My Ship Sailed In

Finally my ship sailed back to the mantel in the family room.  (I got Nathan to retrieve it from its perch where it was stored during Christmas.  This is a model of the USS Constitution that my grandfather made for me back in the 50's.  He made three model ships and gave them to his granddaughters—my cousin Susan, me, and my sister Cheryl.  I can hear him telling about making them.  He even made the made the molds to make the canons.  It is really quite detailed.

I told myself that today was going to be a day to clean some of the places in the house that have gotten neglected over the holidays and during the undecorating.  So I have stayed pretty busy...mopping, vacuuming, dusting, straightening up, etc. I still have more to do, but I think that I am through for the day.  I also got the dining room table back to "normal"...sort of...in the end I was glad that I hadn't taken off the table pad since we will be using it tomorrow for lunch with Melany and Erin.  So I removed the last few things that were on the table, dusted/wiped off the table pad (there was glitter on it from Christmas decorations), and put a tablecloth on the table.  It is all set and ready for lunch tomorrow.  By doing that I have at last finished with the undecorating and redecorating for everyday.  And, I made it before February!

Woody did our weekly grocery shopping early this morning.  After he rested for a bit, he headed off and ran errands with his friend.  He wasn't gone as long today as usual.  He also spent some time outside working.  It was another rather mild day for January.  Definitely hints of Spring...even the daffodils are up and showing buds.

Thursday...All Day!

Here's one of Esthrr's watercolor paintings.  She did this one after she finished her partial face on Monday.  She has fun with her art!

Esther, Isaac, and Joseph came over here first thing this morning and hung out most of the morning.  They worked on their homeschooling work and had their Grammy school times with me.  They all did Isaac's experiment.  After the experiment they headed home, as their mom was home from her Bible study.

Woody has been busy too. He did a couple of loads of his wash.  He was folding clothes when I was last downstairs.  He also worked outside again today.  It was another really pretty day.

This evening I made Woody a pasta dish that is okay for his kidney diet. I decided earlier today that I was going to make some spaghetti sauce for me.  Before I got it made I got a call from Melany and Erin saying that they were planning to come visit on Saturday.  So "my" spaghetti sauce got made, but I decided that it would be for "our" lunch when they are here on Saturday.  I will scrounge for something else for my supper!  I got the sauce all made...having it already made will be nice on Saturday.  It will taste even better on Saturday after the flavors blend together.  The kitchen is cleaned up and once again I am ready for my recliner!  Woody has already headed to his!  And, thus our day draws to a quiet close!

Time Marches On

The month of January is marching on all too quickly...almost over...doesn't seem possible that it is about time to turn up the next page on our calendars,

Woody headed out late this morning to get a hair cut and after stopped at the drugstore to pick up prescriptions for us.  That was his venture to the outside world today. I stayed home this morning and made French bread and Woody's salad dressing.  After lunch, I headed to the library a bit late because I was waiting for the bread to come out of the oven.  After Donna and I worked for a while, I went to Walmart.  It was good to get back home after being out and about.  It was raining a little when we came out from the library.  I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen that I had pretty much left since I was late for the library.  We had leftovers for supper.  The dishwasher is running and now I am ready to enjoy a good book while I lounge back in my recliner.  It has been a rather busy day!  Now time to out my feet up and rest.  Woody is doing the same downstairs in his recliner...in other words...another lively evening in our household!

Tuesday

Here's another eye drawn by Esther.  This time she had all the colors that the man in the instructional video suggested using.  She bought the colors that she needed when we took our art trip to Nashville with Melany.  After she got finished with this eye, she decided that she would add other facial features that would fit on the paper.

The above is what she had drawn when it was time for her long time with me was over last week.  She decided that she wanted to add a forehead and some hair so she did that yesterday.  And, here is what her final drawing looks like:

And, here's her final drawing after she added a few strokes quite quickly yesterday during her art time with me.  I'm impressed with her talent...especially when I can hardly draw a straight line!  To top off her drawing talent, she can juggle, too!  Amazing...all around!  She is getting this all on her own...we just have the mediums here for her to work with and then we look up things online and she gets ideas and sometimes instructions there...the rest is all her using her God-given talent!

This has been a busy day for me.  School was a bit changed around since most of the neighbor grandchildren went with their father to the Baptist Collegiate Ministries this morning to work on their juggling for upcoming programs.  Joeh decided not to go so he did have his time with me.  Then I only had Elijah.  He had his reading time and then did some science experiments with me dur No his long time.  After he left I ate some lunch and shortly after I finished, I got a call from a friend that she was being entered into the hospital.  I talked with the doctor's nurse and found out that she was taking her to the hospital and would help get her paperwork filled out.  My friend lives alone and has some memory issues and the doctor was concerned as he saw confusion and wanted her in the hospital to be observed.  About an hour later, I got another call from my friend who was now in the hospital that she needed me to go get her medicine at her apartment.  So off I went and got it.  Went over her medications with her nurse at the hospital, saw my friend for a moment in her hospital room and then headed back to her apartment to take her meds back and then to lock her door...she had left this morning without locking it.  I then returned her keys and talked to her for a few more minutes and then headed home.  And, finally got back to making soup for tonight's supper...this was the third time today that I had attempted to make this soup!  Finally got it made, cleaned up the kitchen, and here I am writing the blog.  Ready to sit back and relax in my recliner!

Woody also was a bit busier than usual.  He decided to work in the garden.  It was a fairly nice afternoon...sunshine intermittently...so warm in the sun.  He sat on the garden bench and cut back dead sticks/parts from various plants.  So he got some fresh air today!  He is back in his recliner now planning on another quiet evening.  

Normalcy...Closer

Finally I found the time and energy to get the living room back to "normal!"  All that is left to do is the dining room table and the mantel in the family room...so getting close to having everything back in place to everyday decor!  I'm ready for the task to be done...but I seem to get played out before I get to it all!  There are always other tasks that get sandwiched in that have to be done...like cooking and washing and cleaning tasks.  By the time I get through with what really needs to be done, I don't always have the energy to get what doesn't absolutely have to be done!  Slowly but surely I am getting things back where they belong.

Woody visited with some of his Deacon family shut-ins this afternoon.  After supper he headed to the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  So he has had a couple of times out and about today.  I did have a normal day of school this morning.  It has been pretty much a "Monday-as-usual" kind of day.

One last note...52 years ago today (we won't go into time of day as we don't agree on that!), Woody asked me to marry him.

Last January Saturday 2020

Can you believe that the end of January is so close?  Looks like this year is going to fly by quickly also!

As you can see from tonight's photo, Joseph seems to be getting over his "tooth trauma!"  Today his big sister, Abigail, took him to celebrate losing his first tooth.  I "borrowed" this photo from Abigail.

I once again wore myself out in the kitchen.  This time I made oatmeal cookies (for me...so I wouldn't eat what I made for Woody!).  These Woody can't have as they have butter and raisins and nuts in
them...all "no-no's" for Woody.  I also made red pepper sauce for Woody.  I made it with some of the red peppers that I roasted yesterday.  This red pepper sauce is Woody's substitute for catsup.  And, we were out.  He enjoyed in on a chicken sandwich for lunch. I also did a big load of laundry and put all the clothes away.  And, that did me in for today...plus I was in the mood to stop and rest and do some more reading.  But once again part of my reading time turned into dozing time.

I just realized that Woody didn't do one of his usual Saturday treks...to the public library.  None of his books were due till next week and he still hadn't finished all the ones that he got last week so he didn't go this week.  He continues to do lots of crossword puzzles per day with the TV on for background noise...once in a while he watches something!

I just received official word that our oldest grandson, Alex, asked his girlfriend to marry him...looks like she said "yes!"  Wishing "love for a lifetime" to Brooke and Alex! Borrowing these photos from Melany.  Guess it is a photo borrowing night!

Last First Tooth for Our Neighbors

These top two pictures are Kathy's photos...just moments after the big event happened.  He still wasn't sure about the whole thing and at that point didn't want to look at himself.  Not long after these pictures were taken, he came over to our house to share the big news with us.  He still wasn't smiling very big, but I finally go a bit of a smile out of him...a smile that shows the space where the tooth had been! That picture will be below this paragraph. The top picture shows one of Joseph's siblings holding the tooth in the little baggie that I provided with his tooth pillow. Oh, and there was another first, out of all her six previous children losing many multiples of teeth, this is the first tooth that Kathy pulled!

I never got around to working on redecorating the house today.  Instead I pretty much cooked the whole day.  Once Woody came home with our groceries and I put them away, I got busy doing some cooking.  I roasted a chicken, made gravy, roasted red peppers, and made a batch of cookies.  And, my back is protesting at this point in the day.  I think that my recliner and a heating pad and a good book will summarize my evening.

Woody did our grocery shopping and then he headed off to run errands with his friend.  It was almost 3pm before he got back and he left around 11am.  I at least had something cooked to offer him me for a late lunch once he did return!  He watched impeachment proceedings and is presently watching his Friday evening news programs...so a rehashing of what he watched earlier!  

The leaf truck did arrive bright and early this morning (before 8) and vacuumed up all the leaves on our side of the street.  Nice to have the leaves gone!

Rainy Day

Rainy outside, but nice and dry inside.  We both stayed in most of the day.  Woody did go out and rake a few more leaves to the curb as the leaf truck is getting nearer...just one more house before ours.  It was disappointing to see them leave at 2pm when they were that close and not come back.  They leave often to go empty the leaves that they have sucked up...and then they come back.  But when they left at 2, they didn't return.  Hopefully it won't be too rainy tomorrow for them to come back.  I do feel sorry for them out there working in the rain.  Today's rain wasn't a really hard rain...but still it had to be an uncomfortable work day for them.  Plus the leaves are so saturated that it is harder to get them loosened up enough with their rakes to get the machine to suck them up.

I had school on a regular schedule except for Esther and she wasn't feeling well.  Abigail came over to borrow the car and I was surprised to see her at the time she showed up because she should have been at work at Montessori school.  But she told me that they had cancelled school today because of so much sickness.  They had 14 (almost half of the students) out today with flu and/or strep...hope those germs haven't/don't come home with Abigail!

I got busy and started getting the house back to normal.  I vacuumed the living room.  I did that during what should have been Esth's reading time and then it was all nice and vacuumed for Isaac's long time.  He started working with the other pickle present, a K'nex educational set that Melany added to the pickle present this year.  He got half-way through the build and will come back when he has some free time or will finish it next week during his long time.

This afternoon was rather a lazy time and I sat around and read for quite a while...nice to hear the rain on the roof as I read.  I will admit to a bit of napping between some pages!  I am slowly getting things back in order after the Christmas "mess" of undecorating.  I will try to concentrate more on getting things back in place tomorrow...today's vacuuming was enough for one day...and I did get the coffee table back to everyday...so a good start! Woody watched the impeachment trial proceedings.  He continues to work on the crossword puzzle books that he got for
his birthday and Christmas and, of course, gets in reading time too.

Major Acomplishments

The upstairs hall is cleared of all boxes!!!  That was definitely my accomplishment today.  I'm so glad to have all the Christmas all tucked back into the Christmas closet!  Woody's major accomplishment today ws doing a little raking.  I happened to spy the leaf truck out our bedroom window...it is a street over, but at least in our vacinity...so there is a good chance that we will see it in the next few days or at least next week.  Woody decided that he wanted to drag a few more rakefuls of leaves to the pile that is already stacked up thanks to Nathan and Kathy and family.  Woody was pulling some out of the garden that straddles the property line between Nathan and Kathy's and our houses.  He didn't have too far to take them as that garden is close to the curb.  I was downstairs and didn't have my camera so didn't capture his efforts...interesting to see someone raking using a walker!  He also pulled our garbage can away from the curb and got the mail.  Quite the efforts for him!  It was a bit warmer today...we are glad to see the temperatures rising a bit.  It is only supposed to get to freezing tonight...much better than the teens!

I will end by wishing Joseph, our youngest grandson, a happy 6th birthday...today is the real day.  He accomplished a major task Monday...when he was five...he juggled three scarves.  Isaac (8) also made that entrance into the juggling world the same day.  He also juggled three scarves.  Now all nine of our neighbor family members are jugglers!  Over here in our house, we continue to be unable to walk and chew gum at the same time!!

Impromptu Party for Three: 48, 8, & 6

This has been a big birthday month...while they were away Isaac turned 8 on January 10th, then shortly after they got home Kathy had her birthday, and tomorrow, the 22nd, Joseph turns 6.  We had planned to have the party on Thursday since tomorrow is a day that the Baptist Collegiate Ministry fixes lunch for the students and faculty out at Motlow and there are church activities in the evening.  But Nathan got busy and made the cake today and they decided around 5pm that they would come over to our house for a party after supper so Woody and I wouldn't have to go out in the cold!

So happy birthday to Isaac, Kathy, and Joseph!  Fun party, good cake and ice cream, and lots of great presents...everyone seemed to be happy to celebrate!  I will show some of the rest of the festivities in pictures at the end.  I managed to get a tooth pillow made for Joseph.  He is about to lose his first tooth...rather reluctantly, I might add!  We'll see if it comes out now that he has the pillow.  We gave Isaac a box of wood blocks to carve with the pocket knife that he got on his actual birthday while in
the Philippines.  Esther and Elijah bought pocket knives while in the Philippines so they were interested in the wood and it sounded like Isaac was going to share...sweet boy!  So here are pictures of the party for three:

Emptiness

This corner of the living room looks lonely at the moment!  Just a few minutes ago I took the last pieces of the tree upstairs and put them in the tree box and closed the tree box!  I even added a couple of the boxes in the hall to be on top of the tree box so it will stay closed.  The curtain is closed because it is going to drop into the teens tonight.  These curtains aren't used to being closed as I leave them pulled back except in extremely cold conditions.  I have to coax them to stay closed with a clothes pin.  I plan to vacuum tomorrow and then move the love seat glider back to this spot.  Here is a picture of what is at the other end of the living room...the boxes that have all the tree ornaments in
them.

I'll lug them upstairs and get them into the closet, too.  I have quite the job ahead of me...putting back ALL the boxes...working that puzzle is quite the job.  That was always Woody's part of my Christmas decorating...putting the empty boxes back in after I got them out to decorate and then putting them back in after I repacked them with all the Christmas "stuff."  But that is a job that needs someone who
is more mobile that he is at the moment so I guess the job falls to me by default!  That job can be
done over a span of time.  I'll get the living room back to normal and then gradually when I feel like it add a box or two to the closet!  I am very glad that the "tree undecorating job" is done!

We started back to school today.  I only had the three youngest boys as the older children were still in Gatlinburg at their youth conference.  They came home this afternoon.  So Esther will join me over here tomorrow.  We had Elijah change his long time with me to today so Esther wouldn't miss hers.  I
was very pleased that with the long time away from school, that Isaac and Joseph hadn't fallen behind with their reading.  They picked right up where they left off.  I don't worry about the others as I know that they read even when they aren't having school, but the two youngest not so much.  Though, Isaac is heading into that older group now, as he has found out that reading is easier than he thought and will pick up a book just for fun.  Also during the Christmas holidays, he got reading glasses so he may find it even easier now.  All three of the boys read books with me today about volcanos.  Woody found some really good ones at the public library on Saturday.  I figure that this is a good time to
reinforce ther experience of being so close to a volcano that was erupting in the Philippines.

Woody and I have pretty much stayed inside and tried to keep warm today.  Woody did go out this evening to go to the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting.  He is back now and getting warmed up after being out in the cold.  He said that it was 19° out there.  Glad I stayed inside!  I just got to thinking that I don't think that I got the mail today.

After Elijah was through with his long time,  I told Woody that I thought that I should do some baking to help warm things up in the house.  He agreed...imagine that!  I asked him if he wanted cookies or a pie.  He asked what kind of pie and when I said French Apple Cranberry, he chose that option without even asking what kind of cookies!  So I made a pie this afternoon.  He did crossword puzzles while waiting for it to be finished.  After it came out of the oven, I went upstairs to rest and read for a half hour so it could cool some before I cut it.  Then we both had a nice piece of warm pie...pretty good!  Nathan even got a sliver as he came in just at the right time.

I guess you could say that a normal routine is trying to happen around here.

Obvious Progress

This is how the tree looks at this very moment.  The only ornaments left on the tree are the needlework ornaments...both hand and machine made.  The last thing I did for the tree undecorating for today was to take off all the ornaments left on the tree that weren't handmade and put them on the dining room table.  They fill up about half of the table. I'm hoping that they will fit in the box that I have left to put them in.  I try very hard each year not to add any boxes to the already great many that await me to be put back in the Christmas closet.  But I'm thinking that I may be adding at least one box as what is left just looks like too many to fit.  I have special boxes for the handmade ornaments.

I am stopping for the night.  I had to stop and fix our supper and after cleaning up the kitchen I just don't have any energy left to attack what is left...tomorrow is another day...maybe I'll feel like quickly packing them up after church tomorrow.

Woody headed out this morning to go to the public library.  He came home with books for him and books for the neighbor grandchildren.  Several of the ones that he got for them are about volcanoes.  We have both pretty much stayed in today as it has rained a good part of the day.  The temperatures are supposed to be dropping.  We have gotten too used to the spring-like temperatures.  I wonder about the daffodils...in this warm spell they have popped their heads out of the ground and some even
have yellow buds on them.

Happy birthday to Kathy today!  She is one of three birthdays that we celebrate in January.  Isaac had his while he was in the Philippines, but we will celebrate his as a family this coming week when we celebrate Joseph's.

Tree Saga, cont.

And, the tree undecorating continues.  There are now three large cardboard boxes filled with ornaments taken off...is the lack of ornaments noticeable yet?

I think that these are the largest of the boxes that ornaments are stored in so that is good...but there are still more boxes stacked up next to the tree awaiting ornaments to be placed in them.  I worked quite a while today on it, but it just gets to a point that I just have to step away from doing it.  And, I have gotten to that point today.  Nathan even helped me out a little this afternoon.  He came over and I got him to take off a couple from the top of the tree...thanks to him I haven't had to climb up on the stepladder yet.  He also spotted a couple that I was looking for at the time he was here.

Woody did his usual Friday grocery shopping for us and then ran errands with his friend.  He has also hobbled around outside with his walker  picking up sticks that blew down in the recent storms.  He says that it is something that he can do outside.  He has also continued to plant grass seed around the stepping stones that go between Nathan and Kathy's house and ours.  Our weather has been so mild that it was a time to do it esoecially with the wet conditions...some of the grass has already sprouted.  He has covered the newly planted seeds with pine straw.  I hope that the pine straw protects the seeds and grass as it is supposed to go back to normal temperatures in a few days..which means much colder than it has been.  I've rather enjoyed the higher than normal temperatures!  I think that rain will roll back in tomorrow.  We have had a very wet start to 2020.

They're Ba—ack!

47 hours and 45 minutes of travel time finally brought Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, Elijah, Isaac, and Graham back home!  The top photo is a selfie that Kathy took last night on their layover in Honolulu.  They had four flights—Manilla to Guam, Guam to Honolulu, Honolulu to Denver, and finally Denver to Nashville.  The amazing thing to me was how on time or even slightly ahead of schedule each of their flights were.  On their trip back they had longer layovers at each airport which added several hours onto the time it took for them to get to the Philippines.  The trip there "only" took 42 hours.  I imagine they will all be very happy to crawl into bed tonight.  Kathy told them they had to stay up to at least 6pm!  Wonder if that worked!

They immediately began the task of unpacking. they had to get the wash started as the three teens have a church weekend away planned.

Interesting things pop out of their suitcases...like these unicycle parts! 

The children all had fun souvenirs bought with pesos while they were there. They also had some fun bringing some Hawaiian souvenirs home.  I even got something from Hawaii since I never got my trip there!  (Woody and I had one planned when we lived in California many years ago, but Woody ended  up getting word that he was going to be transferred back to Tullahoma for work so the house we bought when we moved back here became "our Hawaii.") 

It's good to have them back.  I'm sure I will be hearing some interesting tales over the next days.  It sounds like they all had a very good mission trip.

Can You Tell a Difference?

Can you tell that there are ornaments off the tree?  Here's what I have taken off—more than 50:

At least I have started!  Woody made it safely to and from Franklin, TN last night and then again this morning.  He got home around 10pm and then left around 4am to go pick up his friend from his sleep study.  This afternoon Donna and I worked in the church library.  We completed processing some more books that are put on our new book shelf so we will have some happy readers when they discover them.

Our world travelers' (Nathan and Kathy and family) flight was able to depart from Manilla earlier today...or was it yesterday...or tomorrow?  All the time changes half-way around the world are very confusing.  Their first flight was from Manilla to Guam. They are presently in the air flying from Guam to Honolulu.  They still have a flights from Honolulu to Denver and Denver to Nashville ahead of them.  They will have spent close to 26 hours in the air when they finally touch down in Nashville.  Prior to that they had a 8-9 hour bus ride and I'm not sure how much time they have spent in airports on layovers!  I hope that jet lag waits to set in till after they drive home from Nashville...at least for whoever drives home!  The trip there took a total of 42 hours.  I guess we will find out sometime tomorrow afternoon how many total the return trip took.  They have had longer layovers on their return trip.  I get tired thinking about it!  

Between Fog and Ash...

Between fog and ash travel conditions are not too great for any of the Tullahoma Dorrells.  Woody is off in the fog tonight taking his friend to Franklin, TN for a sleep study and our neighbor Dorrells are having to deal with ash from Volcano Taal on their return trip home from the Philippines.  I'll know in a couple of hours that Woody has made it through his travel obstacle, but it will probably be a bit longer till I know about our neighbors' travel obstacles.

Nathan and Kathy and family have been doing school programs 8 or 9 hours north of Manilla.  They were not experiencing any of the repercussions caused by Volcano Taal's rumbles and spews.  They are due to fly out of Manilla tomorrow, but it will all depend on conditions.  But since they were a 8 or 9 hour bus ride away from Manilla, they had to get underway today to head to Manilla to find out the fate of their travel plans.  As I type this they are still heading in the direction of Manilla...getting nearer at every roll of the bus tires!  Some flights had been allowed in and out of Manilla yesterday and today so I guess time will tell if the Dazzling Dorrells will get to head back tomorrow.  Life is always an adventure for them!  Elijah and I had been doing a study about volcanoes before Christmas.  We never dreamed that something like this would allow him to experience one in quite this way!  I have been capturing facts about what is going on with Volcano Taal so he and I can learn more when school resumes!  Everything in life is a learning experience.

They have had a good trip to this point.  Isaac has gained a year while there and got to celebrate his birthday over two days...his birthdate in Philippines and his birthdate here in the states.  There is a 14 hour time difference between there and here.  Right now it is Wednesday morning. And, I imagine they are beginning to see evidence of the ash fall-out over the area around Manilla. They have presented programs mainly in the schools in the city where they were located...large schools. I think that they did 6 or 7 school programs.  What is interesting about school programs there in comparison
to here in U.S....the gospel can be shared in Filipino schools...here they have to present an anti-
bullying or anti-drug or self-esteem program when they juggle in schools.

We're just praying that Volcano Taal will settle down and not erupt...because up to the last I have heard it is just spewing and acting like it will blow at any time...causing a lot of ash in the air and rumbles of earthquakes under the ground.  I hope to hear from them once they are situated at the airport and know a little about what is going on...can you imagine trying to get 9 family members back home safely in these circumstances?!  Most of their travels add in unplanned for excitement.

I have continued undecorating and I can say that 8 days into this endeavor I have things back in the boxes and boxes all stacked upstairs except for the Christmas tree and ALL its ornaments...a good achievement in my mind.  I look forward to touching each of the memories on our tree one more time as I put them away till next Christmas. Pictured below are the last two places in the house to get dismantled today.

Things Continue to Stack Up

 Here's what our upstairs hallway looks like at this moment.  I've added a lot of boxes to it today.  I am starting to see that perhaps there is an end to this...though still a mess!  There are only two places that I haven't touched yet...the shadow box in the family room and the Angels on top of the china cabinet.  All the Byers Carolers are tucked back into their boxes.  I still have things to box up on the dining room table and there is a box or two in the living room that need to have some items added to them before being taken upstairs.  Of course once all this mess is cleared up then I still have the tree to tackle!  So I am still a ways away from being finished...but well on the way.

Woody planted some more grass seed today.  He also went to his nephrologist this afternoon.  I have been concerned that he was getting closer to needing to be on dialysis, but his doctor said that his lab readings/numbers were trending in the right direction—up.  So he will continue on as before...drinking a certain amount of water each day and staying on the diet that he has been on for some time now.  He doesn't have to go back to see his nephrologist for three months...good news!

This evening he went to the Monday Night Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  He is home now and we're both settling in for another quiet evening in our household.  I'm ready to sit...tired after packing and unpacking boxes!

A Warm, Rainy, Windy, Stormy January Day

These two pictures were taken a little after two pm...the top one I took first from our guest room window...note that the street light was on.  The second one I took just a few minutes later from our bedroom window and the street light was starting to go off...so it doesn't show...it still was on but just really low.  I guess this was when the brunt of "the storm" went through.  We did get lightning and thunder for a while and a LOT of rain as you can se from the big puddles in the yards and some large ones on the street in the top picture.  I think that it was good that Nathan and Kathy's tree fell a while back as I am sure that it would have gone down today if it hadn't already fallen!

I decided that it was a good day to bake bread and Woody agreed. This was the first time that I used my KitchenAid mixer to knead the dough.  It worked great and worked fast.  I found a recipe for French bread that was almost the same as one in my bread cookbook.  This recipe was adapted with
instructions for using a stand mixer with a dough hook.   Our new oven has a "proof" setting and I used that while the dough was rising...both when it was in a bowl and then after I shaped it into loaves.  I didn't knead the dough by hand at all and both loaves came out great.  You can see the results in the picture below.

We both pretty much stayed in today due to the stormy weather.  I have continued to undecorate.  It is getting to the point of "why do I decorate!"  Things are a mess, but boxes continue to be filled and carried upstairs.  Still lots to go, but lots done too.  I will be very glad to have things back to "normal!"  

Happy 8th Birthday to Isaac!

Can You Spot the Differences?

This is like those pictures that ask you to find "X" number of differences between the pictures!  I wish that I could put them side by side!  The top picture I took a few days ago and the bottom picture I took today...some things are missing and have been put away in boxes and other things have been added as they will become part of the everyday decorations.  This just shows my "slowly but surely" progress!  

I really didn't do a lot with the undecorating  as I was fairly busy in the kitchen.  I skinned and deboned chicken thighs today and then cooked them.  I also used the bones and made chicken stock,  as I used the last in the freezer yesterday.  Esther's kitties got some treats from the meat that came off the bones after cooking for hours.  Georgia was happy...Peaches missed out as she didn't come running!  I think that she was avoiding our front porch today as the neighbors to our east were having a tree cut down and there was a lot of racket accompanying that effort.  Georgia was over on her back porch, but Peaches must have been hiding farther away.  Both of them usually sun on our front porch daily in the afternoon.

Woody took advantage of the pleasant day and planted some grass seed around the stepping stones between Nathan and Kathy's house and ours.  I think he did it today to take advantage of the rains that are predicted to be coming our way later tomorrow and Saturday.  They are predicting strong winds and possible bad storms.  I prefer just rain! Hopefully we won't blow or wash away!

Routine Returning

And, slowly but surely our daily/weekly routine is returning.  But I can still enjoy our tree as it will be the last of the Christmas decorations to come down.

I did do a little more packing up of decorations this morning.  Slowly but surely the hallway upstairs is filling with boxes that will eventually be packed away into the Christmas closet.  I still have lots of boxes to take out of that closet that need everyday things taken out of them so I can repack them with their Christmasy contents.  The dining room table is still covered with the decorations that came out of the kitchen as I haven't found the boxes that they go back in.  It all takes time and I can only do it a little at a time.  But I must be doing something as that pile of Christmas filled boxes is definitely growing along the wall of the upstairs hallway.

Woody headed off dark and early this morning to take his friend to the doctor in Franklin, TN.  This was an appointment that got changed and ended up on the day that Woody had an appointment here in town with the oncology office where he gets his anemia shots.  He made it to his appointment, but was a little late.  They called concerned about him and I told them that I was sure that the wheels on the car were heading their way as quickly as Woody could get there!  They said that they would be watching for him!  I think that he showed up ten or fifteen minutes later.  This appointment was only for labs and his shots so since he wasn't seeing the doctor, it wasn't quite as crucial to be there exactly on time...and under normal circumstances he would have been there either on time or early!  Hopefully we can keep appointments from stacking up like that again...at least if they don't get changed as the one for his friend did this time.  Woody has quite the time keeping up with all the doctor visits that he has when he includes those of his friend, too!

This afternoon, Donna and I worked on processing some new books in the church library...our first work day in 2020...part of getting back in routine after the holidays.  I have enjoyed the time off and the low-key times, but it is good to start routines back up!

Many Forks in the Road Later!

Tonight begins the 12th year of our blog...that doesn't seem possible...but then again at times it does seem like I have been blogging for forever!  Lots of water has gone under lots of bridges in those 11 years!  I'm thankful that those years are behind us and that we don't know what is ahead of us!

Today has been another day of doing a little of this and a little of that.  I did finish hemming the dress for my friend's granddaughter and it is now back in their possession.  I got my hair cut. I have done a little cooking.  And...I continued to pack up boxes of Christmas decorations.

Woody has done his usual crossword puzzles, and has read and watched some TV.  Late this afternoon he went to the prayer room at church and stopped at the grocery store on the way back home.

Now we are settling in for another quiet evening.  I finished cleaning up the kitchen a few minutes ago and am ready to just sit in my recliner and read for a while.  I think Woody is doing the same in his recliner downstairs.

Sitting here wondering how many more years I will continue the blog...as I have said in the past...the blog is like a diary for us that reminds us of happenings in our lives over these last 11 years...and, there are some of you who have ridden along with us through ups and down...rough roads and smooth...good news and bad...dramatic and boring times...we thank each of you for accompanying us on this journey that we have no idea where it will take us from one moment to the next.