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!