting on the ripple afghan and now I'll go and read some more of my book. I'm still reading Duma Key but will be done in the next day or two.

Tonight the sun set at 8:34 and we had 14 hours and 53 minutes of daylight.

A long time ago!

2008-06-10T16:23:00.006-04:00

Today was another hot humid sunny day. I was nice and cool inside though and that is where I stayed all day. (except for my walk, getting the mail and feeding the birds). Even the birds are hot. You can see them all standing around with their beaks open trying to get cool.

I spent part of the day trying out all new layouts for my blog. I lost count on how many different ones I had today. I tried almost all the templates and then changed around all the colors and ended up with what I have now. I will keep this one for a while. :-)

Since it's June and graduation time I noticed that a few people are posting pictures of their old graduation dresses. We had to wear a white dress under our gown and I threw my dress out years ago. Since I don't have a picture of my dress, I thought I would post my senior picture from 1969. Wow that's a long time ago!!

This is the last Tuesday that Kenny has that class after work where he gets home late.
Tonight for supper I had a couple of pieces of left over pizza.

This is back for you vee. :-)
Three things that made me Happy today.
1. Kenny's class got out a little early and he was home at 7:00.
2. This evening we got some more thunder, wind and rain. Another day that I don't have to water the gardens.
3. I'm so happy I finally decided on a blog layout!!

More cake and ice cream for our snack - there are 2 pieces of cake left which we will eat tomorrow. Another Voyager episode, a little knitting and now I'm off to do a little reading.

Today the sun set the same as yesterday at 8:33. Sunrise was the same too so once again we had 14 hours and 52 minutes of daylight.

I hope you all had a

Girly Comments & Graphics

Vera Bradley

2008-06-09T21:08:00.006-04:00

Once again we had a hot humid sunny day.

Today I went out and bought myself another Vera Bradley purse. This one is a hipster and the pattern is called Pink Elephant. This pattern must be on the way out because it was on the sale table for 25% off.

From there I went to the credit union to put some money IN the bank.

My last stop was at Weis to pick up a few things. I love these little two tier shopping carts that they have there. As you can see I'm using my green shopping bags and I'm just about to put them in my car.

This afternoon my neighbor Lois from around the corner stopped by to ask a favor of me. Her and her husband are going on a trip across the country with their new travel trailer for 6 weeks and asked if I would water her gardens. I told her I would be happy to. She has quite a few gardens and has hoses set up all over to make it easy for me to water. I'll have to post some pictures of her gardens.

Late in the afternoon I finally made it outside to mow the back yard. I put it off and it was pretty long. It was hot, but not too bad. A lot of the back yard was in shade and there was a bit of a breeze. As I was mowing this little toad hopped out of the way and I quick grabbed my camera and took this picture. He blends in pretty good.
The baby Mourning Doves are getting big and I'm afraid they are going to fall out of the nest. Mama is trying to keep them in but they are moving around a lot now.
A Red Winged Black bird stopped by the feeder today.

I made some macaroni salad to go with the chicken I cooked in the slow cooker the other day. I just put the chicken in the slow cooker with some BBQ sauce and cooked it all day long. Then I shredded it. Tonight for supper we put the shredded chicken on rolls with a little more BBQ sauce. It was soooo good.

There is still cake left so I had more of that with ice cream for my snack again.

Tonight the sun set at 8:33 and we had 14 hours and 52 minutes of daylight.

Daisies

2008-06-08T18:48:00.009-04:00

And I thought yesterday was hot. A sunny hot humid day with temperatures in the upper 90's.

We drove up to Frederick and walked around a couple of antique malls that we check out every once in a while. Didn't find any thing that I just had to have. At one of the malls there were lots of empty booths and we saw a few dealers packing up all their stuff to leave. I wonder if management raised all the rents and people just couldn't afford to keep their stuff there any longer.

The daisies in my yard are the next bunch of flowers to start blooming. Daisies are one of my favorite flowers.
A few more rows of knitting on the ripple afghan, a snack of cake and ice cream, an episode of Star Trek Voyager and reading some more of my book is how I spent my evening. I will read more of Duma Key until bedtime.

This weekend passed much too fast!!

Sunrise and sunset time today were the same as yesterday so once again we had 14 hours and 51 minutes of daylight.

This weeks Bible verse is:
Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

My favorite dealer

2008-06-07T19:05:00.010-04:00

Summer arrived today here in Maryland - a hot and humid day. It's better than ice and snow though so I'm not complaining. This evening a fast moving thunder storm came through again. LOTS of wind and rain. Thank goodness we didn't lose power again.

We went over to AAA Antiques which is right around the corner from where we live and walked around. Didn't find anything to buy but it's always nice to look anyway. There are rows and rows of dealers but there is one that is my favorite. I love the way she has decorated her spot. I took these three photos of it.The baby Mourning Doves are growing quickly. I got these two photos when mama and papa left them alone for the first time. I got up real close.
Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. Having an air conditioner on this hot humid day.
2. Reconciled all our accounts with Quicken and everything worked out perfectly. That always makes me happy!!
3. I was thinking that I have to water all my flowers outside and then the storm came by and I didn't have to.

I had some more of that chocolate cake and ice cream again. It's just as good every time I have it.

We started the 6th season of Star Trek Voyager this evening. I knitted on the ripple afghan a little tonight. I haven't done any knitting for quite a while.

I'm still reading Duma Key and I'm about 3/4 of the way done.

Today sunset was at 8:32 and we had 14 hours and 51 minutes of daylight. I wonder if we will make it to 15 hours of daylight before it starts going back the other way.

Friday SkyWatch

2008-06-06T19:22:00.006-04:00

It started out cloudy and later the clouds gave way to a hazy warm day.

This it my SkyWatch Friday picture for this week. Can you guess where I took it? I'll tell you at the end of this post.
Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. My Mom had her cancerous spot cut out this morning and they got all of it and she is going to be just fine. I want to thank all of you for all your prayers and good thoughts that you sent her way. My Mom wanted me to thank you all too. She said it made her feel good to know that you all cared.

2. I had a Southern Comfort and coke this evening - that's enough to make anyone happy! :-)

3. It's Friday - need I say more?

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. I had my usual 6 people. I took Faith a piece of the chocolate cake. She wasn't there today - had to go to the doctors - so I left it with a note in her refrigerator with her food for today. I hope it was a nice surprise for her. All my other people were home and are doing fine.

I had another piece of cake with a little chocolate chip ice cream, just like yesterday.

Today the sunset at 8:31 and we had 14 hours and 50 minutes of daylight.

I took the picture at 5:45 this evening through the transparent roof of Kenny's Corvette while we were driving down the road.

Mama bird and her two babies

2008-06-05T21:53:00.005-04:00

Here's the trivia question for this Thursday.
What is the estimated value of a single pair of Elvis' underpants?
Answer at the end of this post.

A bright warm sunny day. It was in the low 80's and a bit humid.

I was at home all day and just did stuff around the house.

I baked a chocolate cake. This is my favorite chocolate cake ever. My Mom's friend Helen gave us the recipe many years ago. It's very easy to make and its delicious. I've put the recipe in happyone's cookbook.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. The Mourning Dove's eggs hatched and she is the proud mama of two babies. I managed to get this picture. It's not that good but you can make out 2 little heads right in front.2. I got to lick the beaters and the bowl making the chocolate cake!!
3. For my snack tonight I had a piece (only one) of that delicious chocolate cake that I made AND had a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream with it.

Tonight the sun set at 8:31 and we had 14 hours and 49 minutes of daylight.

The answer to the trivia question.
$1,300.00

2008-06-04T21:38:00.011-04:00

The day started out looking like rain, but then it cleared up and was nice though a bit on the humid side. By late afternoon it clouded up, got very dark, and a pretty bad thunder storm rolled in. It was a very fast moving storm and when it left we had no power for a little over 4 hours. Lots of trees and power lines down because of the storm and there was a tornado warning. It cleared up again but tonight we got more rain and it's still raining now.

I made up a grocery list and then went to the commissary. They have decided to once again change a few things around. This time it was the produce - they just rearranged things - not anything better, just different.

More of the Tiger Lilies are blooming now - there are quite a lot of blooms on this one plant.
The sunflowers are doing pretty good, but have lots of growing to do yet. The birds have only ruined 3 of them so far.If you remember last Wednesday we took our friends to see the town house but it was closed. Well, today we tried again. This time Kerry and Jackie picked us up and we drove out to the town house and I am happy to say that it was open and we got to show them around.
This is the bathroom in the master bedroom or as they say now a days, the owners bedroom.
Isn't this a cool shower? We each get our own shower head. I'm already giving it a try.
Also check out the double sinks - that's Kenny taking the picture.
After we oohed and aahed over the house we went across the street and had pizza for supper. Those of you who have watched Friends know about the Soup Nazi - well tonight we met the Pizza Nazi. :-)

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. No lines at the commissary.
2. Having the power come back on after being out for 4 hours.
3. Deciding to buy the Longaberger Basket on sale from my cousin. I'll order it tomorrow.

If any of you collect Longaberger Baskets or want to start, check out Linda's Website .

We finished watching season 5 of Star Trek Voyager this evening and it ended up with a To be continued....
Yes, more ice cream tonight of my usual kind. I think tomorrow I'll bake something and eat that for my snack. Maybe a chocolate cake.

The sunset at 8:30 and we had 14 hours and 48 minutes of daylight.

My Mom has a skin condition caused by too much sun exposure and had a painful time of having medicine put on spots on her face and arms and having these spots drawn out. That is the best way I can explain it. Afterwards the spots kind of fade away. She has just found out that one of these spots near her elbow is cancerous and on Friday will be having it cut out.
I would ask that those of you who pray, to please say a prayer for my Mom and send good thoughts her way. Thank You!!!

2008-06-03T21:20:00.006-04:00

A sunny day but it was a bit humid. The clouds came rolling along late afternoon and tonight it is raining. I hope it stops by morning so I don't have to walk in the rain.

I stayed home during the day and just did stuff around the house. One of the things I did was to clean the refrigerator. Now it's all sparkling clean inside and out.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. I was talking with Nola this morning and she said the nicest thing to me. She said I can tell Ken loves you because when he talks about you his eyes light up.
2. After supper Kenny and I went back to BJ's and this time we got all our stuff without any problems. There was hardly any one there and we didn't have to wait at all.
3. When I was taking the sheets off the line this afternoon I spotted this gray cat bird in the yard. We have quite a few of them around but they always fly away when I'm trying to get a picture. I got lucky today.
The Mourning Dove's are still sitting on those eggs. I don't think they will ever hatch. I still talk to mama and papa every time I pass by. I can't tell the difference between them.

Even though there was no problem at BJ's tonight, we are still going to let our membership expire when it runs out the end of the month. We don't really buy all that much and aren't planning on purchasing anything big for a while. If we miss it we can always rejoin again.

I have some kind of bites on the back of my legs. I thought at first that they were mosquito bites but they're not. When I get a mosquito bite it itches like crazy for a short while and then goes away. These bites are still itchy and a bright red. Maybe it's spider bites, but that is a creepy thought. Well tonight there are clean sheets on the bed so if it was a spider in the bed it will be gone now.

A few people have asked about the town house and when we will be moving. It won't be for a while because the house isn't even built yet. As soon as I know anything it will be posted. I plan to take lots of pictures as it is being built. It will be fun documenting the building from start to finish.

I'm still getting the mail test pieces - I get about 10 a week. A couple of times I was asked to send a certain one back to them. They always send the request along with a stamped addressed envelope.

I'm back to my ice cream snack tonight - no new flavor - just my favorite one again - chocolate chip. :-)

Tonight the sun set at 8:29 and we had 14 hours and 47 minutes of daylight.

2008-06-02T21:25:00.003-04:00

Another one of those nice sunny days. There was a slight breeze about too.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. I took the FJ today and all my 6 people were fine and dandy. When I got to Faith's house her new aide was just getting there too so we walked down the driveway together. It was her very first day and at first Faith thought she was a friend of mine doing MOW with me. I brought Faith some chocolate chip cookies and she gave me the usual thank you hug. :-)

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. Opening the windows in the house and having fresh air blow through the house. I like to see the curtains blowing around.
2. I got an email from my cousin Linda telling me about a Longaberger Basket that is for sale. What do you think? Should I buy it? :-)
3. No reason - I'm just happy.

No ice cream for me again. I ate the last of the chocolate chip cookies up for my snack.

Tonight the sun set at 8:29 and we had 14 hours and 46 minutes of daylight.

First blooms

2008-06-01T11:37:00.008-04:00

A bright day with lots of sunshine. There were a few thunder showers in the afternoon, but they passed and the sun came back out again.

I woke myself up laughing from a dream last night. In my dream I was at a party and 8 of us were crowed in a little tiny bathroom. I said most parties everyone ends up in the kitchen, not the bathroom. What are we all doing in here? It seemed so funny to me in my dream that I cracked up laughing and I woke up laughing. (I woke Kenny up to) I felt like I had slept for hours and it was just 15 minutes later.

The first of the Daylilies in my yard started blooming today. There are a lot of blooms and they should be really pretty in a couple of days when they are all blooming.

The first Tiger lily bloomed today too.

Here is a close up of one.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. We went and drove past the town house again. We didn't stop, just drove by. While we were out we went to Rita's and had an Italian ice. I had Raspberry and Kenny had Dark Wild Cherry. After we each ate half of our flavor we traded cups so we each got to have two flavors.
2. Sitting out on the front porch.
3. Reading more of my book, Duma Key.

No ice cream for me today. Since I already had the Italian ice I went with a few chocolate chip cookies tonight.

Today the sun set at 8:28 and we had 14 hours and 45 minutes of daylight.

Psalm 63:4, 7 & 8
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

A quiet day at home

2008-05-31T21:06:00.002-04:00

The weather today was changeable. We had clouds, sun, thunder storm, heavy rain and then sun again.

I spent most of the day doing lots of little odds and ends that needed doing around the house.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. Debbi and the kids stopped by late morning for a visit. Debbi knitted me a pair of red socks which I love. Thank you so much Debbi!!! I wore them most of the day and finally had to take them off because my feet got so hot. :-)
2. My friend Bernice called and we spent quite a lot of time on the phone getting caught up with each other.
3. Received an email from one of my cousins who I haven't heard from in a while.

There really is nothing to write about today. It was just a quiet day around home.

We watched another Voyager episode and had our ice cream for a snack. Mine was chocolate chip which comes as no surprise to any of you. :-)

Sunset was at 8:27 and we had 14 hours and 44 minutes of daylight.

Baldwin Station

2008-05-30T15:17:00.006-04:00

I've lost count on how many nice days we have had in a row. Another gorgeous sunny day.

Kenny took another vacation day and we spent the day together.
First up was Meals on Wheels and we went in the FJ with Kenny driving. My regular six people were on today and things went smoothly. Everyone was hungry and waiting today. Even Mrs W answered the door with the first ring and said "Oh, I'm glad you're early, I've been waiting and I'm hungry."
I subbed today again for Ed and will continue delivering on Friday's for him for a few more weeks while he recovers from knee surgery.

On the way home we stopped at BJ's. We loaded up the cart with the things we needed and then picked the shortest long line to wait our turn to check out. We waited in line for a while and then someone up ahead had a problem. No one seemed to be able to find a price for some little toy which probably costs $2. We waited and waited with that light flashing while they tried to figure it out. Finally someone decided to walk (VERY SLOWLY) back to the aisle to look for a price. Kenny looks at the kid and says "Let's hustle" trying to get him to go a bit faster, but the kids just gives Kenny a dirty look. We finally got tired of waiting and just left our cart and walked out. No one cared. I think it's going to be a while before we go back there. It might just be time to let our membership expire. Maybe Sam's Club or Costco will get our business.

I got a hair trim today - Kenny just took a couple of inches off the ends.

I took these two pictures for SkyWatch Friday today. The first one was taken first thing in the morning on my walk. The second one was taken mid afternoon.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A friend surprised me with some homemade fudge.
2. A call from David.
3. Dinner out at Baldwin Station in Sykesville. It is an old train station which had been turned into a restaurant. We don't go very often so it's a special night out when we go. I had a Grilled Watermelon Salad with arugula and some sweet tasting dressing on it. I had never even heard of grilled watermelon before and this salad was delicious. My entree was Maine Lobster Ravioli. I never had that before either and that also was delicious. I love eating here and really enjoyed our evening out.

Sunset today was at 8:27 and we had 14 hours and 43 minutes of daylight.

A day with friends

2008-05-29T21:20:00.008-04:00

Thursday's Trivia Question.
What does one of the Statute of Liberty's fingernails weigh?
Answer at the end of this post.

I'm getting used to these nice sunny days. Another perfect day.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A day out with friends.
2. Seeing how big the baby geese are getting.
3. It's like a Friday for us. Kenny has a vacation day tomorrow!!

As I waited for Cheryl to come over my house this morning, I washed my car and was just about finished when she arrived. Just had to finish drying it. I couldn't bring her for a ride in a dirty car!! I only caused her knuckles to turn white a couple of times! :-) We went up to the town house model and Bonnie met us there. It was fun showing them the house and we spent about an hour wandering around the house. I think they are just as excited as I am about it.
We then walked up the road and had a delicious lunch at Lee Lynn's. Yes, the same place where I ate dinner last night when we went out with Jackie and Kerry. Would you believe the same server waited on us today that I had last night and she did remember me.
Since every thing sounded so good and it was hard for each of us to make up our mind what we wanted to eat we decided to order three different things and share them all. We shared a tuna melt, fried eggplant, and chicken quesadillas and everything was delicious.
As always when I'm with Cheryl and Bonnie there is just so much to talk about and the time just seems to fly by. I really did enjoy the day with them.

When Kenny got home we left for our meeting with Marcia to get our loan started. She was impressed with how we had all the right papers and everything was in order. Things moved along very nicely and we were out of there within the hour. Marcia was very nice and seemed to know her job well. It's nice to have that part out of the way.

Since it was supper time and Pasta Blitz was right across the street we went there for pizza. Last month I took this picture of the geese family at the pond behind Pasta Blitz. Here they are today. Haven't they gotten big? One of the babies is missing. There are only 5 now.Back home for a nice relaxing evening and now my day has come to an end. It was a most enjoyable one.

The sunset tonight was at 8:26 and we had 14 hours and 42 minutes of daylight.

The trivia answer is:
100 pounds.

2008-05-28T11:41:00.002-04:00

Today the morning started out with a light rain shower. Later the clouds went away and it was a bright sunny cool day.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A bright sunny day.
2. Eating out with friends.
3. Back to my snack of chocolate chip ice cream.

We picked up our friends Jackie and Kerry and brought them to see the town house model, but we couldn't get in. There was a note on the door saying that it was closed today. We went up the road and ate dinner at a place called LeeLyns. The food was good and the service was slow, but it didn't matter because we ate outside and just had more time to talk. We made plans to see the model next Wednesday and then go out for pizza.

When we got home we had to get a bunch of papers together for tomorrow for a meeting we have with Marcia, the loan officer. Wow, what a lot of stuff we have to bring. We spent a couple of hours gathering everything together.

We still made time for an episode of Star Trek Voyager and our snack.

It's just past 11:00, I'm tired and going to bed.

Pleasant dreams!!

Sunset was at 8:25 and we had 14 hours and 40 minutes of daylight.

A quiz just for fun.

Your Superpower Should Be Super Speed

You're quick witted and fast to act.

You're mind works at warp speed. From your perspective, everyone else is living in slow motion.

You get so much done, people have accused you of not sleeping.

Definitely not a couch potato, you feel a bit crazy if you're not busy doing something.

Why you would be a good superhero: You're be the first on the scene... and likely to finish the job before anyone else shows up

Your biggest problem as a superhero: Being bored by everyone else. Including other superheroes!

What Should Your Superpower Be?

2008-05-27T14:53:00.006-04:00

It was supposed to rain today. It started out cloudy looking like rain and by the afternoon the sun came out.

I got caught up with reading blogs in-between doing house work today.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A morning walk.
2. Getting a card in the mail.
3. Starting a good book.

Books

I finished reading You've Been Warned by James Patterson.Kristen loves to shoot things - pictures that is. She takes some pictures and notices there is something a bit strange about the pictures when she develops them. She is also having some really weird dreams and is having an affair with a married man.
This books moves along at a pretty fast pace and it was hard for me to put down.
I thought it was very good.

I started reading one of three very short books in the Portuguese Irregular Verb series by Alexander McCall Smith and have decided not to read this series. The books are just a little too silly for me. I might not have given them a chance but I have too many books I want to read and if I don't get interested in it right away I move on.

I started the next book in my queue which is a Stephen King book - Duma Key. I'm into this book on the first page and there are lots of them, 609 pages.

It's Tuesday and one of those late days with Kenny in class after work. Next Tuesday is the last one.
I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for supper. I wonder how many of them I've eaten in my lifetime. When I was a kid I used to eat them on toast for breakfast and then another one for lunch on regular white bread. I ate that for days on end.

Sunset tonight was at 8:24 and we had 14 hours and 39 minutes of daylight.

A day in DC

2008-05-26T21:18:00.011-04:00

A beautiful day with lots of sunshine in a bright blue sky.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A train ride
2. A big pretzel
3. A parade

We drove down to the Greenbelt train station this morning and took the train into Washington to see the Memorial Day Parade. We got off at the Gallery Place Station. We don't go into the city very often and it was fun to take the train in. One thing I noticed about people on the train - hardly anyone smiles. I guess if you ride the train all the time, it takes the fun out of it. We enjoyed our ride!!
The parade didn't start until 2:00 so we spent lots of time walking around the city. We ended up walking to Arlington Cemetery and just as we got there the President's Motorcade was leaving and we saw President Bush.
This is by the World War II Memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.

I got one of those huge pretzels for lunch. Not a very healthy lunch, but it sure was good. We found a bench in the shade and sat down and ate and did a little bit of people watching.
Then we walked down to the parade route and picked out our spot on a curb in the shade and waited for the parade. Here a few pictures of the parade.

The Start of the parade.

I'm glad we decided to go into the city to see the parade. We had a fun day!! :-) I guess you never get too old to enjoy a parade!!
I wore my pedometer and recorded a walk of 8 miles around DC.

When we got back home we made homemade pizza and ate it sitting out on the front porch.

Today while I was watching the Mama Mourning Dove sitting on her eggs, Papa Mourning Dove came and they traded places. He took over sitting on the eggs. I didn't know they took turns like that.

Tonight the sun set at 8:24 and we had 14 hours and 38 minutes of daylight.

Harris Teeter

2008-05-25T14:17:00.011-04:00

Another one of those perfect weather days. Warm, sunny and a bright blue sky.

After another pancake breakfast and doing some morning routine stuff we went to Ikea to look around. I love going there. It's such a neat store. We saw some book shelves that are white with glass in the doors that would be perfect for when we move to the town house.

We stopped in at the Greenbelt train station while we were near there to buy our tickets for tomorrow when we take the train into Washington.

Kenny was going to wash his car but when he went out to take it out of the garage he discovered that the battery was dead. So off we went again to buy a new one.

The bad drivers were sure out there today. People wandering all over the road doing everything but concentrating on driving. I hate that people don't stop for stop signs any more unless they absolutely have to. But then when they come to a circle where you don't have to stop, they stop or they come to a stop where they are supposed to merge. Most annoying!!!

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. I walked to Kings Contrivance Shopping center this morning on my walk and met Kenny there. He picks me up once in a while so I can walk without having to turn around and walk back home. :-).
2. A new grocery store, Harris Teeter just opened at the shopping center where Kenny picked me up and we went inside to check it out. NICE store. While there I discovered a new flavor of ice cream. Harris Teeter brand called Banana Pudding and I had it for my snack this evening. To me it tastes like those orange soft candies that look like peanuts that came out around Halloween. Oh, it is so good. It will NOT replace chocolate chip but I really like it!!
3. We also got some cherries there which are my favorite fruit. They were sweet and delicious!!

Mama Mourning Dove is very patiently sitting on her eggs yet. She is always there and every time I walk past I stop to talk to her. I think she is getting used to me now because she just sits there and looks at me. I am looking forward to seeing her babies, but wonder how they will ever stay in that nest and not fall off the air conditioner.

We are still watching an episode a night of Star Trek Voyager and are now on season 5 disc 5.

The Bible verses I picked out for this week are in Psalms.
Psalm 62:5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Sunset today was at 8:23 and we had 14 hours and 37 minutes of daylight.

2008-05-24T14:14:00.010-04:00

Another beautiful sunny cool day. These days are sure making up for all that rain.

After some yummy pancakes for breakfast Kenny went outside in one of the sheds to start sorting things out for the move. He already has bags and bags of things he is throwing away. This is very hard for him to do because he is a pack rat. :-) Some things he has put out in the front with a sign for free on it and it's gone in a short while.

I took up some grass (or rather weeds) around a few hostas in the back yard, planted 6 tiny Larkspur plants (the ones I've grown from seed) in between them and put mulch around them all.
Here is a before and after picture. You can barely see the Larkspur plants and that's if you click to enlarge the photo. I'll have to take another after picture when they hopefully get big and bloom.
This picture of the fence I took this morning on my walk up at the park. I thought it looked nice in the early morning sun and I liked how the shadow of the fence is on the road.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. We had nachos that Kenny made us for lunch sitting out front on the porch.
2. I sat out in the back yard and took a couple of pictures around the bird feeder.

Papa Cardinal

Mama Cardinal

This squirrel just stood up and watched me for a while.

3. Having some time just to sit and read my book.

After supper would you believe we drove past the town house again. This is getting ridiculous. We can't keep doing this every day. :-) Today we drove around checking out our future neighborhood.

No ice cream for me tonight - I had 4 chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

Tonight the sun set at 8:22 and we had 14 hours and 35 minutes of daylight.

Meals on Wheels Luncheon

2008-05-23T15:43:00.012-04:00

Such a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 60's.

It was a Meals on Wheels day for me. I had my usual 6 people and everything went smoothly. I don't think Mr P is doing so good. He doesn't complain but he looks like he is loosing weight and I worry about him. Mrs M's leg is doing much better.

The Meals on Wheels volunteer luncheon was today at 1:00, so I just stayed at the site when I returned from delivering my meals. The kitchen where I pick up the food is at a senior center and the luncheon is held there. The luncheon is held once year. It's just to say thank you to all the volunteers. Certificates are given to people who have been volunteering for 5, 10, 15, 20 and more years. Every 5 years you get one. There was one woman who has been volunteering since 1974!! There is also someone who is chosen Volunteer of the Year and they get an plaque. It's a fun time for everyone to sit down and talk about our experiences.
Here are a couple of pictures I took while there today.
Local business's donate gifts for the volunteers which are given out by a ticket drawing. If they pick your number you get to go up and pick out a gift bag. I didn't win anything this year.

I got back home at 3:30 and Kenny was home not much later.

Guess what we did? We went to the town house to look at it again. :-) Then we stopped and had some supper at Pot Belly's. They make great sandwiches. Do you have any around where you live?

Here are my Friday SkyWatch pictures for today. I made a mosaic out of them. The first picture I took on my walk this morning. The other 5 I took in my back yard this afternoon when I got home at 3:30.

Three things that made me HAPPY today.
1. A beautiful sunny spring day.
2. Being part of Meals on Wheels.
3. Having supper at Pot Belly's - such a nice evening that we sat outside to eat.

Tonight the sun set at 8:21 and we had 14 hours and 33 minutes of daylight.