One of Those: "Always a Good Day!"

If you have followed my blog for a while, you will know that tonight's blog title means that it was a hair-cut day.  A good hair cut makes it a good day for me!  I started working on the Sunday School lesson this morning and did a few little jobs around the house.  I also made some plans for what to take to a friend who has recently been in the hospital and then had a death in their family over the family. Our class is trying to help them out by taking some meals to them.  I struggle these days making food for others…my diet is so different these days that I’m just not comfortable cooking for others.  Also this friend has kidney problems so is trying to restrict her diet hoping to keep off dialysis…that meant that I needed to get Woody's recipes out…not a pleasant memory. I think that I have come to a decision for what I’ll make.  

I had fun looking at old digital photos…back to 2011…looking for photos of my great nephew and niece. I make photo cards to send at Christmas, birthdays, and other occasions.  Lately for the grandchildren and now for my niece and nephew, I have been putting baby or childhood photos of them on the card.  The grandkids seemed to enjoy them, so I hope Corbin and Julianna do, too.  I left early tonight for prayer meeting so I could drop the cards off at the Post Office…I didn't have the cards ready to have my mailman pick them up and I was afraid if I wait till tomorrow that they might not leave Tullahoma tomorrow unless I took them to the P.O. Julianna's  birthday is Friday…and, it may not make on time anyway.  Corbin's should make it as his is five days after his sister's.  And, I think that takes care of all the October birthdays…6 family members's birthdays this month!  

My trip to northern Georgia is coming up soon.  We did a little planning for that today…texts among the friends going and then Marie and I talked about it a little just a few minutes ago. We'll be there in two weeks if all goes as planned! Got to get the suitcase back out soon!  I am hoping for the days to stay cooler, as I want to be able to pack some of the tops that I got for my Alaska trip! I’m not asking for too cold…nor too rainy…nor two rainy…just nice Fall weather!  The first year that I went on this trip we had to leave early due to a hurricane.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Sunday Visit from the Birthday Girl!

Abigail and Payton paid me a visit this afternoon.  Yesterday was Abigail's 23rd birthday.  I couldn't go to the family party for her, since I was waiting on my painter.  So she said that they would stop by after they went to church today and get her gift from me.  We had a very nice visit. It was good to get to visit when there wasn't as much going on around us…three vs twelve or more with four or five conversations going on in the room!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABIGAIL!!!

All Tuckered Out!

I got to looking at tonight's photo and saw the people going back on the ship…look how small they are in comparison to the ship.  This shows how massive some of these cruise ships are.  

I have stayed busy all day.  I got up and decided that it was the day to mop bathroom floors…why, I don't know.  I guess it was a follow-up job for washing the shower curtain.  Yesterday I really scrubbed the tub and shower before I put the shower curtain back up..so I guess today's early spurt of energy was a continuation.  The shower curtain was just my bathroom…but I decided today that I would do the floors in all three bathrooms…none are very big…but it still takes some extra effort on my part!  I waited to polish up the Sunday School lesson until my handyman came to paint.  I washed my bathroom towels and the ones that I had used in the downstairs bathroom plus my bathroom bath mat and the kitchen towels.  So had those to fold and put away in appropriate places all over the house.  Today was my Cottey Bookclub.  We had a nice discussion today.  My painter didn't come until almost 3pm.  He did get the second coat on the inside of the door and took off the doorknob and dead bolt and painted around those holes in the door…then put them back in so I could lock up tonight.  He plans to come back on Tuesday, when temperatures are supposed to get back in the 70s in the afternoon.  He thought that would be better since he has to take the door off the hinges and whatever temperature the it is that is the air that will be coming in the house through that open space. I did get my Sunday School lesson reviewed and changes made and then printed out…so it is put to bed!  A little before my painter left, I started making some potato soup.  It is finally done and I am enjoying a cup of it as I write tonight’s blog.  Finally it has become the right temperature to call it "soup weather!"

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Before and After First Coat

The painting got underway midafternoon…he first did some sanding outside and then came in and got underway with the painting.  I told him that I was going to post a before and after photo of today's progress.  He said to be sure to say that he isn’t done yet.  He plans to come back tomorrow afternoon and do the second coat.  He probably won't get underway with the outside of the door and the porch railing until next week…for one thing the weather will be warmer.  The lighting is strange on the door…I think that the lighting on the stairway is lighting up the bottom of the door…it really is all the same color. 

Note that I mention that the weather will be warmer next week…we had a drastic drop in temperatures since yesterday…80s yesterday…76° this morning when I went to the grocery store…dropping into the 60s by lunch time and currently is 56° and the overnight low is supposed to be 46°.  Now to get acclimated to what we have been wishing for…cooler temperatures!  Next week highs are supposed to be in the 70s so better painting temperatures than today or tomorrow.

I am just happy that painting is underway!  My living room is beginning to look right again with the taupe color back on the front door insert.  The other side of the door will be blue and the rest of the panel surrounding the panel a pretty color called French Pastry.  I like the name of that paint color.  Sometimes I am influenced by the name of the paint when I am choosing! But that color came very close to matching the siding on our house…or at least I hope it does when there is more than a paint brush width on the panel! 

I grocery shopped and went to the Credit Union this morning.  Early this morning and then while my handyman was here, I worked on getting the Sunday School lesson finalized.  And, it is very close to done…so that is a good accomplishment for the day.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Truly Productive Day!

Today was a productive day for both my handyman and me.  He was feeling better and came this afternoon.  He got the caulking and repair done both outside and inside.  He will come tomorrow, do some sanding, and then get underway with the painting…he says he'll start on the inside once he has done some sanding and perhaps a little more repairing outside if needed. 

I got some things done, too.  I didn't get as much of my Sunday School lesson as I had hoped, but did get some cleaning jobs done.  I had been meaning to wash my shower curtain for some time.  It is just not easy for me to get down and then back up.  But today was the day.  While the shower curtain washed, I scrubbed the shower/tub.  The shower curtain is now clean and back up…a major accomplishment for me today.  I started a new book today, after finishing the book I had been racing to finish because my friend was reading it also.  I also started listening to a new audio book and earlier in the week I started a new e-book.  Keeping storylines straight is one way I test my memory!!! This time it may be a bit confusing as I have managed for two of them to be in the same time period.  I did a little more on preparing to make the Christmas ornaments.  I realized that I need to stitch a little something for the backs of three of them…so guess not quite finished with my Christmas stitching!

Hopefully tomorrow night I will be able to post a picture or two of the progress of the painting.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Productive Day…In Some Ways…

I had a productive day with getting started on fully finishing the cross stitch ornaments for Christmas gifts this year.  To start with I am working on the ones that involve sewing to finish them.  So today I ironed them and then ironed on interfacing to the back.  Then chose the fabrics to go on the back of the ornaments and got all that ironed.  The next step is cutting the excess fabric from the stitched pieces and then cutting a back to fit each of the stitched fronts.  Then I will have to choose the color I want the hanging cords to be…some I will use the fiber as is and others I will be making twisted cords.  At this point I will sandwich the hanging cord between the fronts and backs and sew them together leaving an opening to turn them.  Finally I will turn them inside out and stuff them and close up the opening and they will be gifting ready.  I am doing those steps for 11 of the ornaments.  The other 11 were stitched on perforated paper…so that involves cutting around the design and then backing them with felt.  The final step is to attach a 2026 charm to the back of the ornament.  Some will also need names or initials on them so Nathan's family can tell which ornament belongs to which child! 

I am pleased to get to the place I am in getting them ready to gift.  I want them all finished before the end of October…because when November arrives I need to concentrate on getting the house decorated for Christmas…which means having it done before Thanksgiving since everyone is coming here for Thanksgiving.  I know that I start early…but that is the only way that I can get decorated…I need time…I can't go like a house-a-fire any longer.  Even today it got to the point that I had to sit when I was getting my sewing prepared.  

Now an update on my painting.  I got a text that my handyman was coming this afternoon…after he went to the doctor.  He said that he was still sick, but wanted to at least get the caulking done and the couple of places that need repair on the porch railing…so he wouldn't come in so as not to give me anything.  I texted him back that I hated for him to come and then end up feeling even worse.  But he said that he thought that he could at least do those outside jobs.  But the doctor changed his mind.  He told him that he needed to rest at least today and let the medicine kick in.  So he said, "maybe tomorrow." I told him only if he felt better!  So we will see…but I’m thinking that probably not tomorrow.

The saga will be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Tuesday Disappointment

The killer whale sculpture by renowned marine-life artist Wyland at Icy Strait Point in Hoona, Alaska.

I don't think that I have ever posted a picture of this sculpture of an Orca whale.  It is entitled "Orca Dream."  It is very lifelike…as a matter of fact it fooled me for a minute when I was first perusing my photos of Alaska upon my return.  I thought it was a photo of one of the whales that I had taken…and then I reminded myself that we hadn't seen any breach like that and then I remembered this sculpture that I took a photo of after our whale watch excursion, when we were going into some of the shops. The sculptor, Robert Wyland, is one of the artists who has painted on the sides of some of the Norwegian cruise ships.  Melany, being an artist, was very happy on one of the cruises that she and Wade went on that it had a Wyland painting on the bow of the ship they were cruising on. Photo below is the art on our ship done by a Chinese artist.  

The bow and hull art of the Norwegian Joy was designed by the renowned Chinese artist and educator Tan Ping

• Motif: A large traditional phoenix, which represents beauty, good luck, and happiness in Chinese culture.
• Color Palette: Dominated by red (signifying joy), yellow (signifying grandeur), and hints of blue (signifying the sea).
• Concept: Blends traditional Eastern mythology with modern cruise design and Western concepts.

There…some more info about our cruise!  The significance of this being a Chinese artist and design is significant because the Joy was originally built for the Chinese population as it was felt that cruising might thrive in that environment.  But I guess it didn't take off like they expected and eventually when Alaskan cruising got so popular, they reassigned the Joy to our part of the world.  They had to refit her as Chinese ideas of cruising were different than western ideas.  There was not a spa on it and some other things were different.  It has taken two renovations to get it to work for us westerners!  

Well, I hadn't planned on sharing that tonight! That's sort of how I roll with these blogs…just start with a title, which I haven’t addressed yet, and then a photo and see where I go.  Tonight I went towards memories I remembered from our Alaskan cruise.

Now to explain why today was a bit of a disappointment.  I felt like my handyman was coming today since I didn’t hear anything from him this morning.  I expected him after lunch because he works in the mornings and does his "odd jobs" in the afternoon.  But I didn't hear from him till about the time I thought he might show up.  He said he wasn't coming today, but that he would get my job finished this week.  So there's hope!!! But, another delay was a bit of a disappointment.

I have been reading…almost finished with the book.  I also worked some more on the Sunday School lesson…read some more teacher helps for the lesson and made a rough draft of an outline, and I also started pulling fabric to back some of my ornaments…got to get going on those.  I really want them done in October…but October is going by too fast!  It’s almost time for my trip with Marie to the Georgia mountains to meet up with former members of our church…this will be my third time to go on this fun trip.  

I hope to finish my book tonight. I will finish reading it and then see if there is still some stitching time!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!